A Father's Name(24)



Her insistence that he let her help with Jace cemented her marshmallow status in his mind. They were traveling in opposite directions—her son was leaving home, and he suddenly had a baby—yet, marshmallow that she was, she’d put her almost-childless status on hold to help him out. He couldn’t help wondering what might have happened if she’d said yes when he’d originally asked her out. It was probably for the best that she hadn’t accepted. Because if they’d gotten together, when he fell into the mud, Angelina, being Angelina, would have jumped in, too. She was entitled to more than that. More than him.

“Marshmallow?” she repeated. “If I dock your pay for calling me names, you’ll see that I’m no marshmallow.” She couldn’t even convince herself she was that tough. “Fine. You’ve discovered my deep, dark secret. Now, hand over the baby and get to work. There, did that sound tough enough to you?”

“No, but it will have to do.” He passed Jace into her open arms and put the diaper bag down. “Thanks, Angelina—”

“It’s Tucker, use it on a regular basis like everyone else does.”

“Your name is rather like that t-shirt. You think being a Tucker rather than an Angelina makes you seem tougher, but you’re wrong. At your core, you’re Angelina and I can see that, even if everyone else you work with can’t.”

She scowled, but even that wasn’t overly convincing. He quirked his eyebrow and grinned.

Angelina sighed. “Get to work, or I’m seriously going to dock you. Me and Jace have some invoices to go over.”

He leaned down and kissed Jace’s forehead. Every fiber of his being yearned to do the same to Angelina. A simple soft, sweet kiss on the forehead to start his day on the right note, but he suspected it wouldn’t start hers on anything close to a right note, so he resisted.

He’d wanted her for a long time, despite the fact she’d consistently turned him down. He still wanted her, but what could he really offer her now? So he simply waved goodbye and left them to get reacquainted.

He checked on Lou’s manifest and started repairing a beautiful 1956 Ford F100 truck. There were flames bursting from the headlights back to the truck’s tailgate. The letters AT were worked seamlessly into the bottom right of the design. Angelina Tucker.



She was a gifted artist.

A businesswoman.

A mother.

And a hell of a friend.

He wouldn’t push her for more than she wanted to give. That didn’t stop him for wishing things were different. That when he’d asked her out before he’d kept trying, even after she’d said no repeatedly.

Mrs. Matthews used to say, if wishes were horses beggars would ride. But when Jason’s family had taken him in and made him one of them, he’d discovered that sometimes wishes came true. He simply had to remember that because it happened once, didn’t mean it would happen again. Lightning only struck once.

Before he could begin, Lou and Mr. Tucker came in.

“Good to see you back.” Lou sounded genuinely pleased to see him. “We’ve got a lot on at the moment.”

“Can I talk to you before you start working?” Mr. Tucker asked.

“Sure.” He followed Angelina’s father outside.

George Tucker had always seemed a bit larger than life. But he seemed smaller these days. It wasn’t the diet Angelina had, according to sources, put him on, it was the fact he’d been ill. He suddenly looked his age. Balding, white haired and less robust. He still maintained an air of joviality, that was now replaced by seriousness. “I wanted to tell you again how sorry I am for your loss.”



“Thank you, sir.”

“Angel tells me she volunteered to help with the baby,” he said slowly, studying Tyler with an uncomfortable intensity as he said the words.

Tyler nodded. “Yes, but I don’t want you to think I’m going to take advantage of her offer. I’m looking for a sitter already and—”

“That’s not what I was going to say, Tyler. I was going to say, thank you. Angel, she needs to realize there’s more to life than the business. In the past, she’s had Bart to balance her out, but he’ll be gone in a few months, and maybe spending time with the baby will remind her there’s a lot out there for her, if she’ll only go for it. I’ve been trying to talk her into letting me sell my share of the business to someone. A partner would allow her to have more time for a life. I’m hoping Jace will help me convince her of that.”

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