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“No, that’s—”
“The burgers are ready,” Paulette called from the foot of the stairs. “You girls ready to eat?”
Paulette seemed to consider Maggie one of the girls, even though she was fourteen years older than Payton. Maybe it was hearing Maggie grouped with her and Kix that made Payton forgive her for agreeing even in part with their dad. “Dad does make really good burgers,” she conceded, climbing to her feet again.
Maggie smiled at her. “Then let’s go get them while they’re hot, shall we?”
After a leisurely dinner, Garrett walked Maggie out to the cart. “I’m glad you could join us. The whole family enjoyed having you.”
She pulled her keys out of her pocket. “I had a nice time, too.”
“The front-desk clerk told me when we checked in that it’s going to be crazy busy around here this week.”
Maggie chuckled. “For the rest of the summer, actually, but especially after Wednesday. A lot of people take a long weekend at the lake for the Fourth of July.”
“I understand there’s quite a celebration being planned here this weekend.”
She nodded. “A fireworks show Thursday evening. A concert in the pavilion Friday evening. Carnival rides and inflatable bouncers in the pavilion area Saturday, with free cotton candy for the kids.”
“That’s a full schedule.”
“Now that we’ve hired Rosie to take over reservations and check-ins, Hannah’s had more time to develop marketing programs. She decided we should expand our traditional Independence Day celebrations. She’s advertised it on social media and our webpage and with some flyers posted in local stores. We’re charging a small admission fee for nonguests to help with the expenses and keep down the crowds a bit. We hope the effort will pay off in future business for the marina and the diner as well as the lodgings and campgrounds. I’ve been a little late getting to the holiday decorations, but I’ll take care of that tomorrow.”
“The weekend sounds like fun. I know the girls will get a kick out of it all.”
“I hope so.” She turned to him when they reached the golf cart. “Thank you for inviting me for dinner, Garrett. I enjoyed it very much.”
“Payton seems to be in a much better mood now.”
Was that really the only reason he’d wanted her to have dinner with them? To entertain his daughters? But then again, why else? She reminded herself that she wasn’t looking to get personally involved with this overtaxed single dad, anyway.
“Well, good night,” she said, putting a hand on top of the cart in preparation for climbing behind the wheel. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the birthday party, if not before.”
She thought his gaze focused momentarily on her lips. Had they been parting after another type of outing—say, the type of date she would never have with him—the evening might well have ended with a kiss. She found her thoughts wandering into forbidden territory as she looked at his firm mouth and imagined how it would feel covering her own. Abruptly clearing her throat, she almost leaped into the golf cart.
“Good night, Garrett,” she blurted again.
She barely gave him a chance to reply before she was buzzing away.
Maggie was so busy Tuesday she didn’t have a chance to eat lunch until after two that afternoon. In addition to her usual responsibilities supervising the cleaning staff, the extra holiday-week business added quite a bit of work. She was training two new employees that week. One was an older, experienced maid; the other, a young woman named Darby Burns, had never worked in housekeeping but seemed very eager to learn.
Later, Maggie spent a couple hours inventorying and ordering supplies. She’d even hung some bunting at the motel. There was no lobby for the sixteen-unit lakeside inn—all the rooms opened to the outside, with a covered breezeway separating the two wings—so she had draped bunting on the concrete walls, adding a cheery pop of red, white and blue for guests on their way to their rooms or the ice maker and vending machines in the breezeway.
Finally taking a break, she left the motel and walked briskly to the main administrative building. Pushing through the double doors, she stepped into the big foyer, her nose twitching in response to the delicious scents of grilled sandwiches and simmering soup-of-the-day wafting from the diner.
The box of decorations and a stepladder still waited for her in the corner behind the desk, but she would resume decorating after she ate. In addition to what she and her staff had done at the motel that morning, her dad and Aaron and their small crew had been working outside, preparing the grounds for the fireworks show, concert and carnival. Her dad would fret all week about any potential damage to his immaculate landscaping.
She turned right to enter the diner. Few people were eating lunch this late in the afternoon, though three older couples probably staying in the RV grounds were chatting over soup at a large back-corner table. Two tanned, middle-aged men in Western boots and hats and faded denim sat at one end of the bar drinking coffee, probably just in from fishing.
