Single Dad to the Rescue--A Clean Romance by Cari Lynn Webb

Author:Cari Lynn Webb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-05-09T20:11:58+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

BROOKE WALKED TOWARD the picnic-table area. Runners, strollers and bikers crossed over the lake bridge. Families gathered for pictures. A painter adjusted her easel on the shore. In the distance dogs barked and radios played. Best of all, the park blocked the street noise.

“What am I supposed to do when Valerie gets here?” Ben kicked off his tennis shoes and pulled a pair of soccer cleats from his bag. “She doesn’t like sports.”

“How do you know that?” Brooke shaded her eyes and looked at the lake.

One Saturday two years into her marriage, she and Phillip had rented a rowboat like the ones skimming across the glassy water now. Brooke had filled that afternoon with laughter and exercise, not business calls and budget discussions.

Always be present in the moment, Brooke. Another piece of advice from her therapy sessions. She’d been present that day on the lake.

Now she stood in the park again. In a new moment. With new people. The best she could offer was to be present now. Especially for Ben.

“She never asks me about soccer.” Ben rummaged around inside his bag. “She never asks me about anything, really.”

Brooke kept her gaze trained on the lake. But the disappointment in Ben’s voice tugged at her. She added her other hand to shade her eyes, rather than hug Ben. She’d been trained to remain impartial. To assist parties in understanding each other’s sides. She couldn’t take sides. That wouldn’t bring harmony between Ben and his mother. “Maybe Valerie doesn’t know what to ask you. She never got into sports or had a brother or sister growing up.”

Ben stretched his legs out and tapped his shin guards. “But she had Dad and Uncle Jason. They could tell her.”

“They could.” Brooke shifted her gaze to the two men setting up cones for a soccer goal on the grass. Dan and Jason appeared to be tentatively trying to repair their relationship. Valerie and Dan weren’t anywhere close to that.

As for Brooke and Dan, last evening they’d shared dessert, childhood stories and a closeness Brooke hadn’t experienced in a long while. She’d returned to the apartment not feeling guilty about her time with Dan. Only disappointed the night had ended. She’d fallen asleep eager to see what the new day brought.

The hope and possibilities in her dreams crowded out her nightmares. She hadn’t believed she’d feel like this ever again. Hadn’t wanted to feel again. Reminding herself to appreciate it for what it was—only a moment with Dan—she promised to not get ahead of herself.

She pulled her gaze away from Dan and glanced at Ben. “Why don’t you find common ground with your mother instead of looking for differences?”

Ben rubbed the back of his hand beneath his nose. “Like how Uncle Jason and I both like soccer a lot.”

“Yes, like that.” The same way she and Dan had agreed four bites of the decadent lava cake was more than enough to satisfy the most intense chocolate craving. Or that the rum sauce was the critical ingredient for the bread pudding but could’ve been eaten by itself.

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