when I asked if Finley was a bother—” He cleared his throat again. “I was just worried that she kept you from getting your work done. She likes being with you. I like letting her spend time with you.”
Relief rolled through her, stole her breath, thickened her throat. She whispered, “Thanks.”
“So tomorrow, while I’m walking around on the sales floor, talking with staff, watching how things are done, you could keep her all day if you like.”
“Yes. That would be great.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
Silence ensued again. If she hadn’t yet told him, she knew he’d probably try to kiss her good-night right now. Her heart stumbled in her chest. She’d hurt both of them, because she was afraid of a bigger hurt to follow.
But it had been the right thing to do.
It had to be.
Because if it wasn’t, she was missing out for nothing.
She twisted the doorknob, opened the door. “I’ll see you in the morning then.”
“Yes.”
“Drive carefully.”
He nodded, gave her one last look, then walked out to the porch.
She waited until Finley was securely buckled in and Rory had jumped behind the steering wheel, before she turned off the porch light, closed the door and leaned against it. She had another entire day of Finley’s company and, if she was lucky, a little time Christmas Eve morning before they returned to Virginia. She should be overjoyed.
Instead sadness softened her soul. She liked Rory. Really liked him. Probably loved him. And she’d chased him away.
THE NEXT MORNING Rory kissed Finley goodbye before he walked out of Shannon’s office to investigate the store. Dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, so the cashiers and shoppers wouldn’t guess who he was, he looked so cute that Shannon felt a lightning bolt of longing. But she contented herself with the fact that she had Finley all day again.
“So any thoughts on what you’d like to do today?”
From her seat on the sofa near the big-screen TV, Finley peeked over at her. “Don’t you have papers?”
She laughed. “Yes. But I came in early to review them. I’m all yours this morning. So what do you want to do? Go to the candy store again? Maybe the toy store?” she suggested, hoping Finley would say yes so she could buy her a gift. Something special. Something she knew Finley would want. And maybe keep to remember her by.
Finley sucked in a breath. “I’d sorta like to go shopping.”
“Great! Where? The toy store?”
She shook her head, sending her fine blond hair swinging. “I wanna buy a present for Daddy.”
“Oh.” Wow. She’d never thought of that. A little kid like Finley, especially a child with only one parent, probably didn’t get a lot of chances to shop for Christmas gifts. But considering Finley’s life, a more important question popped into her head. “Have you ever bought your dad a Christmas gift?”
She shook her head again. “No.”
Though her heart twisted with a combination of love and sadness for sweet little Finley, she deliberately made her voice light and teasing so Finley’s first experience of Christmas shopping would be fun. “Well, then this is your lucky day because we have an excellent men’s department here at Raleigh’s.”
Finley rewarded her with a giggle.
“Let’s go!” She caught her hand and led her to the elevator. Inside the little box with “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” spilling from the speakers, she pressed the button for the second floor. Menswear.
As they stepped out, Finley glanced around in awe at the tables of shirts, racks of ties and mannequins dressed in suits. Customers milled about everywhere, examining underwear and pajamas displayed in long tables, studying ties.
“Ohhhh.”
Shannon also looked around, trying to see the store as Finley saw it. Because Finley was only a little over three feet tall, she suspected everything looked huge.
“So what do you think? Shirt? Tie? Rodeo belt buckle?”
Finley giggled.
“We also have day planners, pen-and-pencil sets for a daddy’s desk and all kinds of computer gadgets in electronics, if you don’t see something you like here.”
“You sound funny.”
“I’m being a salesman.”
Finley giggled again, but out of the corner of her eye, Shannon saw Rory talking to one of the salesclerks. Grasping Finley’s shoulders, she raced them behind one of the columns holding a mirror.
Finley said, “What?”
“Your dad is here.”
“Oh.”
“And if we want to keep your gift for him a surprise, we’ll have to be careful where we walk.”
Finley nodded her understanding.
They slipped to the far side of the sales floor. Customers, Christmas ornaments, racks of suit jackets, rows of jeans and walls of ties all provided good cover so that Rory wouldn’t see them.
As Finley inspected a table full of dress shirts, Shannon sneaked a peek at Rory. With his hands stuffed into the front pockets of his jeans and his shoulders filling out his leather jacket, he could have been any other extremely gorgeous shopper. He chatted happily with a salesclerk, who eagerly showed him suit jackets and ties, probably expecting a nice commission.
She hated to see him disappoint the clerk, but she couldn’t stop herself from watching as he took off his jacket and tried on the suit coat suggested by the clerk. His muscles bunched and flexed as he reached around and took the jacket, then shrugged into it.
“I like this one.”
Shannon glanced down at Finley. “Huh?”
Finley waved a shirt at her. Folded neatly so that it fit into a rectangular plastic bag, the shirt was a shade of shocking pink so bold that Shannon had to hold back a gasp.
“That one?”
She nodded.
“Um…have you looked at any of the others?”
She nodded. “I like this one.”
“It’s very nice, but…um…usually men don’t like to wear pink shirts.”
