“Hey there,” Crew said as he took a seat next to me.
I smiled up at the man who wasn’t a Montgomery but had dated a couple. In fact, most people were of the opinion that Crew and Lex were dating, though they weren’t saying anything about it. I didn’t ask questions, and in the end it didn’t matter. I just liked Crew.
“Okay let’s eat before this child starts to eat my arm,” Lex said with a laugh, while Amelia chomped down on his forearm.
“Don’t bite your uncle,” I teased.
“Okay.” Amelia rolled her eyes again and sighed and winced.
I was going to have to make that stop somehow, even though it was so cute.
Taking a day to have a picnic wasn’t something I did often. Frankly, it was only Montgomery gatherings that got me out of the house. I didn’t date, despite what my friends sometimes tried to make me do, and I rarely went out.
But times like this allowed me to relax just a little bit.
“Can I go throw this away?” Amelia asked, holding up the tiny trash bag.
I looked over at the trash can that was only six feet away or so and frowned. “Let me come with you. Or one of your uncles.”
“I’m fine. It’s right there, Mommy,” she whined, glaring at me.
“Watch that face of yours,” I warned.
She immediately smiled. “I’m sorry. But please? I’m a big girl now.”
“Fine. But I’m watching you.”
It was seriously less than six feet away, and nobody was standing by the trash can. She would be fine. And I needed to stop being a helicopter parent. But she was only four. I should’ve still been able to wrap her in cotton wool.
The guys had gotten up to play some form of a soccer game with a few other strangers, and my mother had her back turned, finishing cleaning up some of the art supplies.
That’s why they didn’t see the bike coming first.
Everything happened in slow motion as I moved as quickly as I could toward my daughter.
Amelia had just put the trash in the can, smiling wide because she could reach now, as the bicyclist on his phone went off the path. Somebody screamed, another person shouted obscenities, but I only had eyes for my daughter.
When she looked up, she froze for just an instant, and I knew that bicycle was going to hit her.
Then Amelia jumped to the side, right out of the way of the bicyclist, only she was right at the edge of the curb.
A scream tore through my throat as I shifted toward her, hand outstretched, but I was too late. My little girl tripped over the side of the curb and fell right toward the busy street.
And her little scream would haunt me until my dying breath.
two
EWAN
While the worldmoved in slow motion, I felt as though I should have seen this whole thing coming.
The gorgeous woman with blonde hair and bright blue eyes had caught my gaze from the moment I’d stepped into this park. Her smile had pulled my attention as well, even though I’d been trying to focus on my friends.
But every once in a while she would speak to her daughter, and I couldn’t help but look over at her, trying to act subtle. Considering I was six foot five, broad shouldered, and hadn’t bothered to change out of my boots from when I had driven down from the ranch, I already stood out. I wasn’t good at being subtle.
Yet the woman had been in my peripheral vision for most of the afternoon. Even when I had tried to do my best to catch sight of the little girl’s father. Only I hadn’t seen a ring on that woman’s finger, and my odd relief was a kick to the chest that didn’t make a lick of sense.
But all of that didn’t matter in the end. Because I could see what would happen next in slow motion and vivid pictures.
