It Happened One Night

“Not exactly,” he said honestly. “The committee voted four to one to deny you the extra money. But after seeing the way you were with the Bartletts’ little girl, you’ve got my attention. I’ll be checking in periodically to see for myself that the money was needed and put to good use.”

If anything, she looked even more skeptical. “What happens at the end of that time?”

“If I determine that you do need the additional funding, at our meeting just before Christmas I’ll give my personal recommendation to the committee that we add the amount you asked for to your yearly budget,” he finished.

“If my request was turned down, where is this money going to come from?” she asked, looking more suspicious by the second.

“You let me worry about that,” he said, rising to his feet. “I’ll see that the appropriate amount is added to the day care’s account as of this afternoon. It should be accessible for whatever you need by tomorrow morning.”

Before she could question him further, he opened her office door and left to go to the TCC’s main office to make arrangements for the funding to be put into the day care’s account. He was going to be taking the money out of his own pocket to subsidize the center for the next month, but it would be worth it. For one thing, he wanted to prove to her that he wasn’t the nefarious SOB she apparently thought him to be. And for another, it was the only thing he could think of that might come close to atoning for his role in what happened three years ago.

Two

Kiley spent most of the next day jumping every time the door to the day care center opened. True to his word, Josh had added money to the center’s account and she did appreciate that. But it was his promised visits to observe how she ran things and to see what the funds were being used for that had her nerves stretched to the breaking point. She didn’t want to see him again or have to jump through hoops to get the money the center needed. Besides, every time she looked into his blue eyes, it reminded her that they shared a very intimate secret—one that, try as she might, she couldn’t forget.

“The children have put away the toys and I’ve finished reading them a story. Would you like for me to take them outside to the play area for a bit before we start practicing their songs?” Carrie Kramer asked, walking over to where Kiley had finished putting stars by the names of the children who had remembered to wash their hands before their afternoon snack.

“That would be great.” Kiley smiled at the young woman she’d hired to be her assistant after meeting her at the Royal Diner. “While they expend some of their excess energy outside, I’ll get things ready for us to practice their songs before they go home.”

As she watched Carrie help the children get their coats on and form a single line by the exit to the play yard, Kiley turned to go into her office for the things they would be using for the holiday program they were putting on for the parents the week before Christmas. Gathering the props, she decided she would have to make two trips as she turned to retrace her steps back into the main room. Distracted as she tried to remember everything they would need, she ran headlong into Josh standing just inside the doorway to her office.

“Oh, my dear heavens!” The giant jingle bells in the box she carried jangled loudly as she struggled to hang on to it.

Placing his hands on her shoulders to steady her, he frowned. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I called your name when I found the other room empty.”

The warmth of his hands seemed to burn through her pink silk blouse. Kiley quickly took a step back. “I must not have heard it over the sound of these bells.”

“Let me help you with these,” he said, taking the box from her. “Where are the kids?”

“My assistant took them outside for playtime before we start practicing for their Christmas program,” she said, picking up her CD player and several large plastic candy canes.

Their arms brushed as she walked past him, and an awareness she hadn’t felt in a very long time caused her heart to skip several beats. She did her best to ignore it.

“I intended to stop by earlier in the day, but I got tied up at one of our construction sites and it took longer than I anticipated,” he said, following her over to the brightly colored carpet where the children gathered for story time. “I wasn’t sure anyone would still be here. When do the kids go home?”

“Normally, all of the children get picked up by five-thirty,” she answered, setting the candy canes and the CD player on a small table. “But Gil Addison sometimes gets detained by club business and runs a few minutes late picking up his son, Cade.” A single father, the current president of the TCC had been one of the first to enroll his four-year-old son in the preschool class. Unlike the members of the funding committee, Gil seemed extremely enthusiastic about having the center at the clubhouse. “No matter what time it is, I stay until every child is safely in the care of their parents or someone they’ve designated to pick up the child.”

“So this isn’t just a nine-to-five job, then?” he asked, placing the box on the carpet.

“Not hardly.” Shaking her head, she removed a disc from its case to put in the player. “I have to be here at seven each morning to get things ready for the children’s arrival.”

“When is that?” he asked, his brow furrowing.

“A couple of them get here a few minutes after I do, but they’re all here between eight and eight-thirty,” she said, wondering why he was so interested in the hours the day care center operated. “Why do you ask?”

