The Boss Next Door (Harlequin Heartwarming)

by Fox, Roz Denny

  He crossed his arms and chewed on his bottom lip as he listened. “I don’t claim to be a miracle worker,” he said after she’d finished. “We’ve both taught and you still do, so we know what happens in a house divided. If the dean and department chairs disagree, faculty is always split. I need your support in front of staff, Sherilyn.”

  The soft pleading way he said her name tracked tiny shivers up Sherry’s spine. Coupled with those blue eyes and crooked smile, his voice launched an assault on her senses impossible to thwart. “Ho...kay.” She sucked in a deep breath, trying to get out from under his spell. “We’ll keep our battles private.”

  Garrett dropped his chin to his chest and massaged the bridge of his nose. “I prefer not to battle at all, but I’ll do my best to see our skirmishes don’t turn into war. Now that’s settled, I’d better take off. Once I outfit Keith, I have to go sign a contract for his after-school day care. Then...another visit to the Realtor.”

  As Megan beckoned Sherry to come and look at the dress, she said she had to go, too. Later, when she and Megan emerged from the shop with the dress, Mark was waiting there alone. Sherry actually found herself looking around for Lock—and couldn’t believe she was doing it.

  The three shopped so long they were almost late to the concert. Garrett didn’t enter her mind again until nearly midnight when Sherry pulled into her complex and her headlights illuminated the For Sale or Lease sign on the corner unit. She leased her place. Some people in the complex owned their houses. Either way, she didn’t want Garrett Lock that close to her.

  Would Megan notice the sign and remark on it? she wondered. But no. Both kids bubbled over with news of their purchases and tales of the cool rock band.

  Nolan, who awaited their arrival, stuffed the kids and their bags into the car. “Whew,” he said to Sherry once the noise subsided. “Have they been like that all day?”

  “Not really. We had a good time. They’re great kids, Nolan.”

  “Emily and Mom sent their profound thanks. They accomplished a lot today. I finished sanding floors. Things went so well I finally believe there’ll actually be a wedding at Thanksgiving and that my house will be ready to move into.”

  His joy was contagious. Watching him and the kids all brim with happiness made Sherry’s earlier notion that somehow they’d all end up hurt seem silly. She rose on tiptoe to kiss his bristly cheek. “Tell Emily I’ll drop by Monday after work, and we’ll go pick out material for my maid-of-honor dress.”

  “Hey, sis, that’s great. I know you’re as skittish as I was when it comes to weddings. But I guarantee, when love strikes, you’ll fall like a ton of bricks.”

  “Me? No way. Get these sleepy kids home before Emily thinks you’ve all been kidnapped.”

  She waved as Nolan backed out, realizing that Lock had probably been right—she’d been jealous of Nolan and Emily’s close bond. Sighing, she let herself into her dark empty house. What was this? An admission that she might need someone else? No way. Once all the lights were on, she felt fine again.

  * * *

  THE EARLY PART of the week flew by. Garrett reclaimed his job on Monday. From then on, Sherry didn’t have a moment’s peace. A flood of paperwork flowed from his desk to hers as it did to all department chairs who reported to him. For three days a steady stream of people marched in and out of his office. Whenever the traffic stopped, it meant he was in meetings and would come back with double the workload.

  Sherry grew adept at sidestepping personal questions concerning her new boss—mostly from unattached female faculty wearing a certain gleam in their eyes. They refused to believe Sherry didn’t know anything personal about the handsome Texan.

  They’d better believe it. She and Lock had barely exchanged two words since their encounter at the mall. Which was why Sherry was stunned when he stuck his head in her office Wednesday afternoon and announced he was leaving early to meet his movers.

  She peered up from one of many student folders piled on her desk, her eyes requiring a moment to focus on the rangy figure lounging against her door frame. He wore close-fitting blue jeans, black boots and a blue shirt that matched his eyes. He carried a soft gray Western-cut jacket slung over one shoulder. “Movers?” she managed to blurt, after running her tongue over dry lips. “I thought your stuff was here in storage.”

