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The bell jangled, and he turned to see Glenn Hussert enter with a stack of papers. He wore his ever-present green John Deere hat over his brown hair.
Glenn stopped when he saw them and smiled as he handed one of the flyers to Jon and another to Annie. “I’m running for state rep. I hope I can count on your vote, eh.”
His Yooper twang sounded forced to Jon. He took the flyer and glanced at it. “Thanks.”
Glenn owned Bunyan Fisheries outside town, but Jon didn’t know him well enough to promise him a vote.
With Milo on leash, Kylie took her sundae and headed for the door to grab a table outside. Annie mouthed for him to follow Kylie while she waited on the rest of the ice cream. Jon’s palms grew moist at the thought of trying to hold a conversation withthe hostile girl. It shouldn’t be this hard, should it? He thought back to his growing-up years and how easily he’d chattered to his parents about anything and everything. He hadn’t been around kids much, so the distance was probably his fault.
He’d always believed he’d never be a father, and he hadn’t made any effort with children. He saw them in his practice, of course, but he talked mostly to the parents about surgery and recovery. While he might smile and say hello to a juvenile patient, he didn’t spend any time getting to know them.
That had been a mistake—one he regretted now that he faced Kylie’s adversarial attitude.
Kylie plopped down in an iron chair at a metal-and-glass table with the puppy at her feet. Milo sat on his haunches and whined up at her expectantly. “Your ice cream cone is coming.” She licked the chocolate from the handle of her spoon and didn’t look at Jon.
“So, you excited about going into second grade?”
“Thirdgrade. Second grade is for babies.”
Messed up again. “Sorry, of course. Third grade. Do you know what teacher you’ll have yet?”
“No.”
Did she like any sports? Soccer, maybe? What did kids that age do? Jon wasn’t used to feeling so inept and unprepared, and it was like he’d teleported back to that awkward phase in middle school. It wasn’t a time he wanted to revisit.
Kylie shot out of the chair. “Taylor!”
Jon turned to see Taylor stop at the sound of Kylie’s voice. Taylor’s gaze flicked to Jon, and the triumphant glint that sparked in her eyes didn’t help his dislike. In spite of the fact that he’d warned her off just this morning, she sauntered over to join them.
She touched the top of Kylie’s head. “Hey, Bug.”
Kylie didn’t reject the nickname from Taylor the way she always did when anyone else but her mother used it. She grinned up at Taylor with unmistakable affection. Would Kylie ever smile at him like that? And what should he do about Taylor being here? Annie had made it clear she wanted some distance between them until they got the DNA results back. It wasn’t his place to tell Kylie what to do, though, and if he tried to order Taylor off, he’d alienate his daughter even more.
This parenting gig was hard, especially when Kylie didn’t know he was her father.
The bell on the door jangled and Annie came out with her hands full of sundaes and a cone for the puppy. She stopped when she saw Taylor, and color rushed to her cheeks. “What are you doing here?”
Taylor’s chin tipped up, and a challenging sneer lifted her lips. “Shopping like everyone else. Kylie called me over.”
Annie seemed as indecisive as Jon felt. It was awkward when Kylie had no idea of everything going on with Taylor. How did you explain such complex undercurrents to a kid?
Taylor twisted a lock of fading red hair around her finger. “Does Kylie know who I am?”
Kylie frowned and glanced from Taylor to Annie. “You’re my friend. Why aren’t you still staying with us?”
If he didn’t do something fast, Taylor would tell Kylie more than they wanted her to know right now. He reached over and took Taylor’s arm. “I’ll get you some ice cream.”
He guided her through the door into the ice cream shop, and she didn’t resist. Once the door shut behind them, he released her and scowled. “Look, if you have any hope of a future relationshipwith Annie and Kylie, you need to quit trying to cause trouble. Kylie is too young to understand all that’s going on. If the DNA shows you’re Sarah, Annie will handle it then. Until then, lay low and don’t stir the pot.”
“Or what?”
She wanted to push his buttons and was doing a good job of it. He softened his tone. “Waiting until we know the truth isn’t much to ask. Annie hasn’t said anything bad about you to Kylie. You want Annie to have to tell her how you lied to Mason? About how you used Kylie to get close to Annie? Do you want to destroy the love in that little girl’s eyes?”
The anger faded from Taylor’s face, and she shook her head. “I like Kylie.” She stalked to the ice cream counter and ordered a chocolate twist cone. “Pay for my ice cream and leave me alone.”
He was only too happy to defuse the situation with ice cream, but what about next time? This situation needed to be resolved as quickly as possible.
Seven
