Twins for the Teacher

“Yesterday he had four check marks. I kept him inside during the entire twenty-minute afternoon recess. Instead of sitting quietly or reading, he kicked the underside of his desk the entire time. He’s also not doing any homework. This morning I found a lot of the workbook pages I assigned wadded up in his backpack.”

“I wondered about that. Alli seems to have at least a half hour of homework every night and Ethan always says he has none.”

“Carrie Hillhouse and I do a lot of team teaching. She’d planned to attend this meeting, but she had an emergency. She teaches my class social studies, for example, and I teach hers science. We do a lot of the same lessons and we’re planning to take both our classes on a field trip to the Shepherd of the Hills fish hatchery just below the Table Rock Dam the second week of May. We’re studying pond and river habitats, and the hatchery is the largest trout-production facility in Missouri. I’d hate for Ethan to not be able to join us.”

Hank knew many hotel guests visited the site, but he hadn’t yet been there himself. He hadn’t done any Branson shows either, and Branson had more theater seats than Broadway in New York City. “I think Ethan would like to see the fish,” Hank said.

Jolie brushed a loose tendril of hair from her face. Her hair was a soft brown that looked almost auburn in the light of her desk lamp. And Hank wondered how silky it would feel. As he had the first time he’d seen her, he couldn’t help noticing that Jolie Tomlinson was extremely attractive. He had the sudden urge to find out…He shook his head. She was his kids’ teacher. What was he thinking?

“Yes, Ethan has told me he wants to go on the trip,” Jolie responded. “And I think we can use the trip as extra incentive for him to improve his behavior. Your son is a very smart boy.

“He loves to read, so that’s not a problem area. I tested him in math, and he’s low. But not too low,” she added quickly. “I think it’s more that his grandmother didn’t teach him a few concepts other kids his age learn, rather than any lack of ability on Ethan’s part. Some after-school tutoring would bring him up to grade level by the end of the year. I’m confident he’ll catch on quickly.”

“Will that be available during latchkey?” Hank asked, suddenly overwhelmed by everything. They had yet to discuss the behavior plan.

He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back off his face. Fatherhood didn’t come with an instruction manual, and at the moment Hank really wished it did. Luckily it seemed that Jolie had the answer. She was the professional and he needed her help. “Just tell me what I need to do.”

SHE WAS LOSING him. She’d seen the eyes of many a parent glaze over when discussing their children’s problems.

She knew the symptoms. The parents, or parent in this case, were well-adjusted people. They held good jobs, made decent money. They loved their offspring and weren’t abusive or neglectful. So how could they have children who had issues? They always figured she somehow knew all the answers.

Unfortunately neither of her college degrees came with magic wands. Still, she’d been taught some solutions and developed tenacity. You kept applying various strategies until one clicked. Something about Hank made her desire to help even stronger than usual. Maybe she was simply a sucker for a handsome face.

No, that wasn’t it. She empathized with his plight. She wanted the best for him and his kids, the same thing she wanted for all her students and their parents. She reassured herself her motives were purely professional.

“Mr. Friesen,” she began, careful of the words she used. “Ethan is a ten-year-old boy. He’s not showing any signs of anything but being a normal boy who hasn’t grown up attending regular school. I’m planning on working with him after school to teach him math. I also think this will help with some of the behavior issues, as he’ll be getting extra face time with me. I suspect some of the motivation behind his behavior is that he wants my attention and is willing to do negative things to get it. If he can have my attention in a positive way, such as in a one-on-one tutoring session, that should reduce his outbursts.”

“So that’s math. How will the behavior plan work?” Hank asked.

“I have a copy of the plan I use with another student. I will be tweaking it slightly for Ethan.”

Jolie handed him the sheet of paper. “Basically for every half day Ethan goes without a check mark, he earns one point. At the end of the week he should have ten points. You’ll see the redemption chart at the bottom of the page. The first reward, which is five minutes extra recess time, is achievable after ten points. If he gets a check mark, he doesn’t lose his previous points, but it will take him longer to earn the reward, since he won’t earn any points when he gets a check.”

“Do you think he can go a week?” Hank asked. His gray eyes held her gaze. He had nice eyes…She blinked and glanced away.

“I’m going to allow Ethan to earn the first reward after six points or three days. It’s a teaser, but like a free month of cable or Internet, the reward is designed to hook you into using the program and staying with it.”

Hank nodded. “What about home?”

He hadn’t objected, which was a huge positive. “I would suggest that you reinforce everything I do here. For homework completion he earns one point. For each day with no checks he earns a point. Then place a value on something he really wants and have him earn it.”

Hank frowned as he contemplated the plan. “Should I discipline him if he gets check marks at school?”

“That’s up to you. I’m already giving him consequences here in the classroom. But taking away his video-game system or not letting him watch television until his homework is done or until he behaves the next day would tell him that you want him to act properly no matter where he is. The key is, you must be consistent. You can’t back down. If you do, your plan and mine will fail.”

“Do you have kids?” he asked.

The question caught her off guard and she swallowed hard. “No.”

