One Look: A grumpy, single dad small town romance(64)

I turned my back to her and stormed into the house.





As the week wore on, my frustration with Bethany and how the weekend ended started to fade. Throughout the week, Lark and I found stolen moments. I craved every secretive, hot look, as well as little things like brushing the back of my hand against hers when we passed.

It was nice for the house to not feel so empty, but it was something more than that. It had become impossible to ignore that Lark filled my house with sunlight and joy and laughter.

While it pissed me off that we separated each evening, the long moments kissing each other goodbye on the front porch made me feel like a teenager again. If Lark had been staying longer than a single summer, I would have sat Penny down and let her in on my growing feelings for Lark. But with her plans to leave, I couldn’t bring myself to get attached, only to break Penny’s little heart.

It would be hard enough on her to watch Lark drive away.

I already knew it would be hell for me too.

After I wrapped my work for the day, I returned the missed call from Duke.

It rang only once before he picked up. “You busy?” His voice was rushed and harsh.

I glanced at the clock. I had hoped to swing by the market and grab some flowers for Lark and maybe a treat for Penny, but it would have to wait. “Nah. What’s up?”

“Rough day. Meet me up at Dad’s place.”

I hung up the phone and drove straight to Haven Pines. I sat in the parking lot, gathering the balls to walk inside. I hated that as a family we couldn’t get it together enough to care for Dad and that he had to live in a nursing home.

Duke buried himself in farm and operations work.

Lee was reckless and wild.

Katie had found a college scholarship in a town I’d never heard of.

And then there was me. Football had been my ticket to a new life, and I’d taken it without hesitation.

Only now it didn’t seem fair to leave everything up to my siblings when I was not only financially secure but also living in town.

I sighed again. This is why I left in the first place.

I hated the antiseptic smell even more, and it hit me as soon as the automatic doors opened. The receptionist at the front desk looked up with a smile, and when she recognized me, it grew wider.

“GB! Good to see you.”

I offered a terse nod. Stupid fucking nickname. “Duke called. Said there was some trouble with Dad.”

Her face fell. “I’m sorry to hear that. The memory-care wing is down that hall. You can go in through the double doors. The nurse at the station will buzz you in.” I nodded and she smiled again, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Give Red my best.”

I stalked in the direction of the memory-care ward and met up with Duke outside the nurse’s station.

He nodded in greeting as the nurse gave him a rundown of the situation. He turned to me as I walked up.

“I guess it’s been an all-around bad day. He started in on a new nurse—yelling at him and generally being an asshole. Apparently the guy didn’t get Dad’s breakfast right and it all went to hell.”

“Is the nurse okay?”

“Shaken up, I guess, but otherwise fine. The afternoon wasn’t much better. Trashed his room, so they called me.”

I gestured toward the locked double doors that kept the patients secured in the facility and prevented them from wandering. “After you.”

We could hear the yells before we even got to his room. Two security guards stood outside the door as a large male nurse backed away with his hands up. Dad’s yells were a string of insults and curses. I didn’t know what to do, so I looked to Duke, who’d gone pale too.

As we approached the chaos, the little King girl—AJ or TJ, something like that—walked up in a nurse’s uniform with a gentle but determined look in her eyes.

Duke stopped short as she intercepted us. “May I?”

He only stared, the muscles in his jaw working, so I spoke up. “Yes. Thank you. We just got here, so we don’t really know what’s going on.”

Her voice was calm and soothing. “It’ll be fine. Give me a few minutes.”

She slipped past the male nurse and security guards with a friendly smile.

“You know her?”

Duke stood a little straighter and lifted a shoulder in dismissal. “She works here, doesn’t she?”

“But she’s a King, right?”

He nodded once. “MJ.”

I frowned and strained to listen. Inside Dad’s room, there was arguing, but he was already quieter. I could hear only snippets of the conversation, but MJ spoke in calm tones, reassuring Dad, and when they both laughed, I relaxed a little.

It didn’t even take the full five minutes before she was slipping back out into the hallway.

“Hey.” She addressed me and seemed to ignore Duke’s brooding attitude as he crossed his arms. “I think he’s fine now. He’s resting. I’m sorry they called you all the way down here. I just got on shift.”

Clearly, this wasn’t the first time MJ had had to pull Dad back from the ledge. “Does this happen often?”

She looked nervously between us. “Umm . . . sometimes? There are several personal items that were broken today. That’s unusual, but we’ll do what we can to fix them up for him.”