Page 32 of The Christmas Blueprint

Sophia’s tears flowed freely.

She met his stare. Did he look as scared as he felt? As lost? She said she didn’t know much about kids. Would she help when he stumbled?

Sophia smiled.

*

Killian looked likehe was going to lose his mind. Or throw up. It could have been funny, and normally she would have messed with him just to take him down a peg or two, but she’d already gone bull in a china shop about the Mill Marketplace. Killian was seriously worried. And Hunter was heading off on a mission, and no matter how many vows he made, they all knew there were myriad variables far outside his control.

Enrique had promised to be safe.

Enrique had followed orders and his training, but he’d still died on the mountain.

She often worked with high school teens who were interested in becoming entrepreneurs or learning about marketing. It wouldn’t be hard to help Killian out, adjusting to having charge of Harlow until Hunter returned or Lisa arrived in Bear Creek. So many questions raced like a hamster on a treadmill in her brain, but she didn’t want to spoil Hunter and Harlow’s goodbye. She was still trying to wrap her head around Hunter discovering he had a daughter who was nearly double digits. Something had to have been seriously wrong with a woman who wouldn’t share her child with its father. She didn’t know Hunter all that well, but he bled responsibility.

Harlow was cute. But her eyes and the way she spoke made her seem much older than nine. Sophia might sometimes feel smothered by her family, but she’d never doubted that they cared. She’d never had any upheaval. She’d always known who she was and where she belonged.

And Hunter had brought his daughter back to Bear Creek, even though he hadn’t had the happiest memories. And his sister Jen and her family were moving back here. Sophia made a promise that she would do what she could to help Harlow experience some of Bear Creek’s magic—help her create a sense of home and belonging even as she waited for her dad to return.

Not an impossible task. It was Christmas. So many wonderful things to do. And she’d be lying if she didn’t feel a tiny bit relieved that Killian’s advantage of hours of uninterrupted time to plan for the mixed-use of the Mill Market was about to walk out the door.

And then she felt guilty. Hunter looked miserable. Harlow was trying to look brave. Killian looked sick. A weird longing tinged with anticipation swept through her, even though she tried to shut it down. Would Killian even want her to spend time with him and Harlow? And wouldn’t that make it even harder to say goodbye when he drove out of Bear Creek again with his killer smile and a cocky ‘see-you-later-not’ wave?

“So sorry, baby girl. I gotta go.”

“But you’ll be back.”

“God willing,” Hunter said, expression intense and serious.

Sophia could feel the connection strong between them as they looked at each other, although Killian had told her Hunter had only known he’d had a child for a couple of months. She felt herself tearing up.

“I’m not a baby,” Harlow said.

Hunter smiled. “So you keep telling me. But I missed that part, and I’m trying to catch up to you.” He tugged on one of her curls. She reached up and plucked at his military cut that had grown out enough to reveal the beginning of waves in his darker blonde hair. “Take care of Killian. He’s my best bud, and he’s even greener at this than I am.”

“I got this,” Harlow said.

“I know you do.”

“Her confidence worries me even more,” Killian said in a low voice that tickled Sophia’s ear.

“You’re going to need all your skills.”

“Skills I utterly lack.”

“And you think I have them?” Sophia raised an eyebrow at him, challenging, trying to knock him out of his panic. “Because I’m a woman?”

“No, because you used to do story time at the library on Saturday mornings and an art camp in the summer for elementary kids. And Riley said that you mentor teen girls on the Entrepreneur Pathway Program at Bear Creek High.”

“Oh.” She was ridiculously pleased that he remembered what she’d done as a teen. “Using Riley to spy on me?”

“I’ll seize any opportunity to gain advantage,” he said, the light back in his eyes and color back in his cheeks. “You came here tonight reminding me that we’re a team. Suit up. We have a second project.”

Killian was trying to drag her into his commitment, and though she’d already mentally agreed to help, she now resisted. She was already too charmed by Killian. Spending time with him and Harlow was only going to make her fall all in, even deeper. Shouldn’t she have some sense of self-preservation?

And then she looked at Harlow rubbing noses with Hunter and having him rub noses with her large, plush bear before he gave Harlow a final hug, then one last fraught glance before he headed out the door into the unknown and the dangerous.

How could she say no?

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