by Jamie Begley
Looking up after placing the snacks on the table, she saw Kailor detour by the window to stare out after getting herself a bottled water.
“You’re wasting your time. Dustin doesn’t go out until he’s ready for lunch, and that’s two hours away.”
Kailor raised a quizzical brow at her. “You know a lot about Dustin’s habits for a woman who’s not interested in him.”
Jessie didn’t miss the sarcastic edge to her sharp comment. “It’s hard to miss when the diner is right across the street.”
“Be real. You’re just as interested in Dustin as every other single woman in Treepoint. You just hide it better.”
Jessie impassively pulled her long hair back into a tight ponytail. “I have no interest in Dustin Porter.”
“Then why did you bid on him during the charity auction?”
“Uh, because it was charity.” Grinning down at a three-year-old who was determined to show off her new dress, Jessie picked Lola up, placing her on her hip and telling the little angel how pretty she looked.
“You could have just bought a pie if you wanted to do that.”
Jessie put Lola down, giving her a puzzle to work on the table and making sure her attention was diverted before answering Kailor. “That wouldn’t have had the same effect of ticking my brothers off.”
“Why did you want to make Asher and Holt mad?”
“Because they keep trying to fix me up with every jerk in town.” Going to the fridge, she took out the tray of juice cups she had prepared the night before.
“They haven’t all been jerks.”
“Pretty much.” Setting the cups down next to the plates, Jessie motioned for Bliss to start bringing the children over.
“Did it work?” Bliss asked, showing she’d been listening to her and Kailor’s conversation.
“No. Like the Porter men, the Hayes men never learned their lesson.”
Kailor laughed so hard she had to wipe her tears away. “I thought that Holt was going to have a heart attack when you almost won.”
“It took King and Drake to get Asher out of the restaurant when you placed that last bid,” Bliss choked out, laughing along with Kailor.
“If the bids hadn’t gone so high, I would have won. Knox said that he radioed the ER to warn them that there may be mass casualties arriving before I ran out of money.”
“Your brothers are crazy, but they’re not that bad,” Kailor tried to defend her brothers, then stopped when she couldn’t hold back another bout of laughter. “The feud between the Porters and Hayeses makes the one between the Hatfields and McCoys look like child’s play.”
“Do you think they’ll ever end it?” Bliss gave a stern look at the adorable three-year-old boy who was trying to take a banana muffin away from Mara after eating his own.
“Dillion, you ate yours. Leave Mara’s alone,” Jessie gave the reprimand, despite being tempted to give the boy the one she set aside for her lunch.
“But she wants to give it to me. Don’t you, Mara? She’s my best friend.” Liquid pools of chocolate stared up at her.
The little heartthrob had the girl on the other side reach for her muffin to take a bite. “Nope.”
The pitiful look Dillion gave Mara had the soft-hearted girl reconsidering, offering him the half-eaten muffin.
“Finish your snack, Mara.” Jessie went to her lunch bag, taking out the muffin and giving it to Dillion.
Bliss shook her head at her. “You’re terrible. He has you wrapped around his finger.”
“I can’t help it. I’m a sucker for chocolate.”
“Like you have room to talk.” Kailor rolled her eyes at both women. “I saw you sneaking him an extra yogurt bar yesterday.”
Bliss guiltily looked away. “He dropped the first one.”
“The only thing left was the pretzel stick, and he didn’t want that. Dillion already thinks all he has to do is pout to get his way. You two are making it worse.”
Jessie bit her lip when the doleful face stared up at her, showing her the empty cupcake wrapper. “I can be strong if you can, Bliss.”
Bliss raised her hands in surrender. “I’ve tried. He gets me every time.”
“It’s called dimples.”
Kailor gave a heartfelt sigh. “I bet Dustin was adorable when he was that age.”
“Bliss?”
“Yes.”
“If she mentions Dustin one more time, shoot me.”
Jessie began clearing the table as Kailor finally got her message that she was done discussing Dustin. Organizing the children for exercise time, she spaced them out, making sure a stray hand or foot wouldn’t accidentally send the group into chaos. Bliss turned on the music, moving among the jumping students, and Jessie joined in with the energetic children, raising her hands in the air as the music switched to another song.
She was jogging in place, swinging her hands in a downward circle to touch her toes when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kailor stop moving with her mouth dropped open.
Looking between her legs, she jerked herself upright and turned to see Dustin in the doorway. She hadn’t heard him enter the building with the music playing and her back to the door.
Tugging her T-shirt down that had come loose from her pale blue crop pants, she was about to stop the music and ask what he needed when he raised his chin toward Bliss, showing that he wanted to talk to her.
Jessie returned her attention to the children as Bliss went to talk to him. She wanted to go through the floor at the embarrassing position he must have witnessed when he came in the door. At least she had the excuse of bending down for the red she felt in her cheeks. Kailor, on the other hand, didn’t seem fazed that she was making an idiot of herself at the attractive man’s appearance.
When Logan had attended her daycare, she had always been on the lookout for him, even though it was Holly who usually picked his son up. Since Logan started school, she loosened her guard, not expecting him to show unexpectedly.
