Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
NICK
He wasn't sure how it happened, but he had a feeling that Katie was playing matchmaker.
And he was strangely okay with it.
The waitress stopped by the table a few minutes after they'd been seated. "Evening, folks. I'm Janie and I'll be your server tonight. May I start y'all off with some drinks? Appetizers?"
Nick saw Ruth's hesitation and wondered what it was she wanted but didn't seem to want to order.
He smiled at his daughter who looked like she was chomping at the bit to say something.
Leaning in against the table, Katie smiled at Ruth. "Do you like dessert?"
Ruth seemed taken aback by the question but answered it easily. "Love it. It kind of comes with the job."
"Awesome!" Katie snapped her fingers and turned to the server. "We're starting with the shared brownie sundae!"
Ruth's smile was brilliant. She gazed at his daughter like she was star struck.
He understood the feeling.
"Do you want a drink," Katie beamed at her. "Like wine? A cocktail?"
Ruth blinked and stared at his daughter. "What?"
Katie folded her arms on the table in front of her. "You don't have to worry about me. You can drink if you want to, my dad can't 'cause he's driving but he can drive you home so you can toss a few back if you want to."
Ruth started coughing and Katie got up from her seat to skirt around the table and pat Ruth on the back.
Nick felt bad for the server who looked like she'd just walked into a Candid Camera ambush. He lifted his chin to get her attention, and she turned toward him like he was the lifeline she was desperate for.
"Waters all around. And don't worry, my daughter won't be trying to get anyone drunk while you're gone."
The server turned her back and fled like the hounds of hell were after her.
When Ruth's cough subsided, Katie squeezed in beside her instead of coming to sit beside him again.
The way she settled in said she was there for the long haul, so he moved to the center of the booth and listened in as the two began to talk.
"I heard that Missus Guthrie got her claws into you."
Ruth stared at Katie, wide-eyed.
Nick leaned in toward the table. "Katie? What did I tell you about talking about people behind their backs?"
Katie, without missing a beat, half-stood and craned her neck looking around the room before sitting back down with wide-eyed innocence plainly displayed on her face.
"She's not here. Missus Guthrie wouldn't be caught dead in a place like this.
She, as she loves to remind everyone," Katie looked right at Ruth, "is old money. "
Nick really couldn't argue with the content of her words, but still-
It was like Katie heard his thoughts.
"I know, Dad." She turned back to face the table, hooking her arm through Ruth's. "It's not nice, but ohhh, she gets on my last nerve and starts Riverdancing on it! She better be nice to Miss Baker or I'm... or I'm..."
Nick prepared for the worst, preparing for Hurricane Katie to make landfall.
"Don't worry about me."
Ruth reached a hand across her body and gave Katie's hands a pat where they were holding onto her arm. "I've had a few Missus Guthrie's in my life." Ruth's reassuring tone made Katie smile, but Nick could see the tightness at the corners of Ruth's eyes and mouth.
"The day someone like Missus Guthrie could stop me helping you, is the day I hang up my apron and whisk. And that, my dear girl, is never happening!"
Katie stared at Ruth like she hung the stars and Nick kind of agreed with her.
"Seriously, since we talked and you two tasted some of my cookies, I've been online looking for inspiration and seeing what other dance companies do for their tea parties. I've got ideas!"
Ruth turned to look at him and Nick was fairly sure he stopped breathing.
Her gaze was pretty intense.
He just wasn't sure what her ideas were when it came to him.
Crazy enough, he had a feeling he'd give in to almost anything if she asked him to do it.
He just wasn't sure when Ruth would put him out of his misery and say it.
"There's one that I saw in Hawaii where Santa comes out and hands out candy canes to children. I think you'd be a great Santa!"
Nick opened his mouth to beg off, but Ruth had picked the right moment.
Maybe fate had even lent a hand.
The brownie sundae hit the table just a second after his daughter lit up like a Christmas tree. "Dad! That would be so awesome!!! You'd make the coolest Santa!"
Nick wasn't sure but it looked like Ruth was barely holding back a triumphant look.
And just like that... he found himself as Santa for the Sugarplum Tea for his daughter's dance company.
Dinner lasted almost two hours and by the time they got home, it was almost Katie's bedtime, which was why Ruth had begged off going back to the dance studio to get her car.
