by Jaxon, Lynn
I smile, deciding to send a get well gift basket to Gage to make him feel better. I’ll call the florist and have them put together a basket filled with PJ Masks coloring books, crayons, snacks, and a balloon bouquet. I hope Meredith is okay with me doing this.
Just to make sure, I shoot her a quick text.
Sorry to bother you again, but I’m sitting here thinking about Gage. I want to put a smile on his face and make him feel better. Do you mind if I send him a little gift basket and some balloons?
You know you don’t need to do that, but you can send him something if you’d like. He’ll love it. Thank you for being you!
No, thank you for letting me send something. He’s a part of you, which makes him a very special little boy.
You’re making me blush. Now, get back to work. Have a wonderful day, Mr. Brooks ;)
Ha-ha. I’ll be spending it trying to avoid unnecessary questions from all the single teachers who keep interrupting me from thinking about you. I’ll call you later.
I’ll be looking forward to it.
I call the florist and get the gift ordered for delivery later this morning. I wish I could be there to see the look on his face when he sees all the stuff I included. Judging from the pride on his face when he talked to me about his PJ Masks shirt on Monday, I know he’ll like what I got for him.
My thoughts are interrupted by a knock on my door. Ms. Lange leans her head in, and I immediately smell her way too strong perfume.
“Excuse me, Mr. Brooks, but could you do me a favor? I can’t find the custodian to help me reach the box at the top of my closet. You’re tall. Would you mind getting it down for me?”
Is she serious? I know for a fact there are stepladders in each of the classrooms for that very reason. “Why don’t you just use the stepladder in your room, Ms. Lange?”
She fumbles over her words. “Oh, well… I forgot all about that. I just hate climbing when I’m in these heels.”
“I’m really busy right now. Why don’t you take off your heels and give it a try? If you still can’t get the box down, I’ll come and help.”
She blushes at my words, making me feel a little like an ass. “Okay, I’ll try.” She shuts the door.
My door isn’t shut for two seconds before Ms. Bailey, the principal, knocks on the door and walks in, grinning. “I see you’ve had a lot of visitors. It seems our assistant principal is in quite the demand. I haven’t gotten nearly the amount of questions I normally do. I think they’re all directed at you.” Her expression becomes serious. “If it gets to be too much, let me know. I will not tolerate sexual harassment, so if you feel uncomfortable at any time, I want to know. I think the fact that you aren’t married has all the single teachers on high alert.”
“I’ve had quite the number of questions and problems that it seems only I can solve, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.” I smirk. “I’ll let you know if it gets to be too much. I did want to talk to you for a minute about something.” I gesture to a chair in front of my desk, and she sits.
“As you know, I’m not married, but I am seeing someone. I’ve looked over our handbook, finding nothing that says a teacher can’t date a student’s parent. I just started seeing Gage Find’s mom. I hope that isn’t a problem.”
Her eyes widen. “Wow, I had no idea. You two acted like you didn’t know each other at orientation.”
“Well, it’s a long story, but we hadn’t met face to face at that point. We’ve been texting for a while and had our first date on Wednesday. Needless to say, she was very surprised when we met at the restaurant. Meredith is an amazing woman and mother. Rest assured, I will not let our dating interfere with my job.”
She seems to think for a moment. “This is liable to create some talk around here, but there are no rules against it. Just be prepared for the gossip mill to start running. I’ll do all I can to shut it down before it gets out of hand. Good luck, Nash. I hope it works out. There was a lot in the news about her divorce. From all I’ve heard around town, her ex-husband seems to be a real piece of work.”
“You don’t know the half of it. We need to be extra vigilant if he comes around here.”
She narrows her eyes and stands. “You need to let me deal with Mr. Find if he comes around school. I will not tolerate a scene if he has a problem with you dating his ex-wife.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
With that, she walks out and closes my door. I haven’t thought about how I’d handle it if her ex finds out about me and Meredith. I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. There’s no way I’ll be able to keep my mouth shut about how he treats his son and how he treated Meredith. No doubt I’ll lose my shit if I ever hear him disrespect her or Gage.
* * *
With my windows rolled down and Brantley Gilbert’s “Not Like Us” blasting from my speakers, I finally relax. Ms. Lange just did not give up all day. When she couldn’t get me to come to her room, she came back later to ask me to print out a copy of her roster, which I had already put in her mailbox Monday morning. She said she couldn’t imagine what happened to it. My ass! If she becomes bolder, I’m just going to tell her I’m in a relationship and try to shut that shit down. Dating a parent is one thing, but I’d never, ever date one of my teachers.
I hit my hands-free button on my steering wheel and call Meredith, just like I promised I would. When she answers, I can hear Gage squealing in the background.
“Hello, hero.” I hear the smile in her voice. “You picked the perfect time to call. The gift basket just arrived, and Gage is over the moon.”
“How’s he feeling?”
“So much better. He hasn’t thrown up since ten this morning. He was able to hold down some chicken broth and crackers, too. He’s been his old self the past hour. Now he’s bouncing off the walls with excitement. Thank you so much, Nash.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m so glad he’s feeling better. What did he say when you told him who it was from? Speaking of that, what did you tell him? Are you going to tell him we’ll be seeing each other outside of school?”