Sarah Bell smiled from behind the counter when Maggie entered. “What can I get for you, hon?”
Sliding onto a bar stool at the other end of the counter from the fishing cowboys, Maggie replied, “I’m starving. I’ll take whatever is fast.”
“Chicken corn chowder today.”
“Perfect.”
Moments later, her aunt set a steaming bowl of soup and a square of jalapeño corn bread in front of her. Maggie dug in gratefully. She had eaten about half of her meal when she heard her name squealed from the doorway in a familiar soprano.
“It’s Maggie. Hi, Maggie!”
Swiveling on her stool, Maggie saw Garrett’s entire family entering the diner. Kix was followed by her sister, grandmother and great-grandmother. Garrett brought up the rear.
Wearing denim shorts and a pink T-shirt with pink flip-flops, her bright red hair barely confined to loosening braids, Kix dashed to Maggie’s side. “We went swimming this morning and then we had lunch and then we went for a ride in the boat and it was fun and then I said I wanted to come to the diner and Daddy said okay but I can’t have a milk shake because we’re having cake and ice cream at my party tonight and that’s too much ice cream in one day. But he said I can have a soda and maybe I can get a milk shake some other day while we’re here.”
Maggie was accustomed enough by now to Kix’s breathless, stream-of-consciousness style of conversation to follow along fairly easily. She reached out to give the girl a hug. “Happy birthday, Kix.”
Kix nearly strangled her with her enthusiastic return embrace. “Thanks, Maggie. It’s been the best birthday ever! I’m eleven now. Almost a teenager!”
Garrett gave a heartfelt groan.
“I’m sure my aunt Sarah can arrange for you to have a soda. I recommend the cherry Italian soda. It’s my favorite,” Maggie said with a smile, gently disentangling herself from Kix’s arms.
Sarah agreed cheerily. “Have a seat and I’ll fix you right up.”
Garrett and the girls had been into the diner during summer swimming and boating visits, but this was the first time the older members of his family had joined them at the resort. Maggie wasn’t sure how much that had to do with the long-standing rivalry between her grandmother and Garrett’s.
On Maggie’s recommendation, everyone requested cherry sodas except Garrett, who ordered coffee. They settled at a table near the bar, pulling up an extra chair so Kix and Payton could crowd together on one side. Sarah served glasses of fizzy pink soda topped with dollops of fresh whipped cream and cherries. Garrett chuckled when she slipped him a cherry to accompany his plain black coffee. He bit the candied fruit off the stem, then set the stem aside.
Maggie turned sideways so she could visit with the family while she finished her lunch. She didn’t actually have to stop eating to talk. Hyper with excitement about her special day, Kix rattled on almost without stopping to take sips of her soda. Her upper lip dotted with whipped cream, she told Maggie about the special breakfast they’d had—her favorite cinnamon-apple French toast—and about the wildlife they’d seen during their cruise around the lake. Payton managed to break in a few times to talk, and the older women chatted a bit with Sarah.
Maggie listened to it all, keenly aware of Garrett quietly sipping his coffee while his family talked. It seemed that every time she glanced at him he was looking back at her. Probably just coincidence, but each time she looked away quickly, making an effort to appear casual about it. She was entirely too drawn to him, especially considering he was sitting there with his daughters, two of the primary reasons that nothing was likely to come from her attraction to him. She and Garrett were unlikely ever to be more than casual friends. Which didn’t mean she couldn’t fantasize a little….
“Are you working this afternoon?” Kix asked her a bit too casually. “Daddy said we can’t bother you if you’re working, but if you aren’t, maybe you want to play games with us or something? We brought our tennis rackets and a basketball and a volleyball and some board games for if it rains but it’s really nice today and not rainy at all, so …”
“Kix,” Garrett murmured.
“I know.” She sighed heavily. “Breathe.”
“Right.”
Maggie couldn’t help laughing. “I would love to play with you, Kix, and I promise I’ll try sometime while you’re here, but this afternoon I’m helping decorate the lobby for the festivities this weekend. We’re starting in just a few minutes. I’ll be there this evening for your birthday cake, though.”
