‘TRIATHLON DAD IS finally in the building,’ Summer muttered under her breath as Dr Rafael Valdez made his way to the day-care centre.
He was still some distance away but she followed his progress along the walkway from the main building and the reactions of the patients and staff of the clinic as they stopped to stare at the handsome Spanish surgeon. It was hard not to, even for someone who’d quit her job at a prominent hospital and come to this island to escape the temptations of handsome men and the chaos they created.
Although only a couple of miles off the coast of Boston, Maple Island gave the impression she was far from the troubles she’d left on the mainland as it was only accessible by ferry or light aircraft. They were still susceptible to the same wintry weather here as the city she’d grown up in at this time of the year, but there was a distinct vacation vibe about this laid-back place that meant it never really bothered her. It wouldn’t be long before the sun was shining again and the influx of tourists would double the size of the population. As long as she didn’t dabble in any holiday romances, or any romances for that matter, she could live here happily.
Unfortunately, her job as a child-care assistant in the staff nursery meant it wasn’t as easy to avoid Dr Valdez as she’d prefer when he was a reminder that, despite her vow, she wasn’t immune to handsome men. He was fit in more ways than one with the perfect body to match those dark good looks, honed by all the swimming, running and cycling around the island that had also earned him his sporty nickname. He was a perfect treat for the eyes but that was all he was to Summer, or ever could be. Even if he wasn’t a co-worker—she’d learned to avoid them at all costs in romantic notions, since she couldn’t keep moving after every failed relationship—he only had eyes for one girl around here.
‘It looks as though he has a fight on his hands this morning.’ Kaylee, her colleague, had apparently noticed the object of her attention too.
The love of his life, his three-year-old daughter, Graciela, was one of Summer’s charges and the reason she got to spend more time with him than was good for her. Regardless of the physical attraction she might harbour towards him, they were often locked in battle over the best way to care for his child’s extra needs. There was a personality clash that cancelled out the allure of his outward appearance, even if his single-dad status hadn’t already put him at the top of her off-limits list.
The last time she’d lost her heart to a father-and-child combo she’d mistaken her ex’s relationship of convenience for love. Whilst she had been throwing herself into that nurturing role to look after his son Leo, thinking it was leading up to a permanent arrangement for them as a family, Marc had been using her as a stop-gap until his baby mama came back on the scene.
She wouldn’t make the mistake again of giving her trust, her future, to someone who didn’t appreciate her worth beyond her child-minding skills. Since she was already paid to do that for Rafael Valdez, she knew the score. If she let herself get drawn into the middle of another parent-and-child set-up she only had herself to blame this time around.
She watched Gracie turning round and running off in the opposite direction for the umpteenth time, taking them twice as long to reach the nursery than usual. Instead of demonstrating more patience, her father simply swung her up into his arms and marched on despite her protests.
Summer had witnessed her fair share of toddler tantrums but a child on the autism spectrum needed extra-careful handling and would have no concept of making her father late for work at any age.
‘Something must’ve happened this morning to make them late. He hasn’t even had time to dry his hair.’
Even from this distance Summer could see his still-wet hair glistening in the sunlight. That wasn’t a big deal in itself, but whatever had caused this disruption to their routine had the potential to become an issue for Gracie. Summer loved working with the little girl but she had communication issues and learning difficulties that often led to these bursts of temper.
She caught sight of Kaylee smirking at her. ‘What?’
Okay, so she was imagining Rafael’s dark hair curling at the nape of his neck and soaking his collar. It didn’t mean anything other than she noticed the small details in other people’s lives. People-reading was part of her skill as a child life specialist, even if her job here required more of her child-care services for now.
Alex Kirkland, the medical director and one of the clinic’s founders, had employed her with a view to eventually moving her into her preferred position. With the extension of the children’s ward in the future she would be needed more in her role as a child life specialist to help the young patients cope with their illnesses and prepare them for whatever medical procedures they faced.
She was happy to wear either hat if she could stay here, leaving the mess of her personal life back in Boston. It wasn’t as if she was missed when Marc and Leo were back living as a family with his ex and her own mother had her second husband to support her instead of Summer.
‘Nothing,’ Kaylee replied, obviously meaning everything as she did a double take between Summer and the two figures she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off.
‘Oh, shut up!’ Summer hit her playfully over the head with a soft-bodied panda she’d been minding for one of the children.
Not for the first time she wondered where the child’s mother was, or any other family for that matter. There was very little known about the spinal surgeon other than what a coup it was to have him on board here. Despite his sterling reputation as a surgeon, she’d found him difficult, stubborn and resistant to taking on any friendly advice. If he had that attitude to people other than her it could explain his single status, regardless of him being so smoulderingly attractive. Even she experienced that flutter in the pit of her stomach when he was near. She’d seen how loving he could be with his daughter so she knew there was a soft heart in there somewhere.
It might come across as judgemental but sometimes she thought parents often didn’t try hard enough to salvage a relationship when children were involved. Broken families would always be a source of pain to her when they represented her own difficult background. The children suffered most when the parents decided they couldn’t live together and, in her case, not only had she lost her father but he’d taken her stepbrother too, severing all contact between them and leaving her feeling incomplete.
Robbie may not have been her biological sibling but she’d grown up thinking of him as her big brother, someone she could turn to for advice or comfort, and losing him had been akin to having a limb cut off. Since then, she’d lived her life always feeling as though something was missing, and the loss of a mother had to be even more devastating to a child of Gracie’s young years.
She never talked about her mom and she’d noticed Dr Valdez didn’t wear a wedding ring so there didn’t appear to be a significant other anywhere in the background. There was a chance he was nursing a broken heart, which would explain his defensive behaviour. It was the same reason Summer had come to Maple Island in much the same mood at first. Perhaps he was finding life as a single dad difficult. Given time, he might get back together with his ex again too, just as Marc had when he’d left Summer out in the cold over a year ago. Apparently, it was easier to share the parenting of a small child with their actual parent rather than someone who’d been learning on the job.
Men with motherless children were double heartbreak waiting to happen because when things ended you lost them both. Regardless of the love and time given to help raise their offspring, when the relationship was over an ex-girlfriend didn’t have any right to