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Relief washed over her. She’s spent the day worrying about Cory. She still had no idea what had put him in such a bad mood earlier that day. She didn’t know the best way to get him to confess without sounding like a nag. Was she supposed to nag? This entire parenting thing was so new to her. She wanted to do the right thing, but knowing what was the right thing was harder than she’d expected. “Good to hear. Well, I’ll go get him.”
Keri nodded and Angela walked to the gym. She took Keri’s statement that Cory had a good day to mean whatever had been bothering him was no longer a factor—unless she was the problem. Sure, she’d argued with him about staying home alone, but that was because she’d never forgive herself if something happened to Cory while she worked nights at the club. Eventually she’d have to trust him. He would be fourteen later this summer. Nate couldn’t always babysit and she’d be damned if she called her aunt to help. As much as she worried, she had to face the fact that she was playing single parent right now and would have to trust Cory alone no matter how much the idea scared her.
Cory wasn’t in the gym. She asked one of the camp volunteers and was directed down a hallway, where Cory was apparently helping to put away the basketballs. When she found the storage room, another counselor told her Cory had gone to the locker room with another kid. To that point, she would’ve waited for him in the lobby, but she didn’t doubt Cory would take his time talking in the locker room and she’d be twiddling her thumbs forever.
She stopped outside the boys’ locker room and pushed the door slightly open. “Cory, you in there?” she called without going in. The last thing she wanted was to freak out a bunch of boys by entering their domain.
The sound of a locker slamming shut and the echo of music was her only answer. The song was one Cory listened to constantly. Something about a girl being a crowd pleaser. There weren’t a bunch of voices raised in conversation. Which meant if Cory was in there, he wasn’t with a group of kids and probably hadn’t heard her over the music.
Angela glanced down the hall, took a deep breath and shielded her eyes as she stepped into the locker room. “Come on, Cory, we’ve got to go.”
She rounded the corner and stopped just short of bumping into Isaiah yet again. He held out a hand to stop her from colliding with him. He was in the same athletic shirt and basketball shorts from earlier and had a duffel bag over one shoulder. Almost running into him had brought her dangerously close to his body. She was so close her knees turned to Vaseline and her heart decided now was a damn good time to flutter.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Angela said, flustered. Being close to him short-circuited her brain. She wanted to run away and run her hands over his body all at the same time. “I’m looking for Cory. Someone said he was in here. When I heard the song, I thought…”
Isaiah tapped the screen of the phone in his hand and the song stopped. “He’s out back near the walking track. One of the volunteers needed help bringing in equipment and he volunteered after helping me straighten up the locker room.”
Angela nodded and tried to pretend the effort to not run her gaze over his body from head to toe wasn’t harder than a pack-a-day smoker quitting cold turkey. She took a step back. “Thanks. I’ll see you later.”
“Before you go…” Isaiah met her gaze, stilled, blinked, then lowered his eyes to his phone. He sucked in a breath before looking at her again. “I had a talk with Cory earlier today.”
“You didn’t have to do that.” The denial of assistance was automatic.
The corner of Isaiah’s sexy mouth lifted in a half smile that made her believe he’d expected her to say that. “I know, but he was upset about something. I didn’t want that to distract him from what we’re working on in camp.”
Her curiosity and concern for Cory overruled her need to tell him not to get involved. “Did he tell you what was wrong?”
Isaiah put the duffel bag on one of the benches. He lifted his foot to the bench and leaned his forearm on his thigh. The pose was casual enough, but it made not checking out the play of muscles in his long legs, nor focusing on the impressive bulge between his legs, pretty much impossible. Angela lifted her chin and trained her gaze on his chin. If she looked him in the eye she couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t see where her thoughts had gone. If she dropped her gaze…she’d be drooling.
