Her Texas Family. Jill Lynn

quietly in his office, but she must have wandered off. He’d promised her they’d do something fun this afternoon to make up for working on the weekend. Being Mattie, she’d agreed without an argument.

      He really did not deserve her.

      He poked his head out of his office door and found Mattie and Lucy coming down the hall hand in hand. His daughter had been pestering him with questions about Lucy all week. Turned out Graham didn’t know that much about her, so he wasn’t much of a help to Mattie.

      He did know that the past three days with Lucy had gone much better than Tuesday morning. They’d settled into a working relationship in which Graham didn’t have a ton of interaction with her outside of work questions—and he was thankful for that.

      In the past few days, she’d managed to lose only one chart (Graham had later found it filed under the first name instead of the last), and she’d shredded a stack of notes he’d left that needed to be added to charts. He was working on rewriting those this morning. But, beyond that, she’d charmed his daughter, made friends with Danielle and managed to deal with his sometimes crazy patients and make it look easy.

      Lucy and Mattie stopped in front of him, some kind of trouble hiding behind their shared glance.

      In leggings and bright green tennis shoes with her hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, Lucy looked the part of dance instructor. Maybe she’d forgotten which job she was going to this morning.

      “Graham.” She paused to wink at Mattie. “We have a question to ask you.”

      Unease trickled through him. “Okay.”

      “Mattie expressed an interest in going to dance class. The one I teach on Saturday mornings is beginner’s ballet. It would be perfect for her.”

      Perfect? Lucy had no idea what she was talking about. The only activity perfect for Mattie was yoga. Although she could probably pull a muscle in that. Something with padding around her whole body and no physical contact would do. But since that sport didn’t exist, he’d vote no.

      His daughter had a major propensity for getting hurt. The last sport Mattie had played was soccer. She’d ended up with a concussion. Who got a concussion in peewee soccer? When she’d begged to take gymnastics, she’d sprained her wrist within the first week.

      If there was a competition for reading fast, Mattie would rock it. Or a spelling bee. She could totally do that. He should check if her school had—

      “What do you think? Can she come to class with me?”

      “I think you’re good, aren’t you, Mattie?”

      Mattie stared at him, seconds feeling like hours. “Okay, Daddy.” Her hand slipped from Lucy’s and she walked down the hall, her little shoulders slouching.

      Graham rubbed a fist over his aching heart. He wanted to make her happy, but more than anything, he wanted to keep her safe. Sometimes parents had to make the hard decisions, and this was one of them.

      “Are you joking?” Lucy’s hands landed on her hips, and she looked as though he’d just told her she couldn’t buy another pair of shoes all year. Guess it had been naive of him to think she’d walk away and let him handle his daughter’s care without injecting her opinion. “You can tell she wants to go. It’s obvious. Why won’t you let her?”

      “You’re overstepping your bounds, Lucy. You don’t understand.”

      “What I understand is that little girl will do anything for you—including give up a dance class she really wants to go to. You should have seen her light up when we were talking about it. She wants to go.”

      “Mattie struggles with athletics. I don’t want her getting injured or feeling left out if she’s not as good as the other girls.” Rarely did he get heated, but right now? Not feeling so calm. “Plus, who are you to have an opinion about Mattie or question my parenting? You’re acting like a sixteen-year-old.”

      “I’m offended for sixteen-year-olds everywhere. And you’re acting like an ancient grump.”

      “At thirty-one, I am ancient compared to you. And since I’m Mattie’s old, grumpy father, I get to make the decisions.”

      “I’m twenty-four. You’re not that much older than me.”

      “I am in wisdom.” What? That sentence didn’t even make sense. “Age doesn’t matter. I’m her father. It’s my choice.” Graham did the math in his head. “Wait—didn’t you just graduate from college last year?” A fifth-year senior. The way Lucy acted, he could see her not finishing in four.

      “Yes. Before I started college, I traveled with a dance team.”

      “And then you went to college after that?”

      She nodded.

      He was being a jerk. Again. Why did he expect the worst from Lucy? Most people wouldn’t take time off and still go back to school. She should be commended. But while she might surprise him in certain areas, she was definitely driving him nuts right now.

      They stared each other down. Graham wasn’t planning to budge. He’d made his decision.

      Eventually Lucy’s stance softened. “Listen, Hollywood, I understand you’re worried about her, but the class is really safe. I’ll be there the whole time to watch out for her and help her so she doesn’t feel lost or uncomfortable.”

      Hollywood. Why did she keep calling him that?

      Lucy glanced at her watch. “I know you’re my boss and all, but since it’s the weekend, I don’t think that counts. Do you?”

      Strange logic. “Ah, I guess not?”

      “Great. Then you won’t fire me when I take her to dance anyway.” Lucy headed down the hall, and it took a second for her words to register. When they did, Graham went after her. She and Mattie were standing by the reception desk, and Lucy was helping Mattie into her coat.

      “You can’t just take her. That’s kidnapping.”

      Lucy faced his daughter. “Mattie, do you want to go to dance with me?”

      Mattie looked at him with mournful eyes, then at Lucy before her gaze dipped to the floor. Finally, she gave the most imperceptible nod.

      He felt like the worst dad ever. Especially since she rarely went against what he said. Must have been hard for her to admit. But even with seeing her blatant desire to attend ballet, letting her go was so hard. She’d had a lot of hurt in her life. Was he so wrong not to want her to go through more?

      They were leaving. Mattie and Lucy were walking out the front doors while he stood there thinking. Graham followed them into the parking lot.

      “It’s illegal for her to ride without a booster seat.”

      Lucy marched over to his car. She wouldn’t get anywhere with it. He always locked the doors. She pulled on the back door handle, and it popped right open.

      Impossible. He always locked his car. That verse about everything being possible with God seemed to also apply to Lucy. Whatever she touched turned to gold. Did God just shine down on her life with rainbows and unicorns?

      She grabbed Mattie’s car seat and walked back over to her Volkswagen. After putting it in her backseat, she helped Mattie buckle in.

      When she climbed into the driver’s seat, Graham approached.

      “I’m calling the cops. You can’t just take my daughter.”

      Lucy shrugged. “Call the cops, then. The girl needs some fun in her life. You know I’m right or you would have already stopped me.” At that, she slammed the door and drove off.

      * * *

      Turned out, Matilda Grace Redmond had some natural dance ability. And even if she didn’t, the whole morning fiasco with Graham would have been worth it just to see the look