“I told him the basket was from you, and that after meeting you at school, I thought you were a very nice man and we decided to spend some time together to get to know each other. He asked if you were with me when he called. Gage said his daddy was not happy about a man being at his house. His house… Can you believe that asshole? Anyway, I told him you were worried about him being sick and wanted to make him feel better.”
“You just jumped in head first, didn’t you?” I laughed. “Was Gage okay with everything?”
In the background, I hear what sounds like jumping up and down and “Let me talk. Let me talk!”
“Here.” She giggles. “Let me give him the phone and you can hear for yourself.”
I hear a shuffling sound, before Gage comes on the line.
“Mr. Brooks, I love, love, love the PJ Masks stuff you gots me. It’s the greatest ever. Are you going to marry my momma? I think that would be so cool if you were my daddy.”
I suck in a breath at that thought. “W-Woah, buddy. Slow down. I’m so happy you love what I sent to you. I hope you are feeling better.”
“I’s feeling lots better. Can you come over and play with me?”
I’m still stuck on the question about marrying his mother. Of course, it’s way too soon to be thinking that way, we are practically strangers, but it somehow feels natural. I think I’ll just address the coming over part.
“I’d love to come over and play with you, buddy, but I need to ask your mommy first.”
He about shatters my eardrum when he yells, “Mr. Brooks is gonna come over and play with me. He has to talks to you first, though.”
Oh, from the mouth of babes…
“So, you’re going to come over and play, huh?” Meredith says in an almost seductive tone.
“I’d love to, but I don’t want to intrude. If I’m being honest, I’ll be very disappointed if you tell me not to come over. You’re all I’ve thou
ght about all day.”
“Nash, would you like to come over?” I hear the smile in her voice. “I’ll fix dinner. You can play with Gage while I cook, then once I put him to bed, we can spend some time together. He is running around like a chicken with his head cut off right now, but I know he is going to crash soon. That stomach bug did a number on him. Are you sure you want to come over and risk catching what he has?”
“I’m not worried about catching what he has. I need to build up my immunity anyway. If I get sick, will you come over and take care of me,” I ask playfully.
“Let’s just pray you don’t get sick. I would feel horrible.”
“I’m going to run home and change, then I’ll be over. Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Absolutely. For the first time in a long time, I actually feel happy. I can’t wait to see you.”
“See you soon. Bye, Blue Eyes.”
When I hang up, I feel like I’m on cloud nine. Who would’ve thought that one night as a male dancer would lead me to this spectacular woman? I guess I’m the one who owes my brother, not the other way around.
My phone rings through the Bluetooth, startling me out of my thoughts. I look at the caller ID, smiling.
When I answer, Sean all but yells, “Why the hell haven’t you called me? I’ve been dying to hear about your date with the hot chick from the club.”
“First off, I’ve been at work all day. Second, I don’t kiss and tell. Third, and most important, Meredith is not just some hot chick from the club.”
“Damn, man, keep your pants on. What’s up with you? You’ve never acted like this about a woman before.”
“Well, she’s not just any woman. I think… I think I’m falling in love with her.”
“The fuck? Love? You just met her.”
“I can’t explain it, but it’s like fate or destiny or some shit brought us together. She’s everything I’ve been looking for in a woman.”
“Do you want to come over and shoot some hoops so you can tell me all about her?”
“I can’t. I’m going over to her house as soon as I change. Her son has been sick, and I told him I’d come over play with him.”
“She has a kid? Damn. You must really like her if you are going to take on a relationship that already has a kid. That can make things messy. You know how I feel, so just be careful with that little boy’s heart.”
“You don’t have to worry. Speaking of that, I may need you to eventually do some PI work and see what you can find on his dad. He’s an asshole and bad news. Meredith thinks he may be involved in some bad dealings.”
“Wait a minute… You wouldn’t be talking about Meredith Maddison-Find by any chance, would you?”
I frown. “What made you ask that?”
“I’m a PI, man. I put everything together. Divorce, Meredith, son, and asshole, which made me think of Frankie Find. It’s been all over the news. Don’t you watch TV?”
“You know I don’t watch TV. I prefer to read.”
“Word on the street is that he lost almost all his clients when Meredith left him. He claims to be a stockbroker, but from what I hear, he is a scam artist. I hear he owes a lot of scary people a lot of money. You may want to stay as far away from that as you can.”
“Not going to happen,” I growl.
“Okay… Shit, man. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you’re not careful, you’ll get into the middle of a bunch of ugly drama.”
“That’s where you come in. I want you to find out all the dirt you can on him. I need to keep Meredith and Gage safe.”
“I’ll get on that and get back to you as soon as I find something solid. You’d better be upfront and let her know what you’re doing, just in case I uncover something she may not want to know.”
“I’ll do that. I did mention it to her the other night, but she told me to put a hold on it for now. Maybe you should wait until I talk to her about it again. I don’t want to do anything to mess up this relationship.”
“Sounds good. Bye, man.”
“Later.”
