Chapter Two #2
“I’ve failed to notice any of the many lovely ladies here. It’s you who caught my eye, princess. But, okay, if that’s how you feel. One thing I’ve learned since moving to Pine Hill earlier this year is that everyone is friends, so maybe friendship is what our fate is meant to be.”
“I won’t be here that long.” At least, she didn’t think so.
Lukas hadn’t given her a time frame, but Maggie got the impression that she wouldn’t be there for more than a month or two. Hopefully not even that long.
“You two are absolutely adorable!” Sarah interrupted, joining them near the bench and motioning with her hand for them to move. “Scoot closer so I can snap a photo.”
Hesitating, Maggie wracked her mind for a way to wiggle out of Sarah’s bubbly request. Walker had no such hesitations. To Sarah’s delight, he knelt next to Maggie and held up the slipper. Of course, he was totally cheesing the moment.
“Ooooh, that’s perfect,” Sarah cooed, snapping a picture. Then giving a pert look, she said, “Smile, Maggie.”
Maggie tried but wasn’t sure her gritted teeth classified as a smile. Sarah must have been satisfied, though, as she took another photo.
“Now, Walker, one with you putting the slipper on Maggie’s foot,” Sarah directed, continuing to point her phone at them. “That will be the best photo. I got one of Cole doing that with Sophie and they just loved it.”
To his credit, Walker came to Maggie’s rescue rather than make the most of the opportunity Sarah had gifted him.
Whether because Maggie had already declined that request or because he’d changed his mind about wanting to, he stood and slid the shoe back into his costume’s oversized pocket.
“How about one with us standing next to each other, instead?”
Surprised that he hadn’t seized the moment, Maggie glanced up at him and heard the click of Sarah’s camera.
Taking her hand, he helped Maggie to stand. “Smile and say glass slipper, princess,” he told her with a gentleness in his gaze that stole her breath.
Still fighting her surprise, she turned toward Sarah and smiled as best as she could muster. Sarah’s phone’s flash went off, half-blinding Maggie. She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to clear her vision.
Glancing at her camera screen, Sarah’s smile was huge. “These are so good, you two. Thanks. I’ll put these on my private social media account so you can snag copies.”
Before Maggie could tell her that she didn’t have social media, didn’t want copies, and preferred not to have her photo online, Sarah moved on to her next photo session victims.
Her vision still not fully recovered from the bright flash; Maggie frowned at Walker. “Why didn’t you take advantage of Sarah’s request to put your shoe on me?”
“You had already told me no.” His expression was confused at her question, as if she should have known the reason. “Regardless of how beautiful you are, I’m not in the habit of forcing a slipper upon an unwilling princess’s foot.”
Cheeks burning at his compliment, she stared at him a moment, then shook her head. “You’re an odd man, Walker Mathieson.”
An odd man who was likeable, unfortunately.
“I’ve been called worse than that too.” He surprised her further by bowing. Then, with another cause-her-to-catch-her-breath grin, he bid her farewell. “Nice meeting you, princess. Find me if you change your mind about seeing if the shoe fits.”
*
Tossing the laundry bag containing the freshly washed Prince Charming costume onto an empty chair next to Cole, Walker gave his coworker a hard glare. “You set me up.”
“Would I do that?” Cole glanced up from where he stared at a folded-back crossword puzzle book.
Most people used a pen or pencil to fill in the blanks.
Not Cole. His buddy did the puzzles by keeping track of the answers in his mind, then passed along the books to someone else.
For kicks, Walker had tried doing that once during a slow shift but had quickly realized he lacked the concentration to keep the answers straight.
“Sure, you would.”
“No way,” Ben, their fellow firefighter, said from where he played a video game near where Cole sat.
Of all the firefighters at the Pine Hill Fire Department, these were the two Walker spent most of his time with.
They’d taken him under their wing, so to speak, due to their mutual friend Andrew Scott prompting Walker to relocate to Pine Hill to raise Zoie.
His hotshot buddy’s eventual plan was to move his nurse wife, stepson, and baby girl back from out West where he fought wildland fires.
Walker hoped that was the case so their daughters would grow up together.
Cole grinned. “We saw you flirting with Maggie at Bodie and Sarah’s party last night so I’m not buying that you minded, your highness.”
Walker snorted. His friend had a point. “It wasn’t me who minded.”
