Road to Redemption

Payton

I STOOD STARING at the copious amounts of wine choices in the downtown Portland Safeway store. My best friend Macey and I had been invited to a Dogs of Fire compound get together tonight by Danielle Carver who was a relatively new friend and married to one of the officers in the club.

Funnily enough, she was a kindergarten teacher in the same school district I worked for. Different enough schools where we hadn’t run into each other, but we had quite a bit in common and I loved our occasional ‘solve the problems of the world’ conversations in regard to children.

Her husband was not at all who you’d expect Dani to be married to, but when you met him, you also weren’t surprised. Austin ‘Booker’ Carver was gorgeous, sweet, and wholly devoted to his wife. She’d been kidnapped a few months ago, and he’d rained down hell on the people who did it and I liked that.

Macey had a man like that and my sister-in-law had my brother, who was totally a man like that, so I figured there was hope for me somewhere in the world. If it started with meeting a few sexy bikers, I wasn’t going to complain.

“Daddy!”

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of a little girl’s voice and thought nothing of it until she appeared at the end of the wine aisle, her blonde hair pulled into uneven pigtails and tears streaming down her face.

“Daddy!” she called out, sobbing.

I rushed to her immediately, dropping my basket and purse as I knelt in front of her. “Hi, sweetie. Did you lose your dad?”

She nodded, her lower lip out in a cute but pathetic little pout.

“What’s your daddy’s name?” I asked.

“Daddy.”

I forced myself not to giggle, because this little girl was unbelievably adorable, from her leather vest with pink flowers on it, right down to her little motorcycle boots. “Okay. What’s your name?”

“Wiwy.”

“Lily?” At her nod, I smiled. “That’s such a pretty name.”

“Fank you.”

“Okay, honey, let’s see if we can find your daddy.” I grabbed my purse, left the basket where it lay, and stood. Lily slipped her tiny little hand in mine like she’d known me forever, and we started to walk the aisles.

It wasn’t long before I heard a deep voice calling her name, so we followed the sound. We turned down the coffee aisle and Lily tugged her hand out of mine and made a run for the best looking man I’d ever seen. Seriously. Ever. Tall and muscular with sandy blond hair and a handlebar moustache that rivaled Sam Elliott’s in pretty much every movie he’d ever made… except Roadhouse where he had more of a beard, but still the handlebar moustache is imprinted on those of us who love him, so you still saw that moustache even when it wasn’t really there. Yeah, he was sexy like that.

“Daddy!”

The man faced her and after a fleeting look of frustration and anger, his face melted into one of unconditional love as he bent down and scooped her into his arms. “Lily! I told you not to run off like that.”

She wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “I sowwy daddy.”

Holy cow, this little girl knew how to work her cuteness. I was transfixed momentarily and turned to walk away when he caught my eye.

“You found her?” he asked.

I smiled. “She found me, actually.”

“Yeah, she does that.” He gave his daughter a squeeze and then offered me a slow smile. “Thanks for helping her.”

My heart raced and I was sure my panties were fighting to stay on as I nodded. “No problem. Okay, well, I should go.”

“’Bye, babe,” he said, his voice low and sexy.

“’Bye,” I squeaked, and continued to stand there.

He chuckled and it brought me back to my body. “You got somewhere to be?” he asked.

I didn’t answer. Just turned on my heel and made a rush for the wine aisle again, deciding I’d bring one to the party and buy another six to try to forget my inability to form a coherent sentence.

Never… and I mean, never… had this happened to me. Not even when public speaking. I was a teacher and used to addressing crowds. People, no matter their age, didn’t scare me. I liked people. They fascinated me. It’s why I chose teaching. Impacting the lives of young people while watching them grow into useful members of society made me feel happy and fulfilled. It gave me purpose, and I believe it had given me a confidence no other job could have. I also had parents, not to mention siblings, who loved me. Nurtured me. Teased me mercilessly, but had my back and protected me always. Especially my brother, Brock.

But in that moment, none of my training or love or confidence was of any use. In a matter of seconds, I’d turned into a blithering idiot because of a man. Gah! I couldn’t hate myself more if I’d stripped naked and offered myself to him in the middle of the store.

Grabbing the wine, I hightailed it out of the store and into my car as fast as I could. I was comforted by the fact that since I didn’t live here, ergo didn’t typically shop at the Safeway in downtown Portland, it meant there was little to no chance of running into him again, and I was grateful for small mercies.