Stonehill series collect.., p.73
Stonehill Series Collection, page 73
Kara had cared for him all his life and had stepped in to care for Jessica just as easily and wholeheartedly as she was stepping in to take care of Mira. Yeah, he’d definitely taken that smile of hers for granted.
“Dinner would be great,” he said. “Thanks, Mom.”
Her smile widened. She seemed genuinely pleased that he was sticking around instead of just dropping Jessica off and running.
“Why don’t you guys sit for a while,” he said. “Jess and I can finish up dinner.”
“I’d love to,” Kara said, “but if I stop moving, she starts screaming.”
“I’ll take her.”
She started to argue, but Phil crossed the entryway and pulled Mira away. Kara seemed to hold her breath waiting, but when Mira didn’t start wailing, she helped Phil wrap the baby against his chest. Though he hadn’t held an infant for some time, he wasn’t exactly out of practice. Kara was a midwife, and plenty of babies had come in and out of their lives. He was more on the “fun uncle” level of practice these days, but that would be enough to give his parents a break.
With Mira content against him, he headed into the kitchen. “Nice job, Punk,” he said, regarding the table Jessica was setting. “Make a spot for me.”
She jumped up and down then stopped and stared at the lump against him. “Mira let you hold her?”
He cupped his fingers around his lips and whispered like he was relaying some great secret. “I don’t think she knows yet.”
Jess put her hand to her mouth and giggled. “Just wait till she figures it out. She’s gonna blow a basket.”
“Gasket,” he corrected as he grabbed a washrag to clean the flour and little balls of homemade dough from the counter. “I have a plan to surprise Grandma and Grandpa. Think you can help me?”
There was nothing Jessica liked more than being included in secrets and surprises. “What’s your plan?”
“Grandma and Grandpa are trying so hard to help Mira that I think we should help them. Can you go get all the dirty laundry and bring it downstairs so we can wash it?”
“Grandma doesn’t like how you do laundry, Daddy,” she said, her tone dire and full of warning.
“Grandma doesn’t like how I do anything, but since we’re helping her, she’ll be happy.” He offered her a wink. “Trust me.”
“Okay.” She drew out the word as she pushed herself from the counter. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He watched her dart from the room and then went to work on cleaning up the kitchen. He didn’t stop with wiping the counter and loading the dishwasher like he usually did when he stayed for dinner at his parents’ house. This time, however, he hummed and bounced to soothe the baby as he gathered the trash from various cans downstairs, took the overflowing bag to the bin outside, and filled the mop bucket. Mira remained content enough through the process, even babbling a few times, as if to tell him she approved.
With the laundry gathered, Phil showed Jessica how to sort into piles and then gave the floors a quick cleaning. By the time he finished, Jessica had put a load in, and he did a quick glance before offering her a high five. While he added detergent, she took the glass cleaner to give the bathroom a quick scrub. When the timer on the oven dinged, Phil rushed to save his mother’s dinner. Convinced the pie needed a few more minutes, he headed to the living room to tell his parents to wash up. A kind of childish excitement made him smile, eager to see the happiness and surprise on his mom’s face when she saw the much-improved state of her home.
“Hey…” His words trailed off and his smile fell when he stepped into the room.
Harry was on the sofa, his head back as he inhaled a deep, vibrating breath. Kara’s head was on his lap, one of his hands buried in her hair, the other resting on her stomach as she lay with her mouth open, sleeping just as deeply but not nearly as loudly.
The image tugged at something Phil couldn’t quite pin down. A chord, one he hadn’t known was tied to his heart, was struck, and he felt something akin to…loneliness.
He’d had a few casual relationships since his wife left, but his focus had always been on his daughter. Some women were hesitant to get close to him, knowing Jessica’s special needs might require more of his attention than most kids would otherwise need. Some women seemed so in awe of him for being a single dad to a child with Down syndrome that he felt more like a pet project than a boyfriend. He had yet to find someone he felt confident would be there for him and Jess for the right reasons and for the long haul. He’d been fine with casual, though. Casual meant nobody got hurt.
