Page 22 of A Mommy for His Daughter

Evelyn wasn’t going to be here in Wolf’s Harbor permanently, and Mo had lost her mother. The last thing Mo needed was some strange woman coming over to the house and getting attached. Evelyn didn’t want things to be harder on Mo. She knew personally how that could feel, and she didn’t want this poor little girl to have any more trauma.

It wouldn’t be fair.

“That’s very sweet of you to invite me, Mo,” Evelyn started. “Maybe another night?”

Mo looked sad, and Derek looked at her. “Tonight is fine, Evelyn—if you’re available. Mo is right. You should come over for dinner. It’s the least we can do to say thank you for helping us.”

Mo looked so hopeful that Evelyn didn’t want to disappoint her. And she didn’t really have any other plans, except continuing to clean that atrocious apartment.

Make an excuse. Don’t go.

Only Evelyn couldn’t break that sweet little girl’s heart. She knew what that girl was feeling deep down. She felt a connection to her.

“Sure. I can come for dinner.”

“Great!” Mo beamed.

“Will Joe Jr. know where you live?” Evelyn asked, her stomach swirling as every fiber of her being told her she was foolish for agreeing to have dinner with a widower and his daughter.

Derek nodded. “Yes, he’ll know. We’ll see you at seven?”

“Bye, Evie!” Mo chirped happily as Derek walked out of the exam room with his daughter in his arms.

Evelyn let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding as she tried to figure out a way to get out of it without hurting Mo’s feelings, but the more she thought about it the more she realized she was stuck.

What harm can come from one little dinner?

She sighed, thinking those were famous last words—because she knew exactly what the harm could be. How it could tear someone’s heart apart.

She needed to find a way out of this. Not only for her sake, but for little Mo’s heart too.

CHAPTER SIX

WHAT DO YOU bring to dinner with a man who probably hates you and his cute five-year-old daughter? That was the crux of the matter.

And that was an overreaction. Derek didn’t hate her. He didn’t know her. He tolerated her, and that was something different.

She couldn’t blame him for being a bit cool.

She got why he was defensive about his practice—especially in light of Dr. Pearson messing up earlier. It was hard trying to protect your patients and raise a child on your own. She’d seen her father struggle. And if she was in the same position she would be untrusting of temporary doctors creating more work for her or jeopardizing her patients.

So, she was not really looking forward to this dinner, but she’d put on her best face and get through it.

And if there was one thing her grandmother had taught her about attending dinner parties it was that you didn’t go empty-handed, but Evelyn had no idea what to bring. She finally settled on a bottle of wine that she’d found in the apartment and then went next door to Sally’s before the bakery closed and bought the cupcakes that Sally told her Mo particularly liked.

Joe Jr. picked her up in the cab.

“Hey, Evie, I was surprised to get your call.”

Evelyn slid in beside him. “Why is that?’

Joe shrugged. “The other doctors never went out. Never really socialized. Well, except Dr. Pearson—but he had his own car and usually he went to Hoonah or a bigger community to socialize.”

“I guess I’m the exception.”

“Where are you headed?” Joe asked.

“Dr. Taylor’s place. He said you would know the directions.”

“I sure do,” Joe said, nodding. “It’s just outside of town.”

“Great.”

Joe headed down the main street and they chatted easily about things, but when they turned off the main road toward a gravel road that wound its way through the forest Evelyn’s pulse kicked up a notch.

The trees were denser, but she recognized each curve and bend in the road.

It can’t be.

Her stomach flip-flopped and then bottomed out when Joe pulled up at the end of the road and she found herself staring at the little log house that was set in the forest near the water.

She knew this road.

She’d memorized it in her dreams, though as the years had gone on it had faded, but now, as she gazed at the little cabin, she knew without a doubt where she was.

The place she’d dreamed about. The place she’d longed for. One of the last places she’d truly been happy because her father had been alive and they had been happy together.

Home.

Except it wasn’t home. Not her home. Not anymore.

“Here we are!” Joe said.

“Thanks, Joe.” Evelyn paid him and then slipped out of the taxi. She waved as Joe drove away and then just stood in front of the place she’d once called home. If she closed her eyes she could almost see herself running from the front door and down toward the water to greet her father.

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