LITMIR.BIZ

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by to look at the kites. She said even if hers didn’t make it into the air, the effort had been well worth it. And at least she got it up.”

      He brought his mind back to the present. “Are you doing anything special for your birthday? Other than a night at home alone?”

      “Alone?” She glanced at him with a tilt of her head. “You make it sound like a bad thing. It’s not, you know. Sometimes it’s a luxury.”

      Not always. Not when you’d gone from having a healthy, active daughter and a happy marriage to being alone. Every day. Every night.

      Roxy came over moaning in despair, her poor tattered kite wilting in her hands. “It’s definitely ruined. Maybe you two will have better luck.”

      The kites were sent into the air according to assigned numbers. It didn’t matter if the entrant’s kite stayed up for hours and hours, but it had to go up and be stable for at least five minutes to be considered in the running for the grand prize. They still had another ten minutes before they were set to launch their cat. Chloe was bursting with excitement, jumping up and down.

      Roxy held out her hand. “Let’s go get a snow cone and burn off some of that energy until it’s time.”

      “Jetta isn’t going up without us, is he?” Chloe gave her aunt a dubious glance.

      “We’ll be back in plenty of time.” She shot Maddy a look. “You don’t mind, do you?”

      “Mind?” She settled deeper into her chair. “I’ll just sit here and figure out what the city looks like from the Space Needle. Because we’re going to... Go! Fight! Win!”

      Kaleb couldn’t hold back a chuckle at the impromptu cheer. He had to admit, he liked seeing Maddy and her daughter this enthusiastic about the kite. He hadn’t felt this amalgamation of anticipation and dread in a long time. Probably not since Janice had left him.

      No. It would have been before Grace died. Because since then his life had been consumed with more dread than anticipation. Dreading sleep. Dreading wandering into the pediatric oncology wing—even when Brenda Marlin had spotted him in the hallway as he was coming out from the meeting and hugged him last week. He’d thought of transferring hospitals to get away from those memories, but by staying here, he felt he still had some type of connection with his daughter. His ex-wife, on the other hand, had wanted to move away immediately after Grace’s death. One of the things they’d clashed about during that last year. And then she’d cheated, and he’d been left totally alone.

      “We’ve got about five minutes left. Is there anything we need to do to get ready?” Maddy’s voice forced him from his thoughts.

      He focused on her bright, shining face. This was the example Kaleb should follow. Despite everything that had happened with her ex-husband and that vicious attack, she’d maintained an inner glow that was undimmed.

      Then again, she hadn’t lost a child.

      He stopped himself right there. She’d lost a husband. But from what he’d seen, the man had been a bastard.

      How could anyone have wanted to hurt this woman?

      Not him. In fact, he was enjoying being here with her today. Maybe a little too much.

      And when the day was over?

      Kaleb didn’t want it to end. A thought came to him. It was her birthday. The perfect opportunity to prolong their time together. Not a wise choice, maybe, but it seemed a shame to let her go home to an empty house, despite her earlier words. It could be wishful thinking, but surely as a single parent she looked forward to indulging in adult conversation from time to time?

      His mind put a subtle emphasis on the word adult. An emphasis he carefully ignored. He focused on her question instead.

      “We should be good to go.” He checked the rope sitting in its holder. “Do you want to let your sister know we’re just about ready?”

      “I just did.” She held up her phone, and even now Roxy and Chloe were waving in the distance, snow cones in hand.

      He was going to take her words about keeping his distance from Chloe to heart. But he’d also told her he had no intention of keeping his distance from her. With her hair pulled back from her face with a headband, snug jeans and a shoulder-baring tank top, he could barely keep his eyes off her. They kept taking little sips of the view and coming back for more. It went to his head as surely as a fifth of whiskey. Smooth to the senses. But like whiskey, it could trap him in its grip almost before he realized what was happening. Which was probably why the next words came out.

      “Why don’t you let me take you out for your birthday? We can get something to eat.”

      Before she could reply, Roxy—who’d lifted Chloe onto her hip at some point—reached them.

      Maddy shook her head. “She’s too heavy to be carried like that.”

      Roxy put the girl down, wagging her finger at the child. “I told you you’d get me in trouble.”

      “I did not. You said you wanted to carry me. Said it was safer if you did.” She took a loud slurp of the icy liquid in her snow cone, her grin infectious.

      Roxy’s face colored, and she blinked as if her persona of carefree hipster had just been single-handedly obliterated. “Well, it’s true, you little stinker. Safer for me.” She tickled the girl’s ribs until she squealed.

      A man with a clipboard stopped in front of them, glancing at the tag at the kite on the ground and writing something down. “You folks ready for the big send-off?”

      “Yippee!” Chloe punched her small fist into the air. “Are we ever! We’re going to win. Right, Kaleb?”

      Maddy frowned. “Dr. McBride, Chloe.”

      He started to say it was okay for her to call him by his first name, but there was a slight tightening of Maddy’s lips that warned him not to contradict her. She was right. Chloe was her daughter. Not his. He had no right to give his opinion one way or the other. About anything.

      Except maybe this kite, which the judge was waiting for them to launch.

      He started to take Chloe’s hand and then had second thoughts. Glancing at Maddy, he asked, “Can she help me?”

      Her teeth came down on her lower lip for a second before she gave a quick nod.

      Chloe gave a couple of sideways hops, clapping her hands. “Yes!”

      The judge gave a few last-minute instructions. Kaleb was allowed to take a running start to get the kite up, letting out the string as he went. But the kite had to stay in the air for five minutes, while the judge watched. If it passed the test, the kite was entered into the final drawing. Unfortunately, Roxy’s unicorn hadn’t made the cut. But he had high hopes for this one.

      Several bystanders came over to watch.

      Kaleb turned to Chloe. “You wait here for me. I’m going down the hill, and then I’ll run back toward you. When I get here, I’ll hand you the string and you can help me keep it up.”

      “Are you sure that’s wise?” Maddy still seemed a little agitated. He wasn’t sure if she was regretting letting Chloe help him or if she was worried about the kite falling from the sky prematurely. Maybe it had to do with that whole attachment thing she’d mentioned earlier.

      Well, since he wasn’t planning on being a permanent fixture in their lives, it didn’t really matter. There was no way Chloe could actually get attached to him since she wouldn’t be seeing much of him after today.

      Unless the kite won. But even then, he could give his ticket to them and let them choose someone else to go with them to the Space Needle. Probably not a hard prospect. Both Maddy and her sister were beautiful. Although the man in him recognized Roxy’s charm and good looks, she didn’t send his blood pressure skyrocketing as Maddy did. Probably not a good thing for him to admit.

      Ignoring

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