A Little Lesson

by Pandora Pine

  "They eat meat and veggies!" Tucker finished. "T-Rex doesn’t eat apples. He eats meat.”

  "Yup," Nash agreed. "Plus, how would a T-Rex eat an apple with his tiny T-Rex arms?"

  Tucker burst out laughing. "He'd have to bend down and eat them off the ground. Then his big butt would be up in the air." Tucker laughed harder at his own joke.

  Nash rolled his eyes at Bronson. Butts and the sounds that they make always brought in big laughs from the Kindergarten set.

  "Let's not talk about butts, buddy, huh?" Bronson winked at Nash.

  Nash swore he felt his heart stop beating when Bronson winked at him. He was so absorbed in the warm tingly feeling that shot through his body and straight to his cock that he missed Tucker's response to his father's request.

  "I think we have to go over there to get a bucket for our apples." Bronson pointed with his free hand to the "Pick Apples Here" booth about fifty feet ahead of them.

  Nash nodded. "With the steepness of the mountain, it might be a good idea to get a wheeled cart in case you-know-who's B-U-M starts to drag."

  Bronson snorted, nodding his head.

  "Hey! No spelling!" Tucker turned an angry look at Mr. Spencer.

  "Tucker Brady McKinnon!" Bronson knelt down to Tucker's level.

  Nash knew from experience that a parent using a child's middle name meant big trouble. His heart pinched in his chest since Tucker getting in trouble was his fault. He'd just wanted Bronson to laugh, not leave Tucker out of the conversation.

  "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Mr. Spencer." Tucker turned a sad look up at him.

  Nash bent down, smiling at Tucker. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have spelled a word in front of you."

  "So we're even-Steven?" Tucker asked, sounding hopeful.

  "You bet, buddy." Nash rifled a hand through the boy's soft hair and couldn't help wondering if Bronson's would feel just as soft.

  "Why don't you go get a cart while I go get the apple basket?" Bronson was back to smiling again.

  "Sure thing." Nash kept Tucker's hand as they headed off to find a spare cart. They were battleship grey and were more like a wagon with a long handle. He found an empty one easily and took a moment to watch the people milling around the farm.

  There were a lot of fathers with kids. Weekend warriors... He turned around to look for Bronson and saw them at the front of the line. He held up a hand to wave. His stomach tumbled when Bronson winked at him again.

  Jesus Christ. If his body responded this way from Bronson winking at him, what would happen if Bronson touched or kissed him? Nash shivered in the warm fall sunshine.

  "Ready to go?" Bronson grinned at Nash before turning his attention back to Tucker who was struggling to lift the bushel basket into the wagon.

  With shaking arms, Tucker hoisted the basket into the wagon. "Phew! That was man's work for sure!" Tucker wiped the back of his hand against his forehead. It came away dry.

  Bronson started to laugh. "Girls can work just as hard as boys, Tucker."

  "Yeah, but hauling that basket's gonna give me big muscles." Tucker flexed.

  "I don't know..." Bronson squeezed his little muscles. "Feels more like meatballs to me."

  Nash burst out laughing.

  "No way, Jose! Grams' meatballs are way smaller than my muscles." Tucker turned his angry little face up at Bronson.

  “The best way to build big muscles is to eat a lot of apples.” Nash winked at Bronson, deciding it was time to turn the tables and flirt back.

  “Daddy, I wanna run. Can I run ahead and run back? Can I, please?” Tucker was jumping up and down.

  Bronson snorted. “Okay, but you come back when I yell your name, deal?”

  Tucker nodded, sending his blond hair flying around his head. “Deal.” Not wasting another second, he took off running up the hill toward the apple trees.

  “What’s that all about?” Nash asked with a smile.

  “That kid has more energy in his baby toe that I have in my entire body. He’ll run a little way ahead of us and then turn around and run back and then-”

  “Run away again?” Spending the bulk of his days with very active five year olds, Nash knew well what a challenge all of that energy could be for a tired adult to handle.

  “Back!” Tucker shouted, running around both men before running toward the apple trees again.

  “Wow! Imagine what I could accomplish with that kind of energy for just an hour?”

