Florida Fling with the Single Dad, page 7
“What exactly are the two of you up to?” he asked. Standing over them, he couldn’t help but join in the laughter.
“Katie is teaching me yoga. It’s supposed to lighten us,” his little girl said.
“Enlighten us,” Katie corrected. “So far all it’s gotten us is a couple of bruises. Violet is having some difficulty with the meditation part of the process.”
“Katie says you can’t talk during the meditation. It’s supposed to help you relax. But how can you relax if you can’t talk?” his daughter asked, genuine confusion reflected on her little pixie face.
“I can understand where that would be very stressful,” he agreed with his daughter before looking over at Katie and giving her a wink.
“We decided it was best to move on to learning the yoga positions. Violet is a lot better at those.” Katie gave his daughter a look of affection that completely warmed his heart. Could Katie see what a special little girl his daughter was? Violet was a beautiful and loving child, but sometimes she could be a bit much, at least for some adults.
“We’ve done the downward dog and now we’re learning the cow pose. Only I told Katie that it looked more like a dog than the other one. And then—” Violet had to stop to giggle before she could talk again “—Katie started mooing like a cow and it made me laugh so I fell over.”
“I was not mooing. I was moaning from all the stretching my muscles were doing. They’re not used to being mistreated,” Katie said.
She was sitting with her back to the overturned chair, her hair plastered with sweat against her flushed face. He picked up two bottles of water sitting on the table and handed one to each of them. “It’s a bit hot out here. Couldn’t you do this in the house?”
“It said on the website that being outside was good for meditating.” Katie took a gulp of water. “I should have waited till the sun went down. But we did have fun, didn’t we, Violet?”
Violet agreed with a nod as she drank her water.
“So, you’ve never done yoga?” he asked. Looking down at the khaki dress pants he’d had to put on for the county commissioners meeting he had been required to attend on Alex’s absence then looked at the deck. Deciding to take the chance of ruining his pants, he sat down on the floor between the two.
“No. My counselor recommended it, so I thought I would give it a try. If nothing else, I’ve learned that I need to get into better shape. And Violet definitely made it more fun than it could have been.”
Her admission that she’d been in contact with her counselor surprised him. She’d seemed so set against getting counseling before. What had changed?
Was it her reaction to the gunshot scene this morning? He had intended to discuss it with her the next day when she reported to work. He’d seen her go pale when she saw the gun and blood. It made sense that something like that could trigger bad memories. It had troubled him all day, but he wanted her to have some time to recover before he brought it up.
“I had fun, too, Katie. Can I come practice with you another day?” his daughter asked. “I’ll find a book in the library about doing yoga for us to study.”
“Of course. How about I order us a CD to use?” Katie said.
As she moved to get up, he stood and offered her his hand. He couldn’t help but notice the hesitation before she took it. Was he making things between them even more awkward with his presence?
“Is it okay if I go home and finish my homework? I forgot to bring my library book to school and I need to finish my report,” Violet said.
“Actually, your nana is on her way to pick you up so you can spend the night with her.”
“Really?” his daughter asked.
“She’ll be here in just a few minutes so you better go get your clothes and books together. I’ve already opened the door. I’ll be there to help in a minute.”
“It’s okay. I can get my stuff. Thanks, Katie,” Violet called back as she dashed off.
“I’ll have to go check her bag. She’ll remember her favorite books, but she’ll forget to pack her pajamas.” He watched his daughter until she disappeared into the house. “I really appreciate you keeping her for me.”
“Actually, it helped me a lot. After this morning, it was nice to have a distraction. You’e very lucky. Violet’s a special little girl. She has an abundance of spirit and energy,” Katie said, though he noticed she was looking down at her shoes instead of looking him in the eyes. “About this morning,”
“We can talk about this morning tomorrow.” The last thing he wanted was to create any more conflict between the two of them. He’d rather leave what happened at work, at work.
And why was that when he’d been the one to tell her that the two of them couldn’t get any closer?
“No. I want to discuss it. Whilst the patient’s care was not compromised, I need to talk about how the accident in New York affected me”
“Katie, you got caught up in your surroundings. Our patient wasn’t affected. You need to realize that you’re human like the rest of us. You should have seen me when Lilly showed up with Violet. I was a mess. Trying to figure out how I was going to take care of a seven-year-old daughter while keeping up with my job was too much some days.”
“Really?” she asked, her eyes meeting his for the first time. “But you look so comfortable with her.”
“Now? Yes, I’ve got a handle on things, though I know that could change at any time. I live in fear that Lilly will show up and want her back. And she’s growing up so fast. In a few years I’ll have a teenager to deal with.” The thought of his little girl turning into a young woman was enough to send a shudder down his spine.
“You’ll do fine. Violet has a good head on her shoulders,” Katie said. She bit down on her bottom lip, drawing his eyes down to plump red lips that he had imagined kissing. He wanted to touch them, brush his fingers across their softness before he lost himself in a kiss he knew would shake the foundations of his closely held beliefs that getting involved with her would only be asking for heartache later for both him and his daughter when she returned to New York.
