The Way To A Soldier's Heart. GINA WILKINS
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oink.”
“Very good. Do you want your snack now? Gammy has bananas and yogurt for you in the kitchen.”
Shane checked his watch, surprised to see that it was almost two thirty. He glanced around the shop as Elle took Charlotte from him. Most of the pink shirts had disappeared while he’d been occupied with his niece. Only a few quiet customers were still settled in with their coffees and pastries.
He waited until Elle stepped back out of the kitchen with a tray of cookies for the display case before he moved to stand on the other side of the counter. He watched as she unloaded the tray into a waiting basket. “Those look good.”
“White chocolate and cranberry. Want to try one?”
“Sounds delicious, but since I just ate a chocolate doughnut, I should probably hold off on sweets until after I’ve had some real food.”
Elle slanted a smile up at him. “From the amount of chocolate on Charlotte’s face, I’m not sure you had much of that doughnut.”
“She might’ve had a bite or two,” he said, relieved that she didn’t seem perturbed. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, it’s fine. She had a good serving of vegetable soup for lunch and she’s having a healthy afternoon snack, so it’s okay if she had a little treat.” Elle closed the display case and straightened, setting the empty tray aside. “You’re very good with Charlotte. You really like kids, huh?”
It occurred to him that maybe she was a little wary of his interest in Charlotte. Understandable.
He drew a deep breath, thinking it was past time for him to level with her. “Elle, there’s something I should probably—”
He almost groaned when Janet burst through the kitchen door. This was the second time he’d been interrupted before he could come clean. “Elle, we need you back here now!”
Shane tensed, his flash of frustration dissolving into concern at Janet’s expression. Was something wrong with Charlotte?
The same question must have crossed Elle’s mind. She moved quickly toward her mother. “What’s wrong?”
Janet had spotted Shane. “You said you were a medic, didn’t you? You should come, too. We need you.”
Shane didn’t hesitate before rounding the end of the counter toward the kitchen, a vivid image of Charlotte’s sweetly trusting face in his mind.
* * *
HER HEART POUNDING in her throat, Elle surged into the kitchen with Shane close behind her. The urgency of her mother’s summons had scared her. Of course her first thought had been of Charlotte.
One quick visual sweep of the industrial kitchen let her know what had happened. Amber stood at the sink, a dishtowel wrapped around her right hand, blood soaking through the fabric. Staring at Amber with huge, worried eyes, Charlotte sat in a booster seat on a chair at the small table positioned at one end of the room, her snack forgotten in front of her. Her lower lip quivered.
While her mother moved to reassure Charlotte, Elle rushed to Amber’s side. “How bad is it?”
Looking pale but calm, Amber shook her head. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. I was prepping vegetables for tomorrow’s soups and I cut my hand. I just need to stick a bandage on it and cover that with a glove while I’m working in the kitchen.”
“I just knew something bad was going to happen today.”
Elle shot her fretting mother a look. “Don’t start, Mom. How deep is the cut, Amber?”
“I’m not sure. It’s probably fine.”
“Do you mind if I take a look?” Shane asked, stepping closer. “I’ve had some first-aid training.”
Elle figured that as an army medic in a war zone, Shane had more than “some” training, but it seemed characteristic of him to downplay his proficiency. She watched while he unwrapped the towel from Amber’s hand, and then she winced when she saw the gash he’d revealed. Blood still flowed freely from the wound in the heel of Amber’s right hand. With the mandolin slicer and raw vegetables still scattered on the counter, it didn’t take much imagination to mentally recreate the accident.
“Yeah, this is probably going to need a couple of stitches.” Shane looked at Amber with almost apologetic sympathy. “A bandage isn’t going to be enough.”
Amber winced. “Are you sure?”
He was already pressing the towel against the bleeding cut again. “Pretty sure. Hold this tight until we can get you to an urgent care center. I can drive you.”
“No.” Giving Charlotte a reassuring pat, Elle’s mom stepped forward. “It would be easier if I drive her since I know the way. And the shop will be responsible for the cost, right, Elle?”
“Yes, of course.”
“We can’t leave Elle here to run the shop by herself,” Amber protested, her face pale but calm.
Elle was already untying Amber’s apron. “I can handle it. Now that the post-marathon rush is over, it will probably be slow here for the rest of the day. We’ll only be open for another hour and a half. I can call Kristen or DeShawn if I need more help. I’m sure one of them would come.”
“I can help here until closing,” Shane suggested. “I take orders pretty well,” he added with a smile for Elle.
It seemed ungracious to decline his offer, though it was becoming increasingly difficult to think of Shane as merely a nice customer just passing through town. In the few days she’d known him, he’d made an impact on her, her mother, even her daughter. And that was starting to make her nervous.
Just why was he hanging around them so much? Was he really that attracted to her, that lonely in an unfamiliar town? He seemed harmless enough—other than to her long-denied hormones—but should she be more concerned? Or was the stress of Amber’s injury simply making her paranoid again?
Maybe his notable attention had to do with his business? It occurred to her that perhaps he wanted her to put in a good word with some of the more prominent area business owners. She hoped that wasn’t his intention.
“I have to get back out to the counter,” she said as her mother bustled Amber through the back exit. She quickly wiped Charlotte’s face then helped her down from the booster seat to take her out to the play corral in the shop.
Shane looked around the kitchen. “Is there something I can be doing in here to help?”
She motioned toward the counter where Amber had been working. “If you really want to help, you could clean that area.”
“I’m on it,” he said cheerfully, turning on the hot water and reaching for a clean kitchen towel and the bottle of disinfectant by the sink.
She turned toward the swinging door into the shop, then paused with the door half open, looking back at him. “You were starting to say something when we were interrupted?”
He was already scrubbing at scattered spots of blood. “Later. You’d better tend to your customers now.”
She carried Charlotte out of the kitchen, letting the door swing shut behind them.
Fortunately for Elle’s composure, if not for her profits, business was slow for the next hour, easy enough for her to handle on her own, especially with Shane’s surprisingly efficient assistance. She didn’t bother calling Kristen, figuring her partner would prefer not to work on her day off.
Two young couples entered together with a jingle of the door bells shortly before closing time. They dawdled awhile over their menu choices while Elle waited patiently with her hand hovering over the register. She heard Charlotte laughing and glanced toward the play corral. Shane was making silly faces at the child while he refilled clearly marked coffee station