The Trouble with Bree (Spotlight #1.5) Read online

  I carefully considered the cookies before sliding one back over to him. I cracked mine open and pulled out the fortune. “What does yours say?”

  He looked down at the piece of paper and smiled. “Tell me yours first.”

  “It says whatever your goal is in life, visualize it, embrace it, it will be yours.” I needed to tape that on the fridge.

  “Mine says your shoes will make you happy today.” He looked down at his feet. “They haven’t wronged me yet.”

  It felt really good to laugh. I hadn’t been sure if I should’ve let him come over, but his fortune told me I’d made the right decision.

  “How are things at school?” I desperately needed to hear something normal as we sat on the couch and dug in to our food. If we’d been smart, we would have brought all the containers out here with us.

  “Busy. We’re still getting everyone registered, finalizing curriculum. This is my first year here and we have a lot of new teachers. We’ve been working really hard to make sure the year starts smoothly for everyone.”

  “I appreciate that.” Landon couldn’t wait to go to school, and I’d be crushed if he got there and hated it. “Where did you work before?”

  “Nowhere.” Josh looked down at his plate. “I just got my master’s degree in January. These guys took a chance on me, and I’m really grateful for it.”

  “That’s awesome.” He did say he was new, but I thought maybe he’d been promoted.

  He ran a hand through his hair. The curls didn’t go back to the exact same place. “Does it bother you? To have someone so new be in charge of Landon’s school?”

  “Are people giving you a hard time because you’re young?” I asked. I did some quick math in my head, and settled on Josh being twenty-five.

  “Yeah.” Josh looked a defeated. “The administrators wanted someone fresh, but then they’re not always open to new ideas. It’s a struggle.”

  “This is what I think. I’ve been in charge of Landon up until now, and something tells me you’re a couple years older than me. I’m a little biased, but I like to think I’m doing all right. So if I can do it, you can totally handle him three mornings a week.”

  Josh leaned back on the couch, relief washing over his face. Maybe his age did bother some other people. Whatever. People judged first and asked questions later. I stopped letting it bother me when I had to bring Landon with me to high school. “I knew I liked you,” he said.

  “Did you?” A smile spread across my face.

  “You were the best fifteen minutes of my day.” He nodded. “Those evaluations can be pretty stiff, but with you guys, I felt like I was talking to friends. That’s why I asked if I could see you again. To be honest with you, I shouldn’t be doing this.”

  And there it was. The catch. “Why?”

  “It’s against school policy to have a relationship with the students outside of school related activities. That includes their parents.”

  “That makes sense.” There were so many creeps out there, in most circumstances, I’d be one hundred percent in favor of that rule. But now I was wondering what the loophole was.

  Josh had gone back to the kitchen for a second round of food, and dropped another Rangoon on my plate when he came back. “That’s actually why I didn’t get in touch with you right away. But I just moved here, and you were the first girl I couldn’t stop thinking about.”

  My heart stuttered in my chest, confused. He couldn’t stop thinking about me, but he already had his doubts. He was putting a lot on the line by just being here. “I’d said on the way to the meeting that I was never going to date again.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “So we’re both breaking the rules.”

  My phone rang before I had a chance to say anything. It couldn’t have been anyone but Daisy. My blood ran cold. “Are you going to answer that?” Josh asked.

  I said a quick prayer for good news as I put the phone up to my ear. But Daisy’s sobs told me everything that she couldn’t.

  Ev didn’t make it.

  Letting the phone fall from my ear when the conversation ended, I stared into space but saw nothing. The shock blocked everything, the tears, the emotion, all of it.

  “Hey,” Josh said softly and I jumped as he put his hand on my knee. “That didn’t sound like good news.”

  I shook my head, trying to make the words come, and that’s when I lost it. Josh wrapped his arms around me and let me cry on his shoulder. “She’s dead.” I finally managed, something cracking inside of me when I said it. “But the baby made it.”

  “Jesus.” Josh pulled me in closer. “How far along was she?”

  “Not even six months. He’s going to be in the hospital for a long time.” I could only pray we weren’t having this conversation again in a couple weeks for the baby.

