Small-Town Redemption (11 page)

He didn’t so much as blink. Didn’t seem to care about the attention they were attracting, just set down his coffee and leaned forward. “Knock it off or I’m putting you on the first plane back to Houston.”

He meant it, too. Her dad never said anything he didn’t mean. And he always, always followed through, always did what he said he was going to do.

It was so annoying.

Not that she was afraid of him—even if he was totally scary-looking. Especially now with his too-long hair, bruised face and grim expression.

“I already told you,” she said, spreading jelly on a piece of toast. “I couldn’t stay at Pilar’s so I came here. It’s not like I could go back to my house or anything, since you and Mama banned me from my own home.”

“No one’s banned from anything. Your mother and I decided it’d be best if you stayed with someone while she and Allan were in France.”

“Adam,” Estelle corrected. “And Mama didn’t decide that. You did.”

She’d almost had her mother convinced to let Estelle stay home alone while Meryl and Adam enjoyed a romantic getaway. Instead, Meryl had to “run it by Kane” who’d given it the big veto.

He never wanted Estelle to have any freedom. Or any fun.

“Your mother and I decided—together—that it’d be best for you to stay with someone while she’s away.”

Yeah. Someone. Just not him.

She shrugged. Bit into her toast. “I
am
staying with someone. I’m staying with you.”

He could at least pretend to be okay with it.

“If you were upset with Pilar, you should have gone to Clarice’s house. Or Gwen’s.”

“Nana’s still wintering in Santa Barbara,” she said of Meryl’s mother. “And you don’t even stay with your mom when you come to Houston. Why would you want to torture me by making me stay with her for two whole weeks?”

Torture it would be, too. Grandma Gwen was nothing if not uptight, abrasive and bossy.

“My point,” he said, though his lips barely moved, “is you should have called your mother to find somewhere else for you to stay. In Houston. Instead of flying halfway across the country by yourself, without permission or even letting anyone know. What if something happened to you?”

“Nothing happened. I’m not six, Daddy. I’ve flown by myself before. And I didn’t want to stay in Houston. I missed you.” She stuck out her lower lip. Too bad pouting didn’t have any effect on her dad. “I haven’t seen you in, like, forever.”

Oh, he visited her often, at least four times a year. Usually. But he’d been so caught up in this new bar he owned, he hadn’t been back to Houston since last spring.

He exhaled, his expression softening. “I missed you, too, brat.”

She grinned. “Then I can stay with you until Mom gets back?”

She’d never stayed with him before. He always came to her.

“You can stay,” he said, not sounding too happy about it. He stood and pulled out his phone. “If your mother agrees.”

Estelle kept right on smiling as he excused himself to call Meryl. It wasn’t until he pushed through the diner’s front doors that she slumped back into her seat.

Please, please let Meryl agree.
There was no reason she shouldn’t. Then again, Meryl always cautioned Estelle not to ask too much from Kane, not to expect too much.

But shouldn’t she have some expectations? Such as him stepping up when Estelle needed him?

When Estelle discovered those texts from Chandler on Pilar’s phone yesterday morning, it had hit her that this was her opportunity to escape Houston without her mom becoming suspicious. Then, in a few days, when Estelle told her parents she wanted to stay with Kane permanently, they wouldn’t ask too many questions.

She swallowed, but it still felt as if there was something stuck in her throat, so she gulped her lukewarm latte. Stay here in Shady Grove permanently. Or, at least until she turned eighteen and went to college.

Chewing on her thumbnail, she watched out the large window as her dad paced the length of the sidewalk in front of the building, the phone to his ear. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her dad. She did. It was just that she was going to miss Houston and her friends.

She was really going to miss her mother.

A tickle formed in the back of her throat. She had to stay strong. To remember she was doing this
for
her mother.

“You done with that?”

At the deep voice, Estelle twitched in surprise and glanced up. Frowned at the dark-haired guy standing next to the table.

“Excuse me?” she asked. Done with what? Her thumbnail? Her little inner whine-fest?

“Your food. Are you done with your plate and stuff?”

“Oh. Yes.” She straightened and set her silverware on her plate. “Thank you.”