Even after he was an adult and a father, he always felt that he had his hands full with his mom. Besides raising Jessica, he had a hell of a time keeping Kara on the right track—she had been like a wayward teen most of his life. He hadn’t been able to focus solely on himself and his daughter until Harry came back into their lives and filled the void Kara had seemed unable to fill in his life. Now, Jess was growing up and testing out her independence as much as any eleven-year-old could. She needed more than Phil and Kara and Harry could give her, and for some reason he couldn’t explain, Phil suddenly felt like he might need more too.
He wanted his parents to be happy. He was thrilled they were happy, but seeing them so tightly bonded made him feel alone in a way that adult children shouldn’t feel left out by their parents’ closeness.
“Daddy,” Jess called.
He turned and put his finger to his lips, warning her to quiet down.
“I’m done in the bathroom,” she whispered. “Want me to do the bathroom upstairs?”
“That’d be great, Punk. Thanks. Then wash up and come right back down. I’ll serve us some dinner.”
She rushed off, clearly happy to have a chore to do. He looked back at his sleeping parents, patted the baby’s back, and headed to the kitchen, determined to shake the hollow feeling that had suddenly found its way low in his gut.
Chapter 3
Mallory went straight for Phil and Jessica. The father-daughter duo sat in the same booth she always found them in at Stonehill Café. She didn’t wait for an invite. She slid in next to Jessica and playfully bumped into her. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“We always eat here on Sunday morning,” Jessica announced. “It’s tradition. That’s how I got pancakes named after me.”
Phil didn’t counter the girl’s logic. “Pancakes that you never finish.”
Jessica ignored him. “You should order them. They’re rainbow.”
Mal smiled, not pointing out that she already knew that. “Very cool.” Turning to Phil, she kept her grin plastered to her face. “And very filling, Dad.”
He glanced around, as if expecting to see someone. “Are you here alone? Where’re your mom and Marcus?”
“They were still holed up in their room when I left.”
“Really? Aren’t our elders usually out and about by this hour?”
She scrunched up her face as she flashed back to the week before when she’d arrived unexpectedly. “After surprising them last Saturday morning, I don’t want to know how they spend their time.”
Phil chuckled. “And I don’t want to know what that means.”
She widened her eyes dramatically. “No, you don’t. Let’s just say the lesson came a little late in life, but I’ve finally learned to knock before entering a room.”
“Well, if you recall, my parents haven’t been married all that long. I learned that lesson the hard way as well.”
“Grownups are nasty,” she whispered. She smiled up at her aunt Jenna when a coffee mug was set in front of her. “Morning, Jen.”
“Where’re your parents?”
Instead of rehashing her fears, Mallory settled on telling her they were still sleeping. Jenna put a menu in front of her, but Mallory waved it off.
“Oh, I was just stopping to say hi. I’m not crashing their breakfast.”
“Stay,” Phil insisted. “We like the company, don’t we, Punk?”
Jessica nodded as she shoved whipped cream and sprinkle-covered pancakes into her mouth. Mallory conceded with a nod and ordered a plate of the Jessica Special with a side of bacon. The girl next to her beamed with pride as she again told the story of how the pancakes came to be named.
Mallory tried to fight her smile as Phil reminded Jessica not to talk with her mouth full. When the girl was back to chewing, mouth closed, he cut into his own stack of pancakes. Mallory swiped back a few strands of Jessica’s dark brown hair that stuck to her cheek, trapped by a splatter of whipped cream.
“How was your first week back?” Phil asked.
“Busy,” Mallory said. “First thing I did was start looking at Mom’s rental properties. Love her and Marcus to pieces, but I’m not staying with them now that I know what they do on the couch when I’m not looking.”
Phil laughed. “Find anything?”
