LITMIR.BIZ

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going, they wouldn’t even be friends by the end of the week.

      Brady nodded, not knowing what else to do.

      “You been over to see Sam?” Paul asked.

      Brady looked at his feet before returning Paul’s gaze. How much did he know about the blowup between the brothers? “I’m staying out at the old farm.”

      “Good that you two let bygones go. Sam’s done a great job tending the farm. His livestock is the best in the county. And the way he took over raising you and Luke, that shows real courage. Shame your parents aren’t around to see how well you boys grew up.”

      Even as the familiar burn of jealousy engulfed him from all the praise for Sam, Brady couldn’t help but think of how disappointed his parents would be that he and his brothers weren’t close like when they were young. His mother had always mended the fences between him and Sam when they fought, but she wasn’t here now. Brady wasn’t sure their relationship could be mended after what Sam did to Maggie.

      “Looks like I should get back to…” Brady gestured to Maggie and Amber, not knowing what to call them. “It was good seeing you.”

      “You should stop for a visit while you’re in town,” Paul said.

      Brady shook Paul’s hand before heading over to the table Maggie and Amber had found.

      Paul had a neighboring farm to the Wards’. Brady hadn’t even asked how Paul’s wife was doing. Or his farm or crops. Mom would have scolded him for not showing common courtesy.

      “Don’t you want ice cream?” Amber’s nose was coated with a skim layer of green ice cream. She looked at him with those adoring eyes and he melted inside. He did have one thing Sam didn’t.

      He patted his stomach as he sat. “I’m stuffed from that dinner your mom prepared. She must be the best cook in the tri-county area.”

      He glanced over at Maggie, but she didn’t seem amused by his declaration.

      He missed her smiles. And their absence made him try even harder to get one. Apparently, it was going to take more than complimenting her cooking.

      “How was school today?” Brady asked.

      “Alex puked all over the hallway. It was disgusting.” Amber drew out the last word and made the requisite face to go along with it.

      “That’s what you remember from school?” Brady shook his head and tried to keep a straight face. He’d been expecting something about the math homework she’d had or the spelling test she’d mentioned earlier. Not some kid puking in the hall.

      She took a bite of her cone. “It was the most exciting thing that happened all day. It almost splattered all over Jessica and Maddy. Everyone jumped out of the way while the janitor went and got kitty litter.”

      Brady smiled. “I suppose that would be exciting.”

      Amber continued to eat her green ice cream as if they’d been discussing art rather than vomit. From what Brady remembered of grade school, it probably would have been the highlight of his day, too.

      He turned to Maggie to see how she was reacting. “How was your day today?”

      Maybe she would answer a direct question.

      “Fine.” Maggie kept her gaze out the window past him.

      “Anyone puke?” Brady winked at Amber, who giggled.

      “Nope.”

      Nothing. He sighed internally. As he scanned the ice cream shop, people had a familiar look about them. But he’d been away for so long, he couldn’t tell who they were.

      He’d almost forgotten what it was like to be in a small town. To be recognized by who your parents were, where you’d gone to school and even whose pigtail you’d pulled when you were seven, and not by what you’d accomplished since then.

      The other people in the ice cream store pretended not to be looking at them, but Brady wasn’t fooled. They knew he was Brady Ward and he was with Maggie Brown and her daughter. If people hadn’t put two and two together before, their being together would leave little doubt.

      It bothered him that people would see that Maggie wasn’t talking to him.

      But it bothered him more that Maggie wouldn’t meet his eyes. he didn’t like that she wouldn’t talk to him, except for in clipped words. And he didn’t like the pressed thinness of her lush lips.

      “Maggie?” he said.

      She faced him with a questioning look in her eyes. None of the spunk that had drawn him to her years ago reflected in them.

      What could he say to make her happy? To bring back that little smile she’d give him when he said just the right thing.

      “I might be late tomorrow.” Dumb, dumb man. That wasn’t what he’d meant to say, but darn it all, he wasn’t used to being around women in a nonwork environment. He wasn’t used to someone counting on him outside of work projects.

      Her eyes grew frostier, and she nodded briskly. He flinched internally.

      “Amber, you need to go wash.” She went back to ignoring him as Amber raced off to the bathroom.

      Maybe over the years, he’d let his work consume him until work was all he had. There wasn’t a separation between the relaxed him and the work him. It was how he protected himself. He couldn’t let that go for a couple of weeks to “hang out.” He needed to work, it had kept away the pain that he’d felt when his mother had passed so soon after his father. The anger and rage that had engulfed him; that had forced his hand and made him flee not a hundred miles away, but across an ocean.

      In London, no one had asked him about his parents. No one had offered sympathy for his loss, because they hadn’t known. Here, it was in their eyes and words, even if they never said it out loud.

      As they walked home in the ebbing twilight, Amber rambled on about this and that. Brady couldn’t get out of his head. It didn’t help that Maggie continued her silent treatment. The street was lined with trees and though he hadn’t walked this particular street much as a kid, it was familiar. Like every other street in Tawnee Valley. The past seemed to press in on him and force his hand in the present. He had nothing to give to anyone. What made him think Amber even wanted him for a father?

      He had run away from the responsibility of being part of a family. He had run out on Sam and Luke—his own brothers. Even though Sam had been controlling, he could have used some guidance.

      As they reached the porch steps, Amber spun around. “Do you want to see the scrapbook Nana and I put together?”

      “Sure.” Brady didn’t know if Maggie wanted him to hang around any later, but he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to be part of this family, part of whatever they were creating here. Tonight he didn’t want to run.

      Amber bounded into the house. The screen door slammed behind her. Maggie climbed a couple of steps before stopping. Brady barely kept himself from running into her.

      “I need to know if you are in this.” Maggie didn’t turn to meet his gaze. The light from inside the house lit her profile, but he couldn’t make out her expression.

      “I wouldn’t have come all this way if I weren’t.” He wasn’t sure what she was referring to, but he could only assume this was a continuation of their earlier argument about work.

      “Either you tell Amber you are her father or you don’t, but I need to know what you are going to do. I can’t keep lying to her.” Finally, she turned to face him. On the steps she was the same height as him. In her eyes was the fierce protectiveness of a mother trying to keep her child from harm.

      “I’ve done a lot of things since I left Tawnee Valley.” Brady cleared his throat. “I’ve made a lot of deals and created thousands of jobs.”

      She crossed

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