  “I bought a place. Well, actually I’ve filled out the paperwork. Luckily it’s vacant. The owner agreed to rent it to me until the deal closes.”

  “Where—” The phone rang, cutting her off. “A student,” she mouthed, covering the receiver. “Troubled.” Listening a moment, she glanced at Garrett again and sliced a finger across her neck.

  He studied the credentials on her wall and the plaques he thought said a lot about her. One read: We will find a way—or make one. Another said: Success is an inevitable destination. When it became apparent that she’d be on the phone indefinitely, he tapped his watch, gave her a two-fingered salute and pulled the door closed on his way out.

  Sherry raced to her four-o’clock intermediate psych class with only seconds to spare. It was six-thirty by the time she trudged to her car. Tired and hungry—she’d skipped lunch—she was ready to spit nails when she pulled into her complex and found the entry blocked by an enormous moving van.

  Her stomach growled as she parked on the street, gathered her briefcase and hiked back to the inner courtyard. A cluster of neighbors lined the walkway, shouting suggestions to movers struggling to push a leather couch through the front door of the town house that’d been vacant when Sherry left for work.

  Even in the dusk, she recognized the waitress who lived next door, Alicia Jones—the beautician from three places down—and Yvette. Sherry wondered vaguely when she’d gotten home from her road trip.

  Her roommate’s back was to Sherry, but she recognized Yvette’s seductive pose and her habit of twisting her long blond hair around one finger while she flirted shamelessly.

  This time, however, she happened to be flirting with Garrett Lock.

  Sherry’s stomach pitched and rolled. Feebly she pushed forward.

  Garrett glanced up and saw Sherry at the same time she saw him. He knew because of the way her amber eyes opened wide. His own eyes narrowed warily as they exclaimed in unison, “What are you doing here?”

  In the next breath both chorused, “I live here.”

  “I signed papers last night.” Garrett waved a hand at the corner unit, while Sherry pointed to the lighted house catercorner across the courtyard. “Mine,” she whispered.

  Yvette, always a toucher and always possessive when it came to men, slid her arm through Garrett’s. Sherry understood the warning in her friend’s cool green eyes, a warning that said, back off.

  A noise, not quite recognizable, strangled its way past Sherry’s lips. “How...how did you find this particular town house?” she demanded of Garrett.

  “Nolan told me about it Sunday. He said it was a nice place—but neglected to say you lived next door.” Garrett appeared every bit as disconcerted as she. “Honestly, the morning the cabbie brought me here, I was too turned around to notice.”

  About to mutter that she’d kill Nolan, Sherry happened to glance up over Lock’s head and into the lighted loft bedroom. Keith Lock was outlined there, hugging some sort of stuffed toy. A bear, she thought. His nose was pressed to the glass, his small face pale in the lamplight.

  If ever anyone needed a home, that child did. And the truth was, Sherry didn’t see much sense in wasting energy railing at situations over which she had no control.

  “Tell Keith I said welcome to the neighborhood,” she said to Garrett, shoving her way past the milling throng. Without a backward glance, she stalked into her one-time haven of rest.

  CHAPTER SIX

  SHERRY STRIPPED off her work clothes and stared at the shower, but then decided she
needed something physical to work off the head of steam that’d built. Not even the hottest shower would dissolve the irritation knotting her muscles. She pulled on her bike shorts and a crop top, shouldered her in-line skates and collected her helmet, then left the house again.

  A big golden harvest moon hung low in the sky, and though night shadows were falling, the evening remained pleasantly warm. The park directly across the street from the town-house complex boasted a wonderful set of lighted trails. From the start of fall classes until Halloween, one of the fraternities patrolled the pathways. At a point where the trails crossed to form a figure eight, their sister sorority operated a hot-dog stand to help pay for a yearly Christmas dance. Sherry was such a steady customer the girls who worked the booth knew her by name.

