The Boyfriend Application
Page 6
Dan glanced in his rear-vision mirror, relieved that Katie was smiling instead of letting her head droop. He pulled the car into the school carpark and they climbed out, heading towards her classroom.
“So, what don’t you like about after-school care?”
“It’s not too bad, I guess,” Katie said. “But none of the other kids want to play school with me. They think it’s stupid. There she is!”
“Who?”
Katie started running towards a brown-haired woman struggling to get a box out of a car. “Miss Clayton!” she said excitedly as she reached the woman.
“Oh, there’s my little helper!” the woman said, passing a folder to Katie. “Would you mind taking this inside for me?”
Katie nodded, taking the folder and running towards her classroom. Dan came to a stop at the car, watching Katie’s teacher still struggling with the box.
“Do you need a hand?” he asked, smiling when he noticed her jump a little.
She turned to face him, her large brown eyes—the colour of coffee with a dash of milk in it—almost throwing him off his feet. A few strands of her long brown hair blew against her tinged cheeks and he had to stop himself from brushing them aside. This was Katie’s teacher? This beautiful, slim woman who looked more like she stepped out of a fashion magazine than like a second-grade teacher?
“Excuse me?” she asked, her voice sounding like music to his ears.
Dan shook his head, trying to gain control over his thoughts and body again. She was pretty—incredibly beautiful, actually—but she was, after all, his daughter’s teacher. Even if he was looking for a relationship—which he definitely wasn’t—she was completely off limits. Besides, she was probably already in a relationship. Shame.
“With the box,” he said. “You look like you’re struggling with it.”
The tinge in her cheeks reddened a little more and her smile reached the corner of her eyes, showing a display of perfect teeth. Her nervous laugh made him question why he actually wasn’t looking for a relationship before he reminded himself about Katie. It’s a damn shame. She stepped aside, allowing him access to the box.
“If you don’t mind,” she said. “I hadn’t really thought it through.”
He picked up the box, surprised at the weight. “What do you have in here?” he asked. “Rocks?”
She gathered up some bags of paint and closed the boot, flashing that irresistible smile at him. “How did you guess?”
“Really? Rocks?”
She nodded, nudging the flap of the box open with her slender finger so that he could see.
“It’s our art project for today,” she explained as they started walking towards the building. “We’re painting rocks to add to the school’s ornamental garden.”
“Sounds creative,” he said. “What I want to know is how you got them into the car in the first place. Your boyfriend must be strong.”
What on earth compelled him to say that? He shouldn’t even be wondering if she was in a relationship or not. It’s not as though he would have a chance. That is, if he was looking for someone to be with.
“Boyfriend?” She laughed. “I wish. There’s only me. Getting them into the car was the easy part. But I didn’t anticipate that it would be so difficult to get them from the car to the classroom.”
So, she didn’t have a special man in her life. Dan didn’t know why this made him smile, he just knew that it did. He could tell why Katie liked her so much. She wasn’t just a pretty face, but she had a sweet voice and seemed to come up with interesting ideas for the kids to do. He had seen some of the projects that Katie brought home to show him and how creative her homework could be. He always knew that there was a brilliant mind behind the planning of those activities. Now he knew the face that accompanied the brilliant mind. And he liked what he saw. But he couldn’t go there.
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