“Yeah, I did, actually.” She sipped from her mug before announcing, “I am now the proud renter of a cute little two-bedroom piled high with boxes that I can’t seem to find the energy to unpack. The whole of the O’Connell family has offered to help, but I refused. I don’t want them sorting through my stuff. My uncles unloaded my furniture when the moving truck arrived yesterday. I got that out of the way, but the boxes will be dealt with on my terms.”
“Hiding bodies?” he asked.
She shrugged. “That’s my little secret.”
“Hey.” Jessica pointed out the window. “There’s Grandma and Grandpa.”
Mallory looked to where Jessica was waving. Kara had never been one to dress up, but she looked like a hot damn mess in a multicolored ankle-length skirt with a black T-shirt and her strawberry-blond hair in a messy braid, pinned back. Harry, in unusually disheveled and wrinkled clothes, opened the back door of his car and, a few moments later, pulled out a car seat.
Mallory couldn’t stop her eyes from widening. “Whoa. Your parents had a baby? No wonder they look like hell.” She gasped and put her fingers to her mouth. “I-I-I didn’t mean that…like it sounded. I meant…”
Phil shook his head. “Don’t apologize. You are absolutely correct. They look like hell. And they didn’t have a baby. They’ve gotten stuck raising someone else’s.”
Jessica sighed theatrically. “Grandma always takes in strays.”
The girl was clearly repeating something she’d heard—probably from Phil, since he winced noticeably.
“Uh.” He cleared his throat. “Let’s not say that anymore, huh, Punk? I don’t think Grandma would see the humor in comparing babies to puppies.” He met Mallory’s gaze. “Mom has always helped single mothers get on their feet. This particular one, however, doesn’t seem very interested in finding her own way. She all but disappeared after having the baby. My parents spend much more time with that kid than her birth mother does. Which is a good thing, really. Dad said the woman showed up drunk the other night and passed out on their couch.”
Mallory frowned. She didn’t think she had a maternal bone in her body, but even she knew that wasn’t how the parenting thing was supposed to go. “How sad. Poor kid.”
Phil sighed loudly. “At least she has my parents.”
The café door opened, and the rest of the Martinson-Canton clan entered. Jessica nudged at Mallory, who slid out of the booth to let the girl slip by. Jessica darted across the café to hug her grandma. Kara kissed the top of her head, but she never took her gaze off the table—off Mallory and Phil. If Mallory didn’t know better, she’d swear a conspiratorial grin passed between Phil’s parents when Kara finally did break her intense stare long enough to glance at Harry.
“They really look exhausted,” Mallory said in a horrified whisper.
“They are.” Phil’s answer was just as quiet. “That kid has a serious aversion to sleeping.”
Her horror grew as she got a better look at Kara’s pale skin and the bags under her bloodshot eyes. “Is that what having a baby does to you?”
“Yes,” Phil answered. “Yes, it is. The life force drains from you for a good two years.”
“No wonder I was an only child.” She put on a wide smile when the Cantons continued staring at her. “Hey, you two—er—three…”
“Hey, Mallory,” Kara practically sang as she walked hand in hand with Jessica to the table. “I heard you were back in town.”
“Yeah. California just wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.”
Kara’s eyes, tired as they were, softened. She took a breath and started to say something but then seemed to reconsider.
Mallory looked at Phil, who simply shrugged. Turning her attention back to Kara, she lifted her brows. “Come on. Spit it out.”
“Your mom is okay,” she said with that same sweet tone that used to do Mal in after Annie had been shot. “She really is. She’s as tough as ever on the inside.”
Mallory nodded firmly. She’d never doubted her mother’s drive. “I know.”
“Marcus knows when to help and when to back off. When he doesn’t, she tells him.”
“I know.”
“Don’t worry about her, okay? That’s her husband’s job now.”
“I know.”
Kara scowled at her, but even the dark circles and deep frown didn’t take the concern from her eyes. “Did you learn your communication skills from my son?”
