He’s always been the one...

She’s always been just a friend!

Grace Beverly spent years hopelessly in love with her best friend, Billy Austin. Now he’s back in Eagle’s Rest, Colorado, determined to provide the best life possible for his four-year-old daughter. He’s just not sure how. Helping Billy navigate the world of parenting is a one-way ticket back to heartache. Yet how can Grace say no to her oldest friend?

PATRICIA JOHNS writes from Alberta, Canada. She has her Hon. BA in English literature and currently writes for Mills & Boon’s Love Inspired and Heartwarming lines. You can find her at patriciajohnsromance.com.

Also By Patricia Johns

A Baxter’s Redemption

The Runaway Bride

A Boy’s Christmas Wish

Her Lawman Protector

Montana Twins

Her Cowboy’s Twin Blessings

Comfort Creek Lawmen

Deputy Daddy

The Lawman’s Runaway Bride

The Deputy’s Unexpected Family

His Unexpected Family

The Rancher’s City Girl

A Firefighter’s Promise

The Lawman’s Surprise Family

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Falling for the Cowboy Dad

Patricia Johns

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09111-4

FALLING FOR THE COWBOY DAD

© 2019 Patricia Johns

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

“I was a good friend!” Billy said.

“Exactly,” Grace replied quietly. “You were a great friend.”

Billy was silent, his expression softening.

“A fantastic buddy,” she went on. “And I was just as silly as those other women who were groveling after you, or maybe more so. I had a good thing with you, but I wanted more...”

“You...” The word came out in a breath, and he stared at her, dark eyes moving over her face inch by inch as if looking for a chink in her armor. A smile flickered as if he thought she were joking, then it dropped away.

“Was there a guy I didn’t know about...?” he started.

Tracy had said what she wanted plainly, and Grace had always held back... Maybe it was time to stop that.

“I wanted more with you.” The words were so quiet, as if she almost wished he wouldn’t hear them. But he froze, and she couldn’t read his expression anymore.

Dear Reader,

I went to high school in a picturesque mountain town in the Canadian Rockies, so it’s a special treat for me to revisit the mountains in my Home to Eagle’s Rest miniseries. Life is slower in the mountains, and you gauge the seasons by the tourists and the snow line on the mountainside. When I created this little town, it felt like coming home in a lot of ways, and I settled right in. I hope you do, too!

If you’d like to see more of my books, you can find me online at patriciajohnsromance.com. I’m also on Facebook and Twitter and love to hear from my readers.

Patricia Johns

To my husband, who lies in bed with me at night, listening to me talk about

fictional characters. I love you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

GRACE BEVERLY TACKED the last finger painting to the corkboard, then stepped down off the footstool. She smoothed her hands over her hips and surveyed her work. This classroom wasn’t hers—not officially. She was only covering for the full-time preschool teacher’s maternity leave, and she had a little over two weeks left here. But she’d gotten attached to this classroom with the sand table, the reading carpet in the middle, the puppet theater in the corner...and the twenty-three little live wires she was teaching every day.

Grace had grown up in Eagle’s Rest, Colorado, and she’d come back for this temporary job. Teaching positions were hard to come by lately, and she hoped some experience on her résumé would help with that. In three weeks, she’d be covering another maternity leave in Denver, and she’d applied for multiple full-time positions for September, but there would be hundreds of applicants. She needed a full-time teaching position if she was going to have any kind of financial stability, but her chances were slim. Fingers crossed.

Grace picked up an errant hand puppet and returned it to the proper box. Then she pulled her fingers through her long chestnut waves. By the end of a day with twenty-three preschoolers, her feet ached in her high heels, but her heart was full.

A tap on the door drew her attention, and she turned as the school principal came into the room. Mrs. Mackel was middle-aged and had a kind smile. The principal had a little blonde girl at her side—a wisp of a thing with big blue eyes and small hands clutched in front of her.

“Hello, Miss Beverly,” Mrs. Mackel said with a smile. “We have a new student starting tomorrow, and she and her dad wanted to say hello.”

“Hi there,” Grace said with a smile. “I’m Miss Beverly, and it looks like I’m the lucky teacher, doesn’t it?”

A small smile tickled the corners of the little girl’s mouth. But those round blue eyes remained solemn and cautious.

“What’s your name?” Grace asked softly.

There was silence from the child, but a deep voice behind the principal said, “Poppy Austin.”

Grace froze, her heart skipping a beat, then hammering to catch up. Her gaze whipped up as a familiar man stepped into the room. “Billy?”

“Hey.” He smiled, that same lopsided grin of his that had always made her melt. He was tall and lanky, with broad shoulders and dark brown eyes... He pulled his cowboy hat off, revealing close-cropped hair, and tucked the hat under one arm. “When they said Grace Beverly was teaching preschool, I couldn’t believe my luck.”

“Yes, well...” Grace looked toward the principal, who was watching them with a mildly curious expression. “Billy and I were friends,” she explained.

“Well, I’ll let you catch up, then,” Mrs. Mackel said with a nod. “Poppy here is starting in your class tomorrow, and she’s had a lot of change lately. So we’ll have to take that into account.” To Billy, she said, “But I think she’ll have a wonderful time in Miss Beverly’s room.” Then Mrs. Mackel bent down to Poppy’s level. “And you can come say hello to me any time you like.”

“Okay,” Poppy whispered.

Mrs. Mackel straightened herself and shook Billy’s hand. “Feel free to stop by if you have any more questions, Mr. Austin.”

Billy thanked her, and Mrs. Mackel left the classroom. Silence closed around them, and Grace regarded her old friend. It had only been three years since she’d seen him last, but he’d aged. There was a sprinkling of premature gray at his temples, and some lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

“What do you mean, we were friends,” Billy said. “You’re talking like that friendship is in the past.”

It was in the past, but maybe Billy was the last to figure that out. When Billy left town with Grace’s best friend, Tracy, three years ago, Grace had made the painful choice to cut contact with both of them. It wasn’t the easiest decision, but it was probably the healthiest. She’d been in love with Billy from afar for too long, and watching him build a life with the vivacious Tracy—that was too much. Grace doubted that either of them had noticed when she stopped talking to them.

“Sorry, I’m just surprised to see you,” Grace replied.

“So, you’re teaching here now?” Billy asked.

“I’m covering a maternity leave. The regular teacher will be back in two weeks,” Grace said. “Mrs. Mackel mentioned a lot of change for Poppy, so I’m afraid there will be a little more...” Grace looked down at the girl, who was looking around the classroom, her thoughts spinning to catch up. A daughter...? Where had she come from? “Billy, I had no idea—”

Billy cleared his throat and glanced down at Poppy. “Neither did I, but I think Poppy and I are going to be okay. Don’t you think, kiddo?”

The little girl looked up mutely at her father, and he shot her a reassuring grin.

Now was not the time to ask more questions, so Grace turned her attention to Poppy. “Would you like to see some of the fun things we have in our classroom? Come on. I’ll show you.” Grace held out a hand, and Poppy tentatively took it. “This is our sand table. It’s fun to play in, and when you feel anxious, you can use this rake to make nice lines. It feels good. Do you want to try?”

