Healing Hearts (New Hope Falls #6) - Kimberly Rae Jordan Page 0,67

off with a parent who loves her and can’t read than one who can read but views her as a burden.”

A ghost of a smile crossed Michael’s face as he looked down at the baby he held. “I do love her. I never thought I’d ever be able to trust myself with a child, but I can’t imagine ever treating her the way my dad treated us. Never.”

“That’s because you’re a good man, Michael.” Ryker understood the man’s uneasiness when dealing with Vivianne, so he’d do what he could to help shore up the man’s confidence.

“Oh, by the way,” Michael said, looking up at him. “Bryson asked me if you were going to come pick up Vivianne soon.”

“And to think that at the start, he didn’t want me to pick Vivianne up.”

“He has definitely changed his tune.” Michael paused. “He told me all about how you planted flowers in front of their house. And mowed the grass. And cut the bushes. And got them pizza.”

“Wow. He’s really gotten chatty.”

“Took me by surprise since he hasn’t said that many words to me…ever. But he’s certainly become your biggest fan.” Michael gave him a considering look. “Is there something going on between you and Sophia?”

“Nope. I’m not in a good place for any sort of relationship, and I get the feeling that Sophia isn’t either.”

“And yet you think I’m in a good place for a relationship with Lani?” Michael asked with an incredulous tone.

“Well, the difference there is that I think the two of you were moving towards something more than just friendship when Taylor dropped her Vivianne-shaped bomb into your life. I think it was more than just being a nice person that drove Lani to help you out.”

“Why don’t you think you’re in a good place for a relationship?” Apparently he was going to ignore Ryker’s comment on Lani.

Ryker considered just brushing the question off, but then he decided to give the man a little explanation. “I was engaged a few years ago, but my ex broke it off. Since then, I’ve not been interested in getting into a relationship again.”

“Did that happen before you started working for me?”

“Around that time,” Ryker said.

“So you just don’t plan to ever get involved in a relationship again?”

Ryker shrugged. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to get married and have kids one day. That desire hadn’t completely evaporated, but getting to the point of that happening from where he currently was seemed impossible, requiring so much emotional hard work.

“I mean, I guess I’m one to talk,” Michael commented. “Since I never planned to get involved with anyone either.”

The thing was, if he were in a better place, Ryker could see himself getting involved with Sophia. Well, if that was what she wanted. She really hadn’t given any indication that she might be interested in that.

She was the opposite of Lydia in pretty much every way. But in his mind, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

In hindsight, after everything they’d gone through, he could see that while he and Lydia may have been on the same page career-wise, they definitely would have had struggles emotionally in their relationship at some point. And honestly, he wasn’t sure that they would have stayed on the same career trajectory after a while either.

“Anyway, I told Bryson that maybe you’d drop by at some point.”

“I had planned to go by and help Sophia out with her yard once a week or so.”

“I feel bad that I didn’t realize that she needed the help. That was rather short-sighted of me.”

“You had other things demanding your attention,” Ryker said. “So don’t worry about it.”

“So you’re going to help Sophia out again soon?”

“That was my plan,” Ryker said. “Honestly, I sensed that Bryson was getting a little…attached to me, so I wasn’t sure that it was a good idea to spend as much time there as I had been.”

“I guess that explains why he looked so disappointed when I told him I wasn’t sure when you’d be by next.” Michael frowned. “Like bordering on heartbroken. Maybe you keeping some distance came a bit too late?”

Ryker sighed. Was it possible that Sophia had also realized that Bryson was getting too close to him? Was that why she hadn’t come into the restaurant?

Since that was what he’d been trying to accomplish, why did the idea that she also wanted distance between them make him feel bad? With all his experience, he should have known better. He should have realized that in drawing Bryson