  Bronson laughed. “You could bake a cake, run for president and still have enough energy to plan lessons through 2035!”

  Nash laughed. He loved the easy way he and Bronson were chatting. It was never this easy, at least not in his experience. “You seeing anyone?” Shit! What the fuck was wrong with him? He was just thinking what a great time he was having with Bronson and there he was, sticking his entire foot in his stupid mouth.

  Shaking his head, Bronson kicked out at a stray rock on the dirt path leading up the side of the hill.

  “Back!” Tucker shouted again, looping behind them before starting another lap up the hill.

  Nash half-hoped the tiny ball of energy would be enough to distract Bronson from answering his dumb-ass question.

  “I’ve been out on a couple of dates lately, but none of them were keepers,” Bronson said matter-of-factly.

  As far as answers went, this one was a complete non-starter. It didn’t give Nash the information he was mining for and it served to confuse him even more. Since Bronson seemed willing to talk, Nash figured it wouldn’t hurt to press forward. “What made them catch and release?”

  “Ha!” Bronson barked, sounding shocked. “None of them were men I could see being a parent to Tucker.”

  The only word in Bronson’s entire statement that Nash heard was “men.”

  “Is that a problem, Nash?” Ice dripped from Bronson’s voice.

  Bronson’s suddenly cold voice broke Nash out of his head and the fantasy he was having of Bronson riding his cock like a jockey on Derby day. “No! Fuck, no!” Nash took a deep breath. “I-I’m gay too.”

  Bronson shook his head, a blush blooming up his neck. “Man, I’m sorry. I just…”

  “No, I get it. It’s never easy coming out to a relative stranger. I’m sorry I froze like that, I was just shocked. I mean you were married and have a son and I didn’t think…” Nash knew the best thing he could do was just stop talking. His motor-mouth was usually his worst enemy.

  “I’m not proud of this, but I dated Tucker’s mother for years just so no one would know I was gay. We went to a frat party one night and she got me drunk and we had sex. But for having Tucker, it was literally the worst night of my life.”

  Nash nodded, thinking over what Bronson had just said. Even in a state as liberal as Massachusetts, being gay wasn’t easy. His heart went out to his new friend for having to hide his true self for so many years while his cock twitched at the thought that Bronson McKinnon was in play.

  4

  “Good morning, everyone.”

  “Good morning, Mr. Spencer,” Eleven small voices chorused.

  “Can anyone tell me what day of the week today is?” Nash loved morning rug time with all of his students. Looking around, Nash saw most hands were up, including Tucker McKinnon’s. The little boy was waving his hand crazily like he’d die if he didn’t get to give the answer.

  Instead of calling on one of the kids with their hand in the air, Nash was going to pick one of the kids with their hands down. “Scarlett?”

  The dark haired girl looked up at Nash before ducking her head down again. “Monday,” she whispered.

  “Good job, Scarlett!” Tucker clapped his hands and grinned wildly at the shy girl.

  Nash grinned at Tucker. He was proud of Scarlet for coming out of her shell enough to answer his question. It struck him that Tucker had seen the little girl’s struggle and had been quick to praise her. Empathy wasn’t a trait a lot of adults he knew possessed, but seeing it in such a young child was pretty amazing.<
br />
  “Who wants to share what they did over the weekend?” Nash held his breath, hoping Tucker would stick to the plan and leave out any mention of him joining the McKinnons on their apple-picking trip.

  To Nash’s delight, Colby raised his hand. The little boy was an all-American kid with his sky blue eyes and nearly white blond hair. He was wearing his Ohio State tee that Nash had a feeling the boy all but slept in. “Good morning, Colby.”

  “Good morning, Mr. Spencer.” Colby smiled with a large gap in his front teeth.

  “Looks like something exciting happened to you this weekend.” Nash was all smiles.

  “I lost a tooth!” Colby opened his mouth wide to show the empty space off to the class. His little face beamed with pride.

  Oohs and Ahhs sounded all around with the kids leaning in closer to get a better look.

