Page 5 of A Better Place

“James Cole. This little squirt’s favorite uncle. Right, Harper?” he says looking down at her with a big grin.

She has a horrified look on her face, being a witness to the disaster that just unfolded, but then as most six year olds do, she moves on quickly. She rolls her eyes and responds in a bored tone that tells me this is not the first time she’s told someone he’s her favorite. “Uh huh, that’s right. All the way to Pluto and back.”

“Well, don’t be too excited about it,” he teases then shifts his gaze back to me. “Like I was saying before the… Let’s just call it the incident, shall we?”

I cover my face with my hands as the mortification seeps through, and he continues speaking. I drop my hands at my sides and see he’s also watching Harper do what looks like a reenactment for her classmates. “Harper had a little accident last night at her horse riding lesson. She’ll be fine, clearly.” He snickers and shakes his head.

“Yeah, seems like she made a speedy recovery,” I say quietly. “Harper,” I call over to her as I reach for a Sharpie on my desk.

“Yes, Ms. Hanson?” She comes over my way, her big blue eyes staring up at me.

“May I?” I ask and hold up the marker.

“Yeah! But leave room for my mom and dad, okay? They’re coming home from their vacation early from not being able to sleep alone because they miss me.”

I smile at her as I hear James choke on his laughter. She is too cute for words. Spunky and sweet. “Of course,” I murmur.

I sign her cast near what looks like the entire Liberty High School football team, my son’s name included, place the cap back on the marker, give her a big hug, and let her go back to her storytelling before school starts for the day.

I turn and notice James staring at me, causing my blush to return. I scrunch my nose and glance away then look his way again. “So,” I start, hoping to deflect the bit of awkwardness that we had fallen into, all thanks to me, of course. “Anything I need to know for Harper today?”

“Nope, her doctor said she can participate as long as it’s not too rough. It was a pretty minor break, so nothing to be too worried about. Basically, all is normal except she has a bright purple accessory attached to her arm for a little while.” He winks at me from underneath his black baseball cap with the outline of a deer head on the front and… Oh. My. Gosh. My insides quiver. I know he doesn’t mean anything by the wink, but my body can’t help its reaction to him. Hello, high school. Seems I’m walking your immature hallway again.

“Seems as though it’s more rainbow-colored already with all those signatures.”

“Ha, ha! I know!” he says, his eyes lighting up as he speaks. “Her older brother Grady’s teammates are a little overprotective, it seems, and all had to come over last night to make sure she was okay.”

“Yeah, my son Jack was actually there last night.” I lean in closer to him, desperately trying not to sniff him, and lower my voice. “He told me about what happened but said she wanted to tell me herself and made me promise to act surprised.”

“You did well.”

“Why, thank you,” I say and curtsy because he makes me an even more awkward version of myself.

James grins. “And I appreciate it, Ms. Hanson,” he says in a quiet voice. His eyes sear into mine, making me fidget under their intensity.

Either he doesn’t notice or chooses to ignore it because he continues on. “Listen, I promised her I would have lunch with her this week and, since it’s Friday, I figured I’d better make good on my promise or I’ll be on her naughty list — her words, of course.”

We’re standing so close I can smell the spicy scent of his body wash mixed with the cinnamon gum he’s chewing. The combination has my senses firing on all cylinders, bouncing back and forth with each other, making me feel lightheaded.

“Oh! Lunch here? Today?” I point to the ground like a lunatic. “Yeah! Mm-hmm! Yup! That’s totally fine!” The entire string of nonsense is said in a much-too-high voice. Like a damn teenager. It’s annoying even to my own ears. Ugh. All that’s missing is a hair toss. I close my eyes and shake my head at my own ridiculousness. My shoulders drop and I sigh. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. What I meant to say is, yes. That’s fine. Just check in at the office when you come back.”

“Perfect,” he says as he flashes a bright smile my way.

Have.

Mercy.

His smile.

Oh, what the heck is wrong with me? Just hearing that he’ll be back in a few hours has my stomach fluttering? Which is ridiculous because I’ve literally just met the guy. Beyond that, he’s my student’s uncle added to the fact that I have no desire to even consider dating someone right now. Or ever. But for some reason, James has my heart racing.

“Alright, so I’ll see you later? No. Shoot. I meant you’ll be back later to have lunch with Harper? And yeah. Class. I need to teach class. Class!” I say in a loud voice and do our signature clap to get their attention to which they return immediately.

“Ms. Hanson?” James says with a laugh to his voice.

I take a deep breath and turn in his direction. “Yeah?”

“I’ll see you at lunch,” he says with a blinding smile and that damn winky bright blue eye.

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