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I took a deep breath and reached over to take her hand again. I didn’t let her pull it away that time. “My mom didn’t date until I was older. Even then it wasn’t a lot. My dad was nowhere in the picture so she did it all alone, too. If you’re not ready for dating, then let us be your friends, Olive. Andrew and I love Jesse. The kid’s a good time. Caleb could use him some experience with him. After watching how painfully uncomfortable he is around Jesse, I’m starting to worry that Caleb is an alien who was just dropped off at his parents’ and never experienced childhood. We’ll lend a hand where we can. Jesse could even hang out with us at practice today. Coach would murder us for the smallest shit but he’s a softy for kids.” I squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to do anything alone.”
“I don’t want to use you.” She’d pulled on a dress that covered her from neck to knees and she tugged at the hem with her other hand. “I don’t know. I’m sorry for being a joy kill. You deserved cuddling and a fun time after sex.”
I pulled into my driveway and turned my truck off. “My joy is hardly killed. That was the best sex of my life and I’m just enough of an asshole to not back off. I’ll say it’s because you need to relax and my dick can do that for you, but I just want you any way I can have you, Liv. If you ever explicitly say no to sex, I’ll fuck off. Until then, though, I’m not taking my dancing shoes off.”
Her cheeks reddened. “I… You… Okay.”
I leaned forward and kissed the corner of her mouth. “I’ll be back in two minutes. If you see anyone approaching who looks like Andrew or Caleb, hide. I don’t feel like sharing yet.”
Her sweet smile made me feel ten feet tall. I was still feeling that high when I parked in front of the school a little bit later, in a new, completely dry outfit. I got out of my truck with her, not thinking twice about joining her on such a parental task. If she felt weird about it, she didn’t say anything. She even leaned into my hand when I pressed it to her back.
I could tell Olive was nervous and when she led me into the office, I found out a possible reason why. The expression on the secretary’s face when Olive said her name and why she was there was pure judgment.
Olive shifted from foot to foot in front of me. I knew parts of her story from Andrew and I knew that with her face bare of makeup Olive looked young. With her eyes as wide with anxiety as they were, she had a baby face. A baby face with a six-year-old. It wasn’t hard to understand what the secretary was judging. It was bullshit.
“You’re so young, honey. Just a child yourself.” The woman shook her head and sighed. “Babies having babies.”
Olive stiffened against me and just as I was getting ready to say something, she spoke in a lowered voice that was woven with steel. “I’m twenty-one,honey. Despite being a child when I had my son, I still somehow learned how incredibly rude it is to criticize or judge someone for something they can’t change. I’m sure you didn’t consider how a comment like that isjustjudgmental and unhelpful in every way. Luckily, I cut my teeth on those kinds of comments, so you can’t hurt my feelings. Not everyone who comes in here will have my background, though, so just think about it. Do you really want to be the person to convince a struggling young mom that the world is only made up of shitty, judgmental people?”
The woman’s face was deep red by the time Olive finished. She stuttered out an apology and slid two guest badges across the counter to us. “It’s Ms. Emily’s planning period and Jesse is in with her. Room fifteen.”
Olive smiled. “I remember. Thank you.”
I trailed along behind Olive as we left the room, in awe of the woman in front of me. I wanted to get on my knees and worship her. I’d never watched someone dress someone else down and found it fucking sexy as hell.
Olive glanced back at me and stopped so suddenly that I bumped into her. Her eyes danced with mischief as she turned to face me. “What’s that look on your face for?”
I gripped her hips and groaned low enough that just she would hear me. “I can’t even say. What I’m thinking and feeling are ten different kinds of illegal considering where we’re standing and I want to be a professor one day, so I can’t be banned from being around kids.”
She lifted her chin a bit more and pride shown in her eyes. “Thank you.”
I licked my lips as I searched her face. “You’re a badass, Liv. But you need to turn around and walk before I do something we both can’t take back.”
19
***Olive***
“Ididn’tknowyouwanted to be a professor.” I walked ahead of Jack with an extra sway to my hips. I was proud that I stood up for myself and proud that he’d seen it and thought it was hot.
Jack blew out a harsh breath from behind me. “You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?”
Before I had a chance to tease Jack, we were at Jesse’s classroom door and he’d spotted us. I stepped inside and nodded at Ms. Emily while Jesse came sprinting at me full force. He hugged me tight and then saw Jack. I was instant chopped liver. He threw himself at Jack and Jack caught him with a smile and hugged him tight.
“What are you doing here? You’ve never been here! Do you want to see my cubby? I can show you the class pet. Will you come back when we have-”
Ms. Emily cleared her throat. “Jesse. You and I need to talk to your mom and dad about what happened today.”
I flushed at her mistake and tried to rush to correct her but Jesse had already run away with the slip up. All I could do was wince as he spoke over me.
“I wish Jack was my dad! If Jack was my dad, that’d be so cool. Jack bought me pizza and we play games together.Canyou be my dad, Jack?” Jesse bounced with excitement so fast that his glasses slipped down his nose. He shoved them up, leaving fingerprints on both lenses. “Can you?”
Ms. Emily looked like she’d seen a ghost and Jack looked like he was caught in a hunter’s sights. Which left me to step in and stop the train from careening off course.
“Jesse, you have a dad. Jack is really cool and I-”
“I don’t want my dad. I want Jack.” Jesse stomped over to the alphabet rug in the corner of the classroom and sat down with his back to us.
“I am so sorry. I didn’t realize this wasn’t his dad.” Ms. Emily moved closer and lowered her voice. “I was hoping it was his dad. The incident today, Ms. Oakley, was regarding this topic.”