Poppy took the rake and made some slow strokes across the sand. “Will I learn things?”

“All sorts of things!” Grace said. “We’re learning our colors, and our animals—”

“Daddy said I can learn calculus,” she said softly.

“Your daddy is a funny guy.” Grace chuckled, but when she looked up, Billy hadn’t cracked a smile.

“That’s the thing...” Billy nodded toward the other side of the room. “Can we talk over there?”

Grace glanced between Billy and Poppy. Billy as a dad—it was hard to imagine. Besides, Billy had gotten together with Tracy three years ago, and this child would be at least four... Grace followed Billy to the other side of the room. “What’s going on, exactly?” she asked quietly.

“She’s...” Billy shrugged. “She’s smart.”

“They all are, Billy,” Grace replied with a small smile. “Way smarter than adults give them credit for.”

“No, I mean, like...crazy smart,” Billy said, locking her down with his dark gaze. “Here’s the thing. Her mother announced I had a daughter and dumped her on my doorstep on the same day. Carol-Ann and I only dated for a summer, five years ago—remember when I went to work that ranch in South Colorado? Anyway, I had no idea she’d gotten pregnant. She tracked me down in Denver, said she had this modeling gig she couldn’t pass up and told me it was my turn with Poppy. Carol-Ann is in Germany right now.”

“Modeling, apparently,” Grace said dryly.

“Apparently.”

They exchanged a look, and for a split second, it felt like the old days, when she and Billy were best friends and could finish each other’s sentences. Before he fell in love with Tracy. She tore her gaze away from him.

“Wow...” Grace cleared her throat. “So, where is Tracy, then?”

“Tracy left me when she found out about all of this,” Billy replied. “That’s why I’m back in Eagle’s Rest. I need help. I can’t raise a daughter alone, so I came home. And it turns out that Poppy is strangely brilliant. She’s only four, and she reads anything she can get her hands on. You know me—I never was the intellectual sort. I have no idea what else I can teach her, and I’ve only had her for two weeks! She’s desperate to learn and she misses her mom something fierce.” Billy heaved a sigh. “I was joking about the calculus, but she wasn’t. I don’t know what to say.”

“Tracy left you?” Grace’s emotions were still stuck on that part of his story. Her best friend had known about her feelings for Billy, but when Billy showed interest in Tracy, all bets were off. She’d sopped him up like gravy with a dinner roll, and the couple had moved to Denver. It all happened so fast, Grace’s head had spun.

“I’m not saying Tracy and I were on great terms before Carol-Ann showed up, and I guess it was the last straw. She said she hadn’t signed on to be a stepmom.” He shrugged weakly, and when he looked across the room toward his daughter, Grace saw the tenderness in his eyes. His chiseled features softened into a look of protective pride.

“You’re smitten,” Grace said.

“Yeah...” Billy smiled, then glanced back toward Grace. “I’m a dad. Can you believe that? It’s pretty huge.”

“It really is,” she agreed. “And she’s adorable.”

He nodded. “Honestly, I’m here to give Poppy a stable life. Social services is going to check in on me to make sure everything is running smoothly, and I guess they’ll be judging my parenting abilities, too.”

“You’ll be fine,” she said.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” he retorted. “None. First of all, she’s a little girl! I hardly know how to deal with women, let alone the pint-size version. And she’s just so smart...”

“You’ll do what everyone else does,” she replied with a shrug. “You’ll figure it out.”

They exchanged another look, one that made Grace’s heart squeeze in her chest. He’d always been able to make her feel that way. There was something about those dark eyes, his playful smile, his cheeky banter... But no matter how he made her heart flutter, she’d just been “good old faithful Grace” to him. She’d been there for him through thick and thin, and he’d never once seen her as more than a friend. She’d never told him how she felt.

“I’m just really glad to see you, Gracie,” Billy said with a smile. “I missed you.”

It wasn’t fair, because when he said he missed her, he meant it in a casual sense. He missed having that loyal friend always ready to hang out with him, help him out when he was in a bind and watch movies with him on a weekend. He missed the friendship, but she missed something much deeper than a pal—she missed him, his heart. His way of seeing things, the way he’d lean close and nudge her with his elbow when he was making a joke...

She pulled her mind out of the past and forced a smile. “I’ve got two weeks here, and then I’m heading back to the city.”

It was a reminder for herself as much as for him, because she was going to keep him firmly at arm’s length. Billy Austin was her weakness, and she wasn’t willing to lose her heart to him all over again. She’s spent too many years in love with the man, only to watch him fall for the more beautiful, funnier, more spirited Tracy Ellison. Grace had learned a lot through that process—the most important lesson being that she was tired of being the best friend. She was tired of being seen as a buddy instead of as a woman. And she wasn’t going to apologize for her figure, her looks, her personality or anything else about her that shuffled her off to the friend zone over and over again with Billy Austin.

It was a painful lesson, but a necessary one. Grace was a different woman now, and if Billy thought they could just pick up where they’d left off, he’d better think again.

* * *

“DADDY, COME SEE!” Poppy called from the sand table.

Daddy. It still felt weird to be called that, but Billy liked it more than he ever imagined he would. He was this little girl’s dad—the muscle-bound bodyguard who stood between her and an unfair world.

Billy glanced over at Grace. It was really good to see her again. With that glossy brown hair tumbling around her shoulders, her sparkling blue eyes and a soft, round figure that made him think things he really shouldn’t associate with his oldest buddy.

Had she changed somehow since he’d seen her last? He didn’t remember her being quite so...womanly. They’d been friends through elementary school and junior high. After he dropped out of high school, they’d reconnected when Grace was working at the cheap restaurant where he went for dinner after his ranch chores. They’d liked the same movies and she had a quick wit when it came to tearing apart the ones they didn’t like. She’d also enjoyed horseback riding, and he used to take her out on the ranch where he worked on his days off. She was easy to talk to, and she’d had good advice when it came to his girlfriend problems.

After he and Tracy moved to Denver, he’d somehow lost touch with Grace. He’d tried calling a couple of times, but he’d gotten nothing back. And if he could read better, he would have tried to reach out online, but he struggled with reading, and he pretended he was just old-fashioned to hide that fact. It would have been nice to get some of her advice when things were falling apart with Tracy. Whatever—they’d drifted apart. But he’d missed Grace more than he should have, and more than Tracy liked.

“Daddy!” Poppy’s tone got more reproachful. She was already used to making him jump.

Billy crossed the room to his daughter’s side and looked down at the lines she was raking in the sand.

“Very pretty,” he said.

“Read it!” she said excitedly.

His heart stuttered, and he forced another smile. Easy enough for Poppy to say, but he couldn’t make out any letters in her raking, and even if he could... “Um...why don’t you read it to me?”

“It says Hi Dad. See? And that there says unicorn. And that there says pancake.”

“Yeah, yeah, there it is.” He glanced over at Grace, and she was looking down into the sand, not at him, thankfully. Her eyebrows climbed, and her gaze flickered toward Billy.

“Very nice, Poppy,” Grace said, but there was surprise in her voice. It looked like Poppy had done something right.