“Besides, if you have full custody the courts won’t let her take Violet,” Katie said. “You do have custody, right?”
His stomach clenched into a tight ball as it always did when the question of Violet’s custody came up. “That’s the problem. Lilly was only here for a day before she was gone. There wasn’t time for me to get anything but emergency temporary custody. If she came back and wanted to contest, I’m not sure what would happen.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Her mother left her. She apparently doesn’t want to be responsible for Violet. Can’t your lawyer just send the paperwork for her to sign?”
“Sounds simple, right? The only problem is that by the time we find out where Lilly is living, she moves again. We’ve even used private detectives, but she’s always one step in front of us. If I didn’t know better I’d think that she was trying to avoid us.” And he was beginning to think that he was right which only made him more paranoid concerning his daughter’s safety.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I’m sure that it will work out. You’re doing such a good job with her I’m sure that the court would never think of taking custody away from you.”
Katie’s hand reached for his in what he knew was intended as a comforting gesture that shouldn’t make his heart jump, but it did. And it wasn’t only his heart that was reacting. His whole body seemed to buzz with excitement.
“I hope so. I’m lucky that I have a lot of support from our team and my family.” He needed to leave. He needed to get away from those lips and her touch before the temptation had him throwing out all his remaining caution and taking a chance on what could be between the two of them—even if only for a few weeks.
“Daddy, Nana just drove up,” Violet shouted from somewhere behind him, breaking him from the spell that Katie’s tempting lips had cast over him.
“I’ll be right there,” he called back to her. “We’ll talk tomorrow,” he said, eager to make his escape. He’d almost forgotten what she wanted to talk to him about.
“Sure,” Katie said, stepping back.
It wasn’t until she backed away from him that he realized he had taken a step toward her. As he made his way across the yard to his home, he couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if Violet hadn’t interrupted him? Would he have touched her? Kissed her? Or would he have stepped away as he knew he should?
Something told him there would come a time again when he would have to make that decision, when his daughter wouldn’t be there to rescue him, and he had no idea how he would hand it. It seemed all his rules, no matter how important they had seemed to him just weeks ago, were crumbling around him.
* * *
After a long shower, Katie pulled on a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top before taking a glass of her favorite Moscato wine out to the deck. After sitting up the chair she and Violet had knocked over earlier in the afternoon, she took a seat and closed her eyes. A soft breeze from the beach ruffled her hair that she had left down to dry and the sweet scent of the hibiscus plants that edged the deck on both sides filled the air, relaxing her even more.
She’d been forced to accept some hard truths today, but she felt better for it. Like her father had always told her, it was better to face a problem head-on than to sweep it under the table and ignore it. She’d done a lot of sweeping over the last few months. She’d been willing to do whatever physical work was required to get back to work as a flight nurse, but she’d ignored all the physiological signs her body had been giving her each time she found herself in a situation that reminded her of her own traumatic injury. She’d made excuses and pretended that all she needed was to run away to Florida and she would leave all her problems behind. If only it was that easy.
But it wasn’t. There was nothing easy about her life right now. Her counselor said she had to accept what happened to her and voice it out loud, and Katie finally thought she understood the reason she’d hid it all behind her. Because it hadn’t been just an injury as she had tried to pretend, it had been a violent attack with a gun. She’d been shot by an unknown assailant while trying to do her job and save the life of a young patient. And after living a life where she’d always felt safe, the admission of being vulnerable was hard to accept. It was time for her stop ignoring the pain and fear that she experienced that night. And it was time to stop pretending she was okay. She had to acknowledge that she was no superhero, she was simply one of many people who had gone through a trauma that would probably affect them the rest of their lives.
If she wanted to return to New York in better condition than when she’d left, she had to make a conscious effort to accept what she was going through and find a way to overcome the fear and anxiety that were controlling her. Before the shooting, she’d attended some of the most violent scenes imaginable as she tried to save patients who had been beaten, shot, stabbed and worse. Even when her heart was torn apart by the suffering of her patients, she was able to separate her feelings from her job to provide the best care. Now she had to find in herself the strength to separate from her own trauma, so she could go on with her life while still accepting that her life had changed forever. No, she wouldn’t forget it, she’d come to realize that wasn’t possible, but she could learn to live with it.
And she had to figure out what she wanted out of her life. She’d always put her job first, which was why instead of caring about her mental health she had concentrated more on her physical rehab after the shooting. Coming from a family committed to helping others, she’d lost sight of the fact that there could be more to her life. That was going to change too.
Watching Dylan and Violet and their relationship had affirmed for her the possibility of enjoying a life beyond work.
She opened her eyes and reached for the glass of wine on the side table and froze. A large green dragon looked up at her from the floor of the deck, its long, forked tongue shooting out toward her. She screamed.
