By the time I leave, the sun is setting again, and Dylan walks me to the door.
"See you Saturday?" he asks.
"I wouldn’t miss it," I say.
He hesitates, then leans down and presses a soft kiss to my cheek. It’s brief, barely there, but it sends warmth spiraling through me.
"Goodnight, Piper."
"Goodnight, Dylan."
I walk to my car with my hand pressed to my cheek, feeling like a teenager with a crush. And maybe that is exactly what this is.
A crush that is quickly becoming something much, much more.
Chapter 5
Dylan
Saturday morning arriveswith clear skies and the kind of spring weather that makes Valentine look like a postcard. I stand in front of my bathroom mirror, adjusting my shirt for the third time, and tell myself I'm not nervous about Piper coming to Maddie's school fair.
It's just a school event. Parents and volunteers, and kids hopped up on sugar. Nothing significant.
Except it feels significant.
Because inviting Piper into this part of my life, the part where I'm just Maddie's dad and not the baker or the widower or the guy everyone in town wants to see happy again, feels like crossing a line I cannot uncross.
"Daddy, are you ready?" Maddie calls from the hallway. "We’re going to be late!"
I take one last look in the mirror, decide I look as good as I'm going to get, and head downstairs.
Maddie is waiting by the door in a yellow sundress covered in daisies; her hair is pulled into two pigtails that I managed to make mostly symmetrical this morning. She bounces on her toes with barely contained excitement.
"Is Piper meeting us there?" she asks for the fourth time this morning.
"Yes, bug. She’ll be there at ten."
"Do you think she will like my art project?"
"I think she will love it."
"Do you think she will want to do the ring toss with us?"
"Probably."
"Do you think she will stay forever?"
The question stops me in my tracks. I crouch down to Maddie's level and brush a loose curl from her face.
"I don't know, sweetheart," I say gently. "Piper has her own life and her own job. We can’t ask her to give that up."
"But what if she wants to stay?" Maddie asks, her eyes wide and hopeful.
"Then that would be her choice," I say. "But we have to be okay either way. Do you understand?"
She nods, but I can see the worry flickering across her face. She has already started to care about Piper, and the thought of Piper leaving is beginning to feel real to her.
It's beginning to feel real to me, too.
