The Doctor's Unexpected Family: (Inspirational Romance) (Port Provident: Hurricane Hope) by Kristen Ethridge

family members. No one filled the shoes left by Celina’s absentee father, but Angela had never pushed it.
    Still processing her thoughts, Angela left her purse on the table, taking only the set of keys so she could lock the front door behind her. As she set out down the street to join her daughter and Pete in this new, unspoiled moment, Angela heard the echo of her footsteps over and over. But as she got closer and closer to the picnic table at the bend in the road, the little voice in her head began to drown out the grind of her shoes on the concrete.
    And with every passing step, the still small voice asked Angela if she’d been wrong in keeping Celina’s primary relationships inside a small circle of trusted old friends and family. Who had she been trying to protect more—Celina or herself?

    After the sun had set in the sky, Pete and Angela followed behind Celina as she skipped back toward the house.  Once they were back at the house, Angela scooted her daughter toward the door to the studio apartment and told her to take a quick shower and get her pajamas on. Celina scampered off with a smile on her face and a skip in her step—but not before she ran with open arms to Pete and gave him a bear hug-style exuberant embrace.
    “Whoo-wee.” Pete dragged each letter out as long as he could. “You smell like a crab net. Go get a shower, kiddo.”
    “Can we go again, Pete?” Her smile lit the space under the beach house brighter than a thousand fireflies.
    “Well, not right now. You stink. You’d scare all the fish off.”
    “Fish don’t have noses, Pete,” Celina said, matter-of-factly.
    He shook his head. “I don’t think it would matter. There isn’t a living creature out there who wouldn’t know you were coming. Scoot, kiddo. We can go again someday soon. As long as you and your mom stay here in the apartment, the fishing spot is always right at the end of the street. It’s not going anywhere.”
    He gave her a playful push on the shoulder. And surprisingly, the little girl ducked inside the apartment with nothing more than a nod of agreement and a big thumbs-up.
    Angela watched the whole exchange and the fear she’d felt creep in earlier—that she hadn’t done enough, been enough for her daughter—faded away. A warmth like the perfect cup of coffee flooded the veins under her skin, and she noticed the liquid gratitude. She wished she could bottle it and bring it out for all those other moments she knew would come when she questioned her parenting.
    “Thank you,” she said simply.
    Pete nodded, the yellow hue of the bug light making his hair glow like a highlighter marker she kept in her desk. “Anytime.”
    “No, really, I mean it.”
    The color in Pete’s eyes shifted to something that reminded her of flint. If she hadn’t been trying to be deliberate in expressing the simple gratitude she felt inside, she’d have missed the subtle straightening of Pete’s shoulders as they shifted down and back.
    “I meant it too, Angela. I don’t say things I don’t mean.” He kept his gaze locked on her face. “She’s a good kid. Helping look after her has not been a burden.”
    It wasn’t just what he said, but how he said it, that made the warmth of the gratitude in her veins tick up a few degrees and stretch all the way from a tingle over the curve of the tops of her ears all the way down to her feet.
    “I know she is.” Angela tried to focus but kept getting lost in the feeling that was pooling into her heart. “It’s just been me and her for so long. Her own father doesn’t even give her the time of day. He even forgot to send a Christmas present two years ago. When he does remember, he’s like Disneyland Dad, trying to throw stuff at her so he doesn’t have to invest in any time with her. We hear from him once or twice a year, if that.”
    The glint of steel fell from Pete’s eyes. “So he doesn’t have anything to do with Celina at all?”
    “Not really. He didn’t want her. He