Though she’d initially looked disappointed, Kix’s face lit up. “I love to decorate. Can I help? And Payton, too?”
“Kix,” her dad said quickly, “you’d be in the way. Why don’t we shoot some hoops instead?”
“I wouldn’t get in the way,” Kix argued, looking at Maggie with hopeful eyes. “I’d do everything Maggie said and I’d help a lot.”
“They’re both welcome to help decorate if that’s how Kix wants to spend part of her birthday,” Maggie assured Garrett. “I’ll keep a close eye on them if you want to let them stay for a while.”
Kix bounced in excitement. Payton even forgot to look bored. “I like decorating, too,” she said.
Garrett’s mother frowned. “I thought we were all going to spend time together this week.”
Maggie wondered immediately if she’d made a mistake inviting the girls to help her decorate. Their grandmother looked so disapproving that she couldn’t help asking herself if she’d made a gaffe.
Garrett must have sensed her discomfort. He gave her a slight shake of his head, then addressed his mother. “You and Meemaw both said you’d like to take a nap this afternoon before the birthday party. You weren’t expecting the girls to watch you sleep, were you?”
His mother cleared her throat. “Well, no, but I thought you would be doing something with the girls.”
He turned to Kix. “You can help for a little while, if Maggie is sure you won’t be in the way, but I expect you to follow her instructions to the letter. I’m leaving my cell number with her and I want her to call me if there are any problems. I’ll be back to collect you in time for you to wash up and have dinner before the birthday party.”
“Don’t go wandering off,” their grandmother added, still looking anxious. “Stay in the building with Miss Maggie. And don’t be climbing any ladders or handling anything electrical. And—”
“Give it a rest, Paulette,” Esther ordered. “They’ll be fine.”
Garrett drained the last of his coffee and stood. “Come on, let’s get you two down for your naps. And I’m not talking to the kids.”
Maggie bit her lip to prevent a grin, which probably would not be appreciated by his mother. Garrett paid for the beverages, gave Maggie his phone number, reminded his daughters one last time to be good, then ushered the older women toward the door.
They had almost made it out when Maggie’s cousin Shelby and their grandmother entered. Maggie fancied that she could almost feel the tension settle into the room. The two cowboys at the other end of the bar glanced around as if sensing an impending shootout.
Telling herself not to be silly, she shook her head and stood with a bright smile. “Mimi, you remember the McHale family, don’t you? Today is Kix’s eleventh birthday. She and her sister, Payton, are going to help us decorate for a while.”
She congratulated herself on thinking to casually mention Kix’s birthday. Surely the older women could set their differences aside to avoid any unpleasantness on such a happy occasion. Mimi had always been gracious enough to Garrett and the girls on the few times they’d crossed paths, despite their connection to her enemy.
Her ploy worked. Both Mimi and Esther immediately forced their stern mouths into somewhat softer lines.
“Hello, Esther,” Mimi said coolly.
“Dixie,” Esther replied with a curt nod, her tone just as frosty.
“Happy birthday, Kix,” perky blonde Shelby said, characteristic warmth in her smiling blue eyes when she turned to the youngest McHale. “We’re going to have fun decorating. I’m glad you’re joining us.”
Grinning ear to ear, Kix expressed her eagerness to get started. Paulette was still fussing at the girls to be careful when Garrett finally ushered her out.
Mimi shook her head as she watched the trio leave. “That grandmother of yours is a worrywart, isn’t she, girls?”
“Mimi,” Maggie murmured in warning, dragging her attention back to the room. Maybe she’d gotten a bit distracted watching Garrett leave, but now she had to make sure her own tactless grandmother didn’t say anything to distress the girls.
“She’s right, Maggie,” Payton said with a heavy sigh. “Grammy worries about everything. She drives us crazy.”
“Crazy,” Kix echoed with a fervent nod.
“That just means she loves you very much,” Sarah said briskly, silently daring her mother-in-law to continue that particular conversation. “Kix, maybe you’d like to help me put up some decorations here in the dining room? I have some flag decals for the windows and some little flags in vases for the tables and some bunting to hang behind the counter. I can work with you now since there are no customers at the moment.”
