Page 62 of Welcome to Forever
“It’s okay,” she said.
Micah scanned the new group of kids. “Looks like they’re all sitting down on the job. What’s going on?”
Kat chuckled. “Your son is giving them another science lesson this afternoon.”
Now, Micah was the one giving the quizzical look.
“Did you know that you could change the color of a plant by adding food coloring to the water?”
He dropped his head in his hands. “Yes,” he groaned.
“Don’t worry, the kids are into it. They’ve been listening to him more than they do their own teachers.”
Micah looked around. Kat was right. The kids weren’t making fun of Ben. They were listening. “How the heck did he do that?”
Kat lifted one shoulder. “He’s got a talent for science. And teaching. He even showed them pictures. Said his seedlings are bigger than yours because he reads to them.”
“Already showing up his dad. My plants are some of the best in these parts, I’ll have these kids know.”
“And that’s why it’s so amazing that Ben’s are twice as good. It’s scientific proof,” she said, sounding just like Ben.
Micah laughed. “I don’t even want to tell you what other scientific proof Ben’s been coming up with these days.”
Her forehead wrinkled as she looked at him.
“Apparently, Ben is proving that you and I are the perfect match. He’s got a list.”
This made her laugh.
“Hey. Don’t act like it’s so funny. The list is pretty damn convincing,” Micah said.
“Yeah?” Her gaze locked on his, and suddenly there was heat radiating between them. By the look in her eyes, he could tell she felt it, too.
“Yeah,” he said. His gaze slid to her hand and hung on the barren ring finger.
She pulled a gold chain with the ring dangling from it from under her blouse. “Baby steps. It’s not because of you, though,” she said quickly. Then she cleared her throat. “Or it is a little, but don’t worry. No strings attached.”
“Right.” And he hadn’t been able to think of anything other than what the strings weren’t attached to for the past ten days. Sex. Mind-blowing, wake-up-in-the-morning-with-a-full-blown-hard-on sex. He resisted the urge to pull her to him and run his hands down her body. This wasn’t the time or the place.
His attention on her broke at the sound of screaming children.
“Fight!” Ben pointed in the direction of Sam, one of the newest members of the club, and Jacob.
Micah took off running and threw himself between them, pushing them apart with his hands. “What do you guys think you’re doing?”
“He called me a wuss!” Sam screamed.
“No, I didn’t!” the other kid, Jacob, insisted, his face red and dirty from the near fight.
Micah looked at Kat, who was standing beside him now, and then back to the boys. “All right. What exactly did you say?” he asked Jacob. “Not that it matters. Fighting is never the way to solve your problems.”
“I said he wasactinglike a wuss. I didn’t say hewasone.”
“You see!” Sam said. “He’s not my friend.”
Kat stepped up beside them. “We’re all friends here.”
Even to Micah, it sounded like a movie-of-the-week line. “You don’t have to like each other, but you can’t call each other names. And no more fighting. That’s what got you here in the first place.”
