Perfect Bastard (Mason Creek)

I ran over, full of fire. “Where is Zoe?” My friend might have been reckless with men, but she was usually more responsible when it came to her daughter.

Haley waved me off. “She’s on the hayride.” Her eyes shined, which was why I hadn’t had a drink tonight. I was once again the designated driver as Haley had already had a few when I’d picked her and Zoe up.

Mountainside didn’t have a tree lighting. Hell, we didn’t have a town square. The mayor worked out of an office building next door to the makeshift jail. Our town relied heavily on the county sheriff’s department. Every year since Zoe was old enough, we’d brought her to Mason Creek to meet Santa and have the Christmases Haley and I hadn’t had.

“Avery, this is Agan. Agan, this is my best friend, Avery.”

Since I’d been looking for Zoe, and not at Haley and her companion, I shifted my gaze in his direction and muttered out a hi. I didn’t feel relief until I spotted the truck with the hay and Zoe sitting there among a group of kids, looking happier than I’d seen her in a while.

Air escaped my lungs, and I finally gave my attention to the pair. “Sorry. I’m Avery,” I said, holding out my hand.

Agan took it and placed a kiss on my knuckles just as Nathaniel came into view.

“Enchanted,” Agan said, letting go of my hand while I ratcheted up my smile for the benefit of our audience.

Though I didn’t look directly at Nathaniel, I could see him stopped in his tracks out of the corner of my eye.

“Haley’s been showing me around town,” Agan said.

“He’s in town for business,” she added.

Oh, boy. The man was very attractive. He met all the guidelines for tall, dark, and handsome. But Haley would see him as a ticket out. He likely would see her as a distraction while he was in town, leaving me to pick up the pieces of a shattered fantasy she’d conjure in her head about a potential future with him.

“Haley, can I speak with you?” I pulled my drunken friend a few steps away from both Agan and where the other daunting man had stood. “He’s only here a short time,” I said in a harsh whisper.

“And? Aren’t I allowed any fun?”

“It’s not that,” I protested.

“It’s what? You can consort with the enemy, and I can’t hang out with a nice man who’s treating me like a princess?”

Okay, she hadn’t been happy when I’d told her about helping the “enemy,” especially with Zoe with me. But that wasn’t the point. “And if you have your fun, how will you feel when he’s gone?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, Avery,” she said, sounding more sober. “But I want to feel. I need to feel.”

I pursed my lips. I’d given her the warning, but saw the desperation in her eyes. She hadn’t seriously dated anyone since she’d been pregnant with Zoe. She’d gone on a couple of disastrous dates, but that was it. “Okay. I’ll find Zoe. You do you. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

She came in for the hug. I closed my eyes and hugged her back. Neither of us had felt much of anything over the last few years. Maybe that was why the kiss that had happened earlier still tingled on my lips. I wanted to feel too. Just not with Nathaniel “enemy number one” Bowmen. Anyone but him.

I walked away from the pair, taking a route that would hopefully have me avoiding running into him.

My roundabout way took me longer than expected, as the hay truck was empty of kids when I arrived.

“Zoe,” I called out in a panic, not sure why. Mason Creek was a safe place, but not seeing her caused my gut to churn. “Zoe!”

Then the crowd seemed to part, and Zoe was there holding the hand of a stranger. Okay, she’d met Nathaniel once, but she shouldn’t be so comfortable with the man.

I ran over and bent down to scoop her up in my arms. “I got lost,” Zoe said. “I was talking to my friends and then I was lost.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “She was looking for her mommy and I told her I’d help.”

When had he disappeared from where he’d been standing? Had I imagined him steaming with jealousy as Agan kissed my hand? And I should probably set him straight about who Zoe’s mommy wasn’t. Yet I gave him a curt, “Thank you,” and walking away.

What I didn’t want was for Zoe to see her mom cuddled up with a man. Haley might have needs that were clouding her judgment, but I could protect them both from that potential blunder. “Why don’t we get some hot chocolate?”

When I stood, he was still there, assessing me. “Do I owe you a tip?” I said with a saccharine-sweet smile.