Continuing the exercise routine she did with the children every morning, she pretended Dustin wasn’t there, keeping her expression carefully blank as he talked to Bliss.
Jessie knew he had left when Kailor’s face filled with disappointment.
At the end of the music, the children went to the reading nook to find a book that Bliss would pick to read to them.
“What did Dustin want?” Kailor asked the question that had been burning a hole through Jessie, yet she hadn’t wanted to ask.
“Drake had a meeting with him this morning and didn’t show and didn’t answer his texts. I told Dustin that Darcy was sick last night, and Drake stayed up with her. They were still sleeping when I went to work. I should have woken him, but I knew he was exhausted. He’s been working so hard lately.”
“How’s Darcy? You should have called me. I could have called—”
“Who?” Bliss raised a questioning brow. “I wasn’t going to take the chance that you have to turn some of the parents away because you didn’t have enough workers.” Her friend raised a hand, preventing further arguments. “Besides, it was just a stomachache. She wasn’t running a fever, and Drake would have called if she wasn’t doing better.”
“I’m going to go through the applications again and find someone who is willing to work part-time. None of you are able to get the time off you need.”
“You’ve tried. They always quit when they find a full-time job.”
Jessie’s eyes shifted away from Bliss and Kailor’s sympathetic gazes.
“That isn’t why. It’s because I can’t pay them that much unless I raise my fees.”
“Most of the parents can’t afford you now. A few would have to quit their jobs if you charge more.”
Jessie frowned at Bliss voicing her own concern that weighed heavily on her shoulders.
Bliss had become a true friend to her since she hired her. At first, Bliss kept up a guard against her, but as she had worked with her more, Jessie found the soft spot that Bliss kept hi
dden. The children put a dent in her armor, and Drake had done the rest.
Bliss waited until Kailor walked away before broaching the subject she attempted earlier. “I have some money saved. I could loan it to you so that you could hire another full-time worker.”
“I’m not going to take money from you.”
“It’s called a loan. The offer is always there if you change your mind.” Bliss started toward the reading group when Jessie reached out, giving her a brief hug.
“Thanks, Bliss.”
“For what? You told me no.”
“For being a friend.”
Her face softened, showing the stunning beauty that had captured Drake’s heart.
Bliss flushed in embarrassment, leaving to help with the reading group, while Jessie worked with another group of children to learn their numbers until lunch. The women didn’t have time to talk again until the children settled down for naptime.
Jessie opened the plastic container she brought from home. “What are you girls doing this weekend?”
“Unless Bliss can hook me up with Dustin, I’ll be doing the same thing I do every weekend—watching television.”
Jessie speared a fork into a piece of watermelon. “Have you thought about looking online? That’s how most people are meeting.”
“I thought about it, but with my luck, I’d attract a mass murderer.”
“I’m sure it’s safe if you’re smart about it.” Jessie took another bite of her fruit salad before asking Bliss what her and Drake’s plans were.
“Staying home with Darcy. Drake has been so busy since he became mayor that we think it’s why Darcy has been getting so many stomachaches lately.”
Jessie tactfully tried to give another cause that could be at the root of Darcy’s stomachaches. “Could it be because she’s no longer spending every day here with you since she started kindergarten? It has to be a hard adjustment for her.”
“I tried to make an appointment with her teacher this week, but she didn’t have any time available until after school Monday. So, I’ll have to wait until then. Darcy says she loves school, but I’m worried she might just be saying that because she doesn’t want to tell me the truth.”
“Hopefully, it’s just a stomach bug she’s having trouble getting over, and you’re worrying unnecessarily.”
“I hope so.” A frown marred Bliss’s expression before she changed the subject. “How about you? What are you doing this weekend?”
“Cleaning my apartment and doing laundry. If I get energetic, I might go on a hike.”
“I wish I had your energy. The only energetic thing I want to do this weekend is pop popcorn.” Kailor gave Bliss a beseeching glance. “Unless Dustin calls, then I’m game for anything.”
Jessie speared a grape from her salad, crushing the flesh of the fruit with her teeth to keep from biting her tongue at the woman’s persistence. It didn’t work.
“Take my advice. If he does call, hang up.”
“Yeah right, like you wouldn’t talk to Dustin if he called you.”
“He would never call me.”
“Why not?”
Jessie snapped the lid back on her food container. “Dustin knows. I have his number.”
3
“Mr. Porter, what are your goals for Logan?”
Dustin’s lips tightened at the condescending tone of the man sitting behind the desk.
“Goals? I haven’t really thought about it. Logan’s just in the fourth grade.”
“It’s never too early to start planning for your child’s future.”
Dustin stopped himself from fidgeting at the principal’s superior attitude. He had never done well when he’d been forced to deal with an authoritative attitude. His own time in school had been marked with several confrontations that led to him saying fuck it and dropping out of school his senior year. He didn’t want Logan to develop the same attitude, which was why he was sitting in the school office, letting a man he detested peer at him from behind large glasses in disdain.
“Dustin and I are both aware of how important Logan’s academic success is for his future.”
Dustin shot Holly a sidelong glance when she placed a hand on his arm and for turning Harrison’s beady eyes toward her.
