Page 20 of Always Be Mine

It was Kat who broke first. She laughed and patted his arm. “Calm down, Craig. You know we’re only being annoying because we care.”

“As long as you recognize that you’re annoying,” he grumbled and moved toward the coffeepot. If he was going to get through the day, he was going to need a lot more coffee. Truthfully, not that he’d ever admit it, let alone to his sisters, but more than once in the last two days since he’d spontaneously hired Lucy, he’d second-guessed himself. Craig wasn’t the type of guy who made rash decisions. Ever. Especially when it came to his little girl.

Meri was his entire world and had been from the moment Donna had announced she was pregnant. Donna was a college student from Australia who’d taken a gap year from school to spend a ski season in Trickle Creek to have fun and work at the ski school. They’d met at the bar one night after a day on the slopes. The attraction had been immediate and hot. But neither of them expected anything more.

Craig was only twenty-four when Donna presented him with the positive pregnancy test. They’d been careful, but nothing was a hundred percent, and just like that, his entire life changed.

It wasn’t at all the way he’d planned, but Craig always wanted a family, and instantly he’d been thrilled at the idea of having a baby. However, he was the only one. Donna had never wanted children. It had never been part of her plan, and she made it very clear that wasn’t ever going to change. Thankfully, she agreed to stay in Canada long enough for the baby to be born, with the understanding that she would sign over full custody to Craig. Less than a week after Meri was born, she returned home.

His father and his siblings had struggled to understand how a mother could make that decision, but Craig respected it. Donna had made the very unselfish decision to give Craig full custody. She knew then, as everyone else had come to understand, that it was better for Meri to have one parent who was a thousand percent in, than two, with a mother who was resentful and unhappy.

Being the only parent had been challenging, but he wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Everything Craig did was for Meri. Including hiring Lucy.

His inheritance was her inheritance, too. And if he didn’t hire a nanny to satisfy his father’s demands, it would disappear. He cared too much about her future to let that happen because of his own stupid pride.

Besides, Kat was right—another thing he didn’t want to admit—Meri deserved to take cupcakes to school for snack day and have a home-cooked meal.

“Did you really hire her without looking at her résumé?” Charli’s question shook him from his thoughts.

Slowly, he returned the coffeepot, added a spoonful of sugar, and turned to face his sister. “I did.” She opened her mouth but before she had a chance to object, he continued, “It was a gut instinct.”

“A gut instinct?”

Kat shook her head and reached for the box of muffins she’d picked up from the Bean Bag on her way over. His little sister was enjoying watching him squirm. When he looked toward her for assistance, she only winked and took a bite of a muffin.

“Yes.” Craig sighed. “She was actually applying to work in the shop temporarily, but when she came in…” He glanced at Kat, who still wasn’t offering any support. “She started talking to Meri, and she was just so good with her that I thought, why not? There’s no guarantee that I’d find a better candidate and why not get started and jump in right away? The sooner we get this over with, the better, right?”

Despite the fact that Craig was feeling a certain way about his father at the moment, Michael Carlson had been one of the most generous men any of them had known. He’d not only been incredibly giving to his family, but also to the entire town, and was credited by many to have single-handedly saved Trickle Creek by bringing in and encouraging the tourism industry when the mine closed years earlier. Craig got his own work ethic and his head for business from his father. He’d also been an extremely loving dad and grandfather, and he was missed dearly.

“I’m not saying that getting started isn’t a good idea,” Charli said, “but I think it’s usually a good idea to check references for the person you’re hiring and…maybe a criminal background check.”

He couldn’t disagree. “That’s why she’s not starting until Monday. I needed a few days to do all that.” He wasn’t completely irresponsible. “So far, everything’s checked out really well. Everyone had nothing but good things to say about her.”

“And she’s new to town?”

“She was actually only here for a visit.” Of course, Kat chose that moment to speak up. “She’s staying in Craig’s short-term rental.”

Charli’s eyes grew wider than Craig thought possible.

“And, she’s super cute.” Kat winked before shoving another piece of muffin in her mouth.

“Oh? She’s cute?”

Craig tipped his head and shot both his sisters a look. “When have you ever known me to care about that?”

They exchanged glances, and it was Charli who said, “It must have been about six years ago now.”

“Before Meri was born.”

“Way too long.”

Kat nodded in agreement. “Waytoo long. And Lucy is very cute. I think this will be a very interesting six months.”

Craig took a large swallow of his lukewarm coffee. “I don’t know about interesting, but I hope it will be good for Meri. You know that’s the only thing that matters. I need to get through this and move on. Then everything will go back to normal, and it will be someone else’s turn to get tortured by Dad from beyond the grave.”

“Normal?” Kat wrapped up the rest of her muffin and stood. “I kind of think the entire point of what Dad’s trying to do here is to shake up yournormal.” She blew him a kiss before he could argue. “I’m going to go say goodbye to my niece before I head out.”

They watched her leave, and when she was gone, Craig shook his head. “The jury’s still out on whether this is a good idea or not.”

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