by Parker, Ali
“Well, you’ve got the money to do it, and I’m pretty sure there’d be dozens of people fighting to work with someone as well-established as you,” she pointed out. “You should go for it.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.” She nodded, pulling off a grape from the bunch and slipping it between her lips. For the briefest second, her fingers played over her mouth, and I wanted nothing more than to forget about work entirely.
“But you have to do what you think is right for you,” she finished up. “If you don’t think you can handle someone else working at the business, then don’t do it. It’s your place, after all.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I had expected her to encourage me to go ahead and hire someone, but maybe she understood better than I had anticipated the passion that came from building something all by yourself.
“Mmm, I’m so full.” She slumped back on the blanket and tilted her head toward the sky. There was a smile on her face, and her eyes had drifted shut, and she looked so beautiful, it almost hurt me. I wanted nothing more than to lean over and plant my mouth against hers, to move on top of her and render that gorgeous dress pointless, but there was something else I had in mind first. We had done her part of the date, and next, we were going to do mine.
“Got room for a little something extra?” I asked, and she opened one eye and looked at me.
“I’m listening.”
31
Autumn
“Ice cream?” I laughed as we pulled the car to a halt on the pier. “This is where you wanted to take me?”
“Yup.” Holden grinned as he pulled the car to a halt. “I’m not coming all the way into the city and not getting ice cream from my favorite place now, am I?”
“And what if I had said no? Would you have picked it up on the way home?”
He shrugged. “Probably. Come on, it’s only open for another twenty minutes. We can get one and walk down the pier. It’s pretty this time of night.”
“And you’re not going to spring a last-minute boat ride on me, are you?” I asked him playfully. He held his hands up.
“Well, now you’ve called me out on it…”
“Holden!” I exclaimed, tapping his shoulder playfully. “Come on, I want to try this ice cream. Or should I say… cone on?”
“Okay, that was the worst joke I’ve ever heard in my life,” Holden told me as he climbed out of the car.
“You totally thought it was funny,” I replied. “Besides, you better get used to them. Terrible jokes are sort of my specialty.”
“Why do you think I keep feeding you?” he teased. “I don’t want to hear any of your puns anymore.”
“Bold idea, but it’s not going to work.” I tapped my finger on my chin, as though pondering on it. “Nothing stops me when I have a terrible joke the world needs to hear.”
“A national service, is it?” he asked as we headed toward a small, old-fashioned looking ice cream shop.
“I’m only doing my duty for my country.” I placed my hand on my heart. “The world can’t be denied my awful sense of humor.”
“Of course.” He opened the door for me and swept his hand ahead of him to indicate I should enter. “After you.”
I brushed by him and had to smile when I caught a whiff of his aftershave. There was something so nice about being out with him like this, after all that time I’d spent trying to ignore that I was developing a serious crush on the guy. I didn’t have to hide it anymore, didn’t have to hold back. We were out together on a real date, and he was treating me like the perfect lady to his perfect gentleman. Though I was hoping he would drop that act as soon as we were alone together once more.
“What do you recommend?” I asked as I scanned through the list of flavors. There were the usual ones there—vanilla, strawberry, chocolate—as well as some more out-there ones. I was pretty full, but my mouth watered when I caught sight of a salted caramel espresso one.
“Well, I can see which one you’re going to go for,” he teased, noticing the way my eyes lingered on the sign of the ice cream that had caught my attention. “I’ll get a ginger-orange one. You can try some if you want.”
“All right, but I’m not sharing mine,” I warned him playfully. He paid for the couple of cones, despite my protests, and the old man behind the counter loaded up the waffle cones with a scoop of our chosen flavors and handed them to us. Holden led me back out on to the pier, and I paused for a moment, looking out over the water, catching a drip of melting ice cream that was making its way down my cone already.
“This place is so pretty at night,” I said. “I’ve never come down here this late in the evening before.”
“I used to bring Hunter down here a lot when I didn’t have much cash and was trying to find stuff for the two of us to do,” he explained, joining me and leaning on the railing in front of the water. “It was cheap to get a little ice cream and take him for a walk down here.”
“And now he only comes for the ice cream, right?” I finished up for him.
“How did you guess?” He raised his eyebrows and took a bite of his cone. “It is really fucking good, after all.”
“Yeah, it is,” I agreed, as I started in on my scoop. “I’m looking forward to having Hunter in that after-school club thing. I think it’s going to do him good.”
“Me too,” Holden agreed. “I’m glad he seems so enthusiastic about it. It’s been hard finding stuff that appeals to him outside of going out with me, but you seem to bring out that side in him.”
“He’s at that funny age now.” I shrugged. “Sometimes they go out and make their way in the world without any help needed, and sometimes they need a little nudging in the right direction. He’s trying to figure himself out. It might take a while, but he’ll get there.”
“I’m so glad you’re there to give him a hand,” he told me, looking at me seriously. “I know it’s been hard for him, but having you around has made it a lot easier.”
