Winning the Teacher's Heart

She looked up into Jared’s deep blue eyes. They darkened, almost as if he’d read her thoughts about the track. But that was ridiculous.

“Hi, Jared.”

“Becca. What a pleasant surprise.”

He wouldn’t think so for long. Her pulse quickened. Or maybe he was being sarcastic and didn’t think that now, either. Although his tone wasn’t sarcastic, she didn’t know him well enough to read the real meaning of his words any more than he’d been reading her thoughts a moment ago.

Tom cleared his throat. “Now that introductions are over, I think we can get this done in quick order.”

Jared relaxed his stance. “We brought updated plans and the preliminary environmental studies from GreenSpaces for you to look over.” He stepped to the dais to hand a cardboard tube holding the plans to the board members.

Tom took the tube and waved him off. “That won’t be necessary tonight. I don’t know what Steve told your guy.” He nodded at Dan. “But Ms. Norton has raised new questions from her and one of the other property owners on Conifer Road. We’ve decided a public hearing is necessary. Your development may not fall under the recreational facility exception, after all—it being a racing school rather than a resort or simply a racetrack open to the public.”

The town attorney shuffled his feet while Jared’s attorney glared at her. But their actions barely registered. She was focused on Jared. He seemed to be looking past her to something on the wall behind the dais. She resisted the urge to turn and see what he was looking at, only to regret that decision. If she had, she would have missed the gut-wrenching hardening of his features. She started to slump in her seat, then straightened and crossed her arms. Even if she felt bad for Jared, who obviously wanted to get started on his project, she had valid reasons for pushing the public hearing. And for him, it could deflect opposition later, after he’d already sunk money into the motocross track.

“The hearing will be two weeks from Tuesday, our usual meeting night,” the board chair said. “Same time as tonight. That’ll let us get the required notices in the Times of Ti. You’ll get a letter in the mail.”

“Thank you,” Jared’s attorney said. “We’ll see you in two weeks.”

Jared jerked a nod in the direction of the board before he strode from the room.

Becca watched him until he reached the doorway. She pulled her shoulder bag from the back of her chair and rose as he disappeared into the hall. “If we’re done, I need to get home. The kids, you know.”

Becca hated to use the kids as an excuse. She rarely did. But she needed to speak with Jared, to explain her concerns about the motocross track. She could only hope that he and his lawyer might be talking outside.

“Sure,” Tom said. “That’s all the business we had for tonight. Glad to have you on board.” He chuckled at his pun and looked to the other members for affirmation. “We need more younger people to be involved in town government.”

She smiled while inwardly chaffing at the extra minute his short speech added to the head start Jared had on her. “Thanks. It’s my community. I want to do what I can.” And not alienate Jared Donnelly doing it.

Becca crossed the room as quickly as she could without looking as though she was running from the hall. Stepping into the warm cloudy night, she scanned the parking lot for Jared. There were four cars besides hers and four board members still in the hall. Her heart sank. He was gone. A cloud passed in front of the full moon casting shadows on the car. Gray shadows. Like her mood.

She unlocked her car and started it. Her concerns about having a motocross track almost in her backyard were real, although the magazine article and Tom Hill had called it a motocross school, not a track. She shouldn’t feel so agitated about having brought those concerns up to the board. She and other people in the community who would be affected by Jared’s proposed project deserved to learn more. Except Jared’s stony expression when Tom had told him about the public hearing kept flashing in her mind. The expression had made Jared look incredibly attractive and threatening at the same time.

Becca slowed the car in front of the Paradox Lake General Store. Brendon had finished the last of the milk at dinner. As she pulled in to stop to get some more, a motorcycle parked in the lot grabbed her attention. She replayed her son’s chatter about Jared’s bike in her head. She tilted her chin down and frowned at the vehicle. Brendon had said Jared’s bike was lime green. This one was dark blue, and the middle-aged man who was walking toward it definitely wasn’t Jared. She went into the store and headed directly to the coolers at the far right where the dairy products were.

Pulling the glass door open with her left hand, she reached in for one of the gallon containers of milk in the back of the cooler, releasing the door to close gently against her so she could bend in far enough to grab it. She sensed someone behind her and stiffened even before she felt the person grasp the door to hold it open for her. Not to be unfriendly, but she hoped it was a helpful tourist rather than anyone she knew. She wasn’t in a mood for idle chat.

“Thanks,” she said without looking as she turned to walk to the checkout.

“No problem,” said the one person she did want to talk to.

Looking back at Jared and his controlled features, she swallowed. Or the one person she’d thought she wanted to talk to.

