Page 14 of Return to Rosewood Beach

“No, honey.” He hurried to take her hand, but she tugged herself away from his grasp. “We have to wait.”

“No.” She frowned, her bottom lip starting to tremble. He could sense a tantrum coming on, and he took a deep breath, wondering what to do.

“I’m going to tell you a story.”

She pointed to the dining room.

“It’s a very special story. I can only tell it to you if we’re sitting on the bench, and we have to hear it before we eat our breakfast.”

Macey wrinkled her nose for a moment, but she loved stories, so she reluctantly toddled back to the bench. Breathing a sigh of relief, he took her onto his lap and told her the story of one of his favorite movies, substituting fruits and vegetables for the heroes, and moldy bread for the villain. He was able to coax a few smiles out of Macey, but a story like that would normally have her practically falling over with giggles.

When he finished the story, she glanced toward the dining room again and squirmed on his lap. He knew that twenty minutes must seem like hours to a two-year-old, and he glanced at his watch again. They still had a few minutes left to wait. Macey, sensing the release in his grip around her, started to wiggle off his lap toward the dining room.

“No, sweetheart. Not yet, we?—”

He could see her face starting to scrunch up as she got ready to burst into tears. He winced, but at that moment the hostess stepped up to them. “All right, you two, thanks for waiting. We’ve got that table all ready for you.”

“You here that, Macey?” He picked his daughter up, smiling at her. “We get to eat now.”

Macey’s tears evaporated at the prospect of food, and he breathed a sigh of relief. They followed the waitress into thedining room, where they were seated at a booth next to a window.

They ordered their food, and everything was going well for a while. Macey got a new kids’ menu to color on, and their drinks arrived after a couple of minutes. Cooper took a sip of his coffee gratefully, and Macey wiggled in her chair with excitement as she took a sip of her chocolate milk.

Things stopped going well when she went back to coloring and moved her hand too wildly across her menu. She knocked her chocolate milk over, and the lid popped off. Chocolate milk splashed across the table in a sudden river and began to drip onto the floor.

Macey burst into tears, and Cooper set his coffee cup down in a hurry.

“Oh, don’t worry, it’ll be okay!”

Cooper looked up in surprise as a woman hurried up to their table, immediately dabbing the spill with a stack of napkins. She moved quickly and efficiently, smiling encouragingly at Macey.

“We’ll get you another one, don’t worry. Excuse me.” The woman stopped a passing waitress with a polite gesture. “Could we get another glass of chocolate milk for her? This one spilled.”

“Of course.” The waitress smiled and hurried away.

The woman turned back to the table, finishing cleaning up the spilled chocolate milk, and Cooper started to help her, still feeling surprised by the way she’d swooped in so quickly to their rescue. She turned to him, smiling, and his heart started to beat faster when he recognized the woman who he’d caught in the rain the other day.

“Oh, hello.” She seemed slightly taken aback for a moment, as if remembering how rude she’d been to him, but then her smile returned.

“Hi.” He blinked rapidly and then smiled back at her. This time she was the one helping him out when he was struggling.He felt a little uncomfortable, worried that he came across as someone who was failing at rocking the single parent situation, but he couldn’t help feeling a little tickled by the circumstances.

Now we’ve even, he thought, suppressing a smile as he dabbed at the table with a napkin.This is a good way of breaking the ice.

He stole another glance at her as she piled the soggy napkins into a heap at the end of the table. It seemed strange to see someone dressed in such fancy big-city clothes cleaning up a table at a restaurant, but despite her high heels and pencil skirt, she was clearly comfortable with getting her hands dirty. The way she’d jumped right in to help made him think she wasn’t as prissy as she’d first appeared.

“Thanks for helping us with this.” He smiled at her, feeling as nervous as a schoolboy around her, since she was so pretty. Her makeup wasn’t as elaborate as it had been the first day he’d met her, but she was still strikingly beautiful, and her dark hair was pulled back with a gleaming black hair clip.

“Of course. I know how quickly these kinds of things can happen in a restaurant.”

He found himself buzzing with curiosity about her. Did that mean she was a waitress? She sure didn’t dress like a waitress. “Can I ask your name?”

“Julia Owens.” She reached her hand out and he shook it. Both of their palms were slightly sticky from the chocolate milk.

“Cooper Harris. Very pleased to meet you.”

They shared a smile, and then she seemed to be about to leave the table.

“What brings you into town?” he asked hurriedly, hoping she’d stay and talk to him for a little while longer.

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