“Are you?” Harrison Elliot studied them critically. “It doesn’t seem that way to me.”
This time, it was he who placed his hand over Holly’s where it was resting on his arm. “How are we not taking this seriously?” Dustin ground out. “We punished Logan for fighting with Fynn, Holly and I are both sitting here to discuss his behavior with you and Ms. Ledford. It’s the first time he has been in trouble in school, he has excellent grades, and as far as I know, none of his teachers before Ms. Ledford had a problem with his behavior.”
Logan’s teacher raised her haughty nose toward him. “Mr. Porter, Harrison and I are both trying to stymie Logan’s negative reactions before they get out of our control.”
“Logan doesn’t need you to control him. He just needs you to teach him. If you can’t do that, then I suggest Harrison find another teacher who can,” he snapped. Done with being polite, Dustin straightened his shoulders.
Etta Ledford’s lips pinched together. Dustin silently dared her to say what she truly wanted to say. After a second, the pinch-faced prune dropped her gaze.
“I didn’t say I couldn’t teach him Mr. Porter, only that we can’t allow Logan’s behavior to threaten other children’s safety.”
Dustin took a deep breath, steadying his temper. Logan had been wrong when getting in a fight with Fynn, and he sure as shit took it seriously, but them suggesting Logan could hurt another child showed his teacher had made no attempt to get to know his child at all.
“Logan couldn’t hurt a fly if he had to. He didn’t lay a hand on Fynn, other than knock his tray out of his hand and defend himself when Fynn hit him. Has Silas been in to talk about his brother’s behavior?”
“We are not here to discuss Fynn.”
“No, we aren’t,” Holly agreed. “We’re here to discuss Logan. Ms. Ledford, did Logan tell you what started the fight between him and Fynn?”
“Yes, he did, but that makes no difference. The fact is, Logan started the altercation between him and Fynn. The fact that you think it does shows that we have a problem and you’re not going to properly address Logan’s behavior and hold him to the high standards I expect of my pupils.”
“I don’t agree with one thing that has come out of your mouth since I sat down. Fynn has been bullying Logan since last year. The teacher didn’t do anything about it then, and I can see you’re not going to either.” Dustin switched his focus from Logan’s teacher to the principal. “When school started, I came here and asked for Logan and Fynn to be placed in separate classrooms—”
“I didn’t feel it necessary—” Harrison condescendingly began to explain, but Dustin rudely cut him off.
“I did, and I still do. Monday, I want Logan in a new classroom. Hopefully with a teacher who doesn’t have a stick up her ass.”
The principal’s beefy jowls dropped. “You can’t demand—”
“If not, then I will make damn sure your wife finds out about those visits to the Jamestown Plaza Hotel with that uptight bitch”—Dustin nodded toward the speechless woman sitting beside the desk—“who wouldn’t know high standards if it bit her on the ass.”
Dustin stood up. “You ready, Holly?”
Mutely, Holly followed him outside. Jerking her purse open to take her keys out, she finally snapped, “I can’t believe you! Is this how we’re going to teach Logan to handle problems?”
“Hell yes! I didn’t punch him in the face, even though I want to. When I was a kid, I used to have to let people talk down to me because Pa didn’t want any of his customers upset. Then we had to take even more insults when our parents died to keep from making waves that could’ve had me and Rach taken away from Tate. But I’m a grown-ass man now, and I’ll be damned if I let anyone think they’re be
tter than me or my son.”
“Dustin, they weren’t looking down at you because they thought they were better than you.”
“They were.” He gave her a pitying glance. “You’ve lived in Treepoint long enough to know that. You think because Tate and Greer are married and working respectable jobs that people don’t still consider us trash?”
“Not all of them.” She flushed in embarrassment when a teacher walked past them to her car, obviously overhearing Dustin’s and her conversation.
“You know the first question I get with a new client?”
“No.”
“Do I have to worry about you stealing from me? The second one is: How can I hide my money from the IRS?”
“Your business is growing every day.”
“They still don’t trust me, Holly. They never will. Just like they will always ask Tate for every receipt when they hire him to work on their landscaping or try to give Greer a twenty to get out of a ticket. They even think Rachel is a charlatan who’s trying to swindle them when they come to her for help.
“Ema is going to be in this school in two years, and Rosie will be, too, when she’s old enough. Elliot and Ledford are years away from retirement, and they might as well realize now that they’re going to treat our kids just like the rest of the others or they need to find another job, because my son and nieces aren’t going to be considered hillbilly trash, not as long as I’m living.”
Her angry expression softened. “Okay. You think they’ll put Logan in another classroom?”
“They will if they’re smart. I don’t bluff.”
“No, you don’t. You always do what you say. Well, there’s no sense talking about it here in the parking lot. I’ll see you at home after I pick up Rosie … unless you want to so I can get supper started.”
“No. Kailor gives me the heebie-jeebies with the way she stares at me.”
“I think she’s in love with you,” Holly teased, getting in her car. “Since when does a pretty woman scare you?”
“Since she asked Rachel to make a love potion to make me fall in love with her.” He shuddered at the memory of the way Kailor had stared at him just that afternoon. It had creeped him the fuck out.