I pull up to the house, run in and change faster than I’ve changed before, then jump back into the jeep. On the way to her house, I see the sign for the florist I ordered Gage’s basket from, deciding to grab a bouquet of flowers for Meredith. Why didn’t I think of this earlier and have them sent with his gift? Oh well. Better late than never.
I look into the cooler, seeing a basket that has an arrangement of roses on one side and big, juicy strawberries on the other, along with a large chocolate bar that says, You melt my heart! This will be perfect. Flowers and dessert.
I leave the store with a grin on my face.
Chapter 11
~Meredith~
I don’t know who’s more excited about Nash coming over, me or Gage. He’s asked me when he’s going to be here about a hundred times. I can’t help but smile. It feels good to see my boy so happy, especially after last night and this morning. What a difference twelve hours and a good man can make. I sure hope I don’t do something to screw it up with Nash. This just feels too good to be true. I get this feeling the other shoe is about to drop, and if it does, I don’t know if I will recover.
The doorbell rings. Gage runs like a madman to get to it first. “Hold up, tiger. You know you can’t open the door without an adult with you.”
“But, Momma, it’s Mr. Brooks,” he whines.
“You don’t know it’s Mr. Brooks until you ask who it is before you open the door.”
He sighs loudly before turning toward the door. “Who is it? Is that you, Mr. Brooks? Momma says I can’t open the door without first askin’ who you are.”
I can hear Nash chuckling on the other side of the door. “It is me, Gage. Tell your mom that Mr. Brooks has arrived.”
“Momma, can I open the door now? He says it’s him.”
Smiling, I ruffle his hair and nod.
The second the door opens, Gage throws himself at Nash, like he’s known him his whole life. “Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming to play with me and for all my cool stuff.” Gage grabs his hand and tries to pull him into the house.
“Get your stuff set up out on the patio, Gage. Mr. Brooks will be out there in just a minute. I need to talk to him for a second before I start dinner.”
“Aww, Mom. Why do you get to talk to him first?” he pouts.
“Technically, you talked to him first, since you asked him who he was before you opened the door. Now, go get your stuff and take it out back.”
“Okay, Momma. See you in a minute, Mr. Brooks.”
“See you in a minute, buddy.”
I hardly wait for Gage to leave the room before I grab Nash’s hand and pull him to me. He’s faster, engulfing me in his arms. As soon as he hears the door shut, Nash’s mouth is on mine. After several seconds, he pulls away.
“I’ve been waiting for you to do that to me all day,” I pant.
“You have no idea how badly I’ve wanted to taste your lips again.” He licks his bottom lip, glancing at my mouth. “I seriously feel like a teenager. You consume my every waking moment.”
He pulls me in for one more quick kiss, then gives me a wink and bends down, grabbing a basket full of roses, strawberries, and a chocolate bar.
“I almost forgot. This is for you.” He hands them to me.
“They are beautiful! Thank you!”
Nash smiles his heart-stopping smile. “I’d better get out there before Gage comes looking for me.”
I glance down, seeing the clear evidence of just how happy he is to see me, and I smirk as he adjusts himself.
“It’s not funny, Mer. It could be quite awkward if he sees me like this.”
“Just think about your mother and it will go away.”
He grimaces. “Yep, definite mood killer right there.”
“See? Moms are a buzzkill every time.” I laugh.
I lead Nash to the back patio where Gage is already playing with his new toys. Nash doesn’t hesitate before getting
down on the patio and playing with him.
Watching them fills my heart to bursting. He gives Gage one hundred fifty percent of his attention. His own father hasn’t even given him ten percent of his undivided attention since he was born. They sit on the outdoor rug, action figures in hand, acting out various scenes. Of course, Gage tells Nash exactly what to do, he’s bossy that way, but Nash does whatever he wants without complaint.
They are so engaged in each other that they don’t even hear me come out and set dinner on the table. “Who’s hungry?”
“I’m famished,” Nash says, climbing to his feet. “Being a super villain is hard work.”
“I’m starving, Mom. What are we having?”
“Pork tenderloin, mac and cheese, green beans, and crescent rolls.”
“Yes!” Gage jumps up and high fives Nash. “That is my favorite. Mommy must’ve fixed it because I’ve been sick and haven’t had real food since yesterday.”
“Until we know that you can keep it down, don’t eat too much. I think you’re okay, but just to be safe, take small bites and eat slowly.”
Nash leans in and whispers into my ear, “What’s for dessert?”
My cheeks flame with desire. “You’ll just have to wait and find out.” I give him a sexy wink and turn to go back into the house and get the sweet tea from the fridge.
* * *
Gage yawns, his head bobbing, eyes fluttering closed. It’s only seven, but he’s exhausted.
“Baby, you’re about to fall asleep in your plate. Go upstairs and brush your teeth, then put on your pjs. I’ll be up in a minute to tuck you in. You can take a bath in the morning.”
“Okay, Mommy. Can Mr. Brooks read me a bedtime story?”
I look at Nash. He smiles and turns to Gage. “I’d love to read you a bedtime story. Go upstairs, brush your teeth, and put on your pjs like your momma said. Pick out a book and we’ll be up there to tuck you in…if it’s okay with your momma.” He looks at me.