A Valentine Wish (Gates-Cameron 1)

Everyone else had already gone to bed, leaving him in the sitting room, watching old sitcom reruns on cable. Growing bored with the idealistic, Black-and-white worlds depicted there, he turned the TV off and wandered into the kitchen, thinking maybe a glass of milk would help him sleep.

Someone was sitting in the kitchen, silent and dressed all in white.

For a moment, his pulse jerked. “An—”

He stopped when he saw the honey-blond hair.

“Cara,” he said after a moment, trying to make his voice sound normal, trying to hide his disappointment. “What are you doing up at his hour?”

She whirled, one hand on her heart, the other clasping the front of her thick white robe. “Oh! You startled me.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone was in here. Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I couldn’t sleep and I thought I’d have a glass of milk.”

He smiled. “Great minds,” he murmured without bothering to finish the saying. “That’s what I was going to do.”

She gave him a shy smile. “I’ll pour two glasses.”

“Thanks.” He opened the pantry door. “How about a cookie to go with it? Milk seems kinda lonely without a cookie.”

She chuckled. “Maybe just one.”

He grabbed a handful of cream-filled chocolate cookies. She was too thin. A few extra calories wouldn’t hurt her.

Setting three cookies in front of her, he took a chair on the opposite side of the small kitchen table. Then he tried to think of something to say. It was the first time he and Cara had actually been alone.

“So, how’s Casey settling in?” he asked lamely, figuring talking about her daughter would make her feel comfortable.

Cara smiled. “Just fine. She’s fallen hard for your aunt, you know.”

“Everyone does. Aunt Mae’s one of a kind.”

“She’s been helping Casey with her lessons in the afternoons. I wasn’t really surprised to learn that she’s a retired schoolteacher.”

Dean knew his aunt had been concerned when she’d learned that Cara had been home-schooling Casey with correspondence materials, though she’d told him that Casey seemed to be on an average level for her age. It worried Mae that Casey was such an isolated child, with no companionship of children her own age. Dean tended to agree with his aunt.

“You, uh, haven’t thought about putting Casey into Destiny Elementary?” Dean asked, wondering if she would find the question intrusive. “I’ve been told it’s a good school.”

“I have thought about it,” Cara admitted. “I’m worried about her not having any playmates. It’s just that we’ve moved around so much during the past year, it seemed easier to try to teach her myself.”

“You have a home and a job here for as long as you need one,” Dean told her, touched by the wistfulness in Cara’s voice. “Assuming, of course, that we don’t all end up homeless if the inn goes bust,” he added rue-fully.

She smiled, her blue eyes luminous. “I don’t think that will happen,” she murmured. “Something tells me you make a success of whatever you take on.”

“I try.”

She finished her milk and two of the cookies, pushing the third toward him. “I’d better go to bed,” she said. “Maybe I’ll visit the school tomorrow.”

“I’m sure Aunt Mae would be delighted to accompany you, if you want her to.”

“That would be nice,” she agreed.

She paused in the doorway before leaving the kitchen. “Dean?”

He swallowed a mouthful of the leftover cookie. “Mmm?”

“Thank you. For everything.”