Page 19 of Welcome to Forever
Val laughed with all the delight of a five-year-old. “I think it’s great that you have a crush on someone.”
Kat looked around to make sure no one had overheard her secretary’s big mouth. Micah was a parent. Not only that, he worked for the school. “I don’t have a crush on him,” she argued in a hushed voice. “He’s nice. And handsome. That’s all.”
“You didn’t think he was so nice a few days ago.” Val followed her back into the office. “Anyway, I’m heading out. My father has me on dinner duty for another church family in crisis. Are you heading home?”
Kat shook her head. “I’m working late tonight.”
“Woo-hoo,” Val yipped, sarcasm dripping easily from her words. “That sounds about as much fun as serving up chicken to strangers.”
“I’m going to regret hiring you, aren’t I?” Kat helped Val stack a pile of random things into her arms, one of which was a romance novel. Kat hoped Val at least pretended to work when there were other people in the office.
“Probably.” Val winked and started walking toward the door. “Just don’t let him see you watching him.”
“What?”
“I know that’s really why you’re staying late. But don’t let Mr. DILF catch you. Men are more interested if they think you’re not too into them.”
“Thanks for the tip.” Rolling her eyes, she opened the door for Val and noticed Ben rolling toward her in his wheelchair.
“See you later, Ben Peterson.” Val waved and walked out the double doors of the school.
Thank God.Best friend or not, sometimes she drove Kat batty. “Your dad is still working outside, Ben,” she said, leaning against the wall and waiting for him to look at her. “Did you have a good day at school?”
He shrugged a shoulder, keeping his gaze on the tiled floor.
“Wanna talk about it?” she asked.
He shook his head in a jerky movement characteristic of his cerebral palsy. His muscles resisted everything he did. “Not really.”
“Hmm. Want to go for a walk?”
He looked at her as if she had three heads. “In case you haven’t noticed, Principal Chandler, I don’t walk much.” He grinned, obviously proud of his little joke.
“You know what I mean.” She gave his dark, shaggy hair a tousle as his crooked smile revealed a small gap between his two front teeth. Then she pushed the square handicap button that automatically opened the double doors of the school, and they headed toward the humming sound of the lawnmower around back.
“Can you push me?” Ben asked, looking up at her with large, hopeful eyes.
Her mouth quirked to the side. “You can wheel yourself.”
His shoulders sagged by his side. “But my arm is tired.”
Kat remembered what Micah had said about Ben being independent. “I’d rather walk beside you if that’s all right.”
They continued in silence for another beat.
“I think my mom is deploying again,” he said then.
Her mouth fell open. She’d wanted to ask about Ben’s mother last night, but hadn’t felt right about it. And his file mentioned nothing, which she’d been intending to correct. “Your mother is a Marine?” she asked.
Ben nodded. “My dad is acting funny and I know it has something to do with her. I think she’s going back to war, just like last year.”
A charley horse–sized cramp squeezed at her heart. “Did you ask your father about it?”
Ben shook his head. “No. He’s been trying to tell me. I don’t want him to though, even if it’s true. Because that’ll mean it’s real.”
“I see.” It was the same part of her that hadn’t wanted to hear any news about John when she’d found out about the accident involving his squadron. No news meant there was still hope. He could still come home and they would get married.
The mower stopped in the distance, and she spotted Micah walking toward them. His shirt was already soaked through in the front and clung to his deeply defined chest. How did caring for landscapes mold a chest like that one? Was he doing pull-ups in the trees?