For Nick that led to a couple of benefits.
First, he was going to take her in the morning on the way when he took Katie to school to get her car.
Second, after watching Katie unlock the front door and drag herself in to bed, he was still standing on the sidewalk between their front walks, hemming and hawing like he was a teenage boy. He was barely keeping his feet on the ground and not shuffling around.
"Well," Ruth shifted her weight to one leg and he had a feeling she was going to walk away, "it's getting late-"
She didn't take more than a step before he reached out and managed to take hold of her hand.
They turned, almost at the same moment, looking at each other.
"You don't have to go." "Do you want a drink?"
Their words fell away, and they just looked at each other.
The world around them went on. Crickets sang their songs.
The wind brushed through the trees.
He couldn't find it in him to let go of her hand.
And she didn't seem like she wanted to pull it free.
"I really should get back to my house."
He heard her words and nodded, letting her hand go.
He felt the loss immediately.
It didn't escape his notice that his instinct was always to reach for her and hold her close.
She didn't move yet, except to lower her hand to her side. "If," she bit into the fleshy corner of her bottom lip, "if Katie wasn't going to be alone..." She shook her head. "Sorry. That's... crazy."
Nick closed the distance with one ground-eating step and took her hand again, but with his left instead of his dominant hand.
With his right, he pulled out his phone and opened an App, turning it toward her.
Ruth leaned in to see the screen, but he also explained because there wasn't a lot of light in the house to begin with.
"Our security system is already on. I have security cameras inside. And sound monitors. If Katie woke up or called out, I'd know it in an instant."
Ruth nodded at his words, and as she straightened up, she met his gaze with her own.
"So," she smiled just a hint, "that means that you want to come over for a drink?"
He nodded, but knew that the only streetlight close enough to provide any real light was two houses down. So he'd have to talk to make himself understood. "Yeah, I'm coming over for a drink."
He hadn't expected his voice to deepen right then.
He also didn't anticipate the way his enunciation and tone would make his words seem like a different kind of invitation.
And he certainly didn't imagine that she'd give his hand a slow, warm squeeze.
"Come on over." She took a step toward her house, and he felt her hand tug on his.
What else could he do but follow?
It was different, he told himself, going for a drink at Ruth's house.
The restaurant was busy. The three of them had to lean in to hear each other speak at times.
As fun as it was, it was hard to really relax and get to know each other.
At least on his end.
Katie and Ruth had talked up a storm, and he found himself straining to hear some part of their conversation.
Still, he didn't feel left out as much as he might have.
Off and on, Katie or Ruth would look at him, their glances telling.
Their expressions were entertaining and by the end of the dinner, he'd found himself feeling good.
Warm.
Happy.
Complete.
The sensations made him feel... alive.
Awake.
They walked down the side of Ruth's house and entered the kitchen door that he'd gone in before, casting a look over his shoulder at the gate between their homes.
"Don't worry." The automatic light under the eaves brightened with a click. "I just turned on the outside light. If you have to get over there, you won't have to wait for the motion sensor to see you."
"I'm..." He was about to say that he wasn't worried but that would be a lie.
From the moment he'd felt Katie moving in her mother's stomach he felt a crazy kind of responsibility toward his little girl.
It wasn't any different now that she was a teen.
And barely that.
He stepped inside and turned around to see Ruth watching him with a smile. "Sorry, I just-"
She reached out and touched his shoulder. "There's no 'just' about how you feel about Katie. Anyone could tell how much you love her.
"It's in every look and every word you say to her or about her."
Nick could hear it in her voice. She did understand how he felt about his daughter.
"What... what would you like to drink?"
He smiled at the way she gestured toward the kitchen unsure.
"What would you pick to drink?"
Nick saw her hesitant for a moment. "I'm not going to judge you."
She tilted her head and gave him a look that said she wasn't quite sure she could believe it. "I'm not exactly an experienced drinker. I think the first alcoholic drink I had was a cooking wine and it was not nice to me."
He held up his hands between them. "I really don't drink at home. And I don't drink while we're out. On the off chance that I'm out with some friends, I'll take a glass of whatever beer is on tap and that's my limit."
He followed her to the kitchen island and leaned against the counter a couple of feet away from her.
"So, surprise me."
The look in her eyes held a little bit of impish humor.