by Jenna Mindel
“Sure.” She handed him her work gloves. “I’ll go wash up.”
Nick watched her walk up the steps of his back deck. She slipped out of his work boots and socks and then disappeared into the house. It felt right having her here.
“Is Miss Ryken staying for dinner?” Corey was by his side.
“That okay with you?” Nick looked down at his son. Seemed silly to call her Miss Ryken now that they’d become friends. But he’d rather wait until the school year was over before he gave his son permission to call her by her first name. Maybe Miss Beth would do come summer.
Corey grinned. “Yup.”
He ruffled the boy’s hair, which was in need of a trim. “Come on. Let’s wash up, too.”
Stepping inside, Nick knew they’d become far more than friends. They’d become a family.
* * *
Beth cleared the dishes from the table to load them into the dishwasher. Nick had grilled hamburgers for dinner and Beth had made a salad. Her mother’s leftovers had been tucked into his sparsely filled fridge for another day. The guy didn’t stock up much. Good thing her mom had sent leftovers.
“Last one.” Nick set the greasy burger plate on the counter and then leaned close and sniffed her neck.
Beth turned. “What are you doing?”
“You still smell nice.”
She wielded a butter knife. “Watch it, mister.”
He cocked his eyebrow in challenge.
“Don’t think I won’t use it,” she warned.
He laughed at her mock fierceness. “You wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“My father taught me self-defense moves when I was a kid.” She’d had to use it years ago to help Eva get away from her bully of a then-boyfriend.
“Care to see if they work?” Nick teased her.
She wasn’t biting on his line. “I know they work.”
“I used to teach a self-defense class to my fellow undercover officers. Several were women.”
She touched his nose. “Is that how you got this broken? Did those women gang up on you?”
He glanced at the dining room table, but Corey had already gone into the living room.
Beth could hear the TV.
“A different gang and the odds weren’t in my favor.”
Beth felt her eyes widen as the reality of his work came crashing in, obliterating their easy flirtation. “That’s why I don’t date cops.”
“Because they get their noses broken?”
She poked him in the ribs to move so she could load up the dishwasher. “No. It’s how they get broken that bothers me.”
He reached for a plate that she’d rinsed and settled it into the rack. “That was when I worked undercover. I had to play rough-and-tumble to prove I was a punk. No big deal.”
Beth couldn’t imagine what Nick might have had to do in the name of justice. She didn’t want to know. She hated the thought of him getting beat up, or worse. The way he’d sloughed it off as nothing silenced her pretty good. They filled the rest of the dishwasher without another word.
When they were done, Nick turned it on. “I’m not reckless, Beth.”
She glanced at him. The hum of the dishwasher spraying water nearly drowned out his softly spoken words, but she’d heard them loud and clear. He was making his case. “My father wasn’t, either.”
“Life has risks. Some occupations hold more than others, but you shouldn’t stop living because of fear.”
She narrowed her gaze.
She lived. Didn’t she? Yeah, right. As Eva’s roommate and now her mom’s, what did that say about her ability to step out and take risks? She saved her pennies for what? A rainy day?
“I can choose what risks to embrace.”
“But what if you miss out on something God has for you?” Nick didn’t look as confident as his words sounded. Was he trying to say that they might be meant for each other?
She refused to put herself through the same pain of her father’s death. This afternoon Nick had confessed to some of what he’d been through with his late wife. How much had stemmed from what he did for a living? The life of a cop’s wife was filled with worry. And fear. How did a woman let go of that?
Beth didn’t have to, and that was the point. She had a choice here. “Let’s work on Corey’s reading homework before I leave. It’s getting late.”
Too late to rescind her request for Nick to accompany her to Eva’s wedding. She’d asked him out of pure selfishness. She didn’t want to be standing on the sidelines waiting for sympathy dance requests from Eva’s brothers. She didn’t want to dance with men she’d tower over, either.
But the real reason she’d asked was because she didn’t want to show up to such a romantic affair alone.
Nick was a lot like wedding cake. Harmless in small chunks, but too much and she’d be hurting. She made a mental promise to take him in moderation until her stopping point at the end of the school year.
“All right. We can settle around the table.” Nick cleared off the salt and pepper shakers.
“I have a better idea. Let’s write haiku in the living room and make a game of it.”
“High-what?” Nick gave her a funny look.
Beth laughed. “Come on, and I’ll show you.”
They gathered around the coffee table and Beth handed out a couple of sheets of notepaper while Nick clicked off the TV.
“What are we doing?” Corey slipped down beside her.
“A game.”
Corey looked at his dad. “This doesn’t look like a game.”
Nick chuckled. “Don’t worry, bud, I don’t know how to do this, either.”
Beth smiled. “We’re going to write a poem called a haiku.”
Corey groaned.
“Haiku are fun poems and they don’t have to rhyme,” Beth explained. “Five syllables or beats, then seven, then back to five. Here...I’ll do one so you can see what I mean.”
She scribbled down a few lines and read it back using her fingers to show the number of beats in each line. “Peanut is pregnant. Her puppies will arrive soon. What will we name them?”