Kix looked thrilled to work in the diner. Knowing her aunt would enjoy working with the girl, Maggie led Payton into the foyer to get started in there. She tucked Garrett’s phone number into her pocket before opening the first box.
Chapter Three
With his mother and grandmother napping and his daughters busy decorating, Garrett took advantage of the time alone and the nice weather for a brisk walk around the resort. It was a sunny afternoon but a nice breeze kept it from feeling too hot, and he enjoyed the outing. Usually he ran several miles a day, a way of staying in shape and working out some of his frustrations, but today he settled for walking at a fast clip around the perimeter of the resort, probably a couple miles in total.
Leaving the cabin, he veered right, in the opposite direction from the marina. After entering through the front gate, the main road formed a big rectangle within the resort. It passed the pavilion and playground, then the motel and the first three of the eight detached cabins before leading to the main building housing the diner, store, offices and marina. Next, one would drive past the boat launch and day-use picnic and swimming area, the row of cabins that included the one in which Garrett’s family was staying, and then into the campgrounds. RV pads with water and electricity lay along the lakeside and lined the two smaller roads that bisected the resort. Wooded tent-camping grounds were located in the center of the compound, still within view of the glittering water.
Even on this weekday the lake was filled with boaters, skiers, personal watercraft and swimmers. He spotted one distant sailboat, its sails white against the blue sky. The campgrounds weren’t yet full, but he passed quite a few elaborate RVs with hydraulic extensions and awnings and smaller vehicles that had been pulled behind with tow bars. Some had maybe stopped for a night or two on their way to the Gulf coast, he figured, noting license tags from Oklahoma, Nebraska and Arkansas. Others were perhaps regulars who came to fish and visit with camping friends and otherwise escape the daily grind.
A young couple on bicycles, the man with a toddler in a seat on the back of his bike, passed in the other direction, exchanging waves and casual greetings with Garrett. A large, barrel-chested man walking a Chihuahua on a sparkly leash tipped his ten-gallon hat when he and Garrett crossed paths. “How’s it going?”
“Good, thanks,” Garrett answered. “You?”
“Ridin’ high, thankee. Here for some fishing?”
Having been raised in Texas, Garrett was accustomed to garrulous strangers striking up conversation. “Here with my kids for the week.”
“Well, ain’t that nice. You have a good ‘un.”
“Same to you.”
“Let’s go, Prissy,” the big man said to his wandering little dog, giving a slight tug on the leash.
Smiling, Garrett continued on his way.
Looping around the end of the resort, he started up the other side toward the marina. The tent grounds were on his left now, woods on his right. On the other side of those trees, accessed by a private drive, were the homes of the Bell family. He’d never been into the private compound, but Maggie had once mentioned that three houses and four manufactured homes housed the various family members who worked in the resort. One of the mobile homes belonged to Hannah, who used it when she and her husband and baby were here. The others belonged to Maggie and Shelby and Steven, who’d held on to his place here even though he was pursuing career goals elsewhere.
Not for the first time, he wondered what it had been like for Maggie growing up here, and whether she had any professional goals beyond working for the resort for the rest of her life. Not that he considered that an unworthy ambition in itself. He was simply curious about her. Very curious.
Just as he reached the Private Drive sign, a heavy-duty green utility cart paused at the end of the drive. He nodded when he recognized Aaron Walker in the driver’s seat. He’d met Aaron a couple of times and he seemed like a decent guy.
Dark-haired, dark-eyed Aaron leaned out of the cart to shake Garrett’s hand. “Nice to see you,” he said. “Enjoying your stay?”
“Very much, thanks. We took the boat out for a while earlier. The girls saw a couple of herons and egrets and a raccoon at the edge of the water. Kix especially loves seeing wildlife.”
“Go out early and you’re likely to see some deer in the coves.”
“I’ll take her out tomorrow morning. Maybe fish a little.”
They dawdled a few more minutes, talking about the most likely nearby spots for Kix to catch a fish, then Aaron had to move on. He and Bryan were stringing red, white and blue lights on the pavilion this afternoon, he explained. The back of the cart was filled with supplies he’d brought from storage. “You need a lift?”
Garrett shook his head. “Thanks, but I’m enjoying the walk.”
Aaron pulled his green resort cap down on his forehead. “See you around.”
