She was glad she had. She loved Charlottesville and liked having her family close by again. And she made certain that she carved out time during her busy schedule to drop by to visit her dad and grab a cup of coffee, bring him lunch or show up for dinner.
She took a sip as she watched her father move around the kitchen. The space wasn’t all that large, but he actually looked lost. That was unusual, since her father generally exuded a strong presence. She immediately read the signs. Something heavy was on his mind.
“Dad, is there something bothering you?”
He quickly turned and looked at her, and she immediately noticed that his smile was tentative, nervous. He placed the dish towel on the counter, moved back toward her and sat down with her at the table. “No, there’s nothing bothering me, but there is something that I need to talk to you about.”
She lifted her brow as she set her coffee cup down. She couldn’t hide the concern in her features. “Okay, what is it?”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, and then he looked at her and gave her that same smile she’d grown accustomed to over the years while growing up. It was that smile that let her know everything was going to be all right and that he would be there for her, no matter what.
She waited...and then he released the bombshell by saying, “I’m thinking about remarrying.”
Shana was glad she had stopped drinking her coffee, because otherwise she would have choked on it. Remarry? Her father? She drew in a deep breath before saying, “I wasn’t aware you were seeing anyone.”
Had Jules known and just not mentioned it? No, there was no way. That would have been headline news in Jules’s book, and her sister would have had the woman thoroughly vetted by now.
“I’m not seeing anyone, technically. Mona and I run into each other every so often in the grocery store.” He chuckled. “We talk over the fresh vegetables, but haven’t gone out on an official date.”
Shana was trying desperately to follow him. “And already you’re thinking about marriage?” she asked. Those had to be some strange-idea-inducing vegetables in that grocery store. Her father had to be the most logical man she knew, and she was beginning to worry because he was thinking illogically.
“Yes, just thinking of the possibility. She’s the first woman I’ve had thoughts about since your mom, so that must mean something. You know the story of how your mom and I were attracted to each other at first glance when we met that day in class?”
Yes, she had heard the story and had always thought it was special that the two had begun dating in their sophomore year and married a month after graduation, two years later.
“So tell me, what is there about her that makes you think of marriage?” she asked, picking up her coffee cup and taking a sip.
“She’s pretty. Dresses nice. Smells good.”
He’d gotten up that close to the woman? “What do you know about her, Dad?”
Her father leaned back in the chair and the smile that appeared on his face at that moment was one she had never recalled seeing before. It was different somehow from the ones he had for her and her sister, Shana thought.
“I know she’s friendly with a pleasant personality, and I like that. She’s also kind and generous. Everyone at the store knows her. And she teaches.”
Shana raised another brow. “She’s a schoolteacher?”
“No, a college professor at the University of Virginia. Political Science. I never liked talking about politics until now.”
Shana leaned back in her chair, as well. She just couldn’t imagine her six-foot-three-inch, sixty-two-year-old father hanging around the vegetable stand in some grocery store talking politics with anyone, never mind a woman.
But, then, to be fair, in all the years since her mother died, Shana had never known Benjamin Bradford to be involved with a woman. Oh, she knew he’d dated once in a while—she could still recall the packs of condoms she and her sister had found in his drawer one year. But he had never brought any of those dates home for his daughters to meet. Their mother had died of pancreatic cancer thirteen years ago, right before Shana’s fifteenth birthday. Jules had been thirteen. Now they were grown women with lives of their own, so it stood to reason that if he was ever going to be seriously interested in a woman, it would be now.
But still... Marriage?
“So her first name is Mona. What’s her last name?” Shana decided to ask. There was no harm in Jules checking her out. This was their father they were talking about.
“Underwood. Her name is Mona Underwood.”
“How old is she, Dad?”
He chuckled. “Hey, I never ask a woman her age.”
“Yes, but I’m sure you have some idea. Take a guess.”
He scrunched up his forehead. “I recall she said she was thinking about retiring in a couple of years when she turned fifty-five. So I guess she’s in her early fifties.”
That meant he was anywhere from ten to twelve years older than this Mona Underwood. That wasn’t too bad. It could have been worse.
“Is she a divorcée, widow, never been married...?”
“Divorced. I do know that.”
Thank God. “How long ago?”
“For what?”
Shana rolled her eyes. “Since Ms. Underwood got divorced?”
Her father squinted his dark eyes at her. “Why do I feel like I’m being interrogated?”
She couldn’t help but smile. “Because you’re an ex-cop. Comes with the territory.”
She was about to ask a few more questions when her cell phone went off. “Excuse me a minute, Dad,” she said as she pulled her phone out of her purse. It was her office calling. “Yes, Joyce?”
“Potential new client. Jace Granger of Granger Aeronautics. He would like to talk to you in person and wants to know if you can drop by the office. And by the way, he has such a sexy voice.”
Shana smiled. “Calm down, single mother of three. Rein in those raging hormones.” Joyce, her office manager, was thirty-three and had been a divorcée for a year or so. Since she’d started dating, she seemed to be going buck wild.
A few moments later, after getting the information she needed from Joyce, Shana hung up the phone. “Okay, Dad, I need to go. I have an appointment,” she said, standing and heading for the door.
“Have I told you lately just how proud I am of you?”
Shana dropped her hand from the doorknob and turned around. Smiling, she walked back to her father, leaned down and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Not lately, but just knowing you are, is special.”
“I’m proud of Jules, too, although I worry about her sometimes.”
Shana nodded. Following in their father’s footsteps, Jules had been on the police force for two years before making detective. When it came to solving cases, she was a whip. Jules had finally fulfilled her dream and opened an investigation firm. Her cases took her all over the place and at twenty-six and single, her sister was loving it.
“Jules can take care of herself. We both can. We’re Ben’s girls, and he taught us how to fend for ourselves.”
* * *
A short while later, before starting her car, Shana punched in the phone number Joyce had given her. She leaned back, thinking of the conversation she’d had with her father. Jules was working a case in Miami, but as soon as her sister returned, they would talk. Ben Bradford remarrying? She wanted her father to be happy for the rest of his life, but she didn’t want him to settle for the first woman he found interesting, pretty, well dressed and good-looking.