John walked into the main entrance of the library, checking his watch for the hundredth time. He’d called Tanner on his way out of the airport, checking to see where Bella was. His flight had been so late leaving that he’d half expected her to already be home. But she was still at the library, enjoying the after-play party with the other children.
He turned left toward the auditorium, making room for a group of children dressed as shepherds and angels. They passed him in the hallway, talking ten to the dozen, laughing with their parents about tonight’s performance.
John wasn’t looking forward to hearing what his daughter had to say. He might have found some of the people responsible for sabotaging his business, but he’d let Bella down. It was bad enough that she didn’t have her mom with her. All she had was a delinquent dad who disappeared for days on end.
He opened the auditorium doors and stepped inside. Down one end of the room was the stage. A painted stable took pride of place in the center, with a bright star hanging above it. In another corner of the auditorium, tables filled with food had been clustered together. John looked at the speakers mounted on the walls. Christmas music competed with excited voices, filling the room with a barrage of noise.
He looked for Tanner. His cell phone vibrated and he took it out of his pocket. Under the mistletoe on your right.
John knew that Tanner had a sick sense of humor, but his text was a fitting end to the worst few days of his life. If Tanner thought he was going to kiss someone under a plastic piece of mistletoe, he was wrong.
His gaze traveled across the room, stopping when he saw his bodyguard standing beside Bella. Tanner knelt down, smiled up at the camera, and hardly blinked when the flash shone in his eyes. The mistletoe dangled above their heads like a giant spider, waiting for the next person in line to succumb to some Christmas madness.
“I didn’t think you’d make it,” Rachel said from beside him.
John stuck his hands in his pockets and kept his gaze locked on his daughter. “It took longer to sort the problem out than I thought.”
“You’re lucky that Bella is so forgiving. She was disappointed that you weren’t here.”
He bit back the words that rushed to his mouth. “You think I don’t know that?”
Rachel crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him. “I know I’m only Bella’s tutor, and I probably don’t have the right to say what I’m going to say…”
“But you’re going to say it anyway?”
Rachel snapped her mouth closed and took a deep breath. “Forgiveness only lasts so long. One day you’re going to wake up and Bella will be eighteen years old and ready to leave home. You’ll regret the times that you missed something important in her life. What happened to your face?”
He touched the edge of the bruise on his jaw. “I ran into a door.”
She stared at his face. “Last time I checked, doors didn’t come with knuckles. Have you seen a doctor?”
“I can talk and eat. I don’t need a doctor.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “It’s not bad enough that you’re a workaholic, now you’re being plain stupid. You could have broken a bone or something worse.”
“There isn’t much that can go wrong with a jaw.”
Rachel’s low growl sent goose bumps along his skin. “It’s not your jaw that the doctor needs to check—it’s your brain.”
A group of children and their parents stood in front of them, taking photos of each other.
Rachel pulled him to the side of the room and stood toe to toe with him. “Only someone with nothing between their ears would drop everything and get into a fight. Especially if they were in some out of the way place.”
“New Orleans isn’t some out of the way place, and I didn’t choose to get into a fight. We were ambushed by six men in full body armor. You try getting out of that without a few scrapes and bruises.”
“What were you doing in a fight in the first place? You’re supposed to be a pen-pushing businessman, not Rambo on steroids. You were lucky you didn’t get shot.”
He clamped his jaw tight, groaned, then stepped away from Rachel’s laser beam stare.
“You got shot?” Her mouth dropped open. “Where?”
“It’s only a graze.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Where?”
“My arm. What’s gotten into you, anyway? You haven’t strung so many words together since I met you.”
“I haven’t said anything because I didn’t know whether you were deliberately keeping away from Bella, or you couldn’t help it. I’m worried about her. She misses you.”
“And which one is it?”
Rachel frowned.
“Am I deliberately keeping away from her or can’t I help it?”
“I don’t think you’re doing it on purpose. But maybe you could get someone else to sort out the problems at your work?”
John looked back at the mistletoe. He’d been thinking the same thing, but he wasn’t going to talk about that in the middle of the auditorium.
Bella was still standing under the mistletoe, but this time she was standing beside a tall, skinny, boy with red hair. The angel halo attached to his head shone in the overhead lights. “Isn’t that the boy with the amazing voice?”
Rachel glared at him before turning her attention to Bella and her friend. “That’s Franky. And yes, he does have an amazing voice. I’m surprised you remembered.”
John wasn’t going to answer her. He was going to see his daughter.
“Your brother called Bella to wish her all the best. He seems like a nice person.”
John grunted. He walked around another group of people and Rachel followed him.
“He said he’d come to the play to watch Bella, but she wanted to keep the seat for you.”
“If you’re trying to make me feel worse, you’re doing a good job.”
Rachel walked ahead of him and stopped him in his tracks. “I don’t want you to feel worse. I want you to spend more time with your daughter.”
“Dad?” Bella side-stepped around Rachel and headed straight into his arms. “I missed you. Is everything okay?”
He held her close. “Everything is fine. How was your play?”
Bella’s face glowed as bright as the lights on the Christmas tree behind her. “It was wonderful. I remembered all of the words to the songs.”
“That’s great, Bella.”
“Why couldn’t you be here?”
John looked into her brown eyes and felt like the worst father in the world. “Some people were trying to hurt a person that asked for our help. I needed to make sure the person got home for Christmas.”
“And did they get home?”
John nodded.
“That’s okay, then. Franky’s dad couldn’t make it either. Can we invite him to our place to watch the play? Tanner recorded it on his phone. He said he didn’t miss anything this time.”
He pulled Bella into his arms. “Franky and his dad can come over for dinner as well, if they want to. If Franky gives us his phone number, I’ll give his dad a call.”
“Okay. I’ll find Franky now.” Bella darted between the people behind her. Tanner moved fast to keep up with her.
“Does she need a bodyguard all of the time?” Rachel whispered.
John wiped his hand over his eyes. He was so tired that he could have fallen asleep standing up. “I need to talk to you about what happened today, but I can’t do it here. We need to go home.”
Rachel put a hand on his forehead. “You’ve got a temperature.” She looked across the room and waved at Patty Daniels. Within seconds, John’s housekeeper was standing beside them.
“John isn’t well, Patty. Can you take him out to his truck while I go and find Tanner and Bella?”
“I’ll be all right. No one died from a temperature.”
Rachel stuck her hands on her hips and glared at him. “You’re as stubborn as a mule, too. I’m not taking no for an answer. Where??
?s Tank?”
“In my truck,” he muttered.
“Now you tell me. Patty, tell Tank to take John to the hospital. We’ll meet you there.”
He wondered where Rachel’s bossy streak had suddenly come from. He turned to say something to her, but she’d disappeared into the crowd of people around them.
Patty linked her hand under his elbow. “You’d better come with me, John. Why are we going to the hospital?”
“We aren’t. I’ll call Tank on my cell phone and tell him to meet us at home.”
Patty shook her head. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“As sure as I’ve been about everything in the last few weeks. Let’s go home.” He glanced around the room one last time. Tanner was walking toward him, talking to someone on his cell phone. Bella and Rachel were beside him.
At least they were together tonight. What happened tomorrow would be a whole different problem.