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Therefore, Lee had come to the math night at the elementary school. He’d already sat through the teacher’s gushy welcome speech, and now Ford was supposed to take him around to different stations to show him all of the number knowledge he’d acquired this year.
A headache throbbed behind Lee’s eyes, but he kept his smile hitched in place. He didn’t have a significant someone to spend tomorrow night with for Valentine’s Day, and he’d agreed to take Ford a day early for the weekend.
He hadn’t heard a peep from Will about Gretchen’s cream order, but his brother had texted to say he’d be leaving the farm tomorrow no later than five o’clock.
The fact that Will hadn’t marched over to Lee’s and then chewed him out for keeping Gretchen’s secret demonstrated how much Will had changed in just a short time. Six weeks since the New Year’s Beach Bash, when he’d sat in that caramel apple and started the ball rolling with Gretchen.
“Parents and students,” someone said. “We’re gathering in the orange kiva for a demonstration on some of our educational math games. It’s out the door and to the right.”
The teacher grinned and gestured people through the door like she was directing airplanes on a tarmac. Lee and Ford joined the flow of people leaving the classroom, and he turned right and went down the hall to the orange kiva.
With standing room only, he sent Ford up front to sit with a couple of his friends, and Lee pushed his cowboy hat further down over his eyes so he could observe the other parents there.
There had to be single moms with eight-year-olds too, right? Lee had no stipulations for a potential girlfriend. Heck, at this point, he’d take someone who would return a text.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” a male teacher said from up front. “Children, give your attention to Rosalie Reynolds as she shows us one of the newer games she’s developed to help students with their third grade math skills.”
Lee turned his attention to the gorgeous brunette at the teacher’s side, and everyone else in the school disappeared.
Rosalie Reynolds had dark ringlets that fell to her shoulders, and he’d bet with his whole inheritance that she hated her curls. Most women who had them did.
Lee sure did like them. He liked them a whole lot. His heartbeat picked up speed as she smiled, revealing straight, white teeth framed by pretty pink lips. She wore a blouse of butter yellow, coupled with a pair of dark brown slacks, the color of freshly turned earth out on the farm.
She started to speak, and while Lee didn’t particularly pay attention to her video game demonstration, he enjoyed the sound of her voice. Smooth and even, she’d clearly presented plenty of times in the past.
She could work a crowd, and she had the other parents laughing, then nodding, and at the end of her presentation, they all clapped and cheered.
Lee didn’t even crack a smile. He was star-struck by the beauty at the front of the crowd. Her dark eyes scanned the crowd, and despite his pulled-down cowboy hat, their eyes met.
A jolt of electricity went through Lee, and he pushed away from the wall where he’d been leaning. Rosalie broke their connection, and humiliation filled Lee.
Surely she hadn’t felt anything from him, other than the fact that he hadn’t applauded her presentation.
The crowd swallowed her as children surged forward to play the game she’d demonstrated, and he lost sight of Ford. His son wouldn’t go off with someone else, and he wouldn’t leave the school without Lee, so he wasn’t too worried.
The moment Rosalie stepped in front of him, he was. “You didn’t like the game?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder. Those eyes came back to his, and Lee had no idea what to say.
In fact, he couldn’t even speak. The seconds ticked by, each one louder and louder in his ears, and still he simply stared at the stunningly beautiful and smart Rosalie Reynolds.