  “Did it hurted?” Zoe asked. She was wearing her ever-present ballet tutu. Today’s was purple and glittered under the fluorescent light of the classroom.

  Nash loved it when Zoe showed the other kids in the class what she learned in ballet class. Last week, even the boys had joined in Zoe’s demonstration. If only these kids could be as accepting as adults as they were as five year olds.

  “Nope!” Colby crowed, “but it bleeded. Daddy said I bled like a stuck pig!”

  “Ewww!” Max wrinkled his nose, his entire body shivered.

  Nash grinned at the boy. He wasn’t a fan of blood either. Through the years a few of his students had lost teeth during the school day, but thankfully, none of them had bled like stuck pigs.

  “Did the Tooth Fairy come?” Audrey leaned forward on her elbows.

  “She brung me twenty dollars and the old fashioned Funko Batman figure.”

  Audrey’s green eyes widened. “The one in the light blue Batsuit from the TV show?”

  Nash grinned at their exchange. Audrey loved Batman. She wore Batman tees almost every day and they weren’t the pink girly shirts, they were the real deal. Nash couldn’t help but wonder how a five year old girl was so interested in a comic book superhero. He’d have to ask her parents when they came to parent/teacher night.

  “Yup!” Colby laughed. “I brung him to show you.”

  “Thanks, Colby!” Aubrey looked excited enough to jump out of her skin.

  “Who else is ready to share?” Nash looked around the circle of his students.

  Tucker’s hand shot up, his fingers waving.

  Nash’s stomach clenched as he offered a silent prayer. “Yes, Tucker?” It wasn’t against the rules of Little Wonders Montessori for a teacher to spend time outside the classroom with a student, but at the same time, he didn’t want his budding relationship with Bronson to be fodder for gossip either.

  “I went apple pickin’ at Cider Mountain Farm with my dad.” Tucker looked around the circle at his classmates.

  Phew… “What kind of apples did you pick?”

  Tucker grinned. “The red kind.”

  Nash laughed. He thought the apples were the Gala variety.

  “I love green ones.” Gabby smiled, her adoration for Tucker obvious on her face.

  Nash had enjoyed the day with the McKinnons, Bronson especially. The man was warm and funny. More importantly, he was a great father. It was obvious Bronson lived, ate and breathed fatherhood.

  Bronson was the kind of father Nash wanted to be someday. In the five years he’d been teaching, Nash had seen a lot of parents, some good, some bad, some really bad. It had been hell holding his tongue over the way some parents treated their kids in front of him. He’d shuddered to think how the child was treated at home if that was the way he or she was treated in front of an educator trained to spot the signs of child abuse.

  One of the parents on his shit list this year was Alicia McKinnon. She was the polar opposite of her ex-husband. Where Bronson was kind and patient, Alicia was demanding and bordering on cruel. She wanted what she wanted, when she wanted it. So far, Nash hadn’t seen her show one ounce of warmth toward her son.

  It wasn’t something Nash was proud to admit, but Tucker McKinnon was his favorite student in this year’s class. The little boy was sweet to his fellow students and funny. More importantly, from a professional standpoint, Tucker paid attention in class and was always excited to learn something new.

  “Who else has something to share?” Nash looked around the circle again. Caden, the quietest boy in the class was staring down at the rug in front of him, running his fingers over the weave of the rug. “Caden?”

  The little boy’s head popped up. He looked surprised to be called on.

  “What did you do this weekend?” Nash’s radar perked up. He didn’t like the sad look on the boy’s face.

  Caden looked back down at his sneakered feet. “I was ‘posed to go to my Daddy’s house, but…” The boy shrugged his shoulders, his eyes flicked to the rug.

  Nash watched in awe as Tucker slung an arm around Caden’s shoulder and whispered something into the boy’s ear. Caden instantly perked up. Nash would love to know what Tucker had said that made Caden’s day instantly better.

  Try as he might, Nash was never able to comfort others with the ease Tucker had just shown. He’d always been afraid of making a situation worse, rather than better with his words. Nash had a feeling that was a gift passed down to Tucker by his father.

