by Zoe York
Bedtime for Charlie came and went. Seth racked out next. Adam and Isla headed home. Will knew he needed to get some rest before school the next day, but Becca sat up, waiting for an update, and Will couldn’t leave his niece alone.
“How are you holding up?”
She blew a raspberry. Now twenty-one, she was still a bit of a kid—but also a fully grown adult, with a family of her own. And she was about to have a baby sister arrive in this world. It was a lot. “I’ve done this before, remember.”
Becca’s mom, Rachel, had remarried earlier than Owen did, and she had half-siblings on that side of the family, too. “I know. But still, you and your dad have a special bond.”
“Oh, yeah. But that’s not going to change.” She hopped up and down, shaking out her hands. “No, I’m nervous for Kerry. This is her first baby. Her first labour, even though she’s a midwife. It’s wild, and we haven’t heard anything for hours, and…” Becca burst into tears. “It’s just a lot, you know?”
He honestly wasn’t sure he did. “Come here.” He pulled her in for a hug. “Do you want to go over there? Take my truck. Go and check on them. They won’t mind.”
“Are you sure? Will you text me if Charlie wakes up? He’s pretty good about sleeping through the night now, but if he gets scared…”
“I’ll hang out with him. And if you’re not back by breakfast, Seth and Josh can manage to entertain him between the two of them. We’ll do our best Three Men and a Baby impression until you get back.”
She flew to the front door, grabbing his keys. “Thank you!”
He headed upstairs, checking on Charlie before going into his own room. He tried to read, but that didn’t work. It wasn’t even that late. He glanced at the clock. It was just after eleven. What were the chances Catie would be up? He texted her, and she replied immediately.
Will: Top secret news.
Catie: Is it baby news????
Will: Soon. Kerry’s been in labour since the afternoon. Becca arrived tonight, and she’s over there now. I’m babysitting Charlie.
Catie: That’s amazing, Will.
Will: I’ll keep you posted.
Catie: Lips sealed. If you need anything, let me know!
He needed her. One night, nobody needs to know. How he wished that was an option for them. Sneaking around, sharing a private connection.
Before he could drift too far down that fantasy path, his phone rang. It wasn’t Catie, though. It was Owen’s name on the screen.
“What’s the good word?” Will asked as he answered.
“Becca got here just in time. It’s a girl. Lila Grace. She’s perfect. Kerry was so strong.” Owen laughed. “Fuck, man, I’m a dad all over again.”
“Congratulations.” Will was getting choked up right along with his brother. “Can we come over in the morning?”
“Sure. Becca’s going to stay for a bit.”
“Tell her I’ll wait up until she gets back.” He hung up so Owen could call Adam and Josh next, then went to tell Seth the good news. His brother waved in acknowledgement and went right back to sleep.
After months of Will’s house being empty, it was good to have a home full of family again.
The next morning he went to school first thing, cleared his schedule for the morning, waited for the bus kids to arrive and make sure the day got started properly, and then told the secretary he’d be on his cell phone if there were any emergencies.
Then he swung back to his place to pick up Seth, Becca, and Charlie before heading to Owen and Kerry’s house.
They promised not to stay long, but then Adam and Isla showed up with Josh, and food. Then Kerry asked Will to hold Lila so she could go take a shower. And Charlie came over to kiss the baby’s toes, and it was all just so wholesome Will couldn’t tear himself away, couldn’t play the bad cop and kick everyone out so the new parents could have some quiet rest.
Owen didn’t seem to mind, though. He looked shell-shocked, but happy. “I can’t believe you made it over in time last night,” he said to Becca, who was curled up next to him. “I should have asked you to come sooner.”
“You were a bit busy.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Next time.”
He chuckled. “I dunno if Kerry wants to do it again. But yes.”
Becca glanced at Will, then at her other uncles, her eyes sparkling. “Come on, look at the Kincaid tradition. You’ve got two kids now. Three more to go.”
Owen shook his head. “Adam and Isla can bear that.”
“Why are you looking at me?” Adam protested. “We’re not having five kids. Or maybe any.” He jerked his chin at Will. “That one can do it.”
Will had always thought he’d wanted kids. Just like he’d always thought one day, the Right Person would fall into his lap and everything would be easy.
Now he wanted Catie. Did she want kids? And just as that idea slid dangerously into his mind—cart way before the horse—he got a message from the subject of his endless thoughts.
Catie: Any baby pictures yet?
He sent her a snap of a tiny sleeping face, wrapped up in a blanket and nestled in his arms. She replied back with a heart emoji, then another text saying the lunch bell just rang.
Catie: Pumpkin selling time. Tell Kerry and Owen I say congrats!
He missed the lunch time sale, but it was all anyone could talk about that afternoon.
“Ms. Berton is a genius,” said Sam when he appeared in Will’s office doorway during the last period.
Will smiled, noting that Sam—who had spent all summer calling her Catie—remembered to play by the school rules while at school. “She is. What can I do for you this afternoon?”
