Free The Single Dad's Second Chance by Brenda Harlen

week.”
    It took him a minute to remember that Jolene was the granddaughter of the Leighton’s housekeeper. The Leightons lived directly behind the Wakefields, and Maura and Jolene had met the previous summer when Maura kicked a ball over the fence and into the Leightons’ backyard.
    Carol had tried to discourage the friendship, making no secret of the fact that she disapproved of her granddaughter fraternizing with the help. But Jolene was a sweet girl, and every time Maura went to visit her grandparents, she wanted to visit Jolene, too.
    “Can I come to the party, Daddy?”
    “We’ll check our schedule when we get home,” he promised.
    “Maura can stay here again next weekend, if that makes it easier for you,” Carol told him.
    Andrew immediately shook his head. While he appreciated the offer, he knew it wasn’t actually intended to make anything easier for him but to finagle some extra time with her granddaughter. She probably didn’t even want Maura to go to the party except that it served her own purposes.
    “Thanks,” he said. “But we’ll figure something out.”
    When they got home, they packed Maura’s lunch for school the next day, then she had her bath and put on her pajamas. After her teeth were brushed, they snuggled together on her bed to read for a while. When the chapter was finished, he tucked her under the covers, gave her a hug and a kiss and turned out the light.
    He cherished every minute of every day that he had with his little girl, but he still felt lonely sometimes. Restless and unsettled, he went to the cabinet behind his desk and poured himself a glass of scotch. He settled into the soft leather chair with his drink and sipped the rich amber liquid, enjoying the familiar burn as it slid down his throat.
    He missed having someone to talk to at the end of the day, missed falling asleep with someone beside him and waking up with that same someone the next morning. As he realized the direction his thoughts had taken, he knew that his doubts and concerns about his readiness to move forward with his life were unfounded.
    Not so very long ago he would have said that he missed talking to Nina, falling asleep beside her and waking up with her . Not so very long ago, he couldn’t have imagined that “someone” being anyone else. Now when he thought of “someone” it was Rachel’s face that came to mind, the image of her smile that filled his heart, the memory of her laughter that made him smile.
    The sound of light footsteps on the stairs drew him out of his reverie just before Maura poked her head inside the doorway. He set his drink aside as she padded across the floor, then she crawled into his lap and he wrapped his arm around her to cuddle her close. She used to sit in his lap all the time when she was younger, claiming it was her favorite chair in the whole world. That had changed in preschool. A lot of things had changed in preschool.
    His lips curved as he breathed in the scent of her shampoo. She might be growing up, but she still smelled like his little girl.
    “Why are you out of bed?” he asked, more curiosity than censure in his tone.
    “I forgot to tell you something.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Mrs. Patterson wrote a note in my agenda for you.”
    He held back a sigh. “Mrs.” Patterson was actually “Ms.” Patterson, as she’d made a point of clarifying when he’d met her at the beginning of the year. Her divorce had been final for almost two years and her only regret was that she and her husband never had any children. She absolutely loved children—that was, after all, the reason she’d decided to become a teacher. And his daughter, Mara, was simply a joy to have in her classroom.
    “Maura,” he’d said, automatically corrected her on the pronunciation. She’d flushed in acknowledgment of her mistake but forged ahead, gushing about Maura’s sweet nature and quick mind.
    Their second meeting had taken place under very different circumstances, when Andrew