“I would have written a whole letter, but there’s no space,” Poppy said.

“Here.” Grace grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. “Do you want to try on this?”

“Okay...” Poppy settled down at a table. She’d written him a few stories over the last few days—but whether she could actually spell and all that, he had no idea. For as long as Billy could remember, whenever he looked at a page of writing, the letters just jumbled together without meaning. They got mixed up between the page and his head. There’d been a good reason he’d dropped out of school in the tenth grade—he couldn’t fake it any longer.

“So, how much can she do, exactly?” Grace asked.

“I’m not sure,” Billy said with a faint shrug. “I don’t even know where to start. I was hoping you’d have an idea.”

“Does she just have an interest in certain words, and you’ve shown her how to spell them, or is this something more? Do you read to her?”

“No, I don’t read to her a lot,” he confessed. Not at all, more truthfully.

“Is she reading on her own?”

“She reads anything she can get her hands on, from the microwave instruction manual to the cereal boxes.”

“Well, there are several tests I can give to find out her reading levels. What’s she like with numbers and math?”

“She corrected the cashier at the grocery store the other day,” he said.

“And she’s four, you say?”

“Four,” he confirmed.

“Wow.” She shook her head. “That’s something. You’re going to have your hands full, Billy. The smarter they are, the more demanding they are. They don’t know how to satisfy their own intellectual curiosity yet, and they wait for adults to provide it.”

“Great.” Billy scraped a hand through his hair. That was going to be a problem, because he wasn’t going to be much use to the kid, unless he could show her how to fix an engine or ride a horse. He’d tried reading her a book the other day, just making up the story as he went along. He thought he was telling a pretty good one, but Poppy got furious with him for “messing up all the words.” She wanted accuracy, and he couldn’t give that.

“Daddy, how you spell extra special beautiful?” Poppy asked from her seat at the little table.

“Just do your best,” Grace said. “Let’s see if you can get close on your own, okay? I don’t mind if you spell stuff wrong. It’s the trying that counts.”

That was a good answer—he’d have to remember that one. So far, Poppy didn’t know how limited his own education had been, and he wanted to keep it that way. No man wanted to give up hero status in his own child’s eyes.

“Sorry,” Grace said with a bashful look. “I’m curious to see what she can do when you don’t help her. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” he said. The truth was, he’d hidden his reading problem from Grace, too, and he wasn’t in any rush to fess up.

“Does she get this from your side of the family?” Grace asked with an impish smile.

Billy barked out a laugh. “Now you’re just being mean. And unless Carol-Ann was hiding some genius, I have no idea where that little brain cropped up.”

“Her mom... Carol-Ann never mentioned it when she dropped her off?” Grace pressed.

“Nope. I have to say, I had more immediate questions than how well she read.”

He could still remember that last goodbye between mother and daughter. Seeing the shock and heartbreak in his daughter’s big blue eyes had shredded his heart, and he didn’t even know Poppy yet. Carol-Ann had promised that she’d be back, but Billy had seen the lie in Carol-Ann’s eyes. Was she telling the truth about Germany, or was she just walking away from her responsibilities?

Billy had been raised by an uninterested mother, so maybe he and Poppy had a few things in common. But he was determined he’d be the parent Poppy could count on for the rest of her life. No more betrayals. No more people she loved walking out on her. Billy was the end of the line here—and he’d be the superhero she needed to feel safe, whatever the cost.

“I’m done!” Poppy hopped up from her seat and brought the page over to Billy. He looked over it, pausing for the amount of time it seemed to take other people read a page of print, then passed it to Grace.

She took it from his hands, her soft fingers brushing his.

“This is very sweet,” Grace said, then nudged Billy’s arm. “Isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he said with a curt nod. “Sure is.”

He wished he could take it home and spend some time poring over it. Sometimes he could sort out the short words. Poppy had filled the page with her diagonally slanted lines of printing, and he wished he knew what she’d so lovingly put onto that page.

“Do you mind if I hold on to this?” Grace asked. “I’d like to show Mrs. Mackel.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, pulling his eyes off the page, trying to push away that welling sense of disappointment. This was a good thing—Grace would show the principal, and the school would know just how smart his little girl was. Then they could give her that much-needed challenge that he didn’t know how to provide.

“Thank you.” Grace shook her head and shot him a grin. “She sure loves you, doesn’t she?”

What had Poppy written?

“I hope so,” he said uncertainly.

“Well, I think we can see how much she does,” Grace said, tapping the paper on her hand. “Poppy, this is really well done. I think you’re going to have a lot of fun in our classroom. Are you looking forward to meeting the other kids?”

Poppy squirmed, glanced around the room and then cast Billy an anxious frown. “I want to stay with Daddy...”

Billy squatted down next to her and looked into those worried little eyes. She’d had her mom walk out on her recently. And then she’d watched a big fight between Billy and Tracy, and Tracy had packed her bags... It was no wonder she was anxious. Let alone the fact he was virtually a stranger.

“You’re worried I’ll leave and not come back,” he said frankly.

Poppy froze, eyed him for a moment, then nodded slowly.

“Thing is, Poppy,” he said quietly. “I’m your daddy. I didn’t know about you before this, but now that I do, you don’t have to worry about me taking off. I’m here to stay. I’ll always pick you up after school, and I’ll make you your supper, and I’ll tuck you into bed, and I’ll probably always read the stories wrong, too. You can count on all of that.”

“You mess up the words,” Poppy whispered.

Billy chuckled and gathered her into his arms. She was as light and ferocious as a cat, and she inspired a protective surge inside him every time he looked at her. She was his.

“Do I?” he joked. “Well, I think my way is better.”

“It’s not,” she said with a shake of her head.

“Still—I’m the one guy you can trust to never tell you a lie, okay? And I’ll always pick you up after school. That’s a promise.”

Poppy was silent for a moment, and Billy stood up, lifting her with him. She was holding on to his shirt in one little fist. Neither of them wanted to let go of the other. He caught a mist of emotion in Grace’s eyes as she watched them.

Grace...beautiful and smart, and always several levels above the likes of him. He’d known that from the start. Her dad was a doctor; her mom was an accountant. She’d been raised to expect the best out of life, and Billy had known from the start that he was a far cry from what Grace deserved. Hell, Poppy deserved more than he could offer, too, but that was life. Sometimes you got the short end of the stick. Right now, his deepest wish was to maintain whatever respect Grace still had for him, and hopefully both Grace and Poppy could stay in the dark about his limitations.

“We should probably head out,” Billy said. “I think Poppy and I could use an ice cream.”

Poppy’s eyes lit up. This kid was easily bought, and that was a good thing. He needed every brownie point he could get.

“Thank you for coming by,” Grace said, and her gaze caught his for a moment.

“Grace...” He paused in the doorway. “It’s really good to see you again.”

It was more than “good”; it was a strange relief, like coming home in a whole new way. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed her over the last few years. She’d been an anchor in his life when he’d needed it most, and it looked like he was going to need her again. She cleared her throat and dropped her gaze, breaking the moment between them.

Maybe she hadn’t missed him...

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Poppy,” Grace said.

