Kisses on Her Christmas List (6 page)

Watching Finley trudge up the slope with her saucer, Rory said, “This is why I love having a kid.
The
fun.
When Finley's not in a mood, she can be incredibly fun.”
He peeked at Shannon.
“And spontaneous.
The things she says sometimes crack me up.”

She glanced down the hill at Finley, saw the joy on her face, the snow on her tummy, and she laughed.
“Yeah.
She's cute.”

 

Shannon's laughter filled Rory with peace.
The whole afternoon had been fun, even though he'd told her about his ex-wife.
Or maybe because he'd told her about his ex-wife.
She seemed to feel enough sympathy for Finley that she'd gone out of her way to make his little girl happy.

“You really love Finley, don't you?”

Her question surprised him so much that he glanced over at her again.
The sun sparkled off the snow that clung to her.
Her full lips bowed up in a smile of pure pleasure as she watched his child—his pride and joy—pick herself up and head up the hill.

“I adore her.
I love being a dad.”

Her smile trembled a bit.
“I bet you do.”

He snorted a laugh.
“You've seen the bad side of parenting in the past twenty-four hours.
Most of the time Finley makes me laugh, fills in my world.”
He shrugged.
“Actually, she makes my world make sense, gives all the work I do a purpose.”

“You're a great dad.”

“Yeah, too bad I won't have any more kids.”

Her face registered such a weird expression that he felt he needed to explain.
“When a spouse leaves the way mine did, no explanation, no trying to work things out, just a plain old ‘I don't love you anymore and I certainly don't want to be a mom…'” He shrugged again, forced his gaze away from her, over to the blue, blue
sky.
“Well, you're left with a little bit more than a bad taste in your mouth for marriage.”

“Marriage doesn't have anything to do with having kids.”

He laughed.
“You're right.
Not in this day and age, with adoption and surrogate mothers.”
He caught her gaze again.
“But it's difficult enough to handle Finley—one child—without a mom.
I couldn't imagine adding another.
So it's just me and Finley for the rest of our lives.”

“Even though you love kids, you wouldn't try any of the other options?”

“Nope.
But if I had a wife I would.
Of course, if I had a wife I could have kids the old-fashioned way.”
He waggled his eyebrows, but the truth of that settled over him and he stopped being silly.
“If I could commit again, I'd love to have more kids.
My
kids.
A little boy who'd look like me.
Another little girl who might look like her mom.”

When he caught her gaze again, her eyes were soft and sad.
He could have been confused by her reaction, except he knew his voice had gotten every bit as soft and sad.
He'd revealed some personal tidbits that she probably wasn't expecting.
Hell, even he hadn't realized he felt all those things about kids until the conversation had turned that way.

Of course, she'd sort of turned it that way.

Now that he thought about it, she owed him some equally personal tidbits.
“So what about you?
No husband?
No kids?
Married to your store?”

She brushed her hand along the top of the snow.
“This time last year I was married.”

“Oh?”
Something oddly territorial rattled through
him, surprising him.
Sure, he was attracted to her…but jealous?
Of a guy from her past?
That was just stupid.

She batted a hand.
“I got dumped pretty much the same way you did.”
Avoiding his gaze, she ran her mittened hand along the surface of the snow again.
“One day he loved me.
The next day he didn't.”

“I'm sorry.”

“It's certainly not your fault.”
She caught his gaze, laughed lightly.
“And I'm over him.”

“Oh, yeah?”

She shrugged.
“Only a fool pines for someone who doesn't want her.”

“I'll drink to that.”

She craned her neck so she could see Finley again, then she faced him.
“She's going to sleep like a rock tonight.”

Rory said, “Yeah,” but his mind was a million miles away.
The easy way she'd dismissed her marriage had caused his jealousy to morph into relief that she wasn't just free, she was happy to be free.
That somehow mixed and mingled with his suddenly active hormones and he wanted to kiss her so badly he could taste it.

But that was wrong.
Not only had he been hurt enough to never want to risk a relationship again, but she'd also been hurt.
After less than twenty-four hours in her company he knew she was a sweet, sincere woman, who might take any romantic gesture as much more than he would intend it.

Still, that didn't stop him from wanting to kiss her.
With the snow in her hair, on her jacket, covering her jeans.
If he slid his hands under her knit hat, to the thicket of springy black curls, and pulled her face to his, he could kiss her softly, easily just because they were having fun.

But would she realize it was a kiss of pure happiness over the fun afternoon?
Or would she make more of it?

He pulled back.
They were having too much fun— Finley was having too much fun—for him to spoil it over a craving for something he shouldn't take.

He rose, put his hand down to help Shannon stand.
“She'll be back any second.”

“Do you think she'll want to go down again?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“Hope you're rested.”

He grinned.
“Hope
you're
rested because I'm taking the saucer and you get the runner sled.”

