“Oh, yeah, they did.” She described the little short guy to Wyatt and then went on. “One of them pushed him, and he fell off the bar stool. He dusted his shirt off and stumbled to his feet. I can still see the glimmer in his eyes when he said, ‘Boys, let’s take this outside. I don’t want to mess up Miss Harper’s floor.’ They laughed at him and swaggered outside with Barney staggerin’ along behind them.”

“This was supposed to be a funny story,” Wyatt said.

“Wait for the end.” She smiled and went on. “He told me to call 911 as he left, and I was terrified. He’d lost his wife on the first day of the month years before and that was a tough day for him every single month. I was afraid that he wanted to die.”

“What happened?” Wyatt asked.

“I called 911 and was on my way to the back door to see if he was all right, but he met me and went right back to his favorite bar stool. Other than bloody knuckles, there wasn’t a mark on the old guy.”

The look on Wyatt’s face was one of total disbelief. “Are you kiddin’ me?”

“Nope, that’s my funny story, and before you say that it’s not funny, think about it,” she told him.

“Kind of like Zed says sometimes. ‘That’s not funny—but it is’?” Wyatt nodded. “What happened to those boys?”

“The ambulance gathered up those three guys and took them to the hospital, where they told a story about a gang of thugs attacking them as they were leaving. No way were they ever going to admit that old Barney had beat the crap out of all three of them. At once.”

Wyatt chuckled. “Did they ever pick on him again?”

“Nope, they cut a wide swath around him from then on. I couldn’t believe they even came back to the bar. When I asked him why he’d done it, he said that sometimes folks have to learn things the hard way. His words come back to haunt me pretty often, because I’m one of those people.”

“No, darlin’, you aren’t. You just endured a lot of hard knocks in life, but you’ve eaten your toad frog.” He kissed her on the forehead.

“Toad frog?”

“It’s one of your granny Annie’s sayin’s. She said that if you get up every morning and eat a toad frog, then the rest of the day has to be better. You’ve had your toad frog and now it’s time for you to be happy.” Wyatt found her hand under the blanket and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Zed quickly snuffed out the cigarette in his hand so that the red glow wouldn’t attract attention. Wyatt carried a barefoot Harper to the door, set her down, and then brushed a real sweet kiss across her lips.

“Do you want to come in?” she whispered.

“No, it’s late and you have to get up early.”

She reached up and touched his cheek.

“I’ll be back tomorrow night, if that’s okay,” he said.

“I’ll look forward to it.” She smiled. “But wait, I’ve promised to stay with Brook while Dana goes out with Payton,” she said.

“Any reason why I can’t babysit with you?” he asked.

The boy was persistent. A good sign in Zed’s book.

“Not one I can think of, but it could be a boring evening,” she said.

“Time spent with you could never be boring.” He kissed her, this time on the forehead. “See you about seven thirty, then?”

“I’ll be at the house, not here.” She waved.

Zed waited until the truck and boat were completely out of sight, and then he made his way around the back of the café to his place. He removed his jacket and hung it on the coatrack inside the door and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

“It’s lookin’ good, Annie. She looked right happy tonight when he brought her home. It was so sweet the way he carried her from the truck to the porch because she was barefoot. Brought back some memories for sure.”

He adjusted the shower water and put all his dirty clothing into the hamper as he removed each piece. Then he had a coughing fit that left him hanging onto the vanity for support. “I swear, them cigarettes is goin’ to kill me just like you said they would. Sometimes I just wish they’d get on with it.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I’m too old for a babysitter. Cassidy is keeping kids and she’s my age, so why do I have to have a sitter?” Brook was arguing with her mother when Harper poked her head in the back door that evening.

“Hey, I’m not babysitting you. Tawny might be, but not me. I want you to meet Wyatt. You can tell me what you think of him,” Harper said. “He’ll be here in about half an hour. I thought we might build us a bonfire in the backyard and roast some marshmallows to make s’mores with. What do you think?”

“You aren’t foolin’ me.” Brook crossed her arms over her chest. “But I would like to meet your Wyatt. Does he have a friend we could fix up Tawny with? Then there could be three men that I’m determined not to like.”

Tawny came into the house without knocking. “I heard what you said, Brook. We’re paddling the same boat. No one will ever be good enough for you in my eyes, either. And I don’t need Harper to fix me up with men. God Almighty, girl! Can’t you just see what she’d haul in for me?”