Billy dropped his cowboy hat back on his head, and he headed out into those familiar old Eagle’s Rest Elementary School hallways. Hopefully this school would do better by his daughter than it ever did by him.

CHAPTER TWO

GRACE PARKED HER car behind her mother’s SUV and turned off the engine. Coming back to Eagle’s Rest had been filled with reconnections, but meeting up with Billy was different. Billy was supposed to be safely out of the picture. She wanted to smooth layer after layer of life over the hole he’d left in her heart. He belonged to the past. Her mind was still spinning, and her emotions hadn’t caught up.

“Just over two weeks left...” she murmured. And while before that had meant relief at getting back to her apartment in the city again—the quiet, her own routines—now it was taking on a whole new urgency. It had felt good to see Billy again—too good. And she’d come too far to let herself slip into that place where she didn’t feel pretty enough or interesting enough to capture the heart of the one man she loved. Not again!

Grace got out of her car, slamming the door behind her, and headed toward the side door. Someone had thrown down some salt, but the driveway and sidewalk were still slick. She could smell something cooking as she opened the door...but it wasn’t the same, familiar smell of cooking from her childhood. This was different, and had been ever since her mother had retired.

“You’re home,” her mother said as Grace came inside and stepped out of her boots.

Connie Beverly was a short, round woman with eyes that crinkled up and sparkled when she smiled. She wore a loose sweater over a pair of leggings, an apron tied around her ample waist and a pair of slippers. She stood by the counter with a potato masher held aloft.

“Smell this,” her mother demanded. “Seriously. Smell it.”

“I can smell it,” Grace chuckled, slipping off her coat. “That’s not mashed potatoes.”

“You’re just being a cynic now!” Connie retorted, turning back to the bowl. “It’s almost like mashed potatoes.”

Grace winced. Her mother had been saying for years that she didn’t lose weight because she worked full-time and she was too busy to bother. But this year, she’d retired and sworn that she would drop the extra weight.

Grace went over to the counter and looked down into the bowl.

“Mom, cauliflower isn’t a carb,” she said.

“That’s the point. You smash the cauliflower up to look like mashed potatoes, and you don’t miss the extra calories.”

“It looks like sadness to me.” And it smelled like boiled cauliflower.

“It looks like health and longevity.” Connie smiled in satisfaction and turned back to her cautious mashing. “You should give this a try, Gracie. Our genes being what they are—”

“Mom, please...”

It was an old conversation. They came from a long line of “big-boned” women who never had any trouble finding husbands, and whose love language was cooking. Grace had never been thin, and neither had her mom. It was easy enough to love herself, but a little harder to compete with the likes of Tracy. There were times she wished she could be naturally slender.

“You’re turning thirty next week,” her mother reminded her.

“I know,” Grace replied with a grin. “And I’ll turn thirty with real carbs, thank you very much.”

“Well... I’ll agree to that,” her mother replied. “What’s birthday cake if it isn’t sinful, right? So, how was your day?”

“Good,” Grace replied, and she flicked the switch on the electric kettle. “Actually, this afternoon, I saw Billy Austin.”

“Billy Austin?” Carol turned from the sodden cauliflower and frowned. “He’s back in town? Did you see Tracy?”

“Tracy wasn’t with him. They broke up.”

“Ah.” Her mother’s eyebrows climbed, and then she nodded. “What’s he doing back in Eagle’s Rest?”

“He found out he had a daughter, and the mother had some modeling plans in Germany, so she dumped the little girl on his doorstep. Tracy took a big step back, and he came home to raise his daughter.”

“Billy’s a dad!” Connie headed to the fridge and pulled open the door, staring into its depths. “How old is his daughter?”

“Four.”

“Wait—the mother is a model? She’s not from Eagle’s Rest, then, is she?”

Grace had done the same math. “No, it was that summer he spent working a ranch in the foothills. Remember that?”

“I remember the two of you missed each other more than you’d admit,” her mother quipped.

“Apparently he wasn’t quite so lonely,” Grace replied with a wry smile, pushing back a sense of betrayal she had no right to. They’d been friends—nothing more. Her heart in knots hadn’t been his fault.

“You were always too good for him,” Connie said. “You know that. I told you so from the start.”

Was she? Grace didn’t believe it. Billy had been fun and sweet. He might not have finished high school, but he was a hard worker, and he’d worked his way up in the ranks of any ranch that employed him. Those strong hands and laughing eyes—they’d been enough for her.

“I remember Tracy told me that she was going to make a gentleman out of him—My Fair Lady style.” Grace shook her head. “It doesn’t surprise me that she left him at the first sign of a challenge.”

“They deserved each other,” Connie retorted.

“No, he didn’t deserve that. If they could have been happy, that would have been one thing, but as soon as Tracy found out about his daughter, she walked out on him.”

“Maybe she’ll come back.”

“Maybe.” But Grace’s heart gave a squeeze at the thought. She wanted Billy to have a full and happy life, but somehow giving him up for Tracy was harder than it would have been to see him move on with some woman she’d never met. “Anyway, his little girl’s name is Poppy, and she starts in my class tomorrow.”

“Two weeks, sweetheart,” her mother said. “You probably won’t see him except for drop-off and pickup.”

The kettle started to boil, and Grace pulled down two mugs. She could get through this, but it wouldn’t be easy. The problem with Billy wasn’t just her feelings for him. Grace had learned some valuable lessons through allowing herself to fall in love with a man who didn’t reciprocate her feelings. No good could come from it! She’d spent too long hoping that he would suddenly see her in a different light and recognize that his best buddy was actually his perfect romantic match. Now she knew she’d never thought it all through.

What happened if he did see her differently? She’d still be the woman who hadn’t been enough to draw his eye for literally years’ worth of friendship. Yes, Grace was plump and round in an age of lithe models, but she didn’t suffer from low self-esteem. Everyone had a type they were attracted to. She seemed to like lanky cowboys. And Billy liked the model type. He always had. There was nothing to apologize for here.

“How did you feel seeing him again?” her mother asked, passing Grace a tin of tea bags.

“I’m okay,” Grace replied. “Billy was a good friend, and our lives have both moved on.”

“Very mature of you,” her mother said, shooting her a smile.

“Thank you. I thought so, too.”

Connie chuckled. “What is his little girl like? Does she favor him?”

“You can see him in the shape of her face... His daughter is gifted, though.”

“Are you serious?”

“It sure looks that way. She’s four, and she sat down and wrote a letter to her father about how she liked his cowboy hat. She called it ‘extra special beautiful.’ She said how she’d never had a daddy before, but she said he could use his muscles to keep her safe, and she hoped he wouldn’t go away like her mother had. She promised to be good so he wouldn’t want to. It was heart-wrenching—and perfectly punctuated.”

“At four,” Connie breathed.

They exchanged a long look.

“He’s overwhelmed,” Grace admitted, and an image of Billy came to mind—those dark eyes, the large, calloused hands, and the tender way he’d held his petite daughter in his arms. Billy might never have loved Grace, but he certainly did love that little girl.

