Now, he felt stuck behind his door as his darling daughter put her hand on the gate latch and released it. She swept through the gate and paused to look back over her shoulder at him and waggled her fingers.
Nick knew that she was just reassuring him.
Lord knows he'd been anxious about having her out of sight after Elizabeth had passed, but the girl who was walking up the side steps of the Baker house was a wonder.
She had strength and bravado that others thought were traits she'd learned from him. Not exactly. Not lately.
Katie was the hope and focus of his world.
Shaking his head at his own hesitation, something caught his eye across the way.
The light visible through the glass pane in the door dimmed a little.
His first instinct was that the lights had turned off, but then he saw Ruth's face behind the glass.
She was smiling from ear to ear as she opened the door and gestured for Katie to step into her house.
Nick grimaced when he realized that he could have been there right beside his daughter. He could be walking into Ruth's house right at that moment.
Instead, he was stuck in his house, feeling like a complete idiot.
Just great.
RUTH
Ruth Baker heard the knock on her side door and that caught her interest right away.
It wasn't all that unusual to have folks coming up to her front door from time to time. She'd made herself available to the people in the neighborhood and enjoyed meeting people. So she was happy to talk when people were in a mood.
People unlike her neighbor, Nick Stone.
He lived next door with his daughter, Katie. She was a joy and the complete 180 of her father.
The knock on her side door was going to be Katie.
Nick would never come to see her.
Not that she'd turn him away.
He might be a grumpy gus, but he was handsome and very easy to look at. She just couldn't seem to understand why he was so hard to get to know.
Ruth could see a bun through the frosted glass of her door and knew she'd been right.
Opening the door with a broad smile on her face, Ruth gestured for Katie to come inside. "Hello, sweetie! Come on in!"
Katie looked over her shoulder at her home. "I... I'm not sure."
"Sweetie. It's cold outside and you're wearing your leotard and tights. Come in so you don't catch a cold."
She stepped into the house and Ruth smiled when Katie's shoulders dropped, and her lower lip stopped quivering.
"There, that's got to be a little bit better."
Katie gave her a big grin. "Muchbetter."
Ruth smiled at the typical teen exaggerated tone. Ah... those were the days.
Days that Ruth was glad were past.
