Winning the Teacher's Heart

“No, we’re good.” Becca quickly dismissed him.

Too quickly for the adolescent longing to feel like he belonged—that he was wanted—here in Paradox Lake. A longing that seemed to surface all too often when she was around. He’d earned that sense of belonging on the motocross circuit where no one knew him as Jerry Donnelly’s delinquent kid, and hoped to achieve it here with his racing school.

Chapter Three (#ulink_46be6d17-a36c-5199-a03e-6e966178e055)

“What was that?” Emily asked.

“What was what?” Becca pulled her beach bag up more firmly on her shoulder.

“You and our town celebrity, Jared. Brendon and him being best buddies. Ari talking about him at Sunday school.”

Becca scanned the beach for a good spot for them to sit and watch the kids swim.

“The current between you and Jared,” Emily prodded.

Becca frowned at her friend. “I ran into him at his grandmother’s house when the kids and I stopped there to drop off something for Edna. Brendon recognized Jared from his magazine and asked him to autograph it. Not to be outdone, Ari insisted Jared read her storybook while I went out to the garden with Edna. That’s all there is to it. This spot look good to you?” Becca slipped her bag from her shoulder and rummaged in it for the blanket she’d packed. She wasn’t going to mention the run-in with Debbie and the Sheriff the next day.

“Ari stayed with him while you went out to the garden. Your Ari? The little girl who insisted you wait on a chair outside her Sunday school room where she could see you for most of last school year? That Ari?”

“She’s getting better.” Becca had been surprised how her daughter had latched on to Jared. She shook the blanket out hard and let it settle on the ground. Unfortunately, Ari was still asking daily when Jared was going to come and read to her. She pressed her lips together. Ari got enough broken promises from her father.

“What’s that sour face about?” Emily dropped to the blanket and sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, scanning the kids swimming in the lake.

“Nothing. I was just thinking.”

“About Jared? Not all men are like Matt.”

Mentally, Becca knew that was true. Emotionally, it was another story. She and Matt had dated for most of high school and, except for a short breakup, through college. He’d left her when Brendon was a toddler, and she hadn’t even realized yet that she was expecting Ari.

Becca sat down next to Emily. “Now, my turn for questions. You and Jared were...are friends?”

“Jealous?”

“No. Maybe. Yes. But not how you think. I would have liked to have known him in high school.”

“No, you wouldn’t have. You were too busy being pretty and smart and popular. As a teenager, Jared had too much baggage for you to handle. I’m not sure he ever was a teenager.”

That had been one of the things that had attracted her to Jared as a teen. He seemed more responsible, mature, even though he was a year younger than her crowd. “I wasn’t that superficial.”

Emily shook her head. “You were that untried, sheltered. You’ve lived some now.”

“Thank you, Dr. Stacey. I hadn’t realized you’d given up graphic arts for psychology. And you weren’t sheltered?”

Emily grinned. “Dad certainly tried. But it didn’t carry over to school. Remember, I was the tall, clumsy kid everyone called Jinx. My brother, Neal, is eight years older than I am. He wasn’t around school to shelter me after fourth grade.”

“And you and Jared?”

“Used to talk sometimes about our misfit lives and how we were going to leave Paradox Lake at our first opportunity. Strictly platonic.”

Jared hadn’t struck Becca as a misfit then—and certainly didn’t now.

Becca’s cell phone buzzed that she had a text, giving her a welcome break from the conversation. She checked the screen. Maybe not.

“Go ahead and answer,” Emily said.

“It’s the Sheriff. He recently got a smartphone and has gone text crazy. It’s probably nothing.” She dropped the phone to the blanket.

“Are he and Debbie still dogging your every move?”

Becca sighed. “Almost more so since he got his new phone. I have an unsettled feeling it has something to do with Matt and my custody agreement. Debbie and the Sheriff are planning to move to Florida now that he’s retired. It’s making me a wreck. I’ve prayed, but I can’t seem to find the peace I normally would.”

“I have just the thing. The Singles Group is challenging the Couples Group in ‘Bible Jeopardy’ tomorrow night. I don’t know how peaceful it will be, but we’ll have fellowship, inspiration and food. I’m making my cheesecake brownies. Maybe Connor will bring his big brother.”

Jared’s presence didn’t exactly shout peaceful to Becca. “I can’t.”

“Mom’s watching Isabelle and Ryan. I know she wouldn’t mind watching Ari and Brendon, if that’s the problem. Ari would stay with her, wouldn’t she?”

“Probably, but I have something else going on.”

“With Jared? Are you holding out on me?”

“Not with Jared. I have to go to the Town Zoning Board meeting in Schroon Lake.”

“Why?”

Becca laughed. “The expression on your face. I’m the newest board member.”

“I ask again, why?”

“I was teaching civics and thought I should be more involved. Edna’s husband, Harry, mentioned the opening.”

Emily shook her head. “Will you ever learn? You don’t have to be involved in everything.”

“I know. It seemed like a good idea at the time, even after the Sheriff encouraged me to take the seat.” Becca’s phone rang. She picked it up. “Speaking of the Sheriff, he’s probably calling to find out why I didn’t text him back.”

“I think I’ll walk down to the water and test the temperature.” Emily stood and slipped off her shoes.

“That’s right. Desert me in my time of need.” Becca pressed the phone screen to answer the call. “Hello.”

“Have you read the agenda for the Zoning Board meeting?”

“No.”

“I texted it to you.”

“Ken, I’m working.”

“Then I’ll give you the short version. Your boyfriend wants to build a motocross track on Bert Miller’s property.”