  “They can work miracles now.” His hand moved softly up and down my back. I should have pulled myself away from him, but instead he moved his fingers up to my hair and I nestled in closer. “We have quite a few kids enrolled that were born very prematurely that are doing just fine. Babies are troopers.”

  “I know. But he needs his mother, and she can’t be there for him.” I broke down all over again. He’d lost everything before he even took his first breath on his own. It wasn’t fair.

  “Yeah.” Josh sounded far away. “I bet that kid surprises you.”

  I smiled, knowing that any kid that had Ev as a mother, even if he’d never get to meet her, wouldn’t give up without a fight. “I bet you’re right.”

  Chapter Six

  Losing Ev blew a hole in all of our lives. There were so many times that I wanted to pick the phone and ask her about something that no one else could answer for me. Everywhere I looked, I was reminded of her. A song would come on the radio she had loved to sing, or I’d see something she’d be able to finesse into awesomeness. Daisy looked like she’d had a limb ripped from her body, empty and drained.

  It was the first day after the services, and the boys were being awful, fighting with each other about everything. Or maybe my patience was just fried. It didn’t matter what the cause was, they were driving me crazy. I’d just sent Landon to his room to get him away from his brother, and he was howling in protest.

  “Sounds like things are pretty interesting over there,” Josh chuckled when I answered his call. I almost didn’t, I was so exhausted it actually took effort to speak.

  “That’s behind a closed door.” He must have thought I was a horrible mother. He worked with kids, so he should understand. “And over Legos, I might add. Which there are approximately a million of in this house.”

  “The right Lego piece can make or break a project.” Josh sympathized with Landon. Lucas was happily playing with the Legos in the middle of the living room floor now that his brother wasn’t trying to be the boss of him. “Maybe it’s a guy thing, but the tantrum makes a little more sense to me now.”

  “If I had any government secrets right now, I’d spill them to get him to be quiet.” I rubbed my forehead, but the only thing that was going to make this headache go away was a nap. That was never going to happen. “I missed you the last couple of days.”

  And I was terrified he wasn’t going to call me again. Normally I wouldn’t be sitting around waiting for some guy to call me, but I wasn’t going to mess with his job. This was something I had to let him do. But he did it, and I wasn’t going to let him second guess himself.

  “I missed you, too. Are you going to be free anytime soon?” he asked.

  Old Bree would have said no, she was busy, and played games. But if I’d learned anything this week, it was that I didn’t have time for that shit anymore. “Yeah.”

  “If I remember correctly, you were looking for some career advice. And I believe that I suggested that dinner would be the perfect place to discuss your future?”

  Landon let out a pathetic howl. Just to make sure he wasn’t bleeding profusely, I opened the door a crack, and he was even more pissed off to see the huge smile on m
y face. He buried his head in his comforter and whimpered, and I leaned against the door after I closed it again, trying not to laugh.

  “That does sound like a very solid plan.” I let my giggles out. Landon kicked the wall, bringing reality rushing back. “But my mom had the kids all week. She’s going to be too tired to babysit again for like a year.”

  “What if we brought the boys with us?” Josh suggested. I was glad he couldn’t see my eyes almost fall out of my head. “They do like to eat dinner, right?”

  “They like chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs and cut up hot dogs, both of which are served in all fine dining establishments.” I laughed. “Are you sure about this?” I mean, seeing me on the sly was one thing, but going out in public with Landon? Another howl came from behind the door. I wasn’t sure anyone would want to be seen in public with that kid right now, but Josh was playing with fire.

  And I knew better than this, bringing guys around the boys too soon. Everyone wanted to make nice with my kids when they were trying to impress me, but they forgot all about them when they didn’t want anything to do with me anymore. It was bad enough when some jackass made me cry because he left me, but when he did it to my kids, that made me murderous.

  “Yeah. Bree, there are two things you’re going to learn that I take very seriously: food and the future. They’re the two things you can control to ensure your own happiness.”

  **

  My first official date with Josh was at Friendly’s. We had two little escorts in tow, three if you counted Bish. Even though Josh had already been to the house, the kids didn’t know that, and we decided that it was best to meet at the restaurant.

