Tinsel (Lark Cove #4)(49)

“Like I said, he’s a great guy. Grew up in Kalispell. His kids left ages ago for their own lives. He just doesn’t want to leave. One of them saw my ad for a place and they jumped on it. They have a service to clean and help him cook. But the cook only does healthy food. I bring Arthur the good stuff.”

I giggled, thinking of the cookies, popcorn and potato chips we’d bought earlier. “Where are your other properties?”

“All right in this same neighborhood.” Dakota took a left down another side street. About halfway down the block, he pointed to a green single-family home. “That one there.”

“It’s cute.”

“I’m not going to tell the bodybuilder who rents from me that you called his house cute.”

I smiled. “And the other? You have three, right?”

“Yep.” He drove down the rest of the block and on to the next one. This time the house he pointed out was on my side and painted a soft beige with chocolate trim. “That one was my first. It’s the one that makes me the least amount of money.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because the previous owner is the tenant. She’s a single mom with two teenaged boys. The bank was going to foreclose on her, so she put it up for sale before they could. I bought it, rented it back to her at a discount, and she works two jobs to pay her bills. She’s never missed a rent check. She didn’t want to lose the house where her kids are growing up.”

“That’s an amazing thing for you to do.”

He shrugged. “She just got down on her luck. It happens.”

“Thank you,” I told him.

“For what?”

“For bringing me here today. And for showing me your properties.” It was a glimpse deeper into the man behind the wheel, confirming what I already knew.

Dakota Magee wasn’t a good man. He was the good man. I doubted I’d ever find another who would live up to his standards.

“I know they aren’t much. But I’m proud of them.”

“You should be. You’ll accomplish great things.”

“I don’t know about great. But I have my goals.”

I wanted goals.

I didn’t need to conquer the world—I’d leave that to Aubrey. I just wanted more excitement in my life, more happiness and fulfillment. More pride.

I wanted to be more like Dakota.

He was one of a kind, a man who knew down to his fiber the difference between right and wrong. A man who made his own destiny.

A man who I would miss terribly when our affair was over.




“Is today your last day?” Wayne asked me from across the bar.

I gave him a sad smile. “Yes, Thea and Logan should be back tonight.” Then I’d be leaving tomorrow morning.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to miss sweeping floors and wiping up spilled beer.”

I smiled. “Maybe just a little.”

The jukebox changed to a faster country song, and Wayne stood from his stool. “I haven’t heard this one in ages. How about a farewell jitterbug?”

“Huh?”

“The jitterbug. Want to dance?”

Dakota laughed from over by the register, where he was taking stock of the liquor bottles in a spiral notebook. “Watch your feet. The last time a woman danced with Wayne, she almost lost a toe.”

“To be fair, that woman was drunk, and she stepped on me first.” Wayne got off his stool, waving me around the bar.

I set down the glass I’d been rinsing and hurried around to his side.

Wayne grabbed my hands, holding them out at our sides. Then he pulled us together, me going to one side of his body before stepping back. Then he did it again, turning us in a circle.

I’d learned the jitterbug as a kid when my ballet teacher had been on maternity leave and her substitute had wanted to teach us some other basics, like the waltz, mambo and two-step. That substitute had been fired not long after the lead instructor’s maternity leave had ended.

And even though those lessons had been a long time ago, it wasn’t hard to follow Wayne as he pulled me around and spun me in a few easy twirls. By the time the song ended, we were laughing and smiling, both out of breath.

“Thanks,” I panted.

“Thank you.” Wayne kissed the back of my hand, bowing as he let me go. “I’d better get on home. It was wonderful to spend time with you, Sofia. Don’t be a stranger the next time you’re in town.”

“It was lovely spending time with you too.”

“I hope we get to dance another day.” Wayne went to his stool to collect his coat and hat. Then with one last wave to Dakota, he was out the door.

My eyes flooded as he disappeared outside. I wiped the tears away before they could fall, determined not to let myself cry over something so silly. It wasn’t like I would never see Wayne again. I came to Lark Cove to visit.

But he’d been so nice to me that first day when I’d broken all those glasses. He’d been the first in a long, long time who’d seen me as something different.

So had Dakota.

“You know what I think is interesting?” he asked.

I swallowed the burn in my throat and blinked away the tears before turning around. “What?”

“Of all the lessons you’ve told me about in the last ten days, dancing is the only thing you still do.”