“Gracie, it’s a good thing that you’re going back to Denver,” her mother replied. “He’s a dad now, and he’ll have to figure it out on his own. He’s always been very comfortable leaning on you as his buddy, but you can’t use up all your energy on Billy Austin again. You’ve got your own life to live.”

“I’m not trying to rescue him,” Grace replied. “I won’t go back to that.”

It wasn’t possible to love a man into loving her, and she couldn’t fill those gaps between them with her own hopes and dreams. She was going back to Denver to work her next job, and hopefully one of these days, she’d meet a guy who looked at her the same way Billy had looked at Tracy.

“Let’s see if your father notices these aren’t potatoes,” Connie said, looking down into the bowl she’d been mashing.

“He’ll notice,” Grace said with a low laugh, and she looked down into the bowl. “I think they’re getting soupy, Mom.”

“Oh...” Connie sighed.

“You don’t need to lose weight, you know,” Grace said. “You and I are soft in all the right places.”

“I’d like to have a waist, though,” her mother retorted. “And I’m determined to get one.”

Grace knew better than to argue with her mom when she was on a mission, but Grace’s most treasured memories of her mother included her soft hugs, her delectable baking and the way her chunky jewelry used to clatter when Grace would fiddle with it as a little girl. And when Grace’s father looked at her mother from across the room, Grace had always seen that look of devotion that she longed for from a man of her own.

It wasn’t about weight, because her mother had always been a beautiful woman who could light up a room with her smile and her laughter. She’d had a soft figure, an ample bosom, and she’d always taken pride in her appearance. Her parents’ marriage had been about two people who were so in love that they didn’t need anyone else.

Grace went to a bottom cupboard and pulled out the bag of potatoes. “I’ll just peel a few,” she said with a grin. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Connie looked down at the cauliflower mush in the bowl and smiled sheepishly. “I can have a cheat day, right?”

Grace would not eat cauliflower mashed into fake potatoes. Life was too short for that kind of sadness on a plate. Her life in Denver had been about more than moving on after Billy moved in with Tracy; it was about building the life she wanted—asking for what she wanted.

And tonight she wanted some comfort food and a cozy evening. It wasn’t too much to ask.

* * *

“IS MY PONYTAIL STRAIGHT?” Poppy asked as Billy pulled into a parking spot in front of the school the next morning. It had been a hurried morning. Poppy had refused to get out of bed, so getting her ready for school had been hectic. They hadn’t had anything pressing to do since he’d gotten custody of her, and this morning—his first day back on the job at Ross Ranch—was a taste of real-life parenting.

Poppy didn’t want to eat, didn’t want her hair brushed, didn’t want to wear matching clothes from the small suitcase her mom had dropped off with her. He’d given up on the last one, and this morning she wore blue tights, a pink summer dress and a second-hand Christmas sweater on top of it all. She said Mommy had bought her the sweater, and it seemed unnecessarily cruel to deny her some connection to her mom. It only occurred to him now that she’d probably be expected to play outside, and he didn’t have snow pants for her.

Billy looked over at her for a moment, considering his morning’s handiwork. He’d done his best.

“It’s not perfectly straight,” he admitted. “But it’s not bad. You look good, kiddo.”

With the rest of her ensemble, no one would be looking at her hair, anyway.

“I don’t want to go to school,” Poppy said, her eyes welling with tears.

“This is where you’ll learn the fun stuff,” he said. “A teacher can show you all sorts of things I can’t. Besides, I have to go to work while you’re at school. That’s the deal I made with Mr. Ross.”

Billy had worked at the Ross ranch before he left for Denver with Tracy, and now that he was back, Mr. Ross had been happy to offer him another job. Billy had built a reputation for himself based on his hard work. Mr. Ross understood the complication of having a little girl to take care of, so he agreed to flex-time employment—Billy would put in as many hours as he could while his daughter was at school, and he’d be paid by the hour. It was a generous offer, and one Billy didn’t want to take advantage of.

Poppy was silent, but a tear escaped and trickled down her cheek.

“Did you know that I know Miss Beverly from a long time ago?” Billy asked. “She’s my friend. So she knows how to find me if you get too lonely.”

The poor kid had dealt with so many changes lately, and he didn’t blame her for balking at this one.

“Let’s go inside,” Billy said. “I won’t leave until you’re ready, okay?”

“Okay,” Poppy consented, then looked him over. “Your hat is dirty.”

Billy pulled his hat off his head and saw a few pieces of hay stuck to some stitching. He plucked them off and dropped his hat back onto his head.

“We good?” he asked.

“You’ll do,” Poppy replied, and Billy chuckled.

“It’ll be okay,” he assured her. “You’ll see.”

The hallways were buzzing with students, and Billy walked Poppy through the school, toward Grace’s classroom. Billy had gone to this school, and his memories were filled with frustration. Every year, the work got harder, and his reading remained a colossal struggle. Everyone else could read aloud and follow instructions, while he’d take half an hour to decipher two lines, and then forget what he’d managed to read. So he gave up and put his energy into coping—got other kids to help him do his work, groomed a cocky attitude, made nice with teaching assistants who helped him to keep up with the basics so that he could be pushed forward into the next grade.

The school repeatedly told his mom that he struggled with reading, but no one quite picked up on the fact that he couldn’t read. He’d thought that was a victory. Now he wasn’t so sure. If they’d figured it out when he was young enough, maybe someone could have helped him. But at the age of thirty, how was he supposed to admit to that?

Poppy’s classroom was at the far end of the school, next to the double doors, and as Billy and Poppy approached, he saw Grace helping a student hang up a backpack almost as big as the kid was.

“Good morning,” Billy said, and Grace looked up. Her soft chocolate waves were gathered back in a loose ponytail, and the first thing he noticed was the pink in her cheeks and the shine of her lip gloss. Grace had definitely changed over the last few years—she’d never been the type to wear makeup before. And there was something different about her clothes, too, although he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. She wore a pair of fitted dress pants and a loose pink blouse, with a belt cinched at her waist. She didn’t look like she was hiding in her clothes anymore. She stood out.

“Hi!” she said, rising to her feet. “Poppy, I have a hook all set up for you with your name. This is where you’ll hang your backpack and your coat and your snow pants—”

“We, uh, don’t have those yet,” Billy said. “I’ll pick some up tonight.”

“I do have an extra pair she can borrow,” Grace said. “She’ll need them for recess. We have a special nature walk today, too, so...”

“Thanks.” He nodded quickly. “And I’ll make sure she has her own for tomorrow.”

Billy already felt like he was falling behind as a dad. The other little girls were wearing matching outfits in pink and purple. He looked down at Poppy with her red-and-green sweater, the pink dress poking out the bottom, and he felt a wash of regret. He should have fought harder when she was getting dressed this morning. The kids were going to be cruel.

“You dressed yourself!” Grace said, looking down at Poppy with a big smile. “Didn’t you?”

“Yep,” Poppy said quietly.

“You look wonderful. I can always tell a kid who likes to choose her own clothes. That’s great!”

Billy looked at Grace uncertainly. Was it great?

“I should have put up a bigger fight about that,” he murmured, and Grace shook her head.