The genius poked her head around the corner behind Sam. “We’re just waiting for Sam to use the office phone. Because we think we might sell out this afternoon. Your weird school rule about not using cell phones in class is very restrictive, you know that?”
Will gave her his sternest look. “I am aware. Those restrictions are for a reason. Did that occur to you?”
She straightened up. “Sam, you should go get back in line to use the phone.”
He left, and she stepped inside, closing the door.
Will frowned as she took her time settling in the chair across from him. Then she gave him a deliberately innocent smile.
“No,” she said breezily. “Not for a second. It would never occur to that you might have a reason for doing something. Silly me.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“But it’s what you said.”
“You called my rule weird!”
“You’re right, that was too familiar of me. But the cell phone rule really is a problem for the business club. Sam is currently missing math class because he’s waiting in a line of kids to make a call. He’s fifteen! Let the man child use his own phone.”
Will sighed. “You’re bossy.”
“I am not.”
“You are—”
“You’re bossy. I have high standards and expect people to meet them or get out of my way. That’s not the same thing.”
It felt like the same thing, but Will wasn’t interested in arguing. “I’ll consider a phone exception for business calls. Put something in writing. But I do know what I’m doing. Here, in this school. With these kids. You don’t need to come in here and change everything around.”
She narrowed her eyes. “In this school? Your school?”
He nodded.
She nodded back. “And this town, maybe? Your town?”
Oh fuck. He’d walked right into that trap. “Whoa.” He held up his hands. “Catie, I didn’t—”
“Yes, you did. When I suggest anything remotely new or different, you’re Mr. It Can’t Be Done. For reasons. For tradition. You know what, Will? I am not a problem in your path that needs to be fixed.”
“I didn’t say—”
“Maybe I am bossy. Because I know how to get stuff done. The problem here is that you don’t want me to do that.” She stood up.
“I—”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
He stood up, too, and marched around the desk, getting between her and the door. “You’re not a problem that needs to be fixed. And I want you to change things. I just asked that you put it in writing and not call it weird in front of one of my students. You breezed right past that. God, it’s hard to just sit outside your walls and not try to scale them, you know that?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Sitting outside your fortress walls.”
“I…What does that mean?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Well, I have a pumpkin sale to go oversee, so…”
He moved off the door. And closer to her. Close enough to lower his voice. “You have every right to be grumpy about the barriers thrown up in your path. Be mad about Frances. And if you want to talk more about the dickhead I was in the past, that’s fine, too. But we’re not going to fight about cell phone usage. Don’t snap at me. Just keep talking.”
“That’s very…” She swallowed hard, and nodded. “Reasonable.”
“I’m a reasonable man, Ms. Berton.”
“You just want me to call you Mr. Kincaid.”
He grinned. “I do like that a lot.”
She rolled her eyes and brushed past him, sending a jolt of awareness through his body.
When she opened the door, January was standing on the other side of it.
Apparently, he wasn’t going to get any work done this afternoon.
He gestured for her to come in and close the door, then he flopped back in his chair. “What’s up?”
“My class is running laps outside with Mr. Sanders for Terry Fox Run practice.”
“That’s not a question.”
“It’s just what brought me here. And then there were…sounds…coming from in here.”
He laughed. “What ever you’re thinking, it’s not that. We were having a disagreement, because we’re like oil and water sometimes, and cannot help ourselves. It was nothing. We’re just too…opposite. I’m working on understanding her better.”
January was staring at him. Bug eyed.
Will grabbed his now-cold coffee and took a long sip, not sure he wanted to hear her opinion, but quite certain he wasn’t going to be able to resist asking. He frowned, then put the cup down. “What?”
His friend rolled her eyes. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“About what?”
“You think the problem is that you and Catie are too opposite? Mr. Responsibility and Ms. Take Care of Everyone, Mr. Give Back to the Community and Ms. Work Ethic.” January sighed in an overly dramatic fashion. “Wherever might the two of you find common ground?”
“That’s different.”
“Is it?”
His frown pulled tighter. “Maybe we’re similar, but we get there in very different ways.”
“Uh huh.”
“She doesn’t understand me.”
“And you clearly don’t understand her. Because you are both stupid boneheads.”
“Language.”
“Bite me.”
“So professional.” He fought back a grin. “You think she’s a stupid bonehead, too?”
“Both of you are so fixated on the idea that the other one just could never understand the other, when it’s pretty obvious you’re just scared to try.” January crossed her arms over her chest. “But you’re a bigger bonehead than she is. You started this. And then you made it worse after the competition.”
He could feel his face heating up. “She told you?”
“No. But the way you two stared at each other in the library the week after…it was like I wasn’t even in the room. I assume you fucked it up.”
He didn’t answer the second part. “You were talking to someone else, and it’s a big room.”
“I can multi-task.”
“If you ever fall in love, I’m going to be deeply obnoxious about it.” As soon as that was out of his mouth, he regretted it. January’s face went soft, and she made a swooning noise.
“You’re in love with her? Will, that’s so cute!”
