“I must have seemed really foolish to you.”

“No. Never that. You were an anchor. You showed me what was possible. I knew I didn’t want to be like him and that I’d have to always be on guard.”

“You’re nothing like him.”

He glanced at her. “You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve done.”

“I might not know the details, but there are plenty of clues. Look at you. You just came with me to deliver a casserole to a formerly pregnant woman you’ve never met. Tomorrow you’re going with me while Lillie has her first meeting with her grandfather. You’ve worked in the store. You care about my mother. How can you worry you’re anything like your father?” She knew she had to lighten the mood.

“Is this a Star Wars thing? Do all boys pretend to be Luke Skywalker?”

He chuckled. “No, and my father isn’t Darth Vader.”

“It kind of sounds like he is.”

“There was no good in him.”

“There’s good in you.”

“I hope you’re right.”

* * *

PATIENCE FELT HER stomach turning over and over. “I brought a Q-tip,” she whispered to Justice as they walked toward the park. “In case, you know, Steve gets out of hand.”

Justice put his arm around her shoulders. “I can subdue him without a weapon,” he assured her. “Keep the Q-tip for your own protection.”

“But I don’t know how to use one that way.”

Lillie looked at her. “Mom, are you really talking about Q-tips?”

“Yes, and it’s weird. I accept that.”

“Is it because you don’t know what to say to my grandfather?”

“Mostly.” Patience stopped and dropped to one knee. She faced her daughter. “Are you okay with this?”

She and Lillie had talked several times about Steve wanting to meet her. Lillie had been accepting from the beginning and hadn’t asked many questions. That worried Patience. Had Lillie disconnected from the thought of more family? Or was she simply a normal kid who took things as they came?

“I’m fine,” Lillie said. “Mom, it’s okay to have more family.”

“I know.” Patience had continued to tell herself that Steve was simply some old guy who wanted to get to know his granddaughter. That was hardly newsworthy. But she couldn’t shake the sense of impending disaster.

Patience stood. Lillie took her hand. “Don’t be scared, Mom. Justice and I will be right here with you.”

“Aren’t I supposed to be comforting you?” Patience asked.

Lillie grinned. “I’m very mature for my age.”

“Yes, you are.”

Lillie took Justice’s hand as well and walked between them.

The park was close and they reached it a few minutes later. Steve was waiting where they’d arranged, on a bench by the duck pond. Lillie’s grip tightened as they approached, and when they were within speaking range, Steve rose and the three of them came to a halt.

Patience saw that he was exactly what she’d been telling herself for days. A man in his sixties who looked nervous and tentative. Not a monster. Just an ordinary man who had made awful choices and was now paying for them.

“Hello, Lillie,” Steve said quietly. “Thank you for agreeing to meet me today.”

Lillie studied him. “I’ve seen you before. In town.”

Steve’s eyes widened. “I’ve been living around here for a while.”

“Okay.” Lillie pulled her hands free and walked toward Steve. “You know my dad, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Do you ever see him?”

“I don’t. We haven’t spoken in many years.”

“I don’t see him, either.” Lillie looked at the lake. “We usually feed the ducks.”

“Your mom mentioned that. I brought bread.”

They collected the bag from the bench and walked down to the water. Patience followed, close enough to hear what was going on, but far enough away to give them the illusion of privacy. Justice stayed with her.

“Thoughts?” she asked. “Is it going okay? Is your Spidey sense tingling?”

“I’m tingle free.”

She sighed. “You must think I’m a freakish worrier.”

“No. I think you’re a concerned mom who doesn’t want to trust her kid with a man she barely knows. You’re right to be wary. Steve checked out, but he’s also the man who left his family. Sure, people change, but he has to prove that to you.”

He had a point, she thought, still worried, but now less so. Of course, she had planned to keep her daughter safe from Justice, and that hadn’t happened. He’d been so supportive and kind that she’d just plain forgotten.

The fact that he was buying a warehouse and starting a business in town implied he was sticking around. So it wasn’t as if he would simply disappear from her daughter’s life. She sighed. Was that her being rational or rationalizing? She wished she knew.

She continued to watch her daughter. Lillie was talking about her teacher and her friends at school. Steve listened with what looked like genuine interest.

Patience stepped closer to Justice. “You’ve been great. I’m sorry if I’ve been claiming too much of your time. You moved here to start a business and ended up getting sucked into my crazy world. I have to say, usually my life is really calm. Even boring. But the last few weeks have been wild.”

“I like your crazy world. It’s delightfully normal.”

She laughed. “You’re not the kind of guy who says delightfully.”

“I do now. Fool’s Gold is changing me.”

She wondered if that was true. “In your bodyguard job, do you hang out with other military types?”

“Mostly.”

“So being here means you don’t know quite what to do with us civilians.”

“You’re not as different as you think. Besides, most of my clients are civilians.”

“How disappointing. I was picturing you with ousted dictators who have a price on their heads.”

“Not this week. It’s mostly successful men with a price on their heads.”

She wasn’t sure if he was teasing or telling the truth. She had a feeling it was the latter, which wasn’t the least bit comforting.

“You have that assignment coming up,” she said. “You promise you’ll be safe?”

“Yes.” His dark blue gaze locked with hers. “I will be safe and I will be here for the opening. You have my word.”

“You’re very sexy when you make promises.”

She spoke without thinking, then wanted to call the words back. A quick glance at Lillie and Steve showed her they were deep in their own conversation, which was a relief, but Justice had still heard.

