Wishing On A Starr (4 page)

“I’ll give you a few minutes to review the menu,” their waitress said and strolled off.

“Dad-”

“If you girls will excuse me. I’m going to run to the men’s room.” After flashing another plastic smile, he was up and out of his chair before Starr could finish her sentence.

“One of these days, I’m going to stop putting my foot in my mouth,” she mumbled.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Neve said, lowering her menu. “You were just giving him a dose of tough love. And we both know that stuff is supposed to be good for us, but its really adults who have the hardest time with it.”

“You have a point there.” Starr crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. “I just wish we didn’t lose that darn card.”

“Well, I think it was a sign. I personally didn’t like the looks of that lady.”

“What was wrong…? You know, never mind.” She waved her hand. “I’m starting to think you’re not as gung-ho about finding a match for my father as you used to be.”

“That’s not true. I just really think we should be considering my mother. I mean, don’t you want to be sisters?”

She didn’t know how she did it, but Starr had marched right into another sticky situation where only tact and saccharine charm could get her out of it. Yet, once again, she never got out what she wanted to say. Instead her gaze drifted to the figure that had just waltzed to the hostess stand. “You’re a strong believer of fate, right?”

“Y-yeah,” Neve answered slowly.

“Then look who just walked in the door.”

Neve turned around in her seat, and then stared open-mouthed at the beautiful woman from Saks Fifth Avenue. “I don’t believe it.”

Starr smiled. “Looks like Dad doesn’t have to make that wish after all.”

Chapter 4

Daniel washed and dried his hands and then stopped to stare at his reflection in the mirror. As usual, he saw a man who was just barely holding on. The one thing that got him through each day was the idea that his little girl needed him.

But that was a lie.

He lowered his gaze and chuckled. Suddenly it was clear as a bell that all this matchmaking Starr and Neve have been doing was for one purpose only: to get him off his daughter’s back. But if he let go, what would become of the man in the mirror?

“I need some help here, Hilary,” he mumbled under his breath. Of course, he’d made that request at least once a day-which was down from the ten times a day four years ago, but damn if it wasn’t still true. If only Hilary, God, or even Santa Claus could toss him a vowel, he could figure out a clue on how to get on with his life.

The door burst open and two gentlemen entered the facilities and consequently ended Daniel’s private reflection. He tossed the men a brief smile as he headed out the door. The steady hum of customer chatter and clinking dishes instantly gave him a headache, but he was determined to end the day with the girls on a good note and forced on a smile that hardly seemed to fit his face.

When he made his way back over to his table, he was stunned to find it vacant. “Where-”

He turned and made a complete three-sixty, unable to catch a glimpse of the missing teenagers anywhere. His heart instantly shifted into panic mode, but he was still able to keep his wits about him-meaning, he didn’t immediately launch into screaming their names at the top of his lungs. Maybe they had just gone to the little girls’ room.

He relaxed and settled into his chair. He really needed to do something about his ability to always imagine the worse scenario.

“Are you ready to order, sir?” his smiling waitress asked as she returned to the table.

“Uh, no, ma’am.” He smiled and glanced around again. “It seems my daughter and her friend have disappeared for a moment. Maybe you should give us a few more minutes?”

The waitress nodded and strolled off to the next table.

Daniel drew a breath and glanced around again. His gaze skittered to laughing families and eye-gazing couples. This was one of the things he loved about the holidays: people changed. Conversations were no longer filled about stock trades or corporate griping. This time of year people talked about their children’s school or church play, organized charity events for the less fortunate, or discussed what would be the perfect gift for the grandparents.

It was like magic-just like Hilary had proclaimed.

The thought brought a smile onto Daniel’s face. Hilary had been right about so many things he mused, reaching for his iced water.

Hilary, beautiful as ever, held his steady gaze. “Come on. Answer the question.”

“
It’s never going to happen,” Daniel answered coolly, but felt a small smile tug his lips. “If anything, I’ll die first. I eat badly, I hardly exercise, and I get very little sleep.”

“Good point.” Hilary nodded with a growing smile. “You’ll go first.”

Daniel chuckled. “Well, don’t look so smug about it. You are going to miss me, right?”

“Immensely,” she answered lightning-fast and pulled off a look of sincerity that melted his heart.

He reached over and covered her hand, but she gently flipped it over and caressed his palm. He loved it when she did that. The way her fingers would tickle the sensitive area gave him the same wild fluttering in his stomach as her deep sensual kisses. After a moment of watching her, he wondered about her question.

“What about you?” he finally asked. “Would you marry again?”

Her gaze lowered to his hand and then she lifted it to brush a kiss against his knuckles. “If on the rare chance I was able to meet someone as wonderful as you, which is probably unlikely, I’d like to think I would have your blessing to move on.”

Another man kissing and making love to his wife didn’t exactly bode well with Daniel. He eased his hand out of her grip and leaned back in his chair. “How long are we talking about?”

“What?”

“How long after I’m dead in the ground are we talking about? Fifty years, twenty-five years, or two weeks?”

Hilary rocked her head back with a burst of laughter. A few surrounding diners glanced their direction and Daniel apologized for his wife interrupting their meals by flashing them a brief smile.

“You know on second thought, I don’t want to know the answer to that question.”

“Oh, c’mon Daniel. I think we should really discuss this. I know I would want you to marry again.”