  “Do you guys remember Mr. Maxwell?” I asked, feeling foolishly formal. Landon nodded, smiling, and Lucas handed him Bish. Josh had no idea what high praise that was.

  “I know this guy.” Josh examined Bish closely before twisting him back and forth to make him look like he was swimming before Lucas took him back, squealing with laughter. “You guys can call me Josh.”

  That could cause some problems on the first day of school. I raised an eyebrow, but Josh shrugged it off. “The mister thing is just too weird. I’m not going to use it at school.”

  So Josh didn’t take well to convention. Good to know. I let Lucas slide down my body once we got in the lobby, and Josh looked like he wanted to do….something. He raised his hand but didn’t touch me. “You look great,” he said.

  “Thanks.” I didn’t go all out, since we were at a pretty casual place. But this was the first time Josh had seen me with makeup on, I wore my hair down, and put on the cutest top I had.

  The hostess brought us to a booth. By the time I buckled Lucas into his booster seat, Landon and Josh had their heads together, crayons in hand, working on the treasure map on the back of the place mat.

  “I haven’t been to a Friendly’s in forever.” Josh tapped his foot under the table as he considered the menu.

  “Nothing’s changed. A couple new ice cream flavors, that’s it.”

  “Nice.” Josh put down his menu and nudged Landon. “What’s your favorite kind of ice cream?”

  Landon considered this very important question carefully. “Strawberry.”

  “That’s news to me.” I think he’d had it once.

  “What about you?” Josh asked Lucas.

  “Chocolate.” That was more like it.

  Once we ordered burgers for ourselves and hot dogs for the boys, Josh got down to business. “So you wanted to know about becoming an administrator?”

  “Well, yeah.” To be honest, I’d been more interested in doing career research before I’d spent two hours cuddling on the couch with him. Maybe he was trying to keep up the professional façade in public, but it threw me for a loop. “You’re so young, and, well how old are you?”

  “I’m twenty-six.” I was close. “You?”

  “I’m twenty-one.” I waited for the inevitable look that came any time anyone did the math on that one, but it didn’t come. “Anyway, it’s a pretty big position, and now that I know you went straight into that, I guess I’m intrigued.” And pretty impressed. I’d be lucky if I got my associates degree by twenty-six.

  “I’ve watched a lot of kids slip through the cracks.” Josh looked down at his hands, then back up at me. Something in his eyes had changed, and I had a feeling he’d pulled himself up out of one of those cracks. “I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen to more kids.”

  “I think that’s one of the reasons I was interested in why you did it.” I understood more than I wanted to. “People like to make a lot of decisions for you when you’re a kid, and they’re not always the right ones.”

  “Exactly.” He smiled, but he bit his lip. “You said you were taking classes?”

  “I’m starting in a couple weeks. Now that Landon will be in school a couple days a week, and Lucas is old enough that he can entertain himself for a little while, I can do it. But it’s just a couple of classes, online.”

  Josh shook his head. “Don’t discount what you’re doing, Bree. It’s a big decision to start school. You should be proud of yourself.”

  My belly warmed, it had been a long time since anyone even suggested that. “I am.” Maybe I wouldn’t go that far, but it was the first thing I’d done for myself in a long time, and I was excited about it. “I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but if I waited to figure that out, I’d never start anything.”

  “Nope. Sometimes you just have to jump.” The waitress brought us our sodas and Josh paused to take a sip. “When they offered me this job, I moved here from New York, no questions asked. I knew I wasn’t going to get an opportunity like this again if I waited for everything to be perfect.”

  “You should have been a motivational speaker.” I nudged him under the table with my knee, but I didn’t expect him to catch my leg, leaving his hand on my knee.

  Above the table, serious as ever. He was going to make me explode. “What classes did you sign up for?”

  “English composition and psychology.” I don’t know why I was excited about psychology, but I was. “Just basic stuff.”

  “Good place to start.”

  “Mama, I don’t like it.” Landon made a face like he’d been poisoned and pushed his strawberry milk away.

  “You just said that was your favorite.” I sighed, then took a sip to make sure nothing was wrong with it. Delicious. I switched his drink with Lucas’ chocolate milk. Lucas would eat anything I gave him, and Landon was happy. Problem solved.

  Josh’s hand was still