With that he grabbed the saucer and joined Finley at the top of the slope.
Shannon pretended great interest in the sled he'd left for her, but she didn't even really see it.
Her heart pounded in her chest and her insides had all but turned to mush.
For a few seconds there, when their conversation had paused, she could have sworn he was going to slide his hand behind her neck and pull her forward so he could kiss her.

Kiss her!

What a crazy thing to think!
Ridiculous wishful thinking on her part, that's what it was.
They might be having fun with his daughter, but that was no reason for a man to kiss a woman.
She was simply too much of a romantic.

But figuring all this out now was actually a good thing.
Rory had come right out and said that if he married again, he would want kids.
His own kids.
A son of his own.
Another adorable daughter.

And didn't that sound painfully familiar?
The last man she would have expected to leave her over not being able to have kids was her seemingly wonderful ex-husband.
He'd loved her.
She'd never had any doubt.
Yet, once she couldn't give him a son—a real son, his flesh-and-blood son—he'd bolted.
She wasn't sure she could handle that kind of rejection again.
So she was glad they'd had this little talk early on.
There'd be no more wishful thinking.
No more hoping he'd kiss her.

But right here and right now, she was a lonely woman, and she had both Rory and his daughter in her yard, enjoying her company.
She'd be crazy to be upset.
Crazier still to withdraw just because there couldn't be anything romantic between her and Rory.
The smart thing to do would be to simply relax and enjoy their company.

She picked up the sled.
Studied it.
Could she ride this down the slope and get it stopped on the ledge?
Or would she go racing down the hill?

She smiled.
Either way she'd probably make Finley laugh.
So why not?

 

When they returned to the house, Shannon realized she hadn't taken anything out of the freezer for dinner.
Her only choice was to thaw some hamburgers in the microwave and make use of the frozen French fries her mom always bought in bulk then had to give away because she and her dad couldn't eat them all.

As soon as they stepped into the kitchen, she walked to the refrigerator, removed the meat from the freezer section and tossed it on the counter.
Unzipping her dad's big parka, she said, “That was fun.”

Rory helped Finley out of sweater number one.
“Really fun.”

Finley grinned.
“Lots of fun.”
She sat on the floor as her father tugged off her little pink boots, then helped her slide out of the first of her two pair of jeans.
“But I'm hungry.”

“Me, too!
I thought I'd make burgers and fries.”

Finley bounced up.
“All right.”

Rory ruffled her hair.
“Go wash your hands while Shannon and I get started on the food.”

She nodded and all but skipped out of the room.

Shannon unwrapped the hamburger, set it in a bowl and put it in the microwave on low.

As it hummed behind her, Rory said, “What can I do?”

“I guess we could plug in the fryer to heat the oil for the fries.”

She rummaged through a cupboard beside the sink and found the fryer.
After pouring in fresh oil, she plugged it in.

Rory laughed.
“That still leaves me with nothing to do.”

“You could go check on Finley.”

“I probably should.
She had such a busy afternoon that I may find her asleep on the bed.”

While he was gone, Shannon hung her parka in the hall closet and took the breakfast dishes out of the dishwasher.

When he and Finley returned to the kitchen a few minutes later, Finley was carrying a little laptop.
Rory joined Shannon at the counter where she was forming the hamburgers.
“She can play a game or two while we cook.”
He pointed at the hamburgers.
“How many of these should we make?”

“How many do you want?”

“I'll eat two.
Finley will eat one.”

“And I'll eat one.”
She glanced down at the plate.
“We already have four.
So it looks like we're done.”

He nudged her aside.
“I'll take it from here.
Usually I grill hamburgers, but I can use a frying pan, too.”

Shannon retrieved plates and utensils and stacked them on the table.
She grabbed a handful of paper napkins and set them beside the plates.

Finley glanced up.
“Can I help?”

Surprised, but not about to turn down help, Shannon said, “You can arrange the plates and silver while I start the French fries.”

Finley nodded.
Shannon walked back to the refrigerator, removed the frozen fries and put them into the fryer.

Dinner conversation was very different from the quiet lunch.
Finley chattered about how much fun she'd had sledding and how silly her dad looked on a sled.
Rory reminded her that she didn't think him silly the times he rode down the big hill with her and she giggled.

Shannon basked in the ordinariness of it.
A happy little girl and her father who clearly adored her.
They bantered back and forth as Rory cut her burger in half and poured ketchup for her fries.

Shannon took a bite of her own hamburger.
Rory was a nice guy, with a big heart, trying to raise a daughter abandoned by her mother.
She supposed that was why he'd pulled away rather than kiss her that afternoon.
He was too busy to be looking for a romance.
But as quickly as she thought that she reminded herself of her decision not to even ponder a romance with him anyway.
She'd seen the expression on his face when he talked about having more kids.
A son.
No matter what he said or how busy he was, someday he'd want to remarry.
He'd want that family.
Those kids.