“You spoke with him?”

“Briefly.”

Luke reached for one of Wyatt’s fists, glanced at his knuckles. “Care to elaborate?”

Before relaying the conversation he’d had with the man, it was time to hear a few facts from Luke. “Tell me what you know about him.”

Luke shrugged. “Just what I’ve heard from Jo over the years. Melanie met him in college, before long she was pregnant and dropped out. Not sure what came first, now that I think about it. Jo wasn’t living close when all that happened and my ties to Zoe had been cut. Everything I heard was long past it happening.”

“Were they married?”

Luke shook his head with a shrug. “Couldn’t tell you. Everyone said yes a couple of years ago. It’s only been in the past few weeks that Melanie claimed all that was a lie.”

Wyatt poured another couple of fingers of Jack and kicked it back. “Does Melanie make a habit of lying?” He hated to ask but wanted to know for many reasons.

Luke laughed. “No. She sucked at lying in high school. People change, I guess, but I don’t know. I would think she would have been straight with her best friends.”

“What did Jo and Zoe say about all that?”

“Don’t really know. I don’t think they care. Neither of them approve of the man so his status, divorced or just an ex, doesn’t mean crap to them.”

Staring at the white wall on the opposite side of the kitchen kept Wyatt’s attention as he finished the second slice of pizza.

“Does it matter to you?”

“Lying?”

Luke waved him off. “Lying sucks . . . I’m talking about her single or divorced status.”

Wyatt wiped his hand over his face and removed any evidence of the pizza before answering. “We all have a past.”

Luke seemed to sit on that for a few minutes. “So what did the man say to you?”

“That I was stepping on his family.”

Luke ran a hand through his hair. “That’s just bullshit. If there is one fact, it’s that Melanie and Hope haven’t been a priority to that man. You saw her car.”

“Yeah, I get that. So why is the man all hell-bent on making everyone think he’s sticking around this time?”

“Maybe he woke up and realized he’s a dad.”

“It’s more than that. He’s talking about Melanie as if she belongs to him.”

“That’s what Zoe told me. Makes me wonder about the man’s head. What kind of man goes out of his way to make strangers think he is something he’s not?”

Wyatt finished his drink, poured another, and vowed to walk home.

“. . . and they all lived happily ever after.” Melanie leaned against the headboard with her daughter nestled in the crook of her arm.

Hope released a contented sigh and snuggled closer. “I wanna be a princess when I grow up,” she exclaimed.

“A noble goal.”

Melanie lifted the book from her lap and put it on the side table. With the inn lacking in guests, they’d placed Hope in the room they’d first shared alone, while Mel took the room across the hall.

“Princesses wear pretty clothes.”

“You like your jeans and T-shirts.”

“Yeah. And they have a prince who takes care of them.”

Melanie’s hand hesitated over the book of fairy tales that Hope loved her to read from. “Sometimes the prince doesn’t do such a great job of taking care of his princess. It’s always better for the princess to learn to take care of herself.”

Hope seemed to chew on that for a few seconds. “But isn’t it easier if a prince helps her?”

“Some things might be easier.”

Hope twisted in her lap and blinked wide eyes. “If you had a prince, you wouldn’t have to scrub floors or make all the beds here.”

She placed a hand on the side of her daughter’s face. “In the real world, a mommy is always scrubbing floors and making beds, sweetie. And I like working here. It’s not like in the books. Not a lot of life is like what you read in a book.”

“I know it’s pretend.” Hope rolled her eyes. “But it would be cool to be a princess.”

Melanie slid from the bed and helped Hope under the covers. “You can be a princess, but I want you to marry a knight, not a prince.”

“Who is the knight?”

“He’s the warrior who fights for the princess. He’s the one who can protect her.”

“Is he rich?”

Melanie sat on the edge of the bed and brushed Hope’s hair from her face. “No. He has something money can’t buy.”

Hope’s eyes were drifting closed. “What’s that?”

“The princess’s heart.” Melanie tapped her chest.

Hope smiled.

Melanie kissed her daughter’s forehead. “Good night, princess.”

“Night, Mommy.”

The phone rang as Melanie left Hope’s room. She took the steps faster in an effort to answer it before the caller hung up.

Miss Gina beat her to it. “No, she’s right here.”

Miss Gina’s words stopped Melanie from walking by.

With a hand over the receiver, Miss Gina pointed the phone at Melanie. “It’s Wyatt.”

With the phone in hand, Melanie smiled at Miss Gina and felt her cheeks warm. “I’ll just take this outside.”

“I’m sure you will.”

When she reached the screen door, she put the phone to her ear. “Hey.”

“Hi. I hope it’s okay that I called.”