“You can leave my office now.”
“I don't know. I feel like you kind of need my wisdom.”
He probably did. But that was three people he’d now admitted his feelings for Catie to, and none of them were Catie. “This is a situation where I need to find my own wisdom, unfortunately. Out. Shoo. Thank you. See you later.”
Will did think he was getting closer to some of that wisdom, cribbed liberally from advice from his brother and Frank. The key to Catie’s heart wasn't going to be a brazen declaration. It was going to be him actually doing the work.
In his most pessimistic moments, he feared it might take longer than he wanted. It had taken twenty-five years for Catie to know without a shadow of a doubt that Pine Harbour was not a safe place for her to risk her heart in.
And he’d accidentally shown her over the last year that he was callous. That wasn’t what he wanted to be going forward—to her or anyone else—so he was going to have to consciously repair that reputation. It might take a year to do that.
He sure as hell hoped it wouldn’t take twenty-five years to fully restore her faith in Pine Harbour, too, but it was going to take some time before she knew with just as much sincerity that this place and its people valued her.
Going forward, he was going to be better, with purpose. He needed to show her the opposite of her past experiences. He needed to be the opposite.
When the end-of-day bell rang, he headed outside to say goodbye to all the students as they headed out to their buses or to meet their waiting parents.
And today, there were a lot of those parents, because the Great Pumpkin Sale was very popular. Will wasn’t sure what magic Catie and woven, exactly, because pumpkins weren’t hard to come by—in fact, the ones they were selling had been donated by some of these very same parents.
And yet the lineup was impressive. Kids telling their parents about the pumpkins they saw earlier. Parents pre-negotiating how many pumpkins they could take home.
And at the head of the line, the business club members—next to a selfie frame made of cardboard, and a poster board encouraging people to share photos of their pumpkin’s new home.
Clever.
Will stood to the side and watched how it worked. One of the club members greeted each student and parent and invited them to find their very own special pumpkin to take home and be their special decoration. Another teen quickly took a family picture in the selfie frame—ensuring the pumpkin pile was well featured in the background, Will was sure—and then they were off to pick their pumpkin.
“This is very impressive,” he said to Catie as she approached. “Truly. You aren’t just selling pumpkins.”
“You’re never selling pumpkins. You’re selling a pumpkin picking experience. It’s an important lesson for them to learn.”
“I like it.” They walked down the dwindling line of pumpkins. “How long are you going to sell tonight?”
“We’ll sell out before all these people get home and post their pictures on Instagram.” She stopped next to Sam, who was counting pumpkins. “Isn’t that right, Sam? And what kind of sales does that leave on the table?”
He glanced down the line, then did a bit more mental math before nodding. “That’s right. If we think we could get another twenty percent of sales from word of mouth. So we *could* sell maybe another fifty pumpkins, but we don’t have them here.”
“That’s good data, though, right? You learned a lot from this,” Will said. “So it’s not all bad.”
“It’s not bad at all,” Sam said emphatically. “But actually, I proactively connected with our supply chain to ensure we had all the data we might need to make the right business decision—” He paused for effect, and Catie beamed at him. “So if we want more pumpkins, we can have up to thirty tonight. And more tomorrow.”
She waved over a few other students, and Sa
m recapped for them.
“What do you folks think?” Catie lobbed it right back at them, spreading her hands wide to include every available club member in the decision. “Come on, let’s talk it out. What are the pros and cons?”
“We might end up with leftover pumpkins,” one kid said.
“We can extend the dates of the sale,” another pointed out. “Just keep going until we can’t find any more pumpkins.”
“What are the costs associated with extending the sale?” Catie asked. “Time, money, and effort.”
“We’ll all have to be here again tomorrow, and maybe for longer hours.”
She nodded. “What else?”
“We need to factor in the effort of going and getting the pumpkins now,” someone else said. “And we aren’t allowed to leave school grounds.”
“I can help with that,” Will heard himself say. Everyone turned to look at him. He shrugged. “I’m cheap manual labour. And I don’t need a parent permission slip to drive out to the pumpkin farm.”
Catie frowned at him. “I’ll go. I’m the adult in charge of the club.”
Sam shook his head. “Ms. Berton, it doesn’t make sense for you to go. You can’t fit twenty pumpkins in your car.”
Another kid glanced back and forth between them. “Logistically, it would make the most sense for them both to go, because then we get the pumpkins faster. They need to take Mr. Kincaid’s truck. That’s the most logical vehicle for transportation.”
Will could tell from Catie’s face that she regretted ever teaching them anything about logistics and the math of running a business. He was pretty sure they were all using that as a ruse to play matchmaker between their principal and the gorgeous business club advisor, a bit of mischief he wholeheartedly supported.
But then she shrugged, and gave him a shy smile. “If Mr. Kincaid doesn’t mind…”
Yeah, he really liked it when she called him that. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Twenty
Catie climbed into the passenger seat of Will’s truck. All the memories from the weekend in Timmins slammed into her, and she felt a fresh wave of regret.