“The kids at our school are all rich, WASPy tight-asses,” Walker added. “They don’t appreciate Sophie’s artistic genius.”
Annabeth’s heart squeezed tightly in her chest at Walker’s words. She could easily relate. At fifteen, she’d been thrust into a small-town school in the heart of the Bible Belt weeks after her free-spirited hippie parents had been killed in a car accident. Her parents didn’t believe in the institution of marriage or school or anything else, instead roaming the country wherever the wind blew them. Needless to say, the transition to normal life was a bumpy one for Annabeth, and acceptance was difficult to achieve. Of course, showing up to school pregnant at sixteen hadn’t helped.
“Here.” She pulled a business card out of her clutch and handed it to Sophie. “I’ll be in the store tomorrow afternoon. Why don’t you call me then and we can chat about what you have and work out the details of getting your product to the shop.”
Sophie hurled herself into Annabeth’s arms. “Oh, Annabeth, I love you!”
“Sophie Claire!”
The three of them jumped to their feet at the sound of Hank’s voice.
“Dad!” Sophie squeaked.
“What are you doing here?” Hank demanded.
Sophie clenched her fingers in her skirt. “Um . . .”
Hank ignored his daughter. “And more importantly, how did you get here?”
“Yo.” Clearly, Walker didn’t possess innate self-preservation skills, or he’d have kept quiet.
Fisting his hands at his hips beneath his unbuttoned suit jacket, Hank glared at Walker behind his wire-framed glasses. Not quite as tall as Will, Hank still wasn’t a small man. She could see well-defined pectoral muscles beneath his crisp dress shirt. A small abrasion, likely from his razor, marred his rugged jaw, but it didn’t detract from his handsomeness. His nostrils flared briefly when his steely blue eyes came to rest on her. Annabeth had to lock her knees at the fierceness of his gaze.
“You got in a car with him?” He sliced a finger through the air at Walker. “On the highway with Mr. T-bone-his-mother’s-car-the-day-he-gets-his-license? What were you thinking?”
“It wasn’t like that! That old geezer didn’t look where he was going when he pulled out. It wasn’t my fault.”
“Daddy, Mom exaggerated that whole thing just so you would back her up when—”
“Enough!” Hank bellowed.
The room was silent as Hank took a few calming breaths, one hand massaging the back of his neck. Annabeth really didn’t want to overstep her bounds, but she didn’t feel right leaving the kids defenseless, either.
“Walker, why don’t you go to the kitchen and help yourself to a piece of the cake I brought. Someone should enjoy it,” she said, ruefully.
Right on cue, Walker’s stomach growled. He looked from Sophie to her father. Sophie rolled her eyes at him before nodding at him to go. Hank leveled another fierce glare at Annabeth as Sophie sidled up closer to her. Annabeth answered his gaze with a raised eyebrow. If he wanted her to leave, he’d have to ask her.
Hank sighed. “Does your mother know you’re here?”
“Not exactly.” Defeat rang in Sophie’s voice.
He pulled his cell out of his pocket. “For crying out loud, she’s probably worried sick.”
“I doubt it.” Sophie dropped back onto the sofa. “She and Kevin took the twins to Hershey Park today.”
“And not you?”
“I’m grounded. My physics grade is still in the toilet.”
“So you came here instead of studying because . . . ?” Hank prodded his daughter.
“’Cause I wanted to spend time with my father.” She picked at the chipped blue nail polish on her thumb, avoiding her father’s face.
Hank slammed his phone on the desk. “Bull!”
Sophie leaped up from her seat. “Of course not! Why would you want to spend time with me, anyway? I came to meet Julianne Marchione. To show her my jewelry and see if she might want to use some with her gowns. Not that you’d understand!”
“Jewelry? What jewelry?”
Annabeth’s heart nearly broke at the crestfallen look on Sophie’s face. “God, Dad, don’t you even listen when I talk to you? Mom and Kevin have the twins always distracting them, but you don’t even have that as an excuse. Nobody hears a word I say.”
Sophie headed for the door, but her father blocked her way. “Hold up. I do hear what you say. I just assumed the jewelry you make is for your friends. Not to make money.” He ran a finger over the sparkling earring Annabeth had held earlier. “Is this yours? It’s beautiful.”
Hank’s tender tone with his daughter stilled Annabeth’s breathing. She’d always wanted a father to listen to her at her darkest hour. How her life might have been different had she had one. Except then she might not have had Will. And that thought choked her up even more.
“I should go check on the guests,” she said, making her way past them.
“No!” Sophie cried. “Please don’t go, Annabeth. Dad, Annabeth is going to sell my jewelry in her store. We were just talking about it.”
“Is that so?” Hank’s measuring glance focused in on Annabeth. She licked her lips.
“It is, right, Annabeth?” Sophie sounded nervous, as if her father would force Annabeth to retract her offer.
“Yes, we have a deal.” She smiled at Sophie before turning her gaze on Hank, daring him to contradict her.
He contemplated them both before speaking. “On one condition.”
“Daaaad!” Sophie wailed.
“That physics grade has to go up a letter grade before you can work on any new jewelry. If it does, you can spend all summer working in her store for all I care.”
“Really? Can I, Annabeth?” Sophie’s eyes beamed.
Annabeth looked at the girl’s father, who raised his own eyebrow in challenge.
“Sure,” she heard herself saying. “I can always use the help during the summer.”
“Ohmigod! This is so sweet!” Sophie hugged her dad before wrapping her arms around Annabeth. “I’m sooo glad I came today. Meeting you is the best thing that ever happened to me!” She flounced out the door to find Walker.
They both stood there in silence staring at the door. Feeling the need to flee with Sophie, Annabeth retrieved her clutch from the sofa.
“Mrs. Connelly.” Hank’s nearness startled her.
She looked up to find him watching her carefully. “It’s Miss. I’ve only ever been a Miss.”
Hank lifted a hand in agitation and rubbed the back of his neck again. She’d rattled him. Good.
“Yes. Miss. I apologize.”
He paused for a moment to study her face. Annabeth felt heat flare in her cheeks. He was looking at her differently. Like a man who was interested in her. She’d seen that look many times before. Unfortunately, like the men before him, he wouldn’t find her interesting once he got past her good looks.
Hank seemed to shake himself. “Thank you. For backing me up there. She’s a little . . . impetuous, but she’s a great kid. You shouldn’t worry about having her underfoot all summer, though. Physics doesn’t come that easily to her. She’s not very theoretical.”
Annabeth took exception to his remark. Unexpected motherhood had stalled her own education, and she had only a high school GED. Her son never lorded his Ivy League degree over her head, but she knew she was definitely inferior to him academically. Obviously, Hank Osbourne, with his multiple college degrees, felt the same way about his own daughter.