AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I opened my mouth to ask him if he had something to give me just as I heard the sound of sobbing near the doorway. I looked up to see a teary-eyed Elijah—at least, I thought that was his name—entering the room. The dark, springy curls on his head shone beneath the fluorescent lights—and even with tears streaming down his cheeks, he was adorable. His mom gave him a hug and looked over at me. “I’m so sorry about this,” she said. “But I’m running late and can’t stay to get him settled.”
“Don’t worry,” I told her with a smile as I put my hand on Elijah’s back to lead him toward his cubby. “Give him ten minutes, and he’ll be having so much fun.”
“Love you, buddy!” his mom hollered before ducking out. The sobbing stopped, but the tears still streaked down his cheeks. Finley popped up from her spot on the rug and made her way over to us.
“Hi, I’m Finley. What’s your name?”
Elijah sniffled, leaving her question unanswered.
“You can tell me later. Wanna see the dinosaur puzzle?” She took him by the hand and pulled him over to the rug, where he warily knelt down and watched her put two pieces together. “Don’t cry anymore, okay?” Finley told him in a perky voice. “We’re in this together.”
I looked up at Mason, who was watching this scene unfold while sucking on his bottom lip. He turned away from his daughter and cleared his throat, and if my assessment of his emotions was correct, he was holding back some tears himself.
I made my way over to him. “You getting a little emotional there?”
“A little bit, yeah,” he said, letting out a little chuckle. “I always tell her that—‘we’re in this together.’”
“I guess it sunk in.”
“Guess so,” he said, turning to watch her again. She was telling Elijah all about her favorite dinosaurs, and though he didn’t answer, he wasn’t crying anymore at all. Mason took a deep, trembling breath. “This is so much harder on me than it is for her.”
I stared at his face for a moment, watching him observe his daughter play. “Would it make you feel better if I gave you a little update later today? I could send you a picture.”
“Yeah,” he said, turning to look me in the eye. “You’d do that?”
“Of course.”
“I would really appreciate that.”
I crossed my arms against my chest. “No problem.”
There was a silence between us that followed this exchange, and I wondered if he, too, was thinking about what could have been—what would have happened between us if Finley weren’t in my class.
I’d be sending him a different kind of picture, that was certain.
After a moment, he finally looked down at the papers in his hands. “Oh, um… I filled out this Room Parent thing.” He glanced over his shoulder at the parents on the other side of the room. “But before I turn it in, I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t make you uncomfortable to have me… hanging around.”
My lips parted, and I blinked, unsure of what to say. Hell yes, it would make me uncomfortable. To have him working in here with me a couple mornings a week, knowing he’d laid eyes on my nude body? Just thinking about it made me want to sink through the floor.
But despite every instinct urging me to say yes, there was something about Mason’s twinkling blue eyes that made me blurt, “No, not at all. I’d appreciate the help.”
“Good,” he said, studying my face as though he was looking for any sign I might be lying about wanting him there. There was a hint of hesitancy in his voice when he held the packet toward me and said, “Here you go, then.”
“Oh, thanks,” I said, taking the papers from him. My mind was swirling with questions. What was the story with Finley’s mother? How was he so available to volunteer in my classroom? And why was his stare so intense? “Stop in the front office before you leave to get the info about the background check.”
“Sounds good.” He put his hands in his back pockets and looked down at Finley, who was talking a mile a minute to a still-silent Elijah. “Okay, Finley,” Mason said. “I’m going to head out. Can I get a hug?”
She sprang up from the rug and lifted her skinny arms to hug him as he bent down. He kissed her on her temple and whispered, “I love you,” in her ear as she clung to his neck.
“Love you, Daddy!”
I stared down at my shoes, overcome with feelings of attraction for this man. It was hard to even look at him. I only glanced up when he turned to speak to me. “Thanks, Ms. Devin.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, tucking my hair behind my ear. His eyes lingered on mine for a moment before he turned to go, giving another parent a casual nod on his way out.
I shifted my attention to the other arriving students, but I had butterflies in my stomach all morning every time I thought of Mason. Allowing him to volunteer was a dangerous move. I didn’t get the impression he was going to let me forget about the pictures I’d sent or all the naughty words we’d exchanged. As much as I wanted to believe he was doing this for Finley, a tiny part of me wondered if having the opportunity to flirt with me factored into his decision to fill out that form. What was he planning?
As anxious as it made me feel, I almost couldn’t wait to find out.