He waited, then continued speaking when she didn’t say anything more. “I guess we can try this. We’re already in a period of flux, so maybe some set guidelines would help. I know this is an unsettled time for the kids. They were five when their mother died of ovarian cancer. And their grandmother has played a huge role in raising them since then. This is our first real attempt at being just the three of us on our own.”

Jolie nodded her encouragement, appreciating that he was opening up to her. He was a man of strong character, the kind of man she’d always hoped to marry. She smiled. “I understand and please be assured I’m going to do everything I can to help you. Knowing your background helps.”

Hank’s pager beeped. “Sorry.” He removed the pager from his belt and pressed a button, frowning as he read the number. “This isn’t good. Will you excuse me a moment? It’s work.”

“Certainly,” Jolie said. Hank stood and headed to the hallway. Through the open door, she watched him take out his cell phone, make a call and pace as he gave instructions to whoever was on the other end. She could hear snippets of his side of the conversation now and then, something to do with a corporate report and some revenue figures.

Jolie reached forward and looked over the behavior plan she’d handed Hank. In her conversations with Ethan he’d often complained that his dad worked all the time. She frowned. Hank had been interrupted in the middle of a scheduled conference. Surely the hotel could survive without him for an hour.

Hank was obviously struggling, like many single parents, to make things work for his family. They’d probably all been happy once, before his wife’s illness. Hank was the provider; his wife was probably the stay-at-home nurturer. And then the grandmother had replaced her in that role. Now it was just Hank, all by himself, living in a hotel where the job was twenty-four/seven, trying to help his children settle into a new town and a new life. He relied on staff for roles that should be filled by family. The balance was upset. Hank needed help to keep his little family together.

He finished his call and came back into the room. “I’m sorry about that,” he apologized. “I cleared my afternoon, but emergencies come up. It goes with the territory, I guess.”

She smiled sympathetically. “Are you going to be able to pick up the children after our meeting? Ethan mentioned that you’d said they might get to do something touristy tonight. He’s worried that because of our talk he might not get to go.”

“I’ll sit down with him tomorrow and discuss everything. Tonight we have tickets to the Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede. I heard it was good. All finger food and a trick-horseback-riding show.”

“I haven’t seen it, but, yes, it’s supposed to be fantastic. I’d dress in jeans, though.”

Hank’s smile split his face and Jolie felt a slight pang of longing. While many men in their midforties were sporting beer bellies and bald spots, Hank had aged like George Clooney. He was like a fine wine, only getting better with age.

His hair was rich and thick. His gray eyes crinkled at the corners, but those tiny laugh lines only added character to his handsome face. She’d definitely be interested if she’d met him in another place and another time.

It was an unspoken rule that you didn’t date your students’ parents. Not that Hank would be interested in her, anyway. The man had enough baggage and complications in his life. If he did date, he’d probably choose someone more glamorous and worldly. She had no idea what his wife had been like, but if she was half as pretty as her daughter, she’d been beautiful.

“I’ll wear jeans,” Hank responded to her earlier comment. “Ethan and Alli don’t know it yet, but they’re going to be special guests and participate in one of the events.”

“That sounds wonderful. Ethan will really like that. Even more, I think he’ll enjoy spending time with you,” Jolie said. “I’ll be telling him about the behavior plan on Monday. When you talk to him tomorrow, feel free to let him know it’s coming. The more you show your support for what I do here at school, the better.”

“I’m happy to help in any way,” Hank said. He reached for the copy of the plan, folded it in thirds and tucked it into an inside jacket pocket. He stood again, and Jolie noticed the cut of his suit. It certainly hadn’t come off the rack as her brothers’ suits had, and she thought the three Tomlinson boys looked pretty good all decked out. Hank was divine.

“Thank you for coming in,” Jolie said, rising to her feet. She didn’t tower over him, which made a nice change from a lot of the other men she met. Growing up, she’d endured plenty of jokes about the weather up there, and, no, she didn’t play basketball. “If there’s anything I can do, don’t hesitate to let me know.”

She reached into a business-card holder and handed him a card. “This is the direct line into my classroom. If I can’t answer, you’ll get my voice mail.”

“Great.” He handed her one of his cards. “The best way to reach me is to page me. My e-mail address and pager number are at the bottom.”

“Thank you. I’ll e-mail you Monday afternoon and let you know how the day goes.”

“That sounds great.” Hank reached out and shook her hand, and this time Jolie noticed how firm but gentle his grip was. A delicious shiver ran up her arm from the contact. “I appreciate everything you’re doing for Ethan.”

And with that, he was out the door. It was Friday and there were five weeks of school left before summer vacation. She had plenty to do, but for the first time in a long time, she was too distracted to think about work.

Hank had unnerved her. He was the kind of man she’d dreamed about long ago when she’d believed in fairy tales. And he was way out of her league.

“SO HOW’S SCHOOL going? Ready for summer break?”

“Am I ever not?” Jolie answered her mother with a chuckle. Jolie lifted the bowl of potato salad and trekked the short distance to the oversize screened-in porch where all the food would be set out. It was Sunday, two days after her conference with Hank, and the entire Tomlinson clan had gathered to celebrate her sister Jennifer’s twenty-eighth birthday.