Cole’s grin slipped. “Maggie was upset about the matching costumes? I warned Sophie, but she thought—never mind. I’ll make sure Sophie lets Maggie know that no harm was meant.”
Maggie. He’d like to have stuck around and found an excuse to bump into her again.
With going on a twenty-four-hour shift the following morning, staying later hadn’t been an option.
Zoie slept through most nights, occasionally waking a time or two.
But Walker had learned to never take it for granted that he was going to get a decent night’s sleep.
Last night, it hadn’t been his daughter interfering with his sleep, but rather a beautiful blond princess.
What was it with him and blonds? Every heartbreak he’d ever had came via a blond.
You’d think he’d avoid them rather than make an idiot of himself by asking to see one’s foot.
“She seemed more annoyed than upset.” Unable to sleep, he’d done laundry, cleaned the kitchen, meal prepped, and paid bills while trying to figure out what it was about her that had him so zoned in on her, when he’d been oblivious to the opposite sex since Linda.
Understanding dawned on Cole’s face and his buddy’s lips twitched. “I’m getting a clearer picture. Was she annoyed about the matching costumes or about you in general?”
Walker harrumphed. “Both, but with a strong lean toward me.”
Obviously curious, Cole arched a brow. “Why? Were you being your usual charming self?”
“Ha. Good one.” Ben chuckled, his gaze not leaving his game. “So, you let her know what a royal pain you were? No wonder she was annoyed. Can’t blame the woman.”
Shaking his head, Walker moved a folding chair near to the recliner Cole was propped up in, then sat down.
That Maggie was obviously wearing a match to his costume was what had originally drawn Walker’s gaze.
She had looked breathtakingly beautiful in her gauzy gown but had been as awkward as Cinderella must have been in her bibbidi-bobbidi-boo finery.
She’d been completely out of her element, yet outshining everyone else, the true belle of the ball.
When their gazes had met and Maggie had looked at him with those intense green eyes, he’d been hooked.
Linda had left him to go back to her ex prior to finding out she was pregnant with Zoie.
From the time she’d left, not once had Walker felt a flicker of interest. After all the casserole-bearing women failing to make him feel like a normal twenty-eight-year-old man, part of him was relieved.
Another would just as soon not dive into the world of dating ever again.
“I don’t think she and I got off on the right foot.” Then, shrugging, Walker added, “Or any foot.”
Cole looked genuinely intrigued. “How come?”
Walker grimaced. “My opening line was something about needing to actually see her foot.”
Cole winced. “You didn’t.”
“Dude.” Ben snorted, glancing away from his game long enough to shake his head at Walker. “No wonder she was annoyed. Don’t you know anything about speaking to a lady?”
“You’re lucky she didn’t knock you off your feet for such a lame line.” Cole’s amusement was evident on his face.
“How so?” Arching his brow, Walker waited for Cole to explain.
His coworkers weren’t much for gossip, but the whole fire department seemed to live to get the next joke over on someone.
As the newest guy on the crew, Walker had been the brunt of several major jokes since joining the station earlier that year.
Nothing too intense, just some good-natured ribbing.
Which was likely what the costume had been supposed to be.
Or maybe Cole’s wife had been playing matchmaker and used the costumes as an ice breaker.
It wouldn’t be the first time since he’d moved to Pine Hill that some well-meaning townsperson had tried setting him up with someone.
Any day now, he expected Maybelle Kirby to zing him with real arrows in the name of Cupid.
She and her friends, the Butterflies, were relentless in sending women his way.
Not that Walker had interest in any of them, but he and Amy sure had plenty of casseroles in the freezer.
His sister swore every single woman in Pine Hill had stopped by with food at least once.
“Maggie’s staying in Hamilton House’s Bed for Vets so she’s former military.
” Ben rapidly pressed a button on the controller, saving the world from its next calamity.
“So, what our pal is saying is that she’s tough, and it never would have worked between you two, anyway.
We all know that you’re playing dolls these days. ”
Zoie wasn’t quite a year old yet so playing dolls hadn’t really started.
But if his daughter wanted him to play dolls, Walker would play dolls.
He’d do whatever he had to do to give Zoie a happy childhood and homelife.
Thank God, his sister felt the same and loved Zoie almost as much as Walker did.
Having her with them made his being a single parent so much easier, especially with Amy working at the daycare where Zoie attended.