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He opened the door with his cell phone in hand, so maybe she’d think she interrupted him in the middle of something important. That usually did the trick. Act busy and maybe they’ll leave faster.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt. May I speak to you for a few minutes?”
He’d be willing to talk to her for hours, but there was the matter of the kid. “Come in.”
She brushed by him, a coconut scent in her strawberry blonde hair leaving a trail in his wake. He swallowed hard.
“Sorry, I don’t have any furniture yet. I haven’t had much free time since I moved in.” Best to keep busy, he’d found, since it left so much less time for thinking.
There were two seats in his kitchen—one of them a milk carton and the other a stool. He offered her the stool as he leaned against the kitchen counter.
“This won’t take long,” Maggie said.
And for some odd reason, that didn’t make him feel better. “So what’s up?”
She looked at the floor and didn’t meet his eyes, so either she was uncomfortable or had just committed a crime. He settled on the former.
“It’s Lexi. She’s been difficult since we moved here. I don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Is she skipping school? Hanging out with a bad crowd?”
He wouldn’t be surprised, since kids from single parent households were at a higher risk.
Maggie’s green eyes widened. “No. I hope not. She’s had some problems at school, but I want to make sure things don’t get any worse. She just needs a little guidance.”
Good idea, but what did it have to do with him?
“There are some programs at the county level. I’m not sure, but I could look into it for you…”
Maggie smiled with a longing in her eyes that made his chest tighten.
“I hoped you would help personally. You’re our neighbor. We always taught Lexi to trust law enforcement. You could talk to her sometime, and tell her how important it is to stay on the straight and narrow.”
Anything but that. He didn’t want to be around kids. They were too unpredictable. And tragic. “Thing is though, I’m uh—not great with kids.”
Quite possibly the understatement of the year, buddy.
“You’ve never had any of your own?” He shook his head. “Nope.”
“I wouldn’t say Lexi is the easiest kid to get along with, but she really is a good kid once you get to know her.” Spoken from the mouth of a hopeful mother.
“I’m sure she is.” He was not sure of any such thing.
“Lexi needs a positive male role model in her life. She and her dad were so close.” Her eyes darkened.
Nice. Another absentee father. “So there’s no one else—no uncle, grandfather?”
At the mention of grandfather, he didn’t imagine it when she visibly tensed. Definitely something going on there.
“Grandfather, yes, but he’s a busy attorney here in town.”
“It sounds like he just needs to re-prioritize.” Attorneys often had that problem. Take Tim, for example.
She stared at him. “Please. Just talk to her.”
Every muscle in his body tensed. He wanted to help with clogged sinks, jump-starting cars, maybe even killing a spider or two. Why couldn’t she have asked him for anything but this?
