Now he frowned, wondering if he should remind Angus not to eavesdrop on telephone calls between grown-ups. Surely this was a good time to drive the message home?
But the memory of how the boy had withdrawn from him in Kenzie Daniels’s aviary earlier that day stopped him cold. Back then he’d only mentioned his dislike of pelicans, not chastised the boy for bad behavior. Still, he didn’t want to be the cause of the boy’s frustrated tears again. The thought made him ache inside.
“So obviously you know you’ll be getting presents on Wednesday,” he said instead. “So much for a surprise. But you also get one birthday wish.”
“A wish? What kind of wish?”
“The best kind. You can ask for anything you like. Within reason, of course. Something special you’ve been wanting very badly.”
“For real?”
The boy’s eagerness tore at Ross’s heart. If only it was always this easy. “Sure. My mother started the tradition when I was just a bit younger than you. Each year my brother Alex and I were allowed to make one birthday wish, which Mom did her best to fulfill. She always said it was better than blowing out candles and just hoping it’d come true.”
“That never happens,” Angus agreed.
“I know.”
“Did your dad help make those wishes come true?”
My dad was the wish, Ross thought, then cleared his throat. “He sure did. So go ahead and tell me. What would you like?”
Angus’s eyes widened. “I can wish for anything?”
“As I said, within reason.”
“Can we go out to dinner?”
“On Wednesday night? Is that your wish?”
Angus nodded.
“Sure we can. Is that all you want?”
“Um, well…” Angus looked down at his sneakers. “Can we take Kenzie along?”
“What?”
He must have spoken sharply, because Angus’s face fell.
“You said I could have a wish,” he mumbled. “And I want to have dinner with Kenzie.”
Ross set his plate aside and drew in a deep breath. The last thing he wanted was to encourage further contact with a beautiful-but-lawyer-hating woman his son seemed to be unnaturally drawn to. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
Angus nodded.
“Not that inflatable kayak at the hardware store across the street?”
Angus shook his head.
“Or that fishing trip on Pamlico Sound?”
“No, thank you.” He was still mumbling and he wouldn’t look at Ross.
“Or that train set you saw at Garrison’s Toy Store?”
He saw the struggle on his son’s face and realized he was being unfair.
“Angus, wait a minute—”
“No, I told you what I wanted. I want to have dinner with you and with Kenzie.”
Those weren’t Penelope’s vivid blue eyes staring back at him all at once. They were Ross’s own, and they were too darned determined. The tilt of that chin was all too familiar, as well.
“Okay, okay. We’ll invite her to dinner.” Ross took a deep breath and struggled to make his tone lighter. “Got a restaurant in mind?”
Angus brightened. “There’s one on the sound near the place where we turned to go to the lighthouse. It has a deck on the water. Can we go there?”
“Did you happen to notice the name?”
Disappointed, Angus shook his head.
“Would you recognize it if we drove by again?”
“I think so. Does that mean we can eat there?”
“If we can find it.”
“Can we look now?”
Ross glanced out of the windows. The sun had set, but there was plenty of daylight left. He drew another deep breath. Anything to make the boy smile again. “Come on.”
Following Angus down the steps, he couldn’t help thinking how unfair it was that the one thing that seemed to make Angus happy was the one thing he would have preferred to deny him: more time in the company of one MacKenzie Daniels.
For God’s sake, he didn’t want Angus getting emotionally attached to someone he’d never see again once they returned to New York! And he himself definitely didn’t want a woman cluttering up his life, not even for the week and a half that remained of his vacation. After Penelope, it was the last thing he wanted, ever. Never mind that Kenzie Daniels seemed to be everything Penelope had never been: sweet, unassuming, very kind and generous. Not to mention funny and warm and such a natural with kids that he couldn’t help envying her that ease.
In the car, he cleared his throat. “Mind if I ask why you want to invite Ms. Daniels so badly?”
“Because I like her.”
“I agree she’s nice, but you shouldn’t get so intimate with strangers, son.”
“What’s intimate?”
“Eh…make friends with them so fast. We don’t know anything about her.”
“But we do! She can fly kites and she rescues birds and has two greyhounds and draws cartoons!”
How to argue with that kind of logic? Ross took a stab at it. “You know a lot about Marty, don’t you?” Marty was the handyman at Ross’s apartment building.
“Yeah.”
“And you think he’s nice, too. But you’ve never asked me to invite him to supper.”
“That’s different.”
Lord, the boy was stubborn. “In what way?”
“He’s nice to me, but he’s not a friend. I mean, it’s different with Kenzie. She doesn’t work for you and doesn’t have to like me if she doesn’t want to…and…and…”
He was clearly struggling to find the right words. Ross racked his brains to do the same, desperate to keep the line of communication open. This was the first time Angus had ever tried sharing his feelings with him.
“I think I see what you mean,” he said slowly. “Marty’s nice, but he’s really just doing his job.”
Angus looked relieved. “Yeah. But Kenzie doesn’t need to be nice to me. She just is. She didn’t yell when my kite landed on her, and then she showed me how to fly it.”
Ross’s eyes left the road to settle on his son. “You hit her with your kite?”
Angus blushed. “I didn’t mean to. It fell on her. Well, next to her. But I think it scared her. She was sleeping on her towel.”
“Oh.” So that was it. Nothing like a disaster to break the ice between strangers. The fact that she hadn’t berated him had obviously made a big impression on Angus. And his gratitude had strengthened into liking the more time he spent with her. Ross had to admit that, to a seven-year-old, Kenzie Daniels must seem very exotic and interesting—much more interesting than having a dour old lawyer for a father.
Ross’s spirits sank at the thought. Angus certainly hadn’t indicated any interest in his father’s career the first time he had been shown Ross’s office in Queens, where he had been introduced to Delia and the others in the