“He’s the one putting in the work too,” I replied. “Hey, does he know we’re out together tonight?”
“Yeah, I mentioned it to him. He kept asking me if we were going out together, and I just told him finally. Is that all right?”
“He’s young enough that he won’t think much of it.” I shrugged. “Maybe jealous he didn’t get to join us for ice cream, huh?”
“Oh yeah, that’s for sure what he’s going to be the maddest about,” Holden agreed. “I told him not to talk to you about it, though. He knows that much.”
“That’s a relief,” I replied, planting a hand on my heart. “I don’t want to have my dating life come up at school, not when Zoe’s around on gossip high alert.”
I think my friends are the same way.” He grinned. “They want me to get together with someone already, and they’ve been hearing about everything that’s been happening with us all along, so they’re feeling pretty smug now that we’re on a date.”
“Well, they should,” I agreed, flashing him a smile. “You’re doing pretty well.”
“Pretty well?”
“Pretty well,” I repeated playfully. “Room for improvement, but the night’s not over yet.”
I slipped my arm through his, and we made our way down the pier while a question crossed my mind. I knew it was the kind of thing I should have kept to myself on a first date, but since we’d known each other a while, I figured I had a right to ask it. And besides, I wouldn’t be able to shake it from my mind if I didn’t.
“Hunter’s mother,” I asked, hesitant. “What’s the situation there?”
“Hey, don’t hold back, huh?” Holden shot me a look that was one part playful and one part defensive. I winced.
“Sorry, is that kind of a sore spot?”
“No, it’s fine.” He rubbed his hand over his face and paused for a moment. “Look, I don’t want to talk about Hunter’s mother if I can avoid it. All you need to know is that she’s not in the picture, and she’s not going to be. Ever.”
“Okay.” I let out a breath. My curiosity was piqued, but pressing any harder was going to wind up in me ruining this date, which had been going so well thus far. I didn’t want to put a downer on our night, so I changed the subject.
“Oh, I have so many grade curves to do this week,” I groaned. “I’d rather be out here with you, trust me.”
“You know, the offer’s still on the table if you want to take it,” Holden said. “I could come up with a program that forms them for you. Might take a bit of time, and I’m sure I’ll need your input on it, but if you’re game…”
“You’re serious?” I cocked an eyebrow at him. “For free?”
He nodded. “Yeah, of course. I told you, anything I can do to make the lives of the people who look after my son easier.”
“Well, aren’t you Mister Generous,” I teased, nibbling on my ice cream. “Don’t you have proper clients you’d rather be taking care of? Ones who pay?”
“Maybe I’m looking for excuses to spend more time with you,” he shot back, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m sure I can find some way to help you indulge that,” I replied, my pulse racing a little as I saw his gaze move down to my mouth for a moment. Even though we’d already hooked up before we’d so much as planned our first date, I still found our sexual chemistry burning as brightly as it had ever been. If this pier hadn’t been so damn family-friendly, I would have been tempted to have him push me up against the railings and take me right here.
“Glad to hear it.” He took a bite of his ice cream, and we continued down the pier, looping around the far end and starting slowly to make our way back toward the top.
“Even if it didn’t give me a chance to spend time with you,” he said, “something like that could be big if we could pull it off. I know it may not sound like it, but if lots of teachers are having trouble like you—wasting their time putting together something that a program could do for them—it could be a big win for me.”
“Oh, so you do have some selfish reasons then,” I teased. “Thought so.”
“Hey, are you calling me selfish?” He raised his eyebrows. “When I got this ice cream for you?”
“Yeah, like you haven’t wanted to steal a bite since I picked it up,” I shot back.
“Sure have,” he agreed, and before I could even think about what was happening, he leaned forward to loop an arm around my waist, pulling me close and pressing his mouth to mine. His lips were cool from the ice cream, distantly sweet, and my heart fluttered in my chest as our mouths found one another. I felt as though my feet were barely touching the ground, my entire being spinning in the air as he kissed me.
When he pulled back, he smiled and lifted his hand to brush the tiniest smudge of ice-cream from my face.
“Not so selfish now, huh?” he remarked, and he kissed me on the cheek once more before he turned to lead me back down the pier. I didn’t have the words to fire back some smart comment in his direction, as much as I wanted to. Because my heart was too busy racing in my chest, my mind too preoccupied with trying to make sense of everything that kiss had meant to me. I paused for a moment, watching him walking in front of me, and it was as though clouds had cleared from behind my eyes, and I could finally see him properly. The man I was looking at was a man I was beginning to fall for, harder than I’d ever expected to.
“Hey, wait up!” I called after him as I hurried to catch up with him while a sticky line of ice cream made its way down my hand, cool on my skin like he had been.
32
Holden
I glanced up at the clock on the wall and pulled a face. I would have to go and pick up Hunter from his after-school activities soon, but I was on a roll with the project, and I didn’t want to take a break.