He ran his hand through his short, light brown hair. “I realize you’re working on contract with the club and aren’t paid overtime, no matter how many hours you work, but doesn’t that make for a pretty long day?”

She couldn’t help but smile. Being able to be with her daughter while she did her job was well worth any extra time she had to put in at the center. “I don’t mind. This is my dream job.”

“I guess if that’s what makes you happy,” he said, looking as if he couldn’t understand anyone feeling that way about working those kinds of hours with a group of small children.

When the children began filing into the room from outside, Kiley breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that she was afraid of Josh. But being alone with him made her feel jumpy and she welcomed the distraction of a roomful of toddlers and preschoolers. She wasn’t at all happy about the effect he had on her and refused to think about why he made her feel that way. She was almost certain she wouldn’t like the answer.

“After you’ve hung up your coats, I want you all to come over to the carpet and sit down, please,” she announced to the children. “We’re going to practice our songs for your Christmas program before you go home this afternoon.”

Her daughter ran over to wrap her arms around one of Kiley’s legs, then looked up at her and giggled. “Me sing.”

“That’s right, Emmie,” Kiley said, stroking her daughter’s dark blond hair as she smiled down at the only good to come out of her brief marriage. “Can you go over and sit with Elaina and Bobby so we can get started, please?”

Emmie nodded, then hurried over to join her two friends where they sat with the rest of the toddlers.

“Miss Kiley, Jimmy Joe Harper pulled my hair,” Sarah Bartlett accused, glaring at the little boy seated beside her.

“Jimmy Joe, did you pull Sarah’s hair again?” Even before he nodded, one look at the impish grin on the child’s face told Kiley that he had. “I’m sorry, but I told you that if you pulled Sarah’s pigtails again you’d have to sit in the ‘time out’ corner for five minutes.”

Without further instruction, the child obediently got to his feet and walked over to sit in a chair by himself in the far corner of the room. When she noticed Josh glancing from her to Jimmy Joe in the “time out” corner, Kiley raised an eyebrow. “Is there something wrong?”

“You didn’t even have to tell him to go over there,” he said, sounding as if he couldn’t quite believe a child would willingly accept his punishment. “And he didn’t protest at all.”

“Jimmy Joe is no stranger to the ‘time out’ corner,” Kiley answered, smiling fondly at the adorable red-haired little boy. “He loves aggravating Sarah.”

Josh looked confused. “Why?”

“Because he likes her.” Kiley turned to her assistant. “Could you please pass out the bells and candy canes, Carrie?”

“I see,” Josh said as a slow grin curved the corners of his mouth. “In other words, he’s teasing her to keep her attention focused on him.”

“Something...like that,” Kiley said, her breath catching at how handsome Josh looked when he smiled.

As her assistant finished handing each child an oversize bell or a giant plastic candy cane, Kiley queued up the music on her CD player and purposely avoided looking at Josh. He made her nervous and she wished he would leave. But it appeared as if he intended to stay for a while.

Deciding that as long as he was there, he might as well participate, she picked up one of the bells and shoved it into his hand. “I assume you know the words to ‘Jingle Bells’?”

He looked surprised, then determined as he shook his head. “Yes, I’m familiar with the song, but I’m afraid I can’t stay. I promised a friend I would stop by his place this afternoon and I’m already running late.”

“That’s a shame,” she lied. She had accomplished what she set out to do. He was going to leave. She couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe another time.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he said, sounding doubtful. He reached out and, taking her hand in his, placed the bell in the center of her palm, then gently folded her fingers around it with his other hand. “Will you be free tomorrow evening?”

Startled by his unexpected question and the warmth of his hands holding hers, she stared at him a moment before she managed to find her voice. “Wh-why?”

“I’d like to discuss a couple of things with you,” he said evasively. He gave her a smile that made her insides flutter. “Unfortunately, I don’t have time to talk to you about it now. I’ll come by here around five-thirty on Friday evening and we’ll have dinner in the club’s restaurant. They have an excellent menu and we’ll be able to talk without interruption.”

Kiley opened her mouth to refuse, but when he tenderly caressed her hand with his, she forgot anything she was about to say. As she watched him walk across the room to the door, she shook her head in an effort to regain her equilibrium.

What was Josh up to? And what did he think they needed to discuss? She had been quite clear when she spoke to the funding committee about the use of the extra money for the day care center. Surely he couldn’t want to talk about what happened that night....

“Miss Kiley, can I go back to the carpet now?” Jimmy Joe asked from the “time out” corner.