All three of them. They’d come through this just fine. Janice would see to that.
BY THE TIME Logan returned from the hardware store, Janice’s van was back in the driveway. He parked out front and walked to the side entrance, carrying the supplies he’d purchased to repair the washing-machine hose.
The house showed lots of signs of deferred maintenance—peeling paint, bubbling stucco where water had seeped up from the ground, a swing out back with a broken chain. No doubt Janice’s honey-do list could keep him busy for years.
A chance to see her smile or hear her laugh would keep him coming back even longer if he allowed that to happen. Which he wouldn’t. Helping her transition to single mother was his only goal. Plus easing his own sense of guilt for not having acted to save Ray’s life, he admitted.
He rapped on the door before stepping inside.
“Did you get everything you needed?” Janice stood at the kitchen counter making a sandwich.
“Yep.” He held up the four-foot-long rubber hose he’d purchased. The necessary clamps were in a small sack he carried.
Maddie sat at the kitchen table, her chin propped on her elbows. She looked as though she’d had a really hard day at school.
“You want a sandwich before you start?” Janice asked. “I can give you a choice of peanut butter or tuna salad.”
“I’m having peanut butter and jelly,” Maddie said with a minimum of enthusiasm.
“Why don’t I work on the washer first? It won’t take me long.”
He went about the business of pulling the washer away from the wall so he could disconnect the old hose. Within minutes he sensed Maddie standing behind him.
He glanced over his shoulder. “What’s up, sprite?”
“Nuthin’,” she said glumly. “How come you call me sprite?”
“Because I think you’re cute and bubbly.”
She watched silently as he pulled off the old hose and connected the new one. As he attached the first clamp and started to tighten it with a screwdriver, he felt vaguely pleased she was interested in what he was doing. He remembered watching his father—
“Would you be my daddy?”
His head snapped up, nearly giving him a whiplash, and the screwdriver slipped from his hand, clattering to the floor. “What did you say?”
“I want you to be my daddy.” She stood there with big brown eyes, as serious as an old woman.
“I think your mom might have something say about that.”
“Say about what?” Janice asked, returning to the kitchen from wherever she’d been.
“Logan’s going to be my daddy.”
His gaze collided with Janice’s. Her cheeks were turning as pink as his felt. “I don’t know where she got—”
“Maddie, honey, I don’t think Logan wants to—”
“But it’s only for one day!”
His gaze dropped to the child. “What are we talking about?”
Janice stepped forward, looping her hands over her daughter’s shoulders and pulling the child back against her, holding her snugly against her own body. “Her teacher invited the children’s fathers to a Daddies’ Day at school next week. Maddie got terribly upset she didn’t have anyone to bring.”
“Oh.” Odd how he wished Maddie’s request had been for something more permanent. “Guess that is a problem.”
“Not if you’ll be my pretend daddy.”
“Honey, Logan may have work that day, and even if he doesn’t, he may have other things he wants to do.”
Maddie’s lower lip jutted out, and her eyes filled with tears.
Janice was providing him with all the excuses he could possibly need. But Logan couldn’t turn down Maddie’s request, not with those big soulful eyes pleading with him to be her daddy, if only for a few hours. Hell, no man would be able to resist such a tempting little minx.
He worked his way out from behind the washing machine and crouched down in front of her. “What day are we talking about?”
“Miss Sebastian said Wednesday.”
Logan touched the tip of Maddie’s nose with his fingertip, leaving a greasy smudge. “Well, you tell your Miss Sebastian I’ll be there with bells on.”
Maddie’s eyes lit up and she threw her arms around him, giving him a gigantic five-year-old hug. “I knew you would ’cause firemens are special.”
A lump filled Logan’s throat, so big he could barely swallow, and a band tightened around his chest. Among all the experiences he’d miss by not marrying, the thought of never having children hurt the most. Still, it was a choice he’d had to make after his one attempt at marriage.
Concerned he might be overstepping his bounds with Maddie, he glanced at the child’s mother. Janice’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she mouthed, “Thank you.”
His tension eased, and he relaxed his hug around Maddie’s small body.
Clearing her throat, Janice said, “How about you change out of your school clothes, young lady, and let Logan finish up with the washing machine. We don’t want to keep him here all day.”
As though she hadn’t been down in the dumps only moments ago, Maddie broke free of the hug, her smile radiant. “I’ll change. Then I’ll come help him. I helped him real good on the screen door.”
“You certainly did,” Logan agreed, regret gnawing through him for what couldn’t be.
Janice rolled her eyes and leaned back against the doorjamb as her daughter ran off to change clothes. The child had more resilience than she did. More nerve, too.
“I don’t want Maddie imposing herself on you, Logan.” Janice had done plenty of that herself. “In time she’ll get used to—”
“It’ll be fun visiting her kindergarten. I like kids.”
He was wonderful with them, too, she mused. “I feel guilty taking you away from your own activities. Like studying for your engineers’ exam.”
“I’ve been studying for months. I could use the break.”
“When’s the test?”
“Two more weeks.” Reaching down, he picked up the screwdriver, rolling it back and forth in his hand. He had long, tapered fingers, almost like an artist’s. Hands that had been ever so gentle with her daughter. Just as his words had been.
“I gather you’re ambitious?”
“My dad retired a year ago as a fire captain right here