“Sexy?”

She cleared her throat. “You know. Um, well...” She waved her hand. “Oh, look. Ducks. We should feed them.”

She started to walk toward the water, but Justice grabbed her hand and held her in place.

Tension spiraled between them, making her want to step closer. He got to her, and she couldn’t figure out a way to mind.

“Don’t act all surprised,” she told him, her voice low. “You know what you are. Dangerous. Powerful. Plus, the kissing was nice.”

One eyebrow rose. “Just nice. Not great? Not spectacular?”

“I’ve had better,” she said with a sniff.

He drew her close. “Now you’re lying,” he said with a growl.

She smiled. “Maybe a little.”

She glanced at her daughter and saw both Lillie and Steve watching them. She took a quick step back.

“So. Ducks. How are they doing?” she asked.

Lillie gave her a “sometimes you’re really strange” look. “They’re fine, Mom. They like the bread.”

“Then it’s good your grandfather brought some.”

Justice stepped behind her. “That’s the best you can do?” he asked in a whisper. “You’d never make it undercover.”

“Fine. Be critical, but I’d like to see you try to cut hair, mister.”

CHAPTER TEN

PATIENCE WANDERED AROUND the main showroom of Paper Moon Wedding Gowns. Big windows opened up onto the small square of “exclusive shops” in the center of Fool’s Gold. Across the courtyard were the brightly colored windows for da bump Maternity. A humorous connection for those who weren’t getting married or pregnant.

Inside the shop, several wedding dresses were on display, with more racks of them available for browsing. There was a second, smaller room devoted to bridesmaids’ dresses and gowns for the mother of the bride.

“I swear, this place hasn’t changed at all,” Patience said, touching the sleeve of a beautiful, traditional white gown.

Isabel wrinkled her nose. “That would be part of the problem. We’re well into a new century. The store should reflect that. The stock is current. My mom paid attention to trends, but the rest of the place is very 1999.”

“You’re going to change that?”

“As much as possible. I have a budget and some ideas. If we’re going to sell, we might as well get as much as we can for the place. That means making it fresh.”

Paper Moon had always been a part of the community. Patience remembered friends with older sisters coming in to be fitted for junior bridesmaids’ dresses. Before the samples went on sale, the teenaged girls were allowed to come in and play “bride for a day,” trying on different dresses and wondering what it would be like on that far-off special day.

“I bought my wedding dress here,” Patience admitted. “From the sale rack, which turned out to be a good thing. It wasn’t like the marriage lasted.”

“I’m sorry,” Isabel said. “That must have been difficult. And you had Lillie, too.”

“She was who got me through. Her and my mom. They were both what kept me going.” Patience looked at her friend. “How are you doing with all the changes?”

Isabel shrugged. “I don’t know. Some days are easy, some are hard. Come on back to the office. I’ll buy you a soda.”

They walked through the dressing-room area. There were two fitting rooms large enough to accommodate the fullest of skirts. Each had several chairs for the various family members who might be in on the decision. Smaller fitting rooms, still huge by normal standards, lined the back wall. In the middle of the space were a five-way mirror and a low platform where the bride-to-be could show off.

Isabel walked past all of it and entered a door marked Private. Behind that was an office with several desks, a table and chairs, computers, stacks of fabric samples and a small refrigerator.

“Diet okay?” she asked as she pulled open the door.

“My favorite.”

She removed two cans, then motioned to the chairs by the table.

“This is the store that time forgot,” Isabel said as she popped the top on her drink and took a sip. “When I first saw it, I felt like I’d been whipped back in time ten years. I knew my parents had lost their enthusiasm for the place, but the lack of changes was surprising.”

“You’re not tempted to just take it over and fix it up how you’d like it?”

Isabel shook her head. “No, thanks. I have plans and they don’t include sticking around here. I know you love it, but I would go crazy here.”

“In the store or in town?”

“The store for sure. I couldn’t deal with the brides for the rest of my life. I want to do something more. It’s not the retail I mind. As I mentioned before, I have plans with a friend to open a store in New York. High-fashion designs. Very upscale.”

“That’s still retail, my friend.”

Isabel smiled. “New York retail.”

“So you’re really going back?”

“Uh-huh.”

Patience wondered what it would be like to live somewhere else. She’d never not known her neighbors or the people in her town. She understood the rhythms of life—with seasons marked by festivals as well as the changes in weather.

“I suppose New York is exciting,” she said slowly.

Isabel laughed. “You’re are such a country mouse, and I say that with love. I can’t see you living anywhere else.”

“Me, either. Isn’t it hard to make friends and figure out where everything is?”

“Yes, but that’s what makes it exciting. The city is big and loud and crazy and I enjoy that.” She took another sip of her soda. “But I’ll admit, it’s nice to be here, even for a few months.”

“Getting away from what happened?”

Isabel’s blue eyes darkened with a flash of pain. “Eric and I are still friends, but I don’t care how friendly a divorce is. It’s not something easy to go through.”

“Have you talked to him much?”

“A few times. I’m not sure what to say.” She looked at Patience. “I’m actually not surprised we split up, and yet I’m completely shocked. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

Patience suspected in her heart she’d known something was wrong. But living a divorce was completely different from guessing there was a problem in the relationship.

“You’re still healing,” Patience said. “The cliché about time happens to be true. After Ned left, I didn’t think I would ever recover. But I did. Now I can’t imagine what it was I saw in him.”