Page 18 of Dagger

His brows shot up.

That made me smile. “I need to think about this and put some safeguards in place to protect all of us. Dani had some trouble a few weeks ago from one of the girls in her class, it’s all water under the bridge now, but if they thought she was getting special treatment that might cause problems.”

Some of the tension left his broad shoulders. “But you’ll think about it?”

I nodded. “Of course. I want to help Dani and you, but it’s not just a simple yes. You get it?”

“I do,” he answered with a nod. “Thank you for hearing me out and thinking about it.”

“There are plenty of parents who expect their children to just accept what they’re given, to believe they’re getting the best their parents have to give. I’m glad you’re one of the few trying to do better and to give more.”

“Now you’re just trying to make me blush.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Something tells me you’re not a man who blushes often, if at all.”

He shrugged. “I guess you’ll find out if you agree. Another coffee?”

I shook my head. “I’ve already risked insomnia with a double espresso this late in the day, but thank you.” I finished off the now ice-cold espresso and sighed. “You should probably give me your number.” I cringed hard at the way the sentence came out. “So that I can call you. With my answer,” I rushed to add, heat flaming my cheeks while Dagger watched me with amusement.

“Yeah, sure, Sinclair, you can get my number.”

My gaze narrowed. “That’s not how I meant it.”

“Of course not,” he replied with a tone that said he didn’t believe me. His smile was wide and bright as he removed hisphone from a pocket inside his leather vest and slid the sleek black device across the table.

I slid my phone across the table before picking his up and adding myself as a contact. I ignored the urge to look for women’s names in his contacts and quickly blacked out the screen and slid the phone back towards him. “I’ll call when I have an answer. Actually, I’ll probably text because I can be a little awkward on the phone,andin person if I’m being honest.” I let out another long sigh, breathless from rambling.

“You done?” His eyes sparkled with pure amusement, as if he found my rambling endearing, maybe even charming.

But that couldn’t be. It was just awkward, and I was just me. Plain looking, maybe cute on a good day, and awkward. Not beautiful or sophisticated, and terrible at flirting even though we definitely weren’t flirting.

Were we?

No, of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.

***

After Dagger and I went our separate ways, I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner tonight and a quick breakfast in the morning. To most people it seemed old-fashioned to stop at the market every single day, but it was something I started as a child to make sure I always had dinner. With Dad, you never knew. I could come home to a fridge filled with food, which happened rarely, or a house void of food, furniture, and basic utilities.

It was also a great way to shop seasonally and locally, which I tried to do wherever I moved. I picked up a coupleof trout, carrots, and a few potatoes. I had a plan as I moved through the grocery store, but my mind was still fixed on the conundrum of Dagger. And Dani.

The urge to help was strong. It was why I’d gone into teaching in the first place, to help kids who might otherwise slip through the cracks. Kids very much like I’d been, abandoned but not alone, overlooked. Forgotten.

The distraction continued as I put away groceries, and while I prepped dinner I weighed up the pros and cons. I understood where Dagger was coming from, keeping people at arm’s length, because that’s exactly what I’d done my entire life. Losing Mom changed something inside me, that sense of stability in my life had been torn away. At first it was just grief that made me curl into myself, but then it was Dad, drowning in his own grief and then sorrow, and then he fell apart completely. So yeah, I got it. You couldn’t trust people, even your own parents, to stick around or be there when you needed them.

That distance, that wall, was the reason I had no friends to call and talk to about my new life and the single dad occupying too much of my mind. And my time. I kept my friendships short and sweet, so that when I moved on to the next school and the next town, saying goodbye didn’t hurt.

But the job with Steel City Elementary was a test of sorts. The three-year contract would give me some semblance of stability and home. This was my chance for a few small but lasting interactions, to see if I was capable of opening up and letting people in.

I knew this was no way to live, but it was the only way I knew how. It was how I’d crafted my life up to this point. ButSteel City was my chance to change. Dani and Dagger were my first chance to prove I could change.

“Dammit,” I muttered to myself.

If I wanted to save Dani from a life of loneliness, I had to help, my attraction to her father be damned. I pulled out my phone ready to give him my reply.

Chapter 12

Dagger

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