He stacked her plate with her dad’s, grabbed her empty juice cup by the rim, then glanced at her. “You’re not from around here.”

What? Did she have a sign that said “Outsider” on her forehead? Was she doomed to stick out in this small town? “What makes you say that?”

“I haven’t seen you at school.”

“Maybe you just haven’t noticed me.”

“Not a chance,” he said, his voice low and gravelly. She shivered. “You, I would have noticed.”

She fought a smile. Just because he was seriously cute with his floppy dark hair, blue eyes and broad shoulders didn’t mean she was going to flirt with him. She was, after all, getting over a broken heart and had just yesterday sworn off boys forever.

He wiped his hand on the side of his jeans. Held it out. “I’m Andrew Freeman.”

She shook his hand. His palm was warm and dry and slightly callused. “Estelle Monroe.”

Andrew glanced around, then slid into the booth across from her. Leaned forward. “Did you just move to town?”

“Actually, I’m visiting my father for a few weeks.”

He grinned and her breath caught. Okay, so maybe she should rethink the whole “no more boys” thing. Just because Chandler was a major douche bag didn’t mean all guys couldn’t be trusted.

“Maybe we could hang out sometime,” Andrew said. “I could show you around town.”

She doubted there was much more to Shady Grove than what she’d already seen. But she didn’t mind being proved wrong. Especially when it involved a cute boy. “Maybe.”

She didn’t like to make it too easy on guys. Not when they so enjoyed the chase.

“Great. Let me put your number in my phone...” He patted his pockets. “Damn. It’s in the break room,” he said, sliding out of the booth. “I can run back and get it.”

“No need.” By then her dad might be done with his call and the last thing she wanted was Kane being overprotective and scary simply because a boy talked to her.

She dug out a pen from her purse, uncapped it with her teeth, then took a hold of Andrew’s hand. Instead of writing on his palm where it might get smeared or washed off accidentally, she inked her number onto the inside of his arm, feeling him watching her the whole time.

She capped the pen. “There.”

“Table four needs set,” the overweight brunette waitress who’d taken Estelle and Kane’s order told Andrew as she passed the booth carrying a coffeepot.

“Okay.” He picked up the dirty plates. “I guess I’ll talk to you later.”

Maybe the smile she sent him could be construed as flirtatious. But only slightly. “I guess that’s up to you.”

As he walked away, she couldn’t help but hope they did talk later. If Andrew was around, maybe staying in Shady Grove wouldn’t be so bad after all.

* * *

K
ANE
’
S
FIRST
TWO
calls to Meryl went straight to voice mail. He hadn’t bothered leaving messages, just hung up and dialed again. The third time, she finally answered, sounding breathless. “Hello?”

“It’s me,” he said, walking the length of the building. “Estelle’s here.”

There was a moment of stunned silence. “What do you mean, here? Where are you?”

“In Shady Grove. And I mean your daughter is here. With me. She got pissed at Pilar and decided she couldn’t bear staying there for two weeks, so she got on a plane and showed up at my apartment. I found her there this morning.”

No sense worrying Meryl with the events of his accident. Or that, for a good portion of an entire day, neither of them had known their daughter was missing. Sort of.

“Oh my God! Is she all right?”

“She’s fine. She—”

“Why didn’t Lorena call me?”

“Who?”

“Pilar’s mother. I trusted her to take care of Estelle and she couldn’t even be bothered to let me know my baby was missing? Wait until I see her at the club when I get back,” Meryl muttered darkly. “And to think, I nominated her for PTO president. I’m going to text Belinda and let her know I’m putting my full support behind her election now.”

“You might want to hold off on the political intrigue. At least until we find out what exactly happened.”

“I suppose.” But she didn’t sound too happy about it. “What did Estelle say? Did she and Pilar argue?”

“All I got was that she’s mad about Pilar and some kid...Carter or Chris...”

“Chandler.” Meryl spat the name out as if saying it left a foul taste in her mouth. “Did Pilar try and steal Chandler from Estelle? That little tramp.”

The wind picked up, blew his hair back from his face. He shut his eyes and inhaled the clean, damp scent. He had too much to do to deal with Meryl in full mama bear mode. “According to Estelle, it was worse than death.”

