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  Chapter 2

  AS HOPE AND Sam strolled hand-in-hand across the school lawn, the boy poked his tongue out and pointed it at the sky.

  “What are you doing, baby?” she asked.

  “Trying to catch a snowflake on my tongue.”

  “That’d probably work better when it’s actually snowing, don’t ya think, kiddo?” she teased.

  “I made a wish for it to snow. I stick out my tongue to help make it come true.”

  “And does it work?’

  “I don’t know yet, Mama.” He stuck his tongue out again.

  Just behind them, a little girl laughed. They spun around and came face to face with Sam’s best friend Katie and her father Will.

  “Good morning, guys,” said Will, breaking into a huge grin.

  “Good morning,” she smiled back at him.

  Hope felt weak in the knees. She liked Will. A lot.

  They’d met on the first day of school, while wandering the halls in search of Miss Milby’s classroom, both of their wide-eyed kindergartners in tow. Since then, they had often bumped into each other in the mornings while escorting Sam and Katie to class, and joined each other in the walk back to the parking lot. They’d also shared a table and dined on pizza once at Chuck E. Cheese’s during a birthday party for a classmate of Katie and Sam’s. Hope smiled to herself and remembered how Will joked about the arcade and play areas of the restaurant being a scene straight out of the book “Lord of the Flies.”

  Will McAllister was a good man, Hope could tell. And a simple man, with his rusty pickup truck and a wardrobe that consisted of little more than flannel shirts, blue jeans and well-worn work boots, but a good man nonetheless. He loved Katie with all his heart, and it showed in the tender way that he spoke to her, and in the way he hugged her every time they said hello and goodbye. Hope could see it even in the way that Will walked when he was with Katie. At six foot four, he towered over his little girl and had to hunch down slightly in order to hold her tiny hand in his.

  Hope used to wonder why it was always Will bringing his daughter to school, and never her mother. Then Miss Milby made a comment one day about Will’s wife, adding “God rest her soul” at the end. Hope asked what had happened, and learned of the tragedy that the rest of Gator Bite already knew. Katie’s mother had suffered a pulmonary embolism and died in childbirth. Katie had nearly died as well, but was saved by an emergency C-section. Since her birth, it had been just the two of them, father and daughter against the world. Hope never would have guessed that Will had suffered such a horrible loss. His smile was always warm and sincere, and his eyes masked whatever pain still lingered.

  Seeing the small-town, ruggedly handsome man with a heart of gold, accompanied by the little princess at his side every morning, sometimes made Hope feel that Will’s little family and her own were two halves of a whole. She had a crush on Will, and suspected that he had feelings for her too. He had yet to ask her out, but then again, Will seemed like the kind of man who didn’t rush into things.

  “There’s something different about you,” Will joked as he and Katie fell in stride alongside Hope and Sam. “Did you get your hair done? New shoes?”

  Hope knew that he was just poking fun, referring to her new scrubs with ‘Mercy Regional Hospital’ embroidered across the chest pocket.

  “Keep guessing,” she told him.

  “I’m completely stumped.”

  Hope laughed. “First day on the job today. I could use all the luck and prayers you could throw my way!”

  “Well, You look great in uniform,” he said. “Are you excited?”

  “Yeah, I really am.”

  “They’re mighty lucky to have someone like you.”

  “Aww, thanks.” Hope turned her face away, hoping he wouldn’t see her blush.

  After the children were settled into class, Hope and Will walked back toward the parking lot. Leaving the warm school building made the outdoors seem even colder than when they’d first walked in.

  “Brrrrrr.” Her teeth chattered involuntarily. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, making a mental note to invest in a new winter coat after getting her first paycheck. “Sam has been wishing for snow. As cold as it is, I bet his wish will come true sometime today!”

  Will shrugged out of his coat. “Here, take this,” he said, draping it over her shoulders.

  “No, oh goodness, no, I couldn’t,” Hope protested.

  “Sure, you can! Last thing we need is Mercy’s newest nurse to end up in the hospital with frostbite! Anyway, I have another one in my truck, so don’t worry about it,” he said, that broad smile returning. “Besides, I wouldn’t feel right seeing you leave here, freezing like that. There, is that better?”

  “Much,” Hope sighed. It was warm from his body heat, and the collar smelled of his aftershave. The feeling of his hands resting on her shoulders, even if just for a moment, made her pulse quicken.

  “Will?” she asked, a tiny bit of hesitation creeping in her voice.

  “Yes?”

  “Why don’t you and Katie come by our apartment this evening? To pick up your coat, of course… and if you wanted to stick around, I could make some dinner for the four of us.”

  He paused for just a moment. “Actually, that sounds really nice. I think we’ll do that.”

  “Great,” Hope said, struggling to contain her joy. “What do you and Katie like to eat?”

  “Anything is fine with us. We’re not picky.”

  “Well be picky just this once. Tell me what you’d like.”

  “You know, I’ve got some deer steaks I could bring over. I just went hunting last weekend. That is, if you don’t mind deer…”

  “Oh, poor Bambi,” Hope groaned playfully. “To be honest, I’ve never tried it. But bring them over, and maybe I’ll be brave and give it a shot.”

  “Alright,” he said with a grin.

  They reached Hope’s car, and Will held the door open for her.

  “I’m in Ashcroft Apartments, Unit B-3. Is eight o’clock too late?” she asked. “I work until seven, so I’ll need some time to pick up Sam from after-school care and get home.”

  “That works for me. I work until six, then I have to go pick up Katie from my mother’s house. She rides the bus there and stays until I get off work. It’s a bit of a haul, so by the time I pick her up and make it back to your part of town, it should be eight o’clock on the nose. Let me get your phone number just in case we’re running late…” Will’s voice trailed off, and he seemed uncharacteristically shy for a moment.

  Hope pretended not to notice as they pulled out their mobile phones and traded numbers, each logging the other into their contacts list. “Great! We’ll see you at eight!”

  She was so excited, her heart was literally skipping beats, and the nurse in her was already trying to diagnose the arrythmia.

  My first day on the job AND my first date in years…could this day get any better? She asked herself.

  Will waved goodbye. “Have yourself a great first day, Hope.”

  “Thanks. You have a great day, too. And don’t forget…eight o’clock!” She watched him walk toward his pickup truck. The back window was filled with an empty gun rack and Bass Pro decals, plus a bumper sticker that read, “Proud Parent of a Gator Bite Elementary Student.”

  As she climbed into her car, Hope stole one last look at Will and smiled.