“Me too,” George agreed. “I’m finally working to be the dad to our girls Sally would’ve wanted me to be. I get to see all four of them regularly—you heard that Lisa is expecting in October?”
Dana nodded.
George made a face. “Okay, getting to the point, I think you deserve to be happy.”
Well, that was easy to agree to. “Thank you.”
“I think Mark can make you happy.”
She wanted to laugh. “He has a lot of champions,” she informed George. “From my grandnephew, to my sisters-in-law, to my children, to you.”
George looked pleased. “Good. That means I’m not the only one in your targets, then.”
This time she did laugh before leaning forward and lowering her voice. “Why do you feel you have to tell me this?” she asked in all seriousness. “Do you all think I’m not able to figure out what’s right for myself?”
George reached across the table and took hold of her hand. Like a brother, like a friend. His words were a low rumble full of concern and caring. “I think you spent a lot of years doing what was right in spite of how much it hurt. I want you to be able to do what’s right and have it result in happiness. But knowing what that feels like might be hard after so many years of being brave.”
A shiver went through her, and she sighed heavily. “I hear you. It was hard,” she confessed, “but I don’t regret staying with Ben.”
“We all regret not helping him more, and that’s on us,” George said seriously. He nodded and gave her hand a final squeeze. “We won’t interfere unless you ask, but we all hope the path forward is nothing but sunshine for you.”
“You never see a rainbow if it never rains,” Dana pointed out. “But thank you. See you at the Canada Day celebrations?”
“I’ll be there with flags on,” George promised.
He was walking out the door when his brother walked in, the two men pausing for a brief hello before Mark sauntered toward the table.
Looking the man over was enough to give Dana a thrill. Mark wore faded Wranglers over well-worn cowboy boots, his strong thigh muscles pressing against the fabric. A hint of a black T-shirt peeked out from under his red flannel shirt, and as he sat opposite her, he placed his cowboy hat on the seat then dragged a hand through his hair to straighten it.
She caught herself smiling in admiration. He was easy on the eyes. He was, in fact, the hottie that Hope had told her—
Oh, dear.
A sharp zing darted up her spine, and Dana played with her empty cup to hide how much she was feeling at that moment. Correction—how much not we should only be friends she was feeling.
“You all coffee’d out?” he asked.
“You haven’t had a cup yet,” she pointed out, thankful for something specific to answer to instead of continuing to drool over his sexy forearms and the firm cut of his jawline.
The jawline on a face that had gone sheepish. “I want to apologize properly, and I don’t want to do it here.”
Dana considered then nodded, leaving money on the table for her own drink.
They walked quietly down the sidewalk side by side before Dana gestured toward the empty playground with strategically placed benches around the perimeter. “Want to sit there?”
“Sure.”
They settled then twisted to face each other. Mark caught her hand, cradling her fingers gently. “You’re right. I was an ass, but—”
“Is this an apology?” Dana interrupted. “Because usually when my kids used the word but, it meant they were about to explain why they had done the thing they weren’t supposed to do that they weren’t really sorry for doing in the first place.”
“I have thought about you for so long.” Mark’s amused tone was also honest and deep, a rumble sliding over her and making her warm to her very core. “In fact, I have been thinking about you being mine for longer than I should’ve, which means I pushed way too hard.”
She couldn’t fathom what he was talking about, even though he had admitted it from the first moment. “You are light years ahead of me,” she pointed out. “I like you. I even—”
She bit back that particular confession, because it wasn’t what was needed right now. Instead, Dana shook her head and focused. “But you need to be patient, because what you want and what I want could be the same thing, but you’ve got to give me time to get there.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. Not for the building our house thing, but for not giving you the time to know that building our house is the right thing.”
A laugh escaped in spite of herself. “You are absolutely terrible at this, aren’t you?”
His grin widened, all sweet mischief as if they were about to sneak off behind the barn and he couldn’t wait. “I’m being very patient in some ways,” he pointed out, the innuendo in his deep voice unmistakable.
Oh, boy. The shiver that went through her body was intense and sharp, edgy with need.
Stick to the point. “You need to be patient,” she repeated. “But the other thing you have to understand…”
Her throat closed tight. Just the thought of this confession seemed so wrong.
Mark instantly wrapped an arm around her. “Shhh. It’s okay.”
She shook her head. She spoke quietly, barely above a whisper because it was all she could manage. “I spent a lot of years hoping Ben would find his way back. At times he’d be better, but there were moments that I didn’t do what I wanted, didn’t say what I needed, all in the hopes that—”
She pressed her face against Mark’s chest and let the tears come.
Over the years there’d been plenty of times when things had gotten rough. When Ben had been hard to handle or loud and belligerent. She’d rarely cried.
Crying wouldn’t have changed anything.
When she finally got herself under control and wiped up, Mark’s expression was a lot more solemn than she’d seen until then. “I think I hear what you’re saying. That’s the part that set you off. The not listening. Not giving you a chance to voice yourself.”
“Yes. Because even if it’s to be able to say you’re going too fast, I need to be respected enough for you to hear me. And then we can argue about what speed we go—I have no problems with a good, honest argument,” she said, the words still shaky. “Because fighting means we both get to say what we want. We can come to a compromise if that’s what’s best.”
Mark tipped his chin slowly. “Okay. You know I’m already there, waiting for you to catch up. I’ll also screw up because patience isn’t one of my superpowers.” He pressed his fingers under her chin and stroked his thumb over her cheek, wiping away a final tear. “But I will listen to you. I promise.”
His words were exactly what she needed.
Dana caught him by the shoulders and pulled him forward, their lips meeting in a sweet kiss that heated up far too quickly.
She draped her arms around his neck, stroking her fingers through his hair. His hat tumbled off, unminded. He nibbled on her lips, tongue teasing, their breaths mingling.
When he caught her by the hips and lifted her across his lap, Dana went willingly. The heat of his body lined up with hers as she rested on his strong thighs, kneeling over him.