“Of course it was. My poor baby,” Meryl murmured. “Why didn’t she call me? Tell me what was going on?”

There was an undertone of hurt in Meryl’s voice. He wished he knew the answer to her question. Actually, he wished Estelle had called Meryl instead of seeking him out.

“Ooh, this is all that boy’s fault,” Meryl said, her accent sharpening. “She must have suspected something was going on between Pilar and Chandler. Estelle hasn’t been herself lately.”

He glanced at the diner, caught sight of some floppy-haired kid flirting with Estelle. And her flirting back. “She seems fine to me.”

Yeah, she’d been upset about him being hurt, but she’d been her usual overly dramatic, chatty self all morning.

Meryl sighed. “She’s been so moody the last few months. Always hanging out with that boy at his house and not at home. When she is at home, she locks herself in her bedroom and listens to music for hours on end. When Adam and I ask her to watch a movie with us or help us cook dinner, she refuses. I thought maybe she was jealous of the time I was spending with Adam so I made a point of setting aside girl time, just the two of us, to go shopping or get our nails done and she’d say she didn’t want to.”

Kane didn’t like the sound of that. Estelle had always been happy and social. And she loved being with Meryl. It was one of the reasons he didn’t feel guilty about not living closer to his daughter.

She preferred being with her mother.

But she was with him now. “She wants to stay with me until you get back.”

“Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Meryl said quickly. “I’m sure you’re much too busy to have her there.”

He
was
busy. He had injuries to heal and a bar to sell. One he had to keep running until that sale went through. Then he had to figure out where the hell he was going next. But Estelle was his daughter. His responsibility. Something he never let himself forget.

“I can call my mother,” he said. “I’m sure she’d love to have Estelle visit for a few weeks.”

More like Gwen would love having someone to give her attention. But Estelle would be fine there. Safe. Well taken care of and, more importantly, watched over like a hawk.

Meryl made a sound of disappointment. “I don’t think that will work. I overheard at the club that Gwen is staying at the Four Seasons while she has some redecorating done.”

Damn. Estelle could stay with Gwen there but forcing her to share a suite—even a luxury suite—with his mother seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. “Estelle says your mother is out of town?”

“Yes, until the end of the month.” Meryl cleared her throat and when she spoke again, her voice was hesitant. “Perhaps Estelle could stay with your father?”

Kane gripped the phone so tightly he was surprised the screen didn’t crack. “No.”

Never. He let his old man be a part of Estelle’s life—a small, controlled part. But that was it. No way did he want his daughter under Senior’s influence for two weeks.

“Well, then I’ll talk to Adam about coming home early,” Meryl said. “I’ll book the first flight I can find back. I wonder if I can find one with a layover in Pittsburgh,” she said, almost to herself. “That way Estelle can fly home with us.”

Meryl was willing to cut short her vacation, the first time she’d gone anywhere without Estelle. Meryl had dated over the years, but never seriously, choosing instead to focus on raising Estelle. But about a year ago she met Adam, got engaged a month or so ago. “She can stay with me.”

“Are you sure? I’d hate to impose on you.”

“It’s not an imposition,” he told her, raising his voice as a car with a bad muffler pulled into the parking lot. “She’s my daughter, too.”

“I know it’s... You usually prefer to visit her in Houston.”

Because he was afraid, always afraid of messing up again. Of falling off the wagon and becoming a bad influence on her. Of hurting her. Again.

“I want her to stay,” he said, realizing he meant it. He’d missed her. He’d been so busy working, running O’Riley’s, he hadn’t had a chance to fly out to Texas in almost a year. Yeah, they spoke several times a week and did the Skype thing, but it wasn’t the same.

He wanted to be with his daughter.

“Finish your vacation,” he told Meryl, turning toward the diner. “I’ll take good care of Estelle.”

“I know you will,” she said softly.

Her trust in him humbled him. “I’ll have her call you in a little bit.”

He disconnected the call as his daughter wrote something on the shaggy-haired kid’s arm—her number, more than likely. Maybe he could lock her in his apartment. It would be the only way to keep her out of trouble. Then again, when he’d been sixteen, nothing his parents had done had kept him from raising hell.