Brokenhearted Beauty(Divine Creek Ranch 19)(88)

“Sweetie, this is Denny Calder. He’s the contractor working on the new store.”

Presley Ann smiled and nodded at him, as she glanced at Leah. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Denny. I really need to get to my department. Evelyn had someone covering for me and I don’t want to hold them up. I hope you have a good visit, Mr. Calder. Daddy, I’ll still see you at supper Saturday night?”

Her dad leaned down and kissed Presley Ann’s cheek. “Of course. And this time it’s my treat and I won’t go if you won’t allow it.”

“Shoot,” she said with a chuckle. “All right. See you at the house. Bye!” she called as she hurried off toward the children’s department.

Her dad chuckled softly as he watched her. “She didn’t even give me time to finish the introduction. Denny, that blonde flash was my daughter, Presley Ann.”

Denny laughed and replied, “So I gathered. She looks like a dynamo, just like her sister.”

Oh yak!

Leah held back her response and her dad said, “That she is, Denny. She’s got her hands full these days.” Turning to Leah, he said, “Will you tell your sister that I’ll have a tow truck take her car to the mechanic and have him look at it and fix the AC? Could you give her a ride home if she needs it?”

“Sure, Dad.”

He pulled out his phone to take care of the tow truck and mechanic work and stepped away from them for a few minutes.

Denny paused for several seconds, gazing down at his hands as he rubbed at a paint spot on his thumb joint. He tilted his head as he smiled at her. “Leah, I wanted you to know I wish you only the best, in whatever you do, and whoever you’re with. I confess when your dad suggested a trip out to Divine I jumped at the chance, hoping I might see you again. I just couldn’t let it go, the way I left it at the bed-and-breakfast. I felt the need to make sure you were okay…that you were happy. And I can tell you are.”

She saw only sincerity in his eyes and nodded. “Thank you, Denny. They do make me very happy.”

“Both of them?”

“Yes, both,” she replied softly.

She could see the mixture of surprise and doubt in his eyes as he asked, “Does your father know?”

Leah nodded. “He can fill you in on the local tendency toward ménages in Divine. I know it must seem odd to you but it works for us.”

“Just tell me that their focus is you and I won’t worry about you.”

“It is. I think the woman who falls for you will be a very lucky woman.”

“Thank you. Your sister is lovely.”

Leah looked across the store at her sister’s bobbing blonde head as she went about her work, chatting amiably with a customer while tidying, and said, “She is.”

“I would never guess you were sisters.”

“We take after different sides of the family.”

“She seems sweet.”

Leah let out a long sigh, realizing that Presley Ann had changed enough that people who had never met her before might reasonably think that. And she had changed a lot. “Life has thrown her some curves lately.”

“You might think I’m awful, because it was pretty obvious I was interested in dating you, but I noticed she’s not wearing a wedding ring and it looked like…” He sent her a questioning look, as if he was hoping she wouldn’t make him say it out loud. Leah understood what he was asking. A clueless customer had once asked her when her baby was due and even though the insult was unintended, she’d cried about it later that night.

She smiled and eased his predicament. “She’s expecting. Due in November. The father isn’t in the picture.” She chuckled and added, “And you’re not awful.”

Denny nodded but said nothing else as he mulled over the information she shared. Even five months pregnant, Presley Ann managed to garner admirers.

The men left shortly afterward to go enjoy a late lunch, while Leah returned to her office to finish paperwork. A little while later, James and Vincent returned with her lunch in a paper box from Rudy’s.

“Your favorite, I think?” James said as she opened it and her mouth watered from the scent of Rudy’s Ultimate Swiss and Turkey Sandwich, on a homemade wheat bun topped with spinach and mushroom salad, honey mustard, and juicy red onions, fresh from the broiler.

She had to swallow her drool before she could speak. “Heaven on a bun. Yes. I’m your willing slave for remembering.”

Vincent chuckled and nudged James. “Told ya.”

She moaned with the first bite and beckoned them to have seats in her office. They filled her in on their day while she ate her sandwich and sipped from the Styrofoam cup of sweet tea they’d also brought.