  Thinking about Bronson made him warm all over. The day at the orchard was the best day he’d spent with another man in years. None of his best days with Dan held a candle to spending the day with Bronson and Tucker and all they’d done was pick apples.

  At the end of the day when Bronson dropped him back off at his car parked at Pony Express, Bronson had offered Nash his phone open to a blank contact page with his name typed into it. Nash had held his breath while he typed in his phone number and personal email address, hoping Bronson was asking for personal reasons rather than wanting to stay in touch with his son’s teacher.

  If Nash had a nickel for every time he’d wanted to pick up his phone and text Bronson since yesterday afternoon, he’d be able to hire his own $500 per hour personal trainer ten times over. Nash sighed to himself. What he needed to do was think of a legitimate reason to text the gorgeous man he’d been unable to stop mooning over for the last week so he wouldn’t sound desperate or worse, like a lovesick teenager.

  XX

  Bronson set his phone down. Again. If he had to guess, he’d say that was the tenth time this hour alone that he’d picked it up to text Nash.

  “For the love of Zeus, Bronson,” Maggie Rogers, the head circulation desk librarian rolled her dark eyes. “Text him already.”

  Shaking his head with a smile, Bronson turned toward the petit librarian. “What are you talking about, Mags?”

  “I may be happily divorced, but I know what it looks like when someone is pining over a crush.” She waggled her eyebrows at Bronson. “And you, my friend, are pining so hard you’re practically breaking out in pine cones.”

  Bronson snorted, which echoed loudly in the library quiet.

  “So I am right!” Maggie grinned devilishly. “Spill it!”

  Bronson had known Maggie for as long as he’d worked at the Newburyport Public Library. She’d worked nights and weekends alongside Bronson and had been kind enough to show him the ropes that the daytime staff had been too busy, stuck up more like, to show him. After that, they’d become fast friends. Maggie had been there for him through the rough road of his divorce and custody battle.

  Bronson sighed, there was no use trying to hide the truth from his best friend. “He’s Nash Spencer.”

  “Tucker’s teacher?” Maggie yelled, obviously forgetting to use her library voice.

  “Tell the world, Mags!” Bronson rolled his eyes, unable to help smiling at his friend.

  “Oh, please! It’s Monday morning, there’s no one here but us and old lady McLatchy. She’s so deep into the New York Times crossword puzzle that she wouldn’t notice World War III breaking out around her.”
r />   Bronson blew out an exasperated breath. “Yes, Tucker’s teacher. Happy?”

  Maggie shook her head. “Not until I get all of the dirty deets!”

  “Deets?” Bronson laughed. “What are we? Thirteen?” His stomach dipped and twirled at the thought of sharing the details of his day with Nash.

  “When in Rome. Now stop stalling and start spilling!”

  Bronson shook his head. He knew Maggie wouldn’t give up until she got the full story out of him. “I met him last week on the first day of school. When he shook my hand it was like the Fourth of July. Fireworks exploded in my head.”

  “And in your pants?” Maggie grinned mischievously.

  “Jesus, Mags!” Bronson couldn’t help laughing. “Anyway, I took Tucker to Pony Express yesterday and who do we run into?”

  “Nash…” Maggie batted her eyelashes and sighed dreamily.

  “Before I knew what was happening, Tucker had invited him to eat with us and go apple picking too.” He’d been stunned at first when Tucker asked Nash to join them for breakfast, but he’d always taught his son to be inclusive of others, so it shouldn’t have come as a shock when Tucker invited Nash, who had come into the restaurant alone, to join them.

  Maggie looked shocked. “You spent all day together?”

  Bronson nodded, a smile curving his lips. “Best damn first date I’ve ever had in my life.” Bronson couldn’t help remembering the sunshine in Nash’s smile and the happy look in his eyes every time their eyes met.

  “Only it wasn’t a first date.” Maggie cocked an eyebrow in challenge, folding her arms over her ugly fall-themed sweater.

  Maggie’s comment was like a bucket of ice water thrown at his good vibe. “Right…”

  “So do something about it!” Maggie leaned over the counter, getting closer to her friend. “Text him. Invite him to coffee or out to dinner. Don’t let this golden opportunity pass you by.”