Her father’s brows dipped. “Sounds like a lot of work to me, sweetheart.”
His lack of a positive response stung a little. “But worthwhile. It was something she wanted to do and never got a chance to. So I’m going to do it in her honor. I want to remind people that she was here,” Emma added, remembering the unchecked item on the list about leaving something wonderful behind. This event could serve that purpose too.
Her father didn’t look convinced. “You don’t need to remind me that she was here. I remember her every time I look at you. You’re the spitting image of your mother.”
Emma looked down at the cookie in her hand. She and her mom had the same hair and eyes, the same oval-shaped face and apple cheekbones. The resemblance was uncanny if you looked at photographs of them at the same age. “Will you walk for her? Or run?”
He smiled now. “Of course I will. Just tell me when and where.”
“This summer. Evergreen Park.”
“Evergreen Park?” her dad asked, his eyes narrowing. “How’d you manage to get booked there so soon?”
Emma shrugged a shoulder. “Lucky, I guess.” Now wasn’t the time to jump topics, especially since she knew how her father felt about Jack.
He took another bite of his cookie. “I’ll talk to Angel about participating too.”
“Great,” Emma said with waning enthusiasm.
A few customers pushed through the front entrance, and she took that as her cue to stand. “Well, I better get back to work. A café owner’s job is never done. But thank you for stopping in. It’s always good to see you, Dad.” She dipped and kissed his cheek.
“You too. Don’t forget to tell me when you’re available,” he reminded her. “For cake and thirty candles.”
“I will.” Emma waved and walked back behind the counter. Well, Jack was working on booking Evergreen Park, and she’d just gotten her first participant. Two, if she counted Angel. That made it official. The event was definitely happening, and it was going to be amazing.
* * *
Jack slid his gaze over to his nephew, who’d been sitting on a bench and looking at his cell phone for the last hour. The phone was doing a better job of babysitting than he was. Not that Sam was a baby. He was practically grown. Even so, Jack felt like he was failing this new job that Amanda had trusted him to do.
Jack returned his gaze to the calendar in front of him, which didn’t make him feel any better about this whole situation. He’d made a deal with Emma to get her event on the schedule at the park, and all the Saturdays and Sundays were full.
He couldn’t rightly cancel any of the bookings, and he doubted Emma wanted to do her 5K on a random weekday. He sighed and massaged his forehead, glancing back up at Sam who was still hunched over his phone and tapping his fingers rapidly on the screen.
“Girlfriend?” Jack asked.
Sam lifted his head. “No, just friends. They’re not happy that I’ve left for the summer. I’m not all that thrilled either,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, Uncle Jack, but this isn’t really the hip place to be.”
Jack sympathized. Even though Sam lived in a small town, he was only a short walk from city life. He had the best of both worlds at his teenaged fingertips. Sweetwater Springs didn’t have that benefit. “It’s not forever. Try to make the best of it.”
Sam wasn’t impressed with Jack’s advice. “So I’m just going to be stuck here in this office, watching you work?”
“I do more than sit in this office.” As if to prove a point, Jack stood. Obviously, the calendar wasn’t going to change right in front of his eyes anyway. “Let’s go.”
Sam straightened, dropping his cell phone into his lap. “Where?”
“I need to patrol the woods,” Jack told him. “I’ve had a squatter lately that I’m trying to find.”
Sam stood as well and shoved his phone in his pocket. “What will you do if you find him? Arrest him?”
Jack chuckled. “They don’t give cuffs to park rangers.”
Sam looked disappointed. “Then what?”
“Well, I’ll talk with the guy.”
“Or the woman,” Sam pointed out, following him to the front exit.
“Or the woman. And if I need to, I’ll have the chief of police talk to him. Or her.”
Sam followed him to the outbuilding holding ranger equipment. “Do I get to drive one of these today? Because that would make this