Sarah Mayberry - Home for the Holidays

“Absolutely. You want to do the honors?”

Ruby’s eyes went even wider. “Really?”

Hannah simply handed over the keys. Ruby vibrated with anticipation as she stood on tiptoes and slid the key into the ignition. With an encouraging nod from Hannah, Ruby twisted the key and the bike roared to life. Ruby gave a little squeal and jumped backward. Hannah laughed, then immediately bit her lip when Ruby gave her a reproachful look.

“It just took me by surprise, that’s all,” the little girl said.

“I know. It startles me all the time, too,” Hannah said.

Ruby cocked her head to one side. “Is it fixed? It still sounds very loud.”

She was right; the bike was still too noisy. Ideally, the bike needed a new muffler, but Hannah couldn’t justify the expense when she was still paying off the personal loan she’d had to take out to cover what was left of the mortgage after they’d sold the apartment.

“Well, it’s not perfect, but it’s going to have to do for now,” Hannah said. She reached out and switched the bike off again.

“Can we go for a ride?”

Hannah smiled. She’d been waiting for that one. “I don’t think your dad would appreciate us doing that.”

“He wouldn’t mind.”

“Hmm. I’m not so sure about that.”

Ruby pressed her hands together and gave Hannah a limpid-eyed beseeching look. “Pretty please?”

As pitiful pleas went, it was very effective. Hannah wondered if Ruby had practiced in the mirror. “Sorry, sweetheart. You can have a sit on it, though, if you’d like.”

Ruby considered for a moment. “I guess that would be okay,” she said grudgingly.

Hannah wiped her hands on her jeans and helped boost Ruby onto the saddle. Ruby’s legs barely straddled the seat and she wobbled and clutched at the handlebars, a worried frown on her face.

“Hang on a minute,” Hannah said. She slung a leg over the bike so that she was sitting behind Ruby, holding the little girl’s hips with her hands. “Is that better?”

“Yes. Can I rev the engine?”

“Sure, why not?”

Hannah twisted the ignition key and the bike rumbled to life beneath them. Ruby giggled.

“It’s all bouncy,” she said.

Hannah laughed. She vaguely registered the sound of a door slamming shut in the background as she leaned forward to twist the throttle.

“See? You grip this and twist it slowly forward. But not too much—you don’t want to push it too hard.”

Ruby reached out, fingers spread wide.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Hannah nearly fell off the bike as Joe stalked across the sidewalk, his expression livid.

“Are you out of your freaking mind?” he demanded. He grasped Ruby around the waist, plucking her from the bike as though she weighed less than a feather.

“No, Daddy. Hannah was just going to let me rev the engine,” Ruby protested.

Joe set her on the ground and put a hand on her shoulder. “I want you to go inside.”

“No! We weren’t doing anything wrong. We were just sitting there,” Ruby insisted.

Hannah could see the little girl was getting herself worked up. She could also see that Joe was in no mood to listen to reason. She met Ruby’s gaze.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” she said reassuringly. “You do what your daddy says.”

The small exchange only made Joe angrier. He forcibly turned Ruby around. “Inside, now!” he barked.

Ruby’s bottom lip stuck out and her eyes filled with tears but fear won out over valor. Hannah didn’t blame her—Joe Lawson in full-blooded fury was a pretty damned intimidating sight. With one last glance over her shoulder, Ruby raced toward the house.

Joe waited until his daughter was well out of hearing before turning on Hannah. “What kind of a reckless idiot takes a kid for a ride on a motorbike without a helmet? You want to answer me that?”

“You’re overreacting. If you calmed down for one second—”

“Don’t tell me to be calm, lady.” He shoved a finger in her face. “You had no right to risk my daughter’s life. Did you even stop to think—” He broke off, unable to articulate his fury.

Hannah held his gaze, pride demanding that she not waver for a second in the face of his misplaced righteousness.

“Are you finished?” she asked calmly. “Any more insults you want to throw at me?”

He gave her a scathing head to toe. “Stay away from my daughter.” He turned on his heel and strode toward his house.

Hannah let out the breath she’d been holding.

Wow. That had been exactly what she hadn’t needed—a big, shitty cherry on top of an already shitty day.

She started gathering her tools and was dismayed to see her hands were shaking. She squeezed her hands into fists, willing them to steady. She hadn’t done a single thing wrong. She refused to let him get to her.

When she opened her hands again, the shaking was barely discernible.

Good. That was the way it should be. Back straight, she wheeled her bike into the garage.

JOE PAUSED OUTSIDE Ruby’s bedroom door to take a deep breath and consciously relax his shoulders. His blood was still pounding in his head, but Ruby didn’t deserve his anger. She was just a kid, going with the flow. It wasn’t her fault that Hannah Napier was reckless and irresponsible.

He lifted his hand and rapped on the door.

“Rubes, it’s me,” he called.

She didn’t say anything but he pushed the door open anyway. She was stretched out on her bed, her face buried in her pillow.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you like that,” he said as he crossed to the bed and sat beside her. He laid his hand on her shoulder. He could feel the agitated heat coming off her body. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Hell, he was the one who’d been frightened. Seeing his little girl perched on the bike like that, realizing what Ruby had been up to while he’d been kneading pizza dough in the kitchen … He’d seen red. If Hannah Napier had been a man, for sure he would have grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and shaken her till her teeth rattled. Luckily for her, she’d been protected by her gender. Just. For a few seconds there, it had been a close-run thing.

“What happened wasn’t your fault, okay?” he said. He stroked Ruby’s rigid back. “But I need you to promise that you will never, ever go for a ride on a motorbike again without talking to me, okay?”

Ruby lifted her head and he could see she’d been crying. “No!”

He frowned. “I know they look like a lot of fun, but they’re dangerous, sweetheart. There’s a whole bunch of special equipment you should be wearing before you even think of riding one of those things.”

His voice caught as he imagined what could have happened to her if something had gone wrong. Ruby was so small, so bloody fragile ….

“No, Daddy, you’ve got it all wrong. Hannah didn’t take me for a ride and now you yelled at her and she’ll never let me help her again.”

Joe frowned. “Ruby, I saw you on the bike. I know you’re only trying to protect your new friend—”

“She didn’t take me for a ride! I asked her to but she said no. Then she said I could sit on the bike if I wanted to and she was really nice and lifted me up and held me when I thought I was going to fall,” Ruby said in an urgent rush.

Joe stared at his daughter. Ruby held his gaze unflinchingly, her blue eyes drenched with tears. The tight, uncomfortable feeling in his gut told him his daughter was speaking the truth.

Damn.

He closed his eyes for a long moment as he reviewed his reaction through the filter of this new information. Over-the-top? Just a little.

“Hannah’s going to hate me now,” Ruby said miserably.