* * *
Dylan just finished cleaning up the kitchen when a bloodcurdling scream tore through the silence of his home. Grabbing his keys and phone, he power-locked his front door before shooting across the yard to Katie.
Her cottage was quiet when he let himself in. Too quiet. He cleared each room before he got to the doors leading out to the deck. He could see by the outside string of lights that she sat straight up in the chair, her eyes fixed on something that was at her feet. Easing the door open, he made sure there was no one out of his field of sight before he took a step outside, only realizing then that he didn’t have a weapon to defend her.
“Katie, what happened?” he asked calmly. Had she had a flashback? Fallen asleep and dreamed of the night she’d been shot?
“It’s a dragon,” Katie whispered, her voice quivering. “It’s between my feet.”
Her words confused him. A dragon? And then it hit him. New York City girls wouldn’t have a lot of experience interacting with the kind of local wildlife they had here on the islands.
“Is this dragon green or brown?” He tried to keep the laughter out of his words.
“It’s green and it’s big. It’s evil too. I can see it in its little beady black eyes. It tried to strike me with its tongue,” Katie said, never moving her eyes off the creature that he could now see on the deck beside her feet.
“It’s okay. It’s just an iguana. They don’t bite.” He started toward her when what he saw stopped him.
“I’ve seen iguanas. This thing is too big to be an iguana. It’s a monster. It looks like something that would fight Godzilla.”
While he heard her words, he couldn’t seem to find his voice to respond. He’d been prepared to see a three-foot iguana with a spikey row of spines on its back and its long thick tail. What he hadn’t been prepared for was the sight of Katie in a pair of short shorts and a tank top that revealed everything it was supposed to be covering. He struggled to regain his voice. “Don’t move. I’m going to get some oven mitts from the kitchen to pick it up.”
“No, Dylan, wait. Don’t leave me alone with this thing.” Katie’s voice was louder now. “Do something before it moves. What if it jumps on me? It’s got claws.”
Dylan headed back into the kitchen. “It’s an herbivore. It won’t bite you unless you make it mad, so don’t make it mad.”
“And how do I keep it from getting mad?” Katie asked, her voice getting higher and louder now.
“I don’t know. Maybe you should talk to it?” Unable to find a pair of oven mitts he settled on a couple of pot holders and rushed back outside.
“And if you bite me I’ll sic my brother John Jr. on you. He’s one of NYPD’s finest. He’ll not only shoot you, he’ll have you made into a belt to show all his friends. And if John is busy, my older brother Jacob will put a bullet between those evil eyes of yours and then...” Katie stopped her conversation with the iguana as soon as he stepped close to them.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’m surprised the little fellow hasn’t run off into the bushes shaking in fear from all those threats of violence.” He stepped behind the iguana and with one quick movement had the three-foot-long creature caught between his hands. The green scaly creature gave him a disgruntled look, but made no move to attack.
Katie sank back into her chair. “What in the world was that thing doing out here? Where’s its owner?”
“It doesn’t have an owner. Haven’t you seen them around the island? They’re everywhere. If I’m not mistaken, this one here is named Pascal.”
“Who...wait—” she held her hands up in surrender “—I know the answer to that one already. Violet named him, didn’t she?”
“She did. Hold on a moment. I’m going to take him over to our back garden. He usually doesn’t stray too far from there.”
When he got back to the deck he found Katie hadn’t moved, but her glass of wine was now empty and she held her phone in her hand. “Are you all right? I know iguanas look scary, but as long as you leave them alone they won’t bite you.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry. I will definitely leave them alone. Unfortunately, they’re not the problem right now. It’s the text I just got from my brother. It seems my father wants to hear from me.” Katie started to take a drink from the glass before realizing it was empty and setting it down on the table.
“And that’s a problem?” he asked. Wasn’t it natural for a father to want to check in on his daughter?
But what did he really know about Katie’s family life? Katie hadn’t talk a lot about her life in New York. Had she been married before? Did she have someone waiting there for her? No, she wouldn’t have responded to him the way she had if there was someone else. But why had it never occurred to him to ask?
Because you told her there couldn’t be anything between the two of you.
“Let’s just say that Captain John McGee Sr. of the NYPD is the man in charge of the McGee clan. If he wants to talk to me, there’s something on his mind. He’s probably checking up on me, making sure I’m doing a good job while I’m here.”
“You haven’t called him since you’ve been here?” he asked. Was this what he had to look forward to when Violet grew up?
“We’ve texted,” Katie said.
“But you haven’t called?” He could tell by the way her eyes shot down that there were some feelings of guilt there which made her admission even more surprising. “Because as a dad, I can tell you that receiving some texts would not be enough for me if Violet was away from home.”
“I know it’s hard on you. Thinking about the time Violet was out there in the world without you being there to protect her.”
“If I’d only received one phone call telling me she existed, that she was out there, I would have found some way to get to her.” Dylan’s hands ran through his hair as he was filled with the familiar frustration that he couldn’t go back and change things for Violet’s first years.
