Carolyne Aarsen - The Matchmaking Pact

Thankfully the school had been spared the worst of the damage and classes hadn’t been interrupted.

“Lily. Hi.” A little girl’s voice called out over the noise in the town just as Silas caught up with his daughter.

He turned and came face-to-face with a young girl holding the hand of the woman whose framed photo lay faceup on the seat of his truck. He shot a quick glance at his truck, wondering if Josie would have seen it as she walked past.

“Good morning, Mr. Marstow,” Josie said.

“Ms. Cane.”

Her smile wasn’t nearly as friendly and open as the one in his picture and he was surprised at the touch of disappointment this created. But he tipped his hat all polite and gentlemanly, then smiled at Alyssa.

As he always was when he saw her, he was surprised how much Alyssa and Lily were alike. Same red hair. Same tip-tilted nose. Same slight build. Even Alyssa’s sparkling green eyes held the same hint of mischief that Lily’s could, which was probably why they were so close.

But the resemblance ended with their clothing. Where his daughter wore a faded Hannah Montana T-shirt, Alyssa wore a white button-up shirt so bright it hurt his eyes. Lily’s pants had grass stains on the knees while Alyssa wore a cute, ruffled pink skirt and striped white, pink and green knee socks.

And Alyssa’s shining red hair was done up in neat, fat braids tied with green-and-pink ribbons.

The girls looked like “before” and “after” pictures for laundry detergent.

“Did you start baking yet?” Lily asked, catching Ms. Josie by the hand. “’Cause I asked my dad if I could come to learn how to bake, and he said maybe.”

“We would love to have you come back to the class,” Josie said, shooting a puzzled glance his way.

He knew exactly what the question in her eyes was about. Once the phones were up and running in High Plains, he had called her and told her Lily wouldn’t be attending the class anymore.

He had been diplomatic enough not to accuse her of carelessness, but she seemed to have drawn that conclusion. She had offered more apologies, but he was firm. He had said he wasn’t going to compromise the safety of his daughter. Which made her mad. Which, in turn, made him mad.

They hadn’t talked or seen each other since then.

“What are you making today?” Lily asked, swinging Ms. Josie’s hand, her wide, happy smile creating a surprising spurt of jealousy in Silas. She never smiled like that at him.

“We’re making cupcakes,” Alyssa, holding Ms. Josie’s other hand, put in.

“I want to learn how to make birthday cupcakes. For my dad. It’s his birthday today, Ms. Josie.”

“Is it, now?” Josie glanced back again at Silas. “Happy birthday, Mr. Marstow.”

“Thank you, Ms. Cane,” he said, stepping aside to let a group of laughing children slip past him.

“He’s not very old yet, you know?” Lily said. “Do you think he’s old?”

“I think he’s exactly as old as he needs to be,” Josie said, tilting her head to one side as she looked at him as if making sure.

“You sound like my dad,” Lily said with a grin. “He said that you’re as pretty as you need to be.”

“Really?” Thankfully Josie didn’t look at him.

“Do you want to come over to my house for a birthday party?” Lily asked. “Daddy, can we have a birthday party for you at our house? Can Ms. Josie and Alyssa come?”

A gust of wind picked up Josie’s hair and tossed it away from her face and, as she smiled, she looked even prettier than her picture.

And for a moment he couldn’t look away.

Silas yanked his attention back to his daughter, frustrated with the vague reaction Josie had created in him. He had no intention of going down that road again.

“We’re not having a birthday party,” Silas quickly added.

“I don’t mind if she comes to the class,” Josie put in. “There’s enough room for her.”

Silas thought of the work he had waiting at home and the convenience of working straight through until late afternoon before coming to get Lily.

He scratched his temple with his index finger, trying to decide. Lily would be over the moon and out of his hair, and he wouldn’t have to feel guilty about her watching television all the time.

“When he does that scratching his head thing? That means he’s thinking,” Lily said to Alyssa.

Josie pressed her lips together, stifling a smile.

“I’ve got a lot to do,” Silas said, feeling as if he needed to put up a bit more resistance. “I’m not sure it will work.”

“If you’re busy it would be a good thing that Lily comes,” Alyssa said. “Then you can work all day.”

Silas glanced from one girl to the other, feeling as if he was being played like a cheap guitar.

“I promise I’ll take care of her.” Josie’s husky voice held a touching vulnerability. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am that she and Alyssa got away from me that day of the tornado, and I realize you were frantic with worry, because so was I.” Josie looked down at the girls. “And if these two promise to never do anything like that again, I’m sure we can believe them.”

As she raised her brown eyes to his, bits and pieces of other conversations intruded. “Raising Cane,” one of the guys at the feed store had called her, alluding to her wild past. A young man, apparently a onetime fellow classmate, followed this up with stories of some heavy-duty partying on Josie’s part.

Silas didn’t know any of the stories personally. He had moved here ten years ago from Colorado. Then he met Kelly, fell in love and got engaged. They were full of hopes, dreams and plans. Silas had dreamed Kansas was where it was going to happen for him and it had. He and Kelly started their life and those first few years he and Kelly had been too involved in their own plans to get caught up in the comings and goings in High Plains.

So all he knew about Josie Cane was that she had lived it up and partied hard until her sister died, leaving her with an orphaned niece.

Could he really trust this woman with his daughter?

“Please, Daddy. Please. I’ll be so good.” Lily ran up to him and grabbed his hand. “And I won’t complain about watching television while you work or eating grilled-cheese sandwiches for supper every night.”

Didn’t that make her life sound completely pathetic compared to baking cupcakes with the lovely Ms. Josie? What else could he do but give in?

“If you could have her for today, that would help me out for now,” he said.

“I promise to take good care of her,” Josie said.

The ringing of the school bell broke into the morning. Josie bent over to give Alyssa a hug. “Have a good day, sweetie.” Josie tweaked the ribbon on the little girl’s braid, then stroked her cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you, Auntie Josie.”

“Bye, Daddy.” Lily tossed off a wave, grabbed Alyssa’s hand and the two of them ran off, Alyssa’s perfect braids bouncing on her shoulders and Lily’s crooked ponytail bobbing behind her.

The school doors fell shut behind the girls and Josie turned to him, pushing her hair back from her face. “Thanks for letting her come to the program,” Josie said with a careful smile. “Alyssa has been after me for the past couple months to get Lily to come, but I knew how you felt about it.”

“But they see each other every day at school.”

Josie lifted her hand, then let it drop in a what-can-I-do gesture. “I don’t understand the obsession with seeing each other every day, either, but I’m learning as I go.”

Silas gave a short laugh. “I feel like every day there’s something else I don’t know.”

“And just when you’ve got it, they throw something new at you.”