“They’re four. The others won’t notice. And when I see a kid who insists on choosing her own clothes, I know that she’s got a strong spirit. That’s a good thing, Billy.”

“I hope so.”

“Relax. It’ll be fine.” Grace put her hands on her hips and regarded him for a moment. “Are you going to stay for a few minutes, or leave now?”

Billy looked down at Poppy and saw she was glancing nervously at the other kids. “You ready for me to go to work, Poppy?” he asked quietly.

“Nope,” she said with a shake of her head. “I don’t know these people.”

Grace smiled. “Your dad can stay for a little bit until you feel better, Poppy. Let’s go inside and I’ll introduce you to the other kids. Okay?”

Grace was different now, he realized. Maybe it was that she was the sun and the moon to a roomful of four-year-olds, but it leant her a certain air of confidence that she hadn’t had in years past. He hadn’t expected her to be any different from the pal he remembered when he heard that Grace Beverly was teaching this class, but his memories of her weren’t like this. Grace had blossomed.

As she started the day with her students, Billy found one adult-size chair next to a window and took a seat. Grace walked Poppy around the room, introducing her to the students individually and keeping her hand in the little girl’s the entire time. Poppy looked up at Grace with a flicker of a smile and big, adoring eyes. It looked to Billy like Grace was winning Poppy over.

“Good morning, friends,” Grace said. “We have a new friend joining us today. Her name is Poppy, and I already like her! Don’t you? Now, let’s all come to the story carpet, and we’ll get ready for the daily announcements and the pledge of allegiance.”

The kids spun in their places, dug toes into the carpet and a couple sat down during the pledge of allegiance. Grace went around, gently tugging them back to their feet and putting small hands over their chests. As she helped the children into the proper, respectful position, she was saying the words aloud with the principal over the loudspeaker.

“...and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible...”

Along the wall under the window, where Billy sat, there were letters of the alphabet on separate laminated sheets. Q. R. S. T. Large letters, separated by inches of wall, made the letters distinct and different in his mind. They didn’t jumble up like they did on a page, and Billy eyed them for a moment, mildly intrigued by his ability to differentiate them.

He understood the basic concept of letters, sounds and the combination turning into words. He looked around at the kids as Grace sat down in front of a large picture graph with different weather symbols on it.

“This morning is sunny,” Grace was saying. “Who can find the picture that tells us that it’s sunny?”

Most of these children wouldn’t even know their alphabets yet, but they would be introduced to the basics this year. An idea was forming itself in his mind. He wasn’t sure if he was crazy to even be considering this, but maybe he could start over.

Billy had given up on school and put his energy into avoiding the embarrassment. But maybe as his daughter learned, he could catch up on a few basics he’d missed, too. Maybe, just maybe, he could learn to read.

Billy pulled off his hat and looked down at it for a moment, trying to hide any expression that might be betraying his thoughts right now. He hadn’t changed in his desire to hide his illiteracy, but if he could really buckle down and learn how to read at long last...

It could change everything! He could apply for higher positions at the ranch. He’d figured he’d never be anything more than regular labor, but if he could read, he might be able to work his way up to ranch manager eventually. A whole new world would open up to him, a world of instructions, information and upward mobility.

And at the end of a long day, he could sit down with Poppy and he could read her a book. Instead of pretending that he was teasing her, making up stories that only frustrated her because she wanted him to read the book properly, he could do just that—read his little girl a story.

Billy’s heart hammered in his chest, and he realized that he’d zoned out there for a minute, because the kids were moving off to different corners of the room now, and Grace was coming toward him. Billy stood up, scanned the room and found Poppy at the puppet theater with another little girl, hand in hand.

“You could probably leave now,” Grace said quietly. “Poppy has a friend. She’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, of course.” He cleared his throat, feeling a little embarrassed not to have been the one to come to that conclusion first. “Sorry, I’ll get out of your hair.”

“Sometimes this is harder on the parents than the kids,” Grace said, putting a hand on his arm. In that moment, she was the old Grace again—the confiding pal who always saw the best in him.

“I’ll be back at three,” he said with a small smile.

Poppy didn’t even look up as Billy made his way out of the room, and he glanced back to see Grace turning toward her class, her figure outlined in the doorway. The same old Grace in so many ways, and yet she wasn’t. Then the door shut with a decisive click, and he heard Grace’s voice filtering out to him in the hallways.

“Michael P., let’s keep our hands to ourselves, please!”

Maybe Billy was crazy to think he could learn how to read, because that classroom door had just closed on his opportunity. Who was he fooling? He wasn’t a kid anymore, and he’d had his chance. Now it was Poppy’s turn to learn “all the fun stuff,” as he’d put it.

Still, he couldn’t quite stamp out that little spark of hope. And he glanced over his shoulder as his cowboy boots echoed down the hallway.

Maybe.

CHAPTER THREE

AS BILLY FINISHED up his work in the barn that afternoon, he glanced at his watch. It would be time to pick up Poppy from school pretty soon, and he’d been looking forward to it all day. He’d felt strange, disconcerted walking away from Poppy—like he was messing up in some fundamental way that he didn’t even know about. But that seemed to be his general feeling these days. He’d never been “good enough”—not for school, not for Grace. And now, not even to be a dad to a kid like Poppy.

What did he know about raising a little girl, especially one this smart? What did he know about parenting, period? He’d been raised by a chronically overworked mother who was more interested in finding a new man than she was in raising her son, and he’d ended up raising himself. Not terribly well, either. Frankly he was as surprised as anyone else that he was a functional adult. If he’d ended up with a boy to raise, he might have had a better idea of how to do it based on his own pitfalls, but a little girl? That was a whole other world!

One of the other ranch hands had suggested that he ask his mom about raising a girl, and Billy had laughed out loud at that one. His mom had barely managed to raise him. She wasn’t one to give advice about what kids needed. She’d been of the opinion that what didn’t kill a kid could be considered a success. And maybe he had picked up a lot of life lessons along the way, but he’d missed out on some important fundamentals, too.

Billy hung his shovel on the wall just as his cell phone rang from inside his shirt pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the number before picking up the call. It was Mr. Ross.

“You’ve got a visitor,” Mr. Ross said, then lowered his voice. “A woman from social services. She’s here at the house, if you want to come on up.”

He didn’t have much choice, so Billy hopped into his truck and rumbled on up the gravel road. His stomach felt like it was in a vice as he drove along, wondering what to expect. He’d spent a good many years avoiding raising the suspicions of social services when he was a kid. His mom had warned him repeatedly that they’d take him away if he wasn’t careful, so facing them now just felt ominous.

The main house was a two-story affair with a porch out front and a rustic fence running around the yard. Billy parked in the gravel patch just behind the house, trying to tamp down the uneasy feelings. Apparently social services had been involved with Carol-Ann in the past, so when she passed Poppy over to him, they were coming as part of the package. It only confirmed in his mind that Poppy was better off with him, as limited as his prospects were.

He turned off the engine and hopped out of the truck. Best to get this out of the way. His boots crunched over the snow as he headed to the back door.

“Here he is now,” Mr. Ross said, pushing open the screen. “How ya doing, Billy?”

“Real good, sir.”

