The Matchmaking Pact. Carolyne Aarsen

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      “I promise I’ll take care of her.” Josie’s husky voice held a touching vulnerability. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am that she and Alyssa got away from me that day of the tornado, and I realize you were frantic with worry, because so was I.” Josie looked down at the girls. “And if these two promise to never do anything like that again, I’m sure we can believe them.”

      As she raised her brown eyes to his, bits and pieces of other conversations intruded. “Raising Cane,” one of the guys at the feed store had called her, alluding to her wild past. A young man, apparently a onetime fellow classmate, followed this up with stories of some heavy-duty partying on Josie’s part.

      Silas didn’t know any of the stories personally. He had moved here ten years ago from Colorado. Then he met Kelly, fell in love and got engaged. They were full of hopes, dreams and plans. Silas had dreamed Kansas was where it was going to happen for him and it had. He and Kelly started their life and those first few years he and Kelly had been too involved in their own plans to get caught up in the comings and goings in High Plains.

      So all he knew about Josie Cane was that she had lived it up and partied hard until her sister died, leaving her with an orphaned niece.

      Could he really trust this woman with his daughter?

      “Please, Daddy. Please. I’ll be so good.” Lily ran up to him and grabbed his hand. “And I won’t complain about watching television while you work or eating grilled-cheese sandwiches for supper every night.”

      Didn’t that make her life sound completely pathetic compared to baking cupcakes with the lovely Ms. Josie? What else could he do but give in?

      “If you could have her for today, that would help me out for now,” he said.

      “I promise to take good care of her,” Josie said.

      The ringing of the school bell broke into the morning. Josie bent over to give Alyssa a hug. “Have a good day, sweetie.” Josie tweaked the ribbon on the little girl’s braid, then stroked her cheek. “Love you.”

      “Love you, Auntie Josie.”

      “Bye, Daddy.” Lily tossed off a wave, grabbed Alyssa’s hand and the two of them ran off, Alyssa’s perfect braids bouncing on her shoulders and Lily’s crooked ponytail bobbing behind her.

      The school doors fell shut behind the girls and Josie turned to him, pushing her hair back from her face. “Thanks for letting her come to the program,” Josie said with a careful smile. “Alyssa has been after me for the past couple months to get Lily to come, but I knew how you felt about it.”

      “But they see each other every day at school.”

      Josie lifted her hand, then let it drop in a what-can-I-do gesture. “I don’t understand the obsession with seeing each other every day, either, but I’m learning as I go.”

      Silas gave a short laugh. “I feel like every day there’s something else I don’t know.”

      “And just when you’ve got it, they throw something new at you.”

      Like a picture of their teacher.

      “So I just let her come to the class? I don’t have to do anything else?”

      Josie shook her head, then glanced down.

      Silas followed the direction of her gaze and saw her twist her wrist as she checked her watch.

      Time to push off.

      “Then I’ll see you later today,” he said, taking a step backward. “Gotta run.”

      “I promised my grandmother I’d be back right away,” Josie added as if she felt the need to explain. “And I hope you have a happy birthday.”

      Silas thought once again about the birthday present lying on the seat of his truck.

      And what was he supposed to do about that?

      Chapter Two

      “So what are you staring at?” Nicki’s voice pulled Josie’s attention away from Silas, who was getting into his truck.

      “Nothing,” Josie said with an airy tone, tucking her hair behind her ear in a casual gesture. She gave the toddler perched on Nicki’s hip a gentle smile, hoping to distract her friend. “Hey, Kasey, how are you?”

      Kasey blinked, then turned her face into Nicki’s slender shoulder, her fingers tangling in Nicki’s long blond hair.

      “She’s out of sorts today,” Nicki said with a wistful smile. “She had a bad night.”

      Josie gently touched the toddler’s wispy hair. “Nightmares, you think?”

      “I wouldn’t be surprised. I know I would have nightmares if I was found wandering alone on the riverbank, after a tornado had just swept through town.” Nicki shuddered. “It still gives me the creeps to think how close she came to drowning.”

      “And still no word from her parents?”

      Nicki shook her head, holding Kasey even closer. “Not since those people falsely claimed they knew her, hoping to cash in on the fund set up for her.”

      Josie shook her head. “I still can’t believe people would do that.”

      The sound of a truck caught Josie’s attention and as she glanced sidelong, she caught sight of Silas driving past. He was watching her. She flushed again and turned in time to see her friend give her a thoughtful nod.

      “He’s good-looking enough. In a broody sort of way,” Nicki said with a teasing smile.

      “Not my type,” Josie said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Besides, he was a widower with a young daughter. Her life was complicated and messy enough.

      She glanced at her watch. “I gotta run. My grandmother doesn’t appreciate being left alone too long.”

      “How’s she doing?” Nicki asked.

      Josie waggled her hand. “Not great. She’s still in a lot of pain.”

      “I’m sad for her, but at the same time, happy for me. Because the longer you stay here, the longer I have to convince you to change your mind about moving away.”

      Josie tried not to respond to the wistful tone in her friend’s voice, but it was the plaintive look in her blue eyes that almost did her in. “I can’t, Nicki. You know that no matter what I do, my grandmother won’t let me forget who I was and what I used to do.” She had struggled and prayed over her difficult decision to move. Since she had taken in Alyssa, her life had changed but it seemed her grandmother hadn’t accepted that or forgotten Josie’s part. And now, even worse, her grandmother was turning her disapproving eye on Alyssa, as well. “And it seems many of the people in this town are determined to remember, as well.”

      “How can you say that? Everyone in town thinks you’re great. You help everywhere help is needed. Since the tornado, you’ve been working your fingers to the bone.” She shifted Kasey to her other side, absently stroking the toddler’s head with her cheek. “And that stuff you used to do—surely your grandmother can’t still hold that against you?”

      Josie sighed. “It seems she does. And if anything, having her live with me has proved to me more and more the necessity of leaving.”

      “But Alyssa and Lily…” Nicki let the sentence trail off.

      Josie fought her own guilt over Alyssa. She knew how close she and Lily were and how devastated her niece would be to leave her best friend behind, but it couldn’t be helped.

      Another quick glance at her watch showed her she had to move on.

      “Sorry, Nicki. I really gotta run.”

      “Will you still cover my preschool class after lunch? I’ve got to take Kasey to the doctor.”

      “Absolutely.