  She was far from ready for a heart-to-heart chat with Yvette, so this spur-of-the-moment outing provided an opportunity to slay three dragons at one time. Sherry’s dragons tonight were irritation, hunger and the need to keep peace in the household. She’d seen the same scenario time and again. Yvette threw herself into relationships with abandon. She blundered through the steps like a ritual and to the exclusion of everything else in her life. In Sherry’s opinion Yvette always smothered the object of her affections. Love burned bright only so long, then it flamed out.

  Sherry’s steps slowed as she passed Garrett’s house. The crowd had scattered. Through the curtainless window she saw Yvette pointing and waving her hands, obviously helping arrange his furniture. Maybe by this time next week she’d be moving in with him.

  As she rounded the moving van, Sherry asked herself why that mattered to her. It couldn’t be because she cared for Lock—or cared if he suffered when Yvette found someone new. And she would. Yvette had left a string of casualties. But for all Sherry knew, so had Lock. That might be why Keith looked so sad. Had Garrett moved closer to his ex because mother-son visits would give him greater freedom to sow wild oats?

  Now who had an overactive imagination? She’d gone from suspecting Lock was obsessed by his ex-wife to branding him a world-class Casanova.

  Sherry peered inside the van as she passed and noticed it was nearly empty. That made Garrett’s moving into her neighborhood suddenly very real. She actually hoped she’d somehow dreamed the whole incident. But of course she hadn’t.

  She dropped onto the first bench at the park entrance to change from her sneakers into her skates. Tying her shoelaces together, she draped the shoes around her neck and immediately glided off.

  “Dr. Campbell. Hey, I thought maybe you’d given up skating. I’ve been here every night since we opened and I haven’t seen you around.”

  Sherry circled and stopped beside a sun-freckled student who flashed her a huge grin. Robert Dickson was the catalyst behind this park project. “Robby, after three years, you must know that opening week is a killer for faculty. And since I’m also a department chair, I work double the time.”

  “Boy, you must really be under siege. This is the second week, not the first.”

  Sherry wrinkled her nose. “See how time flies when you’re having fun?”

  “I hear you got a new boss. The sorority women think you should’ve gotten the job.”

  “Really? I’ll thank them when I stop at the hot-dog stand.” Sherry enjoyed a close rapport with the sororities. Most of the girls she’d advised when she’d served as a full-time counselor had graduated. But word filtered down and the current sorority members dropped by if they needed to talk. The older she got the more she felt like an advice columnist.

  “So, is the new dean a pretty good guy? Letty has an appointment to see him next week. She got two Ds last semester, and she received a letter saying she can’t work in the cafeteria and carry a full class load. But without a job she can’t pay tuition.”

  Sherry gazed at him sympathetically. “That is the rule. I don’t know what Dr. Lock will do, but Letty needs to tell him she had a bad time when your dad died. I wondered if either of you’d even be back this year. Who’s running the farm?”

  “I am. Well, sort of. Dr. Temple adopted the farm as our Ag project this year. His summer class helped with tilling and planting. My class will harvest and ship.”

  “That’s wonderful, Robby. When exactly is Letty’s appointment? I’ll put in a good word for her with Dr. Lock. I can’t promise anything, but I believe he’ll be fair.”

  “Thanks. She won’t fall behind. Guys in my fraternity offered to tutor her in chemistry and physics. You know Letty and I have two brothers and a sister still to put through college. We have to stay on schedule. If Letty misses the nursing boards this spring, she won’t get the job she’s been promised at the valley hospital.”

  Sherry nodded and waved goodbye as someone else claimed Robert’s attention. She skated off, worrying that she’d stuck her neck out. Frankly, she wasn’t at all sure Garrett would make allowances for Letty. He hadn’t been willing to bend the rules on the class some of her students needed. Because she’d found only one extra student, instead of the minimum two, he’d canceled the class. Sherry hoped he wasn’t by-the-book about everything. Sometimes you had to take a chance on a kid.

  She concentrated on the uphill leg of the cinder path, working out in her head what she’d say to Garrett on Monday—provided, of course, that he could give her five minutes.