He and his boss exchanged a look that didn’t match their cheery banter, and as he passed into the house, Mr. Ross slapped him in the shoulder.

“One of the best workers I’ve got,” the older man said. It sounded slightly over-the-top, but Billy could appreciate the intent, at least.

The social worker was a middle-aged woman with a close-cropped hairstyle and a pair of prominent, artsy glasses. She smiled cordially and put out a hand.

“Mr. Austin, I presume?” she said.

“That’s me,” Billy said, pulling off his gloves and shaking her hand. “What can I do for you?”

“My name is Isabel Burns with Colorado Child Welfare, and we’re just following up with you about Poppy,” she said.

“Okay...” He eyed her for a moment, waiting for the blow to land.

“And I wanted to see if you need any support,” she concluded.

“Like...what kind of support?” he asked. “I’ve got a job, and I can provide for my daughter, if that’s the worry. I’m going to buy some snow pants for her this afternoon. I don’t know what the school told you—”

“No, no, this has nothing to do with the school,” she replied. “But I’m glad to hear she’s enrolled. She’s—” Isabel looked down at her computer tablet “—four years old. Am I right?”

“Yeah, four,” he confirmed. “So, what do you need from me?”

“I’m here to see if I can be of any assistance to you,” Isabel replied. “Do you have any other children?”

“No, Poppy is my only child,” he replied. His child, and he didn’t like people butting in, even when he felt ridiculously overwhelmed.

“So, she’s in preschool, then?” Isabel asked.

“Yes, ma’am. Her first day is today.”

“Wonderful. I have some information about community resources we have available for young families.” She pulled a stack of brochures out of her bag. “Take a look through when you have some time. When was her last visit to the dentist?”

“I don’t know,” he confessed. “I’ve only had her for a couple of weeks. But I’ll make a few appointments once things calm down a bit.”

“That sounds good.” She smiled again. “I’d also like to set up a visit when I could chat with Poppy, and with you. Just see how things are going for you both.”

Billy repressed a grimace. “Sure. That would be fine.”

“How about in...” She consulted her tablet again. “Two weeks? That would give you both some time to settle in, and you might have a better idea if you need any extra support.”

“Sure. Two weeks.”

Isabel pulled out a business card, scratched something on the back of it and handed it over. “Would the early evening, say around seven, be less intrusive to your schedule?”

“Probably,” he agreed. “That would be fine. We’ll be here.”

“Wonderful.” So much cheeriness, but he couldn’t help narrowing his eyes.

“And if you have any questions, any problems, or think of anything that might help you out at all, don’t hesitate to call, okay? This is my job—helping with these transitions. And my interest is in making sure that kids are getting everything that they need. I’m sure we both want the same thing there.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who abandoned her,” Billy said. “I want that on the record.”

“Mr. Austin, I’m only here to help and provide support.” Her tone grew firmer, and a little less cheery.

“Okay, then,” he said.

“I look forward to seeing you both in two weeks.”

Isabel moved toward the door and slipped back into her boots, and Billy stood there in silence.

“In that stack, there is a brochure about nutrition and sleep schedules for young children. I hope those will be helpful,” she said.

“Yeah, thanks.”

Whatever she was trying to do, it wasn’t as reassuring as seemed to be her goal. With a wave, the social worker left the house and headed to a small sedan. Billy watched as the car pulled out of the drive and headed for the main road. He heard a shuffle behind him and turned toward his boss, mildly embarrassed.

“I’m sorry about that, Mr. Ross,” he said.

“It’s not a problem, Billy. You’re going to make a fine father. I have no doubt about it. They’ll see it and let you be.”

Billy sincerely hoped that Mr. Ross was right. He actually did need help. He just didn’t trust getting that help from child-welfare services. It might not be completely logical, but he was afraid that if he showed any weakness, it might give them confirmation that he wasn’t a fit parent.

And it was more than the fact that whatever that link was between a father and his daughter, Billy felt it. She was his, and he could see evidence of that in all sorts of little mannerisms. But he’d also seen his daughter struggle with her mother’s choice to leave her. There was no way he was going to let her feel that again. Poppy needed him, and he was going to be the best parent he could possibly be.

Billy looked at his watch.

“I’ve got to go pick up Poppy from school,” he said.

“You bet,” Mr. Ross replied. “Thanks for your work today.”

So maybe Billy hadn’t had much of an example of a good parent in his own life, but at the very least he could look at what his mother had done and take the opposite path. Poppy was going to come first—always. There’d be no competition between his daughter and his romantic life. He’d probably mess up a lot of things as he navigated the world of little girls, but he wouldn’t mess up that one!

* * *

“NATHANIEL, YOUR MOM is over there,” Grace said, pointing for the little boy’s benefit. “Do you see her?”

“Mommy!” And Nathaniel was off, boots thunking against cement as he ran toward his waiting mother. Grace smiled and waved. Nathaniel was the last child to leave, except for Poppy, who stood next to Grace, her thin legs poking out of her winter boots, and her eyes wide with nervous tension. Grace reached out and smoothed a hand over Poppy’s hair. She wished she could shoulder some of that anxiety for the girl—but that wasn’t possible.

“There’s your dad,” Grace said as she spotted Billy coming across the snow, toward them, feeling a flood of relief at the sight of him. Poppy needed her dad, and Grace was a poor substitute right now.

“Oh, good...” Poppy breathed.

Grace could hear the solace in that little sigh, and her heart nearly broke. This child had been bravery itself today, making new friends while eyeing the door with a forlorn look on her face.

Grace waved Billy inside, a frigid wind whipping into the school and raising goose bumps on her arms under her blouse.

“There you are, kiddo,” Billy said with a grin. “Sorry I’m a few minutes late. Somebody came by to talk to me, and she just wouldn’t leave.”

A small smile turned up the corners of Poppy’s lips. “Why not?”

“Some people, kiddo. Some people. Anyway, I’m here now.” Billy looked over at Grace with a hesitant smile. “How’d it go?”

“Pretty well, I’d say,” Grace replied, trying not to react to those warm brown eyes of his. “I got Poppy reading some picture books, but she worked through the pile pretty quickly. I had her read to me for a little while, and I can’t find the top of her vocabulary yet. But at the same time, she’s four, so while she needs a challenge, it has to be...age appropriate.”

After watching that child stare at the door with a lonesome look in her eyes, Grace knew exactly what Poppy needed—and it wasn’t anything a teacher could provide. Grace was on the outside of the circle.

“If she can handle bigger books...” Billy said with a shrug.

“She can handle the words and the paragraphs,” Grace replied. “But the emotional intensity might be a bit much. Older kids need more of an emotionally intense plot. Little kids need more reassurance that their world is safe and secure.”

“Ah.” Billy picked up Poppy’s backpack and put it over his own shoulder. He was silent for a moment, and Grace looked down at his daughter.

“You ready to go home, Poppy?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Poppy said quietly, and she looked up at her father, looking deflated and tired.

“The...uh...the woman who came by the ranch was from child welfare,” Billy said, and he met Grace’s gaze, his expression hollow and tired, too. He wanted to talk, she could tell.

