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“Hey, do you mind if we join you? There don’t seem to be any more seats and the girls are very hungry.”
“Please do.” She waved her hand toward the open places and smiled at the girls.
“Daddy, do you know her?” Jean asked in a suspicious tone.
Lizzy gave Stacey a look of wonder. Finally, she burst out with, “You’re the woman who fixed my bow.”
Stacey smiled. “Yes, I am. You’re Lizzy, right?”
His younger daughter bobbed her head up and down.
“Yes, I know her,” he said to Jean, then looked at Stacey. “And this is Jean.” He placed a hand on his other daughter’s shoulder.
Jean gave Stacey the sulky look that had become her standard greeting to unknown women. His elder daughter was having the most difficulty with the loss of her mother. She could remember Rachael being a part of their lives, but had been too young to understand her mother’s problems.
“Hey,” Jean said belatedly, with zero enthusiasm.
“Hi, Jean. It’s nice to meet you.” Stacey gave her an encouraging smile. “I work with Dr. Brennan...uh...your father. Why don’t you sit over here beside me?” She patted the bench beside her.
Jean offered her father a doubtful look. He nodded and gave her a light nudge of encouragement. Jean slid in beside Stacey. He said to her, “And you can call me Cody.”
Stacey instantly produced the smile that made him want to return one. “Cody it is.”
He appreciated the way she pronounced his name, as if it were a sweet she was tasting for the first time and finding she liked it.
“You go first,” Lizzy said, leaving Cody no choice but to scoot in until he faced Stacey. His knees bumped hers. Their looks caught. “Sorry.”
“No problem.”
His fascination with Stacey’s green eyes was broken when Lizzy scrambled into her spot beside him.
The awkwardness he was experiencing disappeared when Brigid Brady, their waitress today, walked up to the table. “Hi, Jean and Lizzy. Cody.”
Her look lingered on him a little longer than mere politeness allowed, much to his annoyance. More than once she’d made unmistakable overtures. He wasn’t interested in a relationship with her now or even later. He glanced at Stacey. She watched them with a quizzical smile. No, she definitely hadn’t missed Brigid’s extra attention.
“Uh... Brigid, we’d like a medium pepperoni and cheese pizza.” His gaze returned to Stacey. “I’m sorry. Have you already ordered?”
“No. But pizza sounds good.”
“Then make that a large,” he said to Brigid. “And four sodas.” He looked at Stacey again.
“That work for you?”
“It does.”
“It’ll be out in a few minutes,” Brigid said with a huff of disgust in her voice.
As she left a soft chuckle came from across the table. “Charming in and out of the OR, I see.”
He twisted the corner of his mouth and shrugged.
Her attention went to Jean. “I heard you’re a dancer.”
“I take dancing. I’m not very good, though.” Jean stared at the tabletop.
“I take it too,” Lizzy proudly announced.
Stacey acknowledged her with a look of wide-eyed wonderment and asked, “You’re a dancer too? Awesome!”
Stacey’s focus was completely on his girls and it was genuine. They needed that in their lives. Their mother had never been there for them. The few women he’d had anything to do with in the years since his divorce had been more one-night stands than anything. He certainly had not brought them home to meet his daughters.
“That’s great. I never had a chance to learn.” Stacey leaned toward them as if enthralled with what Jean and Lizzy were telling her.
“Why not?” Lizzy asked, but Jean appeared uninterested.
“I moved around a lot and my mother didn’t put me in any classes.”
“You could come to ours,” Lizzy offered so emphatically that Cody couldn’t help but chuckle. The action felt good. He could only imagine Stacey in an eight and under class of girls in tutus.
“I think that would be fun but I don’t think I’ll be on Maple Island long enough to take lessons now either.” Stacey hadn’t taken her eyes off the girls, especially Jean.
“Where’re you going?” Jean asked, frowning at the tabletop.
“In a few weeks I’ll be going to Ethiopia after a quick stop to visit my mother for a couple of days.”
Jean sat straighter in her chair. “Ethiopia. We’ve been studying about that country in geography. It’s in Africa, isn’t it? That’s a long way away.”
For once his oldest was engaged in the conversation. Stacey had a carefree manner about her. That unique congeniality came from living life on the move with the ease of the wind. Her life was a complete contrast to his. Still, he liked her ability to interact with people as if she’d known them forever. He’d seen her use that skill with his patients and now with his girls. She never treated people as though they were strangers. That was a talent to admire.