I leaned back from the computer and closed my eyes for a moment, but the letters and numbers still danced behind my eyelids like they were imprinted there for good. It felt nice to be working on something that I wasn’t churning out for any old client, something that I was putting together for a damned good reason. Autumn was much easier to work with than most of the people I’d had on my roster in the last few years. I also got to make out with her once in a while, which was a new one on me. And the longer I spent putting together this program to help her produce the grade curves for the school year, the more I started to believe this could be something good for the business. I didn’t know anyone else in the city who was working on stuff in the education sector. Sure, I didn’t know if they would take it or not, but with Autumn championing the cause, there was a good chance, right?
I was working from home while Hunter was out at his gaming club. It was the second one this week, and he had seemed to enjoy the first one well enough. I was hoping he would start making some friends there soon. Autumn was there to keep an eye on him, and she would report back to me with the ups and downs for my son so far, but it was up to him to strike out on his own and make some new buddies. She could only guide him so far, and I hoped his case of self-imposed social isolation wasn’t permanent.
I closed my laptop, got to my feet, and stretched before reaching for my car keys. It always sucked to break off a project when I was right in the flow of it, but at least I got to go see my two favorite people in the world to make up for it. I grinned as I headed out to the car. Autumn would be there. I would get to see Autumn again.
Our date over the weekend had gone so well, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since. She was smart, charming, delightfully awkward, and a little blunt in her own unique way—and a great kisser too. If I’d had my way, I would have taken her home and fucked her senseless all over again, but Raymond was set to drop Hunter off early the next morning and the last thing I’d needed was for my son to catch Autumn making coffee for us the next day. Hunter wasn’t dumb, and it wouldn’t take him long to catch on that there was something going on between me and his favorite teacher, but that didn’t mean I had to hand it to him on a plate yet. Not before I knew where I stood with her for sure.
I drove up to the school and found myself humming along to the radio, something I hadn’t done in years. I normally found most of the modern pop songs that got airplay a little dramatic and silly, but I was in a better mood that day than I had been in a long time. I drummed my fingers on the wheel and thought about Autumn, fitted the lyrics of the silly love song crackling over the air to everything we’d been through so far.
We were still at that early, nebulous stage of the relationship when it felt like anything at all could happen. We could stick together forever, or she could vanish tomorrow, for all I knew. Though I hoped she was going to pick the former. There was something about her that made me feel buoyant, as though I was about to float up and climb a hundred feet into the air without even realizing.
I arrived at the school and checked myself out in the mirror. I couldn’t help noticing that I looked a little different than normal. Not physically, but something inside me seemed to have lit up, my eyes brighter. I liked it. If this was what Autumn did to me, then damn straight I would be keeping her around as long as I could.
I hopped out of the car and headed up to the school, cutting around the back to get to where I needed quicker. I was a couple of minutes late, but I doubted Hunter would notice, given how involved he’d been in his game the last time I’d come around.
I paused when I laid eyes on him, and I smiled when I saw who he was talking to. It was a kid his own age, a little girl, and the two of them were waving their arms around and laughing at some shared joke. I didn’t want to cut him off yet. It was so nice to see him interacting with another kid, having a good time and not forcing it.
“Dad!” Hunter spotted me suddenly, and he came barreling toward me as though I was the most exciting thing he’d ever laid eyes on.
“Hey!” I waved to him and headed toward him.
“This is Amelie,” he gestured to the girl standing next to him, looking up at me a little bashfully. “We did a campaign together today. She’s really good!
Better than me!”
“Well, that’s pretty impressive.” I nodded down at her with a smile. “Maybe you could train Hunter up, huh? Get him up to your level?”
“She says she’s going to show me some tricks next time we’re in the club.” Hunter nodded, and he glanced around at the door. “I just need to get my bag.”
He headed through to grab it in a little buzz of overexcited activity, and I began to relax. He was doing well. I’d wondered if these clubs might be a little too much for him, but he seemed to be getting along great—and hey, he’d already made a friend who he wanted to see again. That couldn’t be so bad, right?
“Hey.”
I heard the familiar voice behind me and had a smile on my face before I so much as turned around and confirmed the source.
“Well, hello there,” I greeted Autumn, who flushed a little and smiled back at me as soon as our eyes met. I knew exactly how she felt. Being in her presence sent little sparks of electricity racing all over my body. There was so much I wanted to do to her, so much I wanted to say, and it felt like those urges were all climbing on top of each other in my brain.
“Seems like Hunter’s getting along well.” I nodded to the spot my son had been standing in, as Amelie’s mother appeared and led her away.
“Yeah, I wondered if he and Amelie might click,” she said. “They’re both a little quiet, but they’re both obsessed with games. I’m not surprised they joined the club and enjoyed it so much.”
“You’re doing such good work here, Autumn,” I told her fervently. “Really. I can’t thank you enough. I know he’s had a hard time making friends and socializing, but… well, you’ve helped him through it. That’s more than I ever could have asked for.”
“Just doing my job.” She smiled modestly, though I could see the pleased little flush move a little farther up her neck.