* * *

Jared’s heart twisted in unison with Becca’s scowl. He should have known things were going too smoothly. Although he’d done all his prep work carefully, he’d expected some opposition to his plans. But Becca Norton wasn’t the person he’d pictured spearheading it.

“Thanks,” she said again, her expression looking more pensive now that she’d turned fully toward him. “I didn’t realize it was you.”

“Like I didn’t realize you were on the Zoning Board.”

Becca’s hint of a smile disappeared. He could have kicked himself for not guarding his words. He needed to woo, not alienate Becca. Woo her in the sense of convincing her of the good his motocross school would do. Any other wooing was out of the question. He studied her heart-shaped face for a moment. As if he, a Donnelly, would have any chance with a woman like Becca. He shook off his pity trip back in time. “That didn’t come out quite right.”

“It’s okay. Do you have a couple of minutes to talk? I’ll check this out.” She raised the gallon of milk she held. “And we can get a cup of coffee or something.”

“Sure. I need to pick up some coffee for the morning, too.” Jared walked to the grocery shelf and grabbed a large can of coffee, then put it back in favor of a smaller bag of a special dark roast. He made his way to the checkout at the front of the store and looked around.

Becca motioned to him from one of the tables in the deli area. “Over here. You did want coffee, right? I have it covered.” A waitress who looked vaguely familiar placed two heavy mugs on the table in front of her.

He ground his teeth. Not that he was a chauvinist. But he was used to being the one who picked up the tab, did for others. What she was earning at the day-care center, or as a high school teacher, for that matter, couldn’t come close to the income from his invested race winnings. His fingers tightened around the bag of coffee. That sounded too much like his money-obsessed brother Josh.

“You remember Lori Lyons.” Becca smiled at the waitress.

“Sure, I do.” Lori had been another one of the untouchables on the cheerleading squad with Becca. “I was sorry to hear about Stan.”

“Thank you,” Lori said. “I appreciated your card.”

Becca knitted her brows in question.

When Jared had heard about Lori’s husband Stan’s death in a NASCAR accident shortly after he’d lost a close friend on the motocross circuit, he’d felt a connection to Lori and had shot her off a sympathy card. “My grandmother told me about Stan’s accident,” he said in explanation.

Becca’s expression turned thoughtful. He’d have to be careful or he’d lose his tough-guy image.

“I’d love to catch up,” Lori said. “But my shift is done and I need to pick the girls up from Stan’s mother’s house. She babysits for me when I have to work during the evening.” She turned to Jared. “I have ten-year-old twins. I usually work days, so I have to get them up early for day care tomorrow.”

Jared scuffed his toe against the table leg. Lori was being a little too friendly for him. They hadn’t been friends in school and, as callous as it sounded, he’d sent her the sympathy card as much as a way to work through his own grief as a true condolence.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Becca,” Lori said. “And why don’t you—” she pointed at Jared “—stop by after the lunch rush some afternoon this week. I’d love to hear about your time on the circuit.” She shot a dazzling smile his way and gave him a flirty wave before walking back behind the counter and into the kitchen.

Yep, way too friendly, which he couldn’t say about Becca, given her dark frown. Unless she was jealous of Lori. They had been rivals in school. He yanked out the chair across the table from Becca. Only in his mind. The source of Becca’s frown more likely could be chalked up to his plans for the racing school and Lori getting in the way of Becca speaking her mind about it.

He slid into the chair and wrapped his hands around the coffee mug. “I take it you want to talk about the track.”

“I do.” The sip of coffee she took sweetened her frown into what could almost be called a smile. “I hope you don’t mind that I ordered your coffee. It’s a regular.” She glanced at the specialty coffee he’d bought. “But maybe you’d like something different.”

He lifted the bag of coffee. “This is for Connor. I’m good with anything black that doesn’t taste like motor oil.”

She took another sip of her coffee and gazed at him over the rim of the cup, her brown eyes colored with apprehension. “The Zoning Board’s decision surprised you.”

He bit his tongue before he said something he’d regret. “Right. The town attorney had told my attorney everything looked like a go. That there wouldn’t be a need for a public hearing.”

“That’s my fault.”

He took a healthy draw of his coffee and waited.

“I didn’t get the agenda for the meeting until yesterday afternoon, and what I got didn’t have a lot of details. With work and the kids, I didn’t have time to do any research. Evidently, the other board members and the town attorney already had discussed it. Tonight was my first board meeting.”

“Yeah. Dan, my attorney, and I had felt out the town building inspector about the project a while ago, before I’d decided on a spot to build it.”