Sparks Fly with Mr. Mayor by Teresa Carpenter Page A

thought about it, no way would letting the two of them spend time together pass her exhausting decision-making process. Pretty much a given she’d say no.
    So why was Dani skipping the process?
    Hearing the trill of Faith’s giggles, seeing the joy and animation on her little face, Dani had her answer.
    Faith’s happiness rated as Dani’s number-one priority, and Cole made Faith happy. For the first time in a long time, Dani let that be enough. He’d proved he cared for Faith by adhering to Dani’s ban of his company. And it hadn’t really made a difference, except Faith got mad at Dani.
    Until he betrayed the trust he’d earned, the ban was gone for good.
    Of course life was never that easy, and Faith had her own agenda.
    Once Dani had organized the food on the blanket, she leaned back on her hands and called out, “Food’s ready.”
    A moment later Cole carried an upside-down and protesting Faith toward the blanket.
    â€œWe can play again after we eat.” He told her as he set her on her feet next to the blanket.
    â€œPromise?” she demanded.
    â€œI promise.” He held up a hand as if swearing an oath, not that Faith understood what the gesture meant.
    Still she nodded, happy to have his word. She plopped down next to Dani and leaned back on her hands, mimicking Dani. She grinned.
    â€œI’m hungry. Can I have a cookie?”
    â€œUh.” Dani made a point of rolling her eyes. “What do you think?”
    Faith sighed. “I think I have to eat my sandwich first.”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    They both looked up to see a home-baked chocolate-chip cookie disappearing into Cole’s mouth. He froze, got a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look on his face.
    â€œSorry,” he said around a mouthful of cookie.
    â€œUh-oh, Mommy.” Faith giggled. “Cole was bad.”
    â€œCole is company. He doesn’t know our rules. We’ll cut him some slack this time.”
    He swallowed. “Thanks.”
    The three of them dug into the sandwiches and fruit, making their way to the cookies. Dani expected the conversation to be stilted; instead she laughed more than she had in forever.
    Faith’s latest thing was knock-knock jokes. She brought a new one home from preschool every time she went. Of course she often got them wrong. Which didn’t matter, as Cole, being the next best thing to a kid himself, knew them all and more. They played off each other perfectly. And when she went off ona story or two about her classmates, Cole listened intently and asked all the right questions.
    At some point Faith climbed into Cole’s lap. Dani should have been expecting it, but the fun they were having distracted her.
    â€œCole.” Faith tipped back her head to look up at him. “Do you ever want to be a daddy?”
    His dark eyebrows flew up and his gaze collided with Dani’s. She blinked and offered a small shrug. If he meant to hang around, he’d better be ready for the tough questions.
    His innate charm saved him. “It seems to me your mama already has the best little girl ever, but someday I’ll have kids.”
    She sighed.
    â€œI hope you’ll be their friend.”
    That perked her up. “I want to be their friend. You will be the bestest daddy ever.”
    â€œI’m going to try.” His long, blunt fingers dug into her ribs, tickling her. Laughing, she wiggled this way then that, trying to escape his fingers.
    â€œDidn’t you have some drawings you wanted to show me?” he asked.
    â€œYeah.” She hopped to her feet. “They’re beau-ti-ful.” She swung to Dani. “Mommy, can I show him my pictures.”
    Faith loved to draw and Dani hung all her pictures on a bulletin board in her bedroom. Not one of the drawings made sense without Faith’s interpretation, but Dani loved them anyway. She knew the messFaith would make taking down the pictures, but