Dating a Single Dad by Kris Fletcher - Comeback Cove 01 - Dating a Single Dad Page A

something wrong?”
    “Hey, Heather. Everything’s okay now, but Mills had some excitement last night.” As quickly as possible, he gave her the details of the evening’s adventures, conveniently glossing over the part about him leaving her alone with the saw in the first place because he’d been fantasizing about his tenant/semi-employee.
    “Oh, my God, the poor doll. How is she today?”
    “She’ll be okay, but she’s hurting and a little shook up. She wants to talk to you. Is now a good time?”
    “Of course.”
    Thank God. Heather might have decided that parenting was best done from the other side of the freakin’ country, but over the past year or so she’d become much better at calling and emailing and doing as much as possible to be part of Millie’s day-to-day life. So much so, in fact, that he felt compelled to offer an explanation for the delay in keeping her up to date.
    “I, uh, thought about telling you last night, but I was pretty beat by the time we got home.” Plus, I was busy being fed and enticed by my forbidden semi-employee/tenant. “Then this morning I didn’t want to scare you by calling too early.”
    “Not a problem,” she said. “I understand.”
    That was another recent development—her willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt. No, not doubt. Trust. It was like Heather had decided to trust him more lately. There was a time when she would raise holy hell if she wasn’t consulted on everything, from which day camp Millie should attend to what she should wear on the first day of school. Pretty rich considering she was the one who left, but, thank God, lately that had eased.
    Millie bounded back into the room, already looking more cheerful than she had a few minutes earlier. Within a couple of minutes she sat hunched over the laptop, holding her hand to the camera so her mother could see her bandages.
    Hank usually tried to fade into the background during their calls, but this time he stayed beside Mills in case things took a turn for the worse. Sure enough, after the first few minutes of putting up a brave front, the tears started flowing again. Not just from Millie, either.
    For a second the old hurt flared. If you hadn’t left, you’d be here hugging her instead of crying over the computer. If you hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have been juggling this myself in the first place. If you hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have needed a semi-stranger to help me get her to the doctor last night, wouldn’t be depending on her to lend a hand now so I can—
    But no. He wasn’t going down that road. The past was past, what was done was done and all that mattered was making sure Millie knew that both her parents loved her. Judging from the way she and Heather were pressing their hands against the screens, that message was coming across loud and clear.
    “And, Mommy, I can’t wear my lab coat! ’Cause I got blood all over it and I thought I left it at the hospital, but Brynn put it in a bucket and it’s all wet!”
    Heather wiped tears from beneath her eyes and offered a watery smile. “Oh, honey. I’m sorry. But Daddy will get it ready for you as quick as he can. You know that. And—” Suspicion crept across her face. “Wait. Who’s Brynn?”
    Oh, crap.
    He leaned sideways to face the camera. “She, uh, she’s running the big festival for the dairy. She’s been staying in one of the cabins.”
    “Yes?”
    There was a boatload of emotion in that one simple syllable. Too late, he realized that it could sound like he was about to confess a romantic involvement. The whole damned world seemed determined to throw Brynn at him.
    Best to nip this one in bud right away.
    “Mills, did you show Mom that pot you made at school? Why don’t you go get it so you can show her?”
    Suitably distracted, Millie hightailed it down the hall. As soon as she was out of earshot, Hank dove in.
    “Brynn gave me a hand last night—you know, helping along the drive, that kind of thing—and she