Garrett waited until the cart buzzed away before walking on. He figured he might as well go straight to the main building and get the girls. It had been almost two hours since he’d left them, and Maggie was probably ready to get them out of her hair.
He knew his girls would get a kick out of the upcoming festivities. They’d been in surprisingly cheerful moods so far today, despite Payton’s inability to resist the occasional dig at his excessive rules—in her opinion. Maybe Kix’s idea of a family retreat, while unexpected, had been a good one after all. He had to admit there had been too much tension in his house lately as the girls had rebelled in their own ways against his stricter expectations than they’d had with their mother. The methods he’d used as an air force major to supervise young airmen didn’t seem to work nearly as well with a couple of adolescent daughters.
Stepping through the entry door, he saw that the lobby was already transformed from when he’d left. Flags and bunting festooned nearly every surface. Payton and Kix, assisted by Shelby, seemed to be looking for places to add even more. Maggie’s mom stood in the doorway of the store, watching the activities with a smile while keeping an eye on the few customers browsing among her shelves. Patriotic decals clung to the glass walls of the diner and store. Through the decorated glass he could see that business was picking up as the early dinner crowd shuffled in.
He didn’t see Maggie at first. And then he spotted her behind the counter, precariously balanced on a stepladder as she stretched up to place one last bunting rosette high on the wall. Shaking his head, he moved to steady the ladder, wondering why no one else had thought to do so. She smiled down at him. “Your cheeks are flushed.”
“I’ve been walking. The wind is picking up a bit.”
He stood eye level with her breasts, something he was trying hard to ignore. Being the healthy male that he was, he wasn’t doing a particularly good job of it. They were so nicely outlined by her purple wrap top. He kept his eyes focused upward on her face instead—which wasn’t exactly a hardship. “You’ve gotten a lot done since I left.”
She straightened the rosette in the bare space she’d been trying to fill. “We’ve had some good helpers. The girls worked very hard.”
That didn’t surprise him. Once his daughters became enthused about something, they gave it their all. Maggie started down the ladder and he put a hand on the small of her back to steady her. It was an automatic gesture he made without thinking. Yet when he felt the warmth of her through her clothing, felt the curve of her spine beneath his hand, felt the ripple of muscle when she climbed down, his entire body reacted with a surge of awareness that caught him off guard. He dropped his hand almost too abruptly, stepping back quickly out of her way.
“Too bad we don’t hang mistletoe for Independence Day,” Kix said, wide-eyed and innocent as she gazed at them. “It’s fun hanging mistletoe at Christmastime, right?”
Garrett raised an eyebrow. Surely his daughter wasn’t suggesting he should kiss Maggie?
Maggie chuckled. “I don’t think we want to deal with mistletoe year-round, Kix. My grandfather would try to hang out here in the lobby and kiss all the pretty girls who come in.”
Shelby laughed musically. “You’ve got that right. Pop does like to flirt.”
Payton and Kix stood in the center of the lobby to look around critically. “Does it look good, Maggie?” Payton asked. “Miss Linda, do you see any empty places?”
Maggie and her mother made a show of studying the room from every angle, tilting their heads and narrowing their eyes. Both declared it to be perfect, an opinion solemnly endorsed by Shelby and Rosie.
“This must be the most patriotic resort lobby in all of Texas,” Maggie added, reaching for the two big boxes that had held decorations.
“Let me help you with those,” Garrett offered.
Maggie smiled at him over the armload. “I’m just taking them upstairs to the storage room.”
He relieved her of the stack without giving her a chance to protest. Shrugging, she turned and led the way upstairs.
It was the first time Garrett had been upstairs in the big building. He noted the tidy office spaces, the well-organized storage rooms filled with supplies and seasonal decorations and the sweeping view of the marina and the lake from big back windows. There was very little clutter and no dust that he could see; he’d bet Maggie was the one responsible for that. Cabin six had been immaculate when he and his family had settled in, and he’d once overheard two Sunday-morning resort guests agree that the motel was one of the cleanest lodgings they’d ever patronized. He suspected she supervised her staff closely but fairly. He already knew she didn’t shy away from hard work herself—just one more thing he found to admire about Maggie Bell.