soft voice, he said, “I’m so sorry for your loss.” He glanced at the carriage. “I assume he’d be a grandfather?”
Out of the blue, a lump of emotion wedged in her throat. She searched Ned’s expression. His eyes were full of compassion, and the somber set of his mouth and jaw told her this was a man she could trust.
“Thank you,” she whispered. Swallowing the painful lump in her throat, she offered a feeble smile and looked at her beautiful child. “He would have loved being a granddad.”
Ned held her gaze. In a gentle tone, he asked, “May I have a peek?”
When in public, she was super protective of Ari and rarely let strangers close, but without hesitation, she smiled and waved her permission. She bent close and made an introduction. “Arianne? Say hello to Mr. Ned.”
Ned looked at her so strangely, and for a second, she thought he was going to cry. “What a lovely name,” he murmured. Then he peeked around the raised bonnet of the carriage.
“Oh, my,” he gasped.
Summer was glued to the man’s reaction but didn’t know why. He seemed gobsmacked and way more emotional than one would expect from a stranger.
But the thing was, he didn’t come across as someone entirely unfamiliar. When Ari let out a squeal of happiness, the area around her heart surged with warmth.
What the hell was going on? Stan was rocking the overall appearance of a guy waiting for the other shoe to fall. Ari was making goo-goo eyes at a man they just met. And finally, she looked at Ned and saw a curious light in his eyes.
Summer didn’t feel like an outsider, but the three of them definitely knew something she did not.
Stan looked around the neighborhood and at the sky. He took his dad’s rolling suitcase and motioned to the house. “Come on. I’ve got Dunkin’ Donuts coffee.”
He smiled at her. “By the way, I have the wood stain options for your bookcase, so anytime you want to take a look, give me a call. You have my card, right?”
Card? Oh, sure. Yeah, somewhere. She gave a playful grimace and took out her phone. “Let’s save time.”
He laughed and took the phone from her hands. “I’ll put my contact info under S for Stan.”
When he handed the phone back to her, she tapped the number he entered and laughed when his pocket rang. “There! Now you have my number, too!”
He took the phone from his pocket, and answered, “Hello?”
Ned boomed with laughter. Ari gurgled and cooed. Summer smirked.
They waved goodbye and went their separate ways. As she fast-walked to the corner and went right, Summer felt a lightness of spirit she hadn’t experienced in a good long time. Not since …
She sighed.
Not since an Adonis Viking jokester came into her life, leaving her forever changed.
“Holy mother of fuck,” Arnie muttered through a thick layer of anxiety when his disguised dad and panicked brother burst through the door. “What happened? Did you two blow it?”
“I need a minute,” his dad choked out. He turned away from Arnie, and with his hands at his waist, he took several deep breaths—his shoulders rising and falling with each inhale and exhale.
He looked at Stan through worried eyes. What the fuck was happening?
“He’s fine,” Stan murmured quietly. His brother’s eyes darted everywhere. They were surrounded by bustling activity as the flooring, tile, and cabinet guys got down to work.
“Let’s take this out back.” He motioned for Arnie to follow and led their dad by the arm to the sliders.
“Oh, my god,” his dad exclaimed the second they had privacy. “She looks so much like Lianne. I wasn’t prepared.”
Arnie’s heart squeezed. Hearing his father’s emotion when he spoke his dead wife’s name tore him up inside.
Stan interpreted their father’s cryptic words. He held Arnie’s gaze and spoke bluntly. “He met Summer.” There was a short pause. “And then she introduced him to Arianne.”
Fisting the shirt above his heart, Arnie staggered slightly and then righted. He hadn’t seen his daughter yet, not in the flesh, so his dad’s reaction filled him with tension.
“You’ve seen her? My daughter?” he asked in a shocked voice.
His father nodded, hesitated, and then dug a wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. Arnie didn’t know what to expect when his dad pulled out a small photo and handed it to him.
“It’s your mother as an infant.”
Arnie struggled big time. “You’ve carried this all these years?”
He nodded once. “Along with others. If you’re wondering what the baby looks like,