“Let me see that.” Nick pulled the paper closer and counted, then stared at her. “How’d you do that so fast?”
Beth grinned and looked at Corey. “Practice. I love these things. Corey, do you want to give it a go?”
The boy shrugged.
“We’ll help you. Let’s start with a topic. How about baseball?”
Corey looked lost.
Beth gave him an encouraging nod. “How about this.... The Tigers are great.”
“They like to grill big fat steaks,” Nick added.
Corey giggled.
And Beth nodded. “I think you’ve got it. We need a last line, though, five beats.”
“And throw the ball...far?” Corey counted each sound on his fingers.
Beth whooped. “Yes! That’s it! Corey, you’re good.”
Nick gave his son a high five and then smiled at her with admiration. “Let’s do more.”
Beth nodded.
Nick and Corey both waited for her to give more clues, but her throat suddenly felt tight. This had really worked. Corey looked excited to continue, and Nick? She didn’t want to think about how wonderful Nick looked. Or how spending a Sunday together made it feel as if they were a family.
Because thinking along those lines forced her to face the fact that she’d have to make a choice and soon. Follow her head or follow her heart.
No matter which one she followed, someone was bound to get hurt. Eventually.
Chapter Nine
“Beth, Mr. Grey, thanks for meeting with me.” Diane sat back down at her desk.
“Of course.” Beth was used to this sort of thing.<
br />
She and Diane had met with the parents of at-risk kids before. Sometimes the parents were willing, sometimes they weren’t. But this was weird because she knew Nick pretty well.
And cared for him, too.
“No problem.” Nick wore his deputy sheriff’s uniform. At least he’d left his hat in the car so he didn’t look quite so formidable. “What’s this about? Beth said we’d discuss how Corey has been settling in, but there’s more, isn’t there?”
Diane nodded. “A little. Yes. Corey’s previous school had some troubling notations—”
Nick snorted contempt. “They labeled him without understanding what he’d been through.”
Beth held her tongue. And her hands neatly in her lap. She’d nearly reached out to Nick at the strain in his voice. But that wouldn’t be good, not in front of Diane. The counselor had seen them out together, and Nick had called her by her first name.
Diane didn’t falter. “He’s showing improvement. He’s socializing, making friends, and his reading is progressing.”
“Then you won’t recommend he be held back, right?” Nick had moved forward in his seat.
Diane looked at her for help.
“We don’t make those recommendations until closer to the end of the year,” Beth said.
Nick’s eyes narrowed. “How close?”
“The last couple of weeks.”
“Miss Ryken knows I won’t agree to hold my son back.”
Diane nodded. “Yes, she told me that. Look, Mr. Grey, if Beth believes it’s best for Corey, and he scores well for repeating second grade, you’ll need to sign a waiver that you’re refusing retention. Those forms follow Corey until he graduates.”
Nick nodded. “Understood. But he’s doing better.”
“I’d say.” Diane leaned back in her chair. “Thanks to both of you working together instead of in opposition.”
Nick looked surprised.
Beth was, too. Where was Diane going with this?
“The first time I met with Corey, he said that he wanted a family. A new family that would never leave.”
Beth’s belly tumbled. Diane hadn’t told her that. That whole teacher-mode warning made sense now.
Nick puffed out his cheeks, then released his breath in a whoosh. “He feels abandoned after I had him live with his grandparents.”
Diane looked even more serious. “Not now, he doesn’t. Whatever it is that you two are doing outside of schoolwork and tutoring, keep it up. Corey is settling in nicely because he has both his teacher’s and his father’s support. Inside the classroom and out of it. But if you’re dating, that will play right into Corey’s new-family fantasy.”
Beth glanced at Nick. “We’re not dating.”
He looked determined. “Not yet.”
Diane looked between the two of them. “Whatever you decide to do, keep in mind that the outcome of your relationship will have an impact on Corey. Now, let’s go over Corey’s progress in detail.”
Beth cringed. She knew what Diane said without really saying it. Getting romantically involved with Nick had to be a one-way street. Go all the way or don’t go at all. Marriage or maintain friendship. From Corey’s perspective, a breakup would be a form of abandonment. Another loss and possible setback. But if they were to remain friends until Corey was truly settled, would that make a positive difference?
Diane went over the transcripts from Corey’s old school and compared those sparse notes to where he was now. Beth kept progress logs on all her students. She had to. Part of her job was comparing those with the other second-grade class. She and Julie worked as a team to ensure everyone met their benchmarks. Nick listened, but his expression grew darker the more they went over Corey’s transcripts from his old school. “I never realized it had been that bad.”
Diane shrugged. “The information is incomplete. And contradictory.”
Beth remembered reading one teacher’s notes that Corey had cried a lot. He’d isolate himself from the other students and cry. And like most kids that age who had no idea how to help, they left him alone. And Nick had been gone, too.
Beth’s heart bled for the little guy who’d felt all alone. Corey wanted a family. But he had one. He had grandparents and a good father. What else was he after?
