“I’m going to go pay my respects,” Dylan told his father. “Can you watch Palmer for a moment?”
“Sure thing,” his father said easily as he helped Palmer cut up her pizza.
His daughter was very particular with her food. She had to have each piece the exact same. Dylan was hoping she would outgrow the phase, but they were going on three months now, and he was becoming an expert in food cutting.
“Hi.” Dylan stopped next to the booth. When Evelyn’s eyes moved up to his, he could see that she was, indeed, in full shock. Her skin was almost translucent. Her eyes looked dark and very lost. She was having a difficult time breathing and was on the verge of passing out.
Grabbing a pitcher of water from his table, he poured her a glass and shoved it in her hands as he sat next to her. When she didn’t drink the water and only stared at him, he took her hand in his and moved the glass up to her lips.
“Drink, it will help,” he said softly.
He watched her closely as she took a sip, then another. She closed her eyes and proceeded to down half of the glass.
“Better?” he asked when she set the glass down.
She glanced over at him, her eyes running over his face. He noticed the moment that recognition crossed her eyes. They went from lost to heated in a blink, making him smile.
“There it is.” He chuckled. “Your family, no offense, are idiots.” He glanced over to the group crowding around the counter, all shouting their orders as if they were at the stock market instead of a ma-and-pop pizzeria.
Her gaze followed his. “I… they’re upset.”
He turned back to her. “At?” For as long as he’d known any of them, they had always seemed upset.
“Me.” She sighed. “My grandfather.” She shrugged and took another sip of the water.
“Why?” he asked, unsure of why he needed to know.
“I…” Her eyes turned to his.
Just then, Palmer rushed over and jumped on his lap. “Daddy, ice cream. You promised.” His daughter put her little hands on either side of his face and squished his cheeks until he made a kissing face. Then she leaned forward and placed her little lips on his. “Please, you promised. I ated all my pizza.”
He chuckled. “You ate,” he corrected.
“Yeahuh, I did.” She nodded, her eyes moving slowly over to Evelyn.
“Palmer, this is Evelyn Candlewood.” He motioned towards Evelyn. “My daughter, Palmer,” he said proudly.
“Hi.” Evelyn’s eyes were bright with happiness as his daughter took her offered hand and shook it.
“You’re pretty,” Palmer said softly and then tucked her body against his chest.
Evelyn chuckled. “Palmer, you just made a very bad day better,” she said with a wink.
“I’d better…” He started to get up, then remembered why he’d come over there in the first place. “I’m very sorry to hear about Reggie. He was a good friend.”
“Thanks,” Evelyn said. “I…” She stopped him from leaving. “I didn’t get your daddy’s name?” she said to Palmer.
Palmer giggled and held onto him a little tighter. “It’s Daddy.”
He chuckled and ran his hand over his daughter’s hair, which was half out of the ponytail he’d painstakingly put in her thick hair earlier that morning. “Dylan Steele.” He held out his hand. “I own the cabin… near the turnoff.”
He watched as Evelyn’s face flushed, her cheeks going a pretty shade of pink. Damn, she was even sexier when she blushed.
“If you need anything.” He glanced towards her family as they argued over their drinks. “I’m just down the road.”
“We are…” Palmer corrected him, her tiny hands going to his face once again and rubbing over his chin, reminding him that he’d forgotten to shave again that morning.
Dylan laughed and held his daughter tighter. “Correction. We are just down the road.” He nodded to Evelyn and turned back to his own booth so he could finish his pizza and then take his daughter to get ice cream across the street. Like he’d promised.
While he finished the last slice of his pie, he watched Evelyn interact with her family. If she was anything like them, he couldn’t see it. She sat in the corner, quietly nibbling on a slice of pizza while everyone argued around her, voices raised as if they were the only people who filled the small space. As if their voices were more important than any others.
He could easily understand, along with everyone else within earshot, that the family was not happy about Reggie’s will. Before he left the pizzeria, he thought he understood that Evelyn had been given the inn, but with all the bickering, he wasn’t completely sure.
“What was that all about?” his father asked, motioning to the large family as they all shuffled into their cars and drove away. The three of them were still sitting out on the front deck of the ice cream parlor, enjoying the warmth of the evening and the cold treat. Palmer was tucked in his lap, half-asleep as she tried desperately to finish off the small cone she had. He knew that before they made it home, she would be fast asleep.
“Sounds like Reggie stirred things up with his will,” he answered, catching sight of Evelyn as she climbed in the back seat of her parents’ car. She looked just as lost and sad as she had when he’d approached her in the pizzeria.
“Reggie was the only good thing that family had,” his father said with a shake of his head. “I remember Eve from before you moved here. She’s a lot like her grandfather. Good heart. Course, I haven’t seen her in years.” His father shifted and smiled down at Palmer. “She’s out.”
Dylan glanced down at his daughter, who had dropped her remaining ice cream on his shirt and was fast asleep, her little head resting on his chest.
He tried not to jostle her as he attempted to clean up the mess.
“I’d say she likes school,” he added with a smile. “Every day when she comes home, she’s completely drained.”
“She has a fan club,” his father said, surprising him. “Three little boys follow her around like she’s the queen of preschool.”
Something stirred deep in Dylan’s chest, and he felt his stomach roll at the thought of losing his daughter to a boy.
“Easy.” His dad broke into his thoughts. “She’s five, not sixteen.” He chuckled. “You have plenty of time with her.”
“It’s already gone by so fast.” He wrapped his arms around his daughter and held onto her. “It was just yesterday I finally got to bring her home.”
His dad sighed. “And it was just yesterday I was watching you take your first step,” he agreed. “All we can do is enjoy every moment we have.”
Dylan was a perfect clone of Dan Steele. Even though the man’s hair had turned silver years ago, it was as thick as Dylan’s and just as unruly at times. His father had been one of the best engineers at Boeing and in his earlier days had spent time in the Air Force, flying cutting-edge planes. He’d retired and then moved to Orcas Island after Dylan’s mother had died in a car accident. A drunk driver had taken Dylan’s mother shortly after he’d married Kendra. Not a day went by that he didn’t miss his mother, and he thought about her as much as he thought about Kendra.