Free If The Shoe Fits by Judi Fennell Page B

He’d really hated leaving the game.
    “ Now, now, my boy. When one door
closes, another opens.” The man removed some items from his pocket
and handed them to Reese. “And here’s something to help that
along.”
    Reese looked in his palm. Gold coins. “I can’t
take these.”
    “ You’ll insult me if you don’t,
and besides, there’s a wishing fountain at the end of this path.
Surely you can use a few wishes?”
    Insulting a fan was never a good thing. And,
hell, yeah, he could use a few wishes. “Well, okay. Thanks. I
appreciate it.”
    “ Not yet you don’t,” said the old
guy, patting his arm once more before he headed off in the opposite
direction, adding, “But you will.”
    Reese jostled the coins as he watched the guy
walk away and tried to figure out that cryptic message. When he
couldn’t, he put it down to old age and headed toward the
fountain.
    A loin-clothed marble statue of a man with a
massive set of wings on his back stood in the center holding a jug
that spouted water into the pool. Dozens of children ringed the
marble edge, tossing pennies in with squeals of laughter and shouts
of “A new puppy!” “My own room!” “A pony!” One little girl
scrunched her face so tightly it looked painful. Another toddler
leaned in too far and was rescued at the last moment by his
mother.
    Reese fingered the coins. This was silly;
wishes were for children.
    “ Make a wish, mister,” said a
little boy who’d jumped onto the edge of the fountain beside him.
“They really do come true.” Then he tossed his own coin in and
scurried away just as the color of his eyes registered. Green.
Bright, sparkling green.
    Reese shook his head. He was being
ridiculous.
    So he went with that theme, made the wish, and
skimmed a coin into the fountain. It skipped five times, then sank
at the statue’s feet.
    “ Looks like you spent hours
skipping stones when you were a kid,” said a voice behind
him.
    He looked at the statue. No, it didn’t have
sparkling green eyes, but he almost wouldn’t have been surprised if
it did. He turned around. “Hi, Bella.”
    “ Hello, Reese.”
    “ Hi,” said a high-pitched voice
beside her.
    Reese looked down. A younger version of Bella
stood beside her—
    She had a daughter?
    “ Uh, hi.” He’d always prided
himself on being able to adjust to any situation in a game, but
this blew him away. Bella must have been a teenager when she’d had
her—
    His gaze shot to Bella’s left hand. No ring. Phew .
    Although… she did work with food all
day; she could have removed it.
    The thought ripped into his gut worse than the
spinach donut had.
    Grasping at the shred of hope that he hadn’t
kissed another man’s wife, Reese prayed that Sophia was her niece.
Sister, maybe.
    “ Hi. I’m Sophia Casteleoni.” The
little girl smiled with the same enthusiasm—and dimple—as
Bella.
    “ I’m Reese Charmant. Pleased to
meet you, Sophia.” He was also pleased that he managed to sound
composed. But this was definitely not what he’d been
expecting when he’d come here today.
    “ What brings you to the park?”
Bella asked.
    “ I, uh, was actually looking for
you.”
    “ Is there a problem?”
    In a word, yes. She had a daughter.
    Did she also have a husband?
    “ Reese?”
    Problem. Right. “Staci Fontaine came by my
office.”
    “ My stepsister?”
    “ What’d Aunt Staci do now?” asked
Sophia with more maturity than someone her age should have. Poor
kid sounded like she was used to Aunt Staci doing things she
shouldn’t.
    “ Honey, you don’t have to call her
‘Aunt Staci.’ She’s not really your aunt,” said Bella.
    “ I know, but Mama—”
    “ Let’s not go into it now.” Bella
brushed her hand over Sophia’s hair and the image of a glowingly
pregnant Bella flashed before him.
    Mama. Hell, Sophia was her
daughter.
    Reese took a deep breath and pulled his head
out of his ass. What difference did it make if Bella had a
daughter? Or a husband? He needed