His Valentine Surprise. Tanya Michaels

had really wanted to make her Valentine email effective, she should have attached a JPEG image of her father.

      FOR HIS MEETING WITH the principal, Mark had turned off his cell phone. As he crossed the frigid parking lot toward his car, he switched the phone back on and discovered that he had four voice-mail messages from Dee. He dialed her number, unsurprised when she answered on the first ring.

      “I am never letting Bobby near a computer again,” she said immediately. “I’m serious. His days of commandeering my PC for homework purposes are over. I’ll buy him a typewriter, an abacus and an encyclopedia set.”

      Mark laughed. “Far be it from me to tell you how to raise your kid, but tossing the boy back into the Stone Age might be overkill. Grounding him and making him apologize should do it. In fact, Vicki and I just met with Principal Morgan, who wants a written apology on her desk by Monday morning. You’ll probably be getting a call from her.”

      “Oh, Mark—the two of you got summoned to the principal’s office? You just wait until Robert Joseph gets home,” she said, annoyed enough to use her son’s full name. “I had a doctor’s appointment first thing this morning and was running late for car pool, so I didn’t even check email before I left. He was safely at school before I found out what he’d done. What were those children thinking?”

      Her question, although probably rhetorical, was followed by a deeply awkward pause as they both acknowledged what the scheming duo had been thinking. They’d been reasoning that kids deserved two parents and that Vicki missed her mother. And that Mark had failed abysmally when it came to rejoining the dating world of singles.

      “As your daughter pointed out, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner,” Dee said. “I don’t suppose there’s anyone special you were interested in ask—”

      “Not you, too!” Mark protested. If his daughter broadcasting his supposed romantic ineptitude to hundreds of people was the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him, then discussing his love life with his late wife’s big sister ran a close second.

      “Is it because of Jess?” Dee asked quietly. “If you’re not ready for another relationship, I understand. But if something else is keeping you from… We spend a lot of time together and there are pictures of her all over my house. I wouldn’t ever want you to feel guilty about seeing someone else. Jess would want you to be happy, and Frank and I would be completely supportive if that’s what you wanted.”

      “It isn’t,” Mark said. “Not right now, anyway. You know that things haven’t been going too well at the store? The owner, Bennett Coleridge, is in town for the weekend. He’s thinking about shutting me down, Dee.”

      She sucked in her breath. “Oh, no.”

      “So I’m a little preoccupied right now. Besides, a woman in my life shouldn’t be a Band-Aid. If I go out with someone, it should be because we’re interested in each other as two adults, not because I need her in order to bond with my own daughter.”

      Maybe the principal had been right today, damn it. While he resented the implication that he wasn’t there for his daughter, maybe he wasn’t there for her in the ways that made the most sense to a six-year-old. Obviously it was imperative that he provided for her, but maybe—in her view—it was equally imperative that he watched some of her ballet lessons or read to her class.

      “Vicki and Bobby were sneaking off to do this,” he continued, “and I never had an inkling that she was up to something.” When she’d flat out admitted this morning that she had “a plan,” his brilliant parenting strategy had been to dismiss what she was trying to tell him. Dumbass. “Before I think about any romantic relationships, I should probably strengthen my relationship with my daughter.”

      “All right. But you know if you ever do want to take someone out for the evening, we’re happy to babysit.”

      “Thank you. You and Frank have been amazing. I don’t think I tell you that enough, but we’re so blessed to have you.” Even Bobby had arguably acted out of love for his cousin. Mark couldn’t fathom what it would be like for himself and Vicki to start over from scratch somewhere else, without their invaluable support network.

      I won’t let that happen, he vowed to himself as he disconnected the call. He would simply redouble his efforts to keep the store open. But he wouldn’t let those efforts stop him from being the father that Vicki deserved.