Page 87 of Of Pucking Course

No answer.

When I look up, I see Dakota walking toward me, her shoulders slumped, her face red and puffy from crying.

Worry rockets through me. I set the wine bottle down and rush over to her. I wrap my arms around her and hug her.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

She slinks her arms around and shakes her head. “Bad day at work.” Her voice is so small and weak. It makes my chest crack in half.

She leans back and looks up at me, her big brown eyes red.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” I ask softly.

“Wine first. Then talk.”

I kiss her forehead. With her hand in mine, I lead her into the kitchen to one of the stools at the island. She sitsdown and I grab the bottle of wine, pop it open, and pour her a glass.

When I hand it to her, she stares at the bottle, then looks at me. “My favorite wine. You remembered.”

“Of course I remembered.”

I sit next to her.

“You don’t want a glass?” she asks.

“I’ll have one later.” I swipe a chunk of hair that’s come loose from her ponytail behind her ear. “Do you wanna talk about what happened?”

She takes a long sip, then sighs, her shoulders sinking. “The dad of one of my students yelled at me at the end of the school day, outside of the school in front of everyone.”

Protectiveness surges through me. “What? Why?”

I’m careful to keep my voice from sounding too hard. I’m pissed as hell to hear that some guy yelled at Dakota, but I don’t want it to come off like I’m angry at her.

She lets out a heavy breath as she reties her hair. “Remember Henry?”

“Yeah. He’s that really energetic kid who Theo and Xander raced at the rink.”

A sad smile pulls at Dakota’s lips as she nods. A second later, it fades and she looks sad again. “His dad came up to me today when I was standing outside with the kids at school pickup. He was angry that Abby and I took our classes to the hockey rink instead of the children’s museum.”

I frown, utterly confused. “What was he mad about? The kids had a blast. Especially Henry. He was so excited after he won the race.”

She takes another sip of wine. “I guess Henry had a bruise on his arm from when he fell on the ice, and his dad was mad about it. He said the ice rink outing was dangerousand that we shouldn’t have taken the kids there at all. And then he yelled at me for not calling him to get his permission for Henry to go to the ice rink.”

She explains how Henry’s parents are divorced and that, according to school policy, she called Henry’s mom for permission and not his dad because she has primary custody of him.

“I tried to explain that to his dad, but he wouldn’t listen. He was so mad.”

She pauses and lets out a shaky breath. “He berated me for endangering Henry and my other students. And he called me an idiot. He said I was lucky he didn’t sue me for what I did.”

I grab her hand in mine, desperate to comfort her. I’m also desperate to kick this guy’s ass for insulting her, but Dakota is my focus right now.

“Hey,” I say softly. “That guy’s a piece of shit for saying that. None of that’s true. Not even close. I know how much you care about your students. You adore them. You would never, ever do anything to endanger them. He’s dead wrong to say any of that to you.”

“I know,” she says in a broken voice that hits me like an arrow straight in the chest. “I just…I mean, it was awful to be yelled at, but the worst part was that he did it in front of Henry.”

Her voice breaks. I stand up and move next to her so I can wrap my arms around her and hug her tight.

She nuzzles my chest. “Henry was such a sweetheart. He tried to stand up for me. He told his dad to stop yelling at me. It broke my heart.”

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