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Wouldn’t it be nice to have him beside her as she tried to parent her girls?
She wasn’t sure where that thought came from, but it was a comforting one. One she loved and that made her heart warm without her really thinking about it. One that felt surprisingly perfect and right.
He’d been so good with the girls over the past couple of weeks. They loved him even though he wasn’t a pushover and didn’t allow them to do whatever they wanted.
“I’ll get it!” Rachel called, running to the door.
“Mommy said you’d be early,” she said as she opened the door.
“And am I?” he asked, shooting a grin over her head at Dakota, whose heart seemed to flip and flutter, although she couldn’t figure out why. It was just Ryan. The man whom she’d been friends with for years. Who had been hanging around, working in the store downstairs and spending time with her girls and her for the past few weeks. Just Ryan.
But that grin. And the way he chatted now with Rachel, telling her the time from his phone and listening to her say her mother was right. The way she knew he’d be early, that he’d arrive in a good mood, that he’d be kind and thoughtful, always.
He was the kind of man she could depend on. The kind who wouldn’t walk away from her, nor his child. Who would adopt a little girl who wasn’t his, just so she’d have a dad, too.
Her heart wanted to melt at her thoughts. She couldn’t afford to get mushy and sappy before church. Although there was a part of her that asked why not? After all, Ryan seemed like he wanted more, had hinted yesterday that he did, had almost kissed her. He’s said he wanted to show her he loved her.
Wasn’t that what he’d been doing?
“Dakota?” he said, concern touching his face as he closed the distance between them, and she realized that she’d been daydreaming and had missed a question.
“I’m sorry. I was thinking. What did you say?” she asked, sticking a big smile on her face and trying not to show that her hands were sweating and her heart wouldn’t stop acting like she’d never seen Ryan before.
“I rendered you speechless,” he teased.
“You do look nice,” she said, and she couldn’t quite match his teasing tone. Because he did look nice, no, strikingly handsome, in his dark jeans and button up, with his cowboy boots and enough stubble on his chin to make her heart beat faster, if it hadn’t been already.
“You are beautiful. Our girls get their looks from their mom, that’s for sure.”
The girls beamed. Dakota didn’t miss that he’d called them “our” girls. Their eyes met and she felt like he noticed that she noticed and they were both okay with it.
“I know we were planning on a picnic this afternoon, but my mom wanted to know if you’d allow the girls to go to her house this afternoon. She’s watching some of her other grandkids - my brother’s kids - and was hoping our girls would come play as well. Mom loves a house full of children.” He smiled at the girls. “I think she was hoping you girls would help her bake cookies.”
“I love to bake cookies!” Maddie said, jumping up and down.
“Me, too!” Rachel echoed. Dakota’s heart squeezed, since Ryan was including both girls. Either he’d told his mother that they were together, or she’d picked up on that herself. Whatever it was, Dakota couldn’t imagine a family treating her girls and her any better.
“Is that okay?” Ryan asked as they made their way to the door.
“Yes.” Of course it was. How could she turn that invitation down when her girls were so excited about it?
“I’d still like to spend the afternoon with you, if you’re okay with it,” he said in a voice lowered to a point where the girls couldn’t hear as they filed out the door and down the stairs.
She stopped as she walked by him, breathing in his scent, clean and fresh, reminding her of character and strength and confidence. She wanted to stop and put a hand on his chest, look up into his eyes and...she wasn’t sure what. Just knew she didn’t want to walk by without touching him.
“I’d like that.” She forced herself to walk forward, going down the stairs and following her girls out of the door. She should have declined. She had a big, grand opening in the morning. But everything was ready. There was nothing to do. Why not spend a last afternoon with Ryan before the stress of work and busyness of the tourist season descended upon them?
She couldn’t really think of any reasons to decline as they walked around the building and up the sidewalk to the small church, even though she thought she should. Mostly because Ryan was too good to be true. She was going to lose her heart to him, and then where would she be?
Right where God wanted her, a voice in her head insisted. But sometimes she had trouble deciding what God wanted and what she wanted.
They arrived at the church before she could untangle that in her head and she put it aside to think about later. Ryan hadn’t even been on her radar when her Gram passed away. It seemed like her world had come crashing down, but Ryan had arrived like a knight in shining armor. Was that really too good to be true? Or was it the Lord working in her life?
“Ryan, come give me a hand moving a few tables from the storage shed.” Ryan’s brother Matt jerked his head at her in greeting, but he motioned for Ryan and strode away without waiting for his brother to answer, as though confident in his help.
“Is that okay?” Ryan asked her, as her girls crowded close, the strange faces and new experience making them shy.
“Yes. Go right ahead. I’m going to find the Sunday School classes for my girls.”