“Poppy, do you remember that book you liked about the bear family?” Grace said, turning to the little girl. “I wanted to show your dad. Could you run and find it? It’s in the pile somewhere...”

“Okay...” Poppy looked up at her father.

“Yeah, I’d like to see it,” he said with a nod. “Go ahead.”

Poppy trundled back into the classroom, and Grace looked up at Billy. “Who called child welfare on you?”

“It’s not that. Apparently they were involved a lot with Carol-Ann, so when she passed guardianship to me, they were already in the picture,” he replied. “Anyway, the child welfare lady is coming back in two weeks, and I want to have something to show her—something to prove I’m the right one for my daughter, as stupid as it is that I even have to defend that...but Poppy needs to learn stuff that I can’t teach her.”

Billy was in over his head, and like he had done in the past, he was coming to her. There’d been a time when she would have done anything he asked...

“I’m not sure what you’re worried about,” Grace replied. “She’s doing just fine. I mean, if anything, she’s miles ahead.”

“And she’s bored,” he said.

“You know what they say about reading to kids—” she began.

“No, she’s really bored. She needs more than I can give her...intellectually. I don’t know what to show her next, and she’s constantly asking me to teach her something. Look, I can just feel it. She needs to learn stuff, and I’m at a loss here.”

“I could recommend a tutor—” she started.

“Why not you?” he asked, and he met her gaze pleadingly.

“I’m not going to be here long-term,” she countered. “I’m very, very temporary.”

“For the next couple of weeks, then,” he said. “I trust you, Gracie. If you could teach Poppy some extra stuff—satisfy that curiosity of hers—I think it would go a long way toward showing social services that they have nothing to worry about.”

“You’re going to be fine,” she said, and she wished she sounded more certain. He would be...wouldn’t he? This was his daughter—his family situation didn’t include her. “I’ll definitely give her some extra challenge in the classroom, and I can send some books home that you could read with her.”

Billy swallowed. “So that’s a no?”

No. That was the right answer here. She should turn him down and send him to a teaching assistant or some local tutor. But she’d always been his answer, his trusty friend, and while they’d been apart for a few years, falling back into their old patterns seemed as natural as breathing. That was the problem with Billy—he fit into her heart too perfectly, and she never could say no to him. Not that it made any difference in how he’d seen her. Billy admired her, trusted her... He even thought she was funny. He just didn’t love her in return.

Just then Poppy came back with the book under one arm and a hopeful look on her face.

“I got it!” she said. “Daddy, you’ll like this one. It’s got a bear fixing a car, and you like fixing cars, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” he said with a smile, then he looked over at Grace hopefully. She knew what he wanted, and if she hadn’t spent the last three years trying to purge him out of her system, agreeing to teach that insatiable little sponge would have been a pleasure.

“You hungry, Grace?” Billy asked instead.

“Uh...” Grace shrugged. “I suppose.”

“Why don’t you come with us for an early dinner? My treat. Poppy and I like pizza, and I seem to remember you liked sausage pizza.” He shot her a familiar smile. “Besides, maybe you’ll give me some credibility with my daughter. I told her we were friends.”

The sound of high heels echoing down the hallway made Grace look up, and she saw Mrs. Mackel coming toward them.

“Hello, Poppy,” the principal said with a smile. “How was your first day?”

Poppy made a face. “I didn’t like it.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the principal said. “I have a feeling tomorrow will be better, though.”

Poppy didn’t answer, and Mrs. Mackel turned her attention to Grace.

“Do you have a moment, Miss Beverly?”

“Sure.”

They stepped aside, and the principal handed her a slip of paper with a phone number written on it. “I just spoke with the principal at an elementary school in Denver. You applied for a job starting in September, I believe?”

“Yes—” Grace’s breath caught in her throat.

“He was just checking on your references, and I gave him a glowing one. He asked that you give him a call. He sounded very interested in you.”

A surge of delight throbbed through her heart, and she shot the principal a grin. “That is wonderful news!”

“I agree!” Mrs. Mackel said. “Whichever school gets you is incredibly lucky! I’m happy for you, Grace. I hope it isn’t premature, but congratulations.”

Grace would call the principal in question just as soon as she could, and she looked over to find Billy watching her quizzically. Mrs. Mackel headed back down the hallway, toward the school office.

“You got offered a job?” Billy said.

So much for discretion. “I hope so... It looks that way.”

“Where is the school?”

“Denver,” she said. “But nothing is confirmed yet. I need to return a phone call.”

“Yeah, you bet.” He nodded quickly, but the glitter had gone out of his eyes. He pressed his lips together in a firm line. This was hers—she’d been looking for full-time work for a year now, and to finally have a request for her to call back after checking her references was a massive accomplishment. She’d never gotten this far in the process before. Not that he’d know that.

“Billy, I wasn’t staying—” she began.

“Yeah, I know.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. She didn’t need him to understand this, did she? They couldn’t be the pair of best friends they used to be...

“You did the same thing to me when you took off with Tracy,” she reminded him with what she hoped was a teasing smile, but she wasn’t sure she managed it.

“Hey, you’ve got to do what’s good for you,” he said, scooping up his daughter’s hand in his broad palm. “I’m happy for you. I just wish I had you around Eagle’s Rest for longer.”

Why did she feel like she was abandoning him? It wasn’t a fair emotional reaction to this. She didn’t owe Billy Austin a blasted thing. She wasn’t his fallback in time of need—she was a woman with a life of her own, and her life was moving forward at long last.

“So, what about that pizza?” he said.

Okay, it seemed they were over her news and back to dinner plans. She pushed down some irritation. She should say no, bow out...but she had a feeling that she’d have reason to celebrate, and there was no harm in some pizza, was there? She eyed Billy for a moment, then smiled. “Give me a minute to return this call, and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Miss Beverly?” Poppy whispered, and Grace bent down to catch the girl’s words. “Who’s going to teach me calculus?” Poppy stared up with solemn sincerity.

Grace looked up at Billy and saw hope glimmering through his own solemn expression.

Maybe she could help him out for a couple of weeks. What could it hurt? If she refused, she’d only think about him constantly anyway. Besides, some time with him might help to break the spell. He was a man—nothing more or less—and a lot had changed since he had run off with Tracy. Maybe some time together could prove that to her, and she could shake her heart free of him for good.

“Well, tonight I can’t show you calculus,” Grace said, “but I can introduce you to fractions...”

“Fractions?” Poppy’s eyes lit up. “What’s that?”

“I’ll show you with the pizza,” Grace promised.

“So...” Billy caught her eye. “Are you saying you’ll help me out?”

“Yes,” she said with a small smile. “I suppose I am. For two weeks. But that’s all we’ve got, okay? After that, you’ll have to find someone else.”

“Thank you. You’re one in a million—you know that?” He shot her a grin, and she felt something inside of her melt.

“Yeah, I know,” she replied with a shake of her head. She always had been, and Billy had never seen it. He might not deserve her help, but this wasn’t only about Billy. Standing there, with a book about bears clutched in front of her and hope in her big blue eyes, was a little girl who wanted to learn.

How could Grace refuse?

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.