Mallory smiled. “He taught me well.”
Eyeing Phil, Kara smirked. “Well, then you two shouldn’t have any problems talking in the future.”
Harry grinned down at his son. “We didn’t mean to interrupt your breakfast. Mira’s actually in a decent mood this morning. We thought we’d try breakfast out for a change.”
“Better eat before she changes her mind,” Phil said.
“Yes,” Harry said, pulling his wife away. “Yes, we should.”
Kara kissed Jess again. “See you later, sweetheart.”
Jess wasn’t so willing to let her grandmother go, though. She clung to her hand and begged her father, “Can I sit with Grandma? Please.”
“Sure,” Phil said.
Kara’s smile widened as she held her other hand out for Jessica’s plate. “Enjoy your breakfast, guys.”
Phil sighed when he and Mallory were alone. “Oh, man. This isn’t good.”
“There was a whole lot of something going on there that I don’t know about,” Mallory agreed.
He lifted his coffee mug. “You don’t want to know.”
“But I have a feeling I should know.” She sat back when Jenna slid a plate in front of her and then topped off her coffee. “What is it?” Mallory asked after her aunt left their table to seat Kara, Harry, and the kids.
Pushing his cup aside, Phil crossed his arms on the table and leaned close as he lowered his voice. “My parents are trying to marry me off. Congratulations. They’ve just added you to the pool of possibilities.”
Mallory cocked a brow as his words sank in. Finally, she shrugged and gestured toward herself. “Look at this face. You could do worse.”
Phil was about halfway through six months’ worth of Mallory’s social media photos when she messaged him asking what he was doing. She’d sent him a friend request sometime after breakfast that morning. As soon as he accepted, he did what was the social media norm.
Judging your life based on your social media photos, he replied.
Funny. I was doing the same about yours.
He smiled at the thought of her cyberstalking him too. And?
You have to get out more.
Phil laughed, mainly because he couldn’t disagree. I’m a single dad with sole custody of an eleven-year-old drama queen. I enjoy peace and quiet when I can get it. San Diego looked great. That’s probably one of the only places along the West Coast we didn’t live when I was growing up. Miss it?
I’ll say yes, but only if you promise not to tell anyone.
Promise. What are you up to? he asked, fearing she’d end the conversation on that note. Besides judging my life.
Staring at boxes, wishing they’d unpack themselves. You?
Phil looked around his empty living room. Jessica hadn’t taken kindly to her sleepover the night before ending before it really began. After Phil had pulled the chicken pot pie from the oven, he and Jess had eaten while his parents continued their nap on the couch. He’d helped her get ready for bed, as much as she would allow, amid her protests that she was there to see her grandparents.
She never said as much, but Phil knew Jess wanted to be certain she was the front and center of Kara and Harry’s attention, so she’d begged to spend the night again…this time without Grandma and Grandpa falling asleep on the couch.
Even though his parents looked like they could fall over at any moment and it was a school night, they’d agreed she could stay, giving Phil an evening of peace and quiet. For some reason, the quiet wasn’t sitting well with him. He started to type, stopped, then started again.
Finally, he typed, I was thinking about grabbing some beer and pizza and coming over to help you unpack.
Beer and pizza, yes. Unpacking my stuff? No.
You really are hiding bodies, aren’t you?
He signed off after she shared her address, ordered a pizza for pick-up, and shoved his feet into his sneakers. He did his best not to acknowledge how excited he was to hang out with Mallory, but it’d been a long time since he’d socialized without his daughter. Not that talking to moms about gymnastics and princesses wasn’t enthralling, but an evening spent talking to someone about other things—and especially someone with Mallory’s natural sarcasm and wit—was a welcome change.
Admittedly, the majority of their conversations had been about their parents, Jessica, or pancakes, but he had a feeling once they got to know each other better, he and Mallory would have all kinds of non-family-related things to talk about. That was enticing enough to explain his excitement as he headed over to her place.