A mom.
Of course he was. Poor kid. But Beth wasn’t sure she could fill that role. Not if it meant becoming the wife of a cop.
After their meeting, Beth turned to Nick in the hallway of the administration office. “Are you ready to pick up Corey at my mom’s or do you have to return to work?
“I’m done for the day. I’ll walk you over.”
Beth agreed.
Slipping outside into late-May sunshine, Nick stalled her with a touch. “You’re not going to suggest holding Corey back, after all those good things your school counselor had to say?”
Beth had to make him understand so many things. “It’s not solely a matter of opinion. We look for certain criteria and aptitude when completing the required paperwork that recommends retention. Scoring helps narrow that decision.”
He shook his head. “Corey’s a smart kid. He’s going to catch up.”
Beth hoped so. “And we’ve got to remain a team in agreement on our friendship. No dating, Nick.”
He nodded but didn’t look convinced.
* * *
“Are you going to talk to my class for Jobs Day?” Corey bounced on the bed. “Thomas’s dad is a chef and he’s going to be there.”
“Uh-huh.” Nick attempted to tie his tie for the third time. “We’ll see, bud.”
“Miss Ryken said it was okay, didn’t she?” Corey threw himself in the middle of the bed once again.
“Yes, she did.” Nick had been formally invited to speak for Occupation Day in Beth’s class.
He wasn’t thrilled about it, but he’d do it because Corey wanted him to. He’d do anything to help Beth and that school counselor pull for Corey to pass second grade. Staying involved helped with that. His son’s old school had passed unfair judgment on Corey because Susan’s parents had gone to all the parent-teacher meetings at school. That hadn’t done his boy any favors.
So he’d talk to Beth’s class to prove he was involved. He cared. But kids loved all the gore of excitement-filled stories. Those kind of tales would only reinforce Beth’s fears and maybe scare his son. He’d keep it tame. Thankfully, that wasn’t hard to do since moving here.
He looked through the mirror at his son. “And stop jumping on my bed. You’ll wrinkle your suit.”
Corey pulled at his tie as he slipped to the floor. “Why do I have to wear this, anyway?”
Nick smiled. “Because it’s a wedding.”
“So?”
“So we’re supposed to look nice at weddings.”
“Stupid wedding. Do I have to go?”
Nick chuckled. Corey had wanted to go before he knew about wearing a suit. Maybe Nick should have arranged for Corey to go to Thomas’s house instead. Too late now. “Yes, you do. We’re picking up Mrs. Ryken on the way.”
Corey smiled. “Does Mary have to wear a suit?”
“No, bud. She’s probably going to wear a dress.” Nick still didn’t like it that Beth’s mom had given his boy permission to call her by her first name. But Mary liked it that way. Who was he to refuse the woman’s wish?
Nick stepped back, finally satisfied that his tie was straight. He hadn’t worn a suit in ages. Susan’s funeral might have been the last time. A day he’d rather not remember. Corey had been devastated. Lost.
He glanced at the boy. His son had come back to life. He read, too. Brokenly still, but better than before. The haiku poetry game Beth had taught them Sunday night had been a huge hit with Corey. Every night this week, they spent time making up different haiku a
nd laughing at their results.
Nick had framed the first poem Corey wrote on paper with Beth’s help. It had cracked them all up and Nick cherished the memory of seeing his boy laugh so hard. It’d been a long time, and Nick didn’t want to forget that moment. A milestone.
He glanced at the framed piece of paper displayed on his bedroom wall.
I like scary bugs
Icky, yucky, crawly, splat
Hairy legs and eyes
Nick smiled. He owed Beth a whole lot more than attending a wedding with her. He owed her his patience. Friendship, she’d said. That was getting increasingly difficult to maintain.
“Ready, Dad?”
He looked down at his son with his freshly cut red hair. Nick had gotten a trim, too. A Saturday morning spent at the barbershop in town as father and son. Then they went out for breakfast. Corey had read the menu and chose pancakes. They’d come a long way.
“I’m ready.”
After letting Peanut inside from a potty run, they left through the garage and climbed into his SUV. It didn’t take long to reach town. When they’d pulled into Mary Ryken’s driveway, Nick got out and headed for the house.
Mary met him on the porch. An attractive woman in her fifties, she wore a yellow dress that fluttered when she walked. “How nice you look, Nick.”
“Thanks. You, too.” Nick held open the passenger-side door for Beth’s mom.
He was perplexed that Mary hadn’t remarried. Had she even dated in the twelve years since her husband’s death? If she had, would Beth still have held on to the fear from her dad’s death? Maybe Beth would have accepted him if she’d finished growing up with a stepfather who’d taken away the sting of her loss.
At Corey’s tender age, he needed another mom, wanted another mom, but she had to be the right woman. A woman like Beth. According to the school counselor, they shouldn’t jump into anything until they were sure. Nick agreed.
“Oh, Corey, you look very handsome.”
Nick gave his son a pointed look through the rearview mirror.
Corey straightened up from slouching in his booster seat. “Thanks, Mary.”