  Her opportunity to speak on Letty’s behalf came a lot sooner than that. On her way home after completing the circuit, she took the opportunity to move her car from the street to her covered space, since the van was now gone. Just as she climbed out with her skates and turned to lock the car, Garrett showed up to unload something from the back of his pickup, which was parked beside hers.

  “You skate in the dark?” He rested a heavy crate on the tailgate, and in the soft pool of light cast by the carriage lamps hung at intervals along the car park, he took in her windblown hair, sweat-damp neck and arms and the bulky knee pads. “Isn’t it dangerous this late?” Frown lines formed between his brows.

  She downed the last swig of her bottled water and blotted her face before she told him about the park. It had crossed her mind to ignore him. She certainly didn’t want him horning in if he also skated. Although on second thought she figured it was a foolish worry with Yvette occupying his spare time.

  “Are the park trails only for adults or can kids use them, too?”

  “Whole families,” she said. “Why? Do you and Keith skate?” Her heart sank.

  “Keith has in-line skates packed somewhere. And a skateboard. He and his friends taught themselves in our previous neighborhood. I hate to think I may have to learn at this age.” His smile faded as he cast a worried glance toward the brightly lit town house.

  “Keith will soon make friends.” Sherry felt compelled to ease the man’s obvious anxiety if she could. “The only children in our complex are babies. But on the days I go to work at nine, I see a group of boys walking to the elementary school.”

  “That’s another problem. With my hours, I’ll have to drive him. He’ll take a bus to the day-care facility when school’s out.”

  “That’s too bad. Well,” she said brightly, “after you meet some of the other kids and their folks, maybe you’ll turn up a mom who baby-sits in her home before and after school.”

  “You think?” He scanned her with apprehension. “Where kids get their notions I’ll never know, but Keith has it in his head that only babies go to day care.”

  “Yeah, kids talk. The most ideal setup is when one parent is able to stay home, but very few people can manage that these days.”

  “Boy howdy, don’t you know it. And since we’re discussing parental responsibility, I’d better be getting back so I can deal with Keith’s bed.”

  “Do you mean you still have to assemble the beds?”

  He shook his head as he hoisted the box to his shoulder. “Not assemble. The movers set them u
p. I just need to find the sheets and put them on.”

  “Well, I’m sure Yvette will lend a hand.”

  He caught the sharpness of her tone and delivered a frown that Sherry missed because she stepped aside and let him pass. “I sent Yvette home. I appreciate her offer to help, but if I don’t put things away myself, I’ll never find them later.”

  “Really?” Sherry examined him with new eyes, although her mind darted to other things. Absently she asked, “Will you be in the office tomorrow?”

  “I hadn’t planned to be. I didn’t use all the time allotted for my move. I told Westerbrook I’d be out both tomorrow and the next day. Any special reason you ask?”

  “You have an appointment on Monday with a student by the name of Letty Dickson. Or she may be listed as Letitia. I’d like a few minutes to talk about her.”

  “What am I seeing her for?”

  “Low grade point average. She got two Ds last semester. She’s scheduled to work twenty hours a week in the cafeteria, so the computer kicked out a letter saying she couldn’t. It’s mandated that she meet with you to discuss her poor grades.”

  “That sounds logical.” They’d arrived at his gate. He shifted the box to see Sherry more clearly. “Someone who got two Ds should concentrate on her studies. I agree, she shouldn’t work.”

  “She had a family crisis last semester.”

  “Okay. Let her drop out of work this year, retake those two classes and better her grades. If she brings her GPA up, she can work again next year. Say ten hours.”

  “Right, Mr. Hardnose,” Sherry flared. “Only next year she won’t be back because the family lost its breadwinner, and Letty needs to be working full-time to help send three younger sibs to college.” Reaching around him, she opened the gate for Garrett. Then without another word, she walked away.

  “Sherilyn, wait,” he called, softly drawling her name. He sighed angrily when she didn’t turn back. “Can’t we ever have a discussion without you getting hostile? Run her scores for me and drop them by on your way home tomorrow. Please,” he added.