Daniel’s brows rose in surprise. “You would?”

Hilary nodded. “I’ve been thinking about this for awhile…”

“Oh, you have?”

“Yeah.” She suddenly became somber again. “The question just popped in my head the other night when I was putting Starr to bed. Actually, a lot of question popped in my head.”

He captured her hand again and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Like what?”

“Like-what would I do if one day her birth mother showed up at our door wanting her back?”

“Honey-”

“It could happen. You remember the movie last week with Halle Berry. What would we do in that situation? Before I knew it, I had a whole list of what ifs and among the top ones: if I passed away, would you marry again?”

She was being serious, he knew, so he forced himself to push past his initial discomfort with the topic.

“Would I marry again?” he repeated, and then drew a deep breath. The idea that there was another woman as wonderful as the woman sitting across from him sounded as far-fetched as discovering life on another planet.

Before Hilary, Daniel remembered clearly how alone he was in a city population of more than seven million people. Since she’d walked into his life, there were smiles and laughter every day, and since the adoption of their beautiful little girl, life just kept getting better.

“I don’t think so,” he finally answered honestly. “I can’t imagine my life without you.”

Her smile returned. “That is so sweet. But-”

“No,” he insisted. “And the point is moot anyway.”

Hilary nodded and for a few seconds the subject seemed to be closed, but it wasn’t the first or the last time that he was wrong.

“I would want you to marry again,” she said. “I wouldn’t want you to mourn me the rest of your life.”

He looked at her incredulously.

“I want you to be happy...always.” Her lips quivered at the corners. “That’s what we’re supposed to want for each other, right?”

Daniel hesitated at the trick question.

She squeezed his hand again. “Right?”

He finally forced his lips to curl again. “Right.”

At long last, Daniel closed his eyes and vanquished the memory, but he continued to mumble, “Right.”

Watching the stunning woman in red as she walked toward the back of the restaurant, Starr followed like a moth to a flame. What was it about the woman that enamored her? “Wow,” she finally whispered. “I wouldn’t mind looking like that when I grow up.”

“She’s all right,” Neve mumbled. “Are you still going to talk to her?”

“Yeah, just give me a minute to think of what to say,” Starr answered. In truth she was nervous and didn’t understand why-being shy was not one of her characteristics.

“Well, I don’t think you should,” Neve huffed and crossed her arms. “I mean, look at her. To be wearing something like that she has to have a date or something.”

Starr frowned. She hadn’t thought of that, but all she had to recall was the way her dad had practically glowed around the woman for her to push the tiny obstacle of a date aside. “I’m going to go talk to her,” she announced with newfound courage.

Neve clamped a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

When Starr glanced back, she didn’t know what to make of her friend’s troubled expression. “Look,” she started with a patient tone. “It’s obvious that my dad likes this lady. You saw how disappointed he looked when he lost her business card.”

Neve’s gaze skittered downward.

“We’ve been looking for months for someone to put that kind of smile on his face.” She sighed when she noticed the muscles along her friend’s jaw pulse. “Besides, we don’t have to have my father marry your mom for us to be sisters. We’re already family. It’s the things that are in our hearts that makes us a family. My mom taught me that.”

Neve gave her a sheepish smile and then reached down into her pants pocket and removed the rumpled business card.

Starr blinked and then reached for it. “You found it?”

“You want a wife for your dad and I wanted a husband for my mom. Maybe I wanted it too badly.” Neve’s eyes glossed with shimmering tears.

Starr embraced her friend. “We’ll find someone-for both of them. And no matter what, we’ll always be sisters. Agreed?”

Neve nodded against her shoulder. “Agreed.”

The
sisters
slowly eased out of their embrace while still holding onto their smiles. Yet, when they turned back around, the woman in red was gone.

“Where did she go?” Neve asked.

Starr glanced around wondering if the woman had passed them while they were talking, but she didn’t see her anywhere. “Well.” She held up the business card. “At least we still have this.”

Chapter 5

After initially going to the wrong restaurant for Freddy’s birthday party, Gia caught up with her good friends, and then had too much to eat and way too much to drink. When she finally managed to pry her eyes open Saturday morning-well, Saturday afternoon, she felt as if she’d been run down by a Mack truck. This was why she wasn’t a party person-the consequences far outweighed the benefits.

The telephone blared from the nightstand, but the thing sounded as though it was somehow implanted in her ear. Pressing a pillow against her head, she tried to ignore it; but her teeth rattled and her brain threatened to explode.

Gia groaned and rolled to the edge of the bed and swung out her hand to seize the torturous object. Before she could tuck the phone under her ear, she fell unceremoniously onto the floor, banged her head on the edge of the nightstand, and roared out a succession of curses that would make a veteran sailor blush.

After waiting for the pain to pass, she scrambled across the floor and retrieved the phone. “Hello.”

“Uh, yeah. May I speak to Gia Hunter?”

The caller’s rich voice dripped like warm honey into Gia’s ear and her pain and anger completely evaporated. She had no problem matching the voice to the handsome man she’d met at Saks. “T-this is Gia.”

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” he asked with trepidation lacing his voice.

“Yes, uh, I mean, no.” She winced. Less than a minute into the conversation and she already sounded like a dunce. “I just woke up...and fell out of bed.”