Burned(29)

“No. It doesn’t make me mad.” He would have preferred to have this talk with her in private, but he wasn’t going to put her off until they could walk home. And at least he wasn’t hearing her essay for the first time in front of a large crowd. That would have turned him into a complete mess.

Vic locked the front door and quietly ushered Carmen and Ruth into the back room. Rather than stay in the back room or even hover close enough to listen to him and Sophie, she moved to the counter by the front door where she would no doubt wave away anyone stopping by.

“Does it make you sad?”

“A little.” He settled on the floor with his legs crossed and waited for Sophie to join him.

When she did, she sat close enough that her knees brushed his and her hands rested on his legs. It was how they used to sit to play patty cake or go fish or have the kinds of serious talks a dad and a five-year-old have. They hadn’t sat like that in a long time, but it thrilled him to know she hadn’t outgrown the closeness.

“I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“Never apologize for your feelings or how they make me feel. You are entitled to them.”

“Okay.”

“I am only sad because I didn’t know how much you were thinking about all that.” And that I haven’t been able to give you the things you want. He wanted to. He simply didn’t know how anymore.

“Do you think there is ever a chance of you and me getting what I wish for?”

“I don’t know. It would take a super-special woman to mean enough that I could let her near you.” Hauk looked across the room to where Vic worked on the computer.

If she overheard them, she wasn’t letting on. Then, stronger than the fumes of hair coloring, it hit him. He wanted to try to grant Sophie’s wishes. He wanted to do it with Vic.





Chapter Nine

Vic looked at everyone who’d gathered to help her. Katy, Andie and Dani, who were there strictly for light work and food runs. Josie and Tabby who’d jumped in the day before in the salon’s back room with their creativity bursting. Aimee and the rest of Hauk’s staff were ready to handle anything that would impact operations. Carmen and Sophie were putting finishing touches on zombies, corpses and ghosts. Even Hauk’s parents, Stian and Marilyn, were on hand.

His mom would work with the women to string lights, place decorations, set up the fog machine and arrange the spider webs. His bartender would set up the door chime Vic had brought over from the salon. His dad would help her hang the bodies.

“Okay, people.” Vic checked her watch before settling her hands on her hips. “Does everyone know their role? We only have a few hours before Hauk gets back.”

“You bet,” they all answered in unison.

“Braydon is going to text me when they hit the shore,” Dani promised.

The instant Vic had asked Braydon for help, he’d jumped at the chance and wished her luck in twisting his pal’s life onto a new path. He’d worked quickly to move the poker game they’d been planning for later in the night to the boat during the day. Hauk hadn’t wanted to take the day away from Sophie, but his parents had stepped in with an invitation for a weekend of sleepovers.

“If we get this done before my boy gets back,” Mr. Michaelsen added as he leaned on a crutch—he’d broken his leg a couple weeks earlier when he tripped over their dog, “I’ll give each of you a hundred bucks.”

Everyone hustled into action, leaving Vic to admire the way the man motivated volunteers. She kissed him on the cheek. “You’re why Hauk is so great.”

“And you’re going to push him past this nonsense of holding out on love.” He dropped an arm around her shoulder and led her to the ladder he’d set up. “Now get up there so we can hang some bodies. These pulleys are going to take some time.”

Vic smiled as she climbed the ladder and eased onto one of the three beams that spanned the length of the pub’s open-style ceiling. Crossbeams intersected every few feet. After growing up on boats and climbing the riggings, she didn’t mind the height or the narrow beam. She’d mostly wondered how she was going to hang the bodies so they could be pulled up out of the way during the day. When Sophie had caught her in the salon’s back room, she’d mentioned the pulleys her granddad had designed.

After two hours of carefully following Mr. Michaelsen’s instructions for the installation of the hidden pulleys, her muscles cringed with each new move she made. It was paying off though. Pulley and bodies had been installed and hung on two of the three beams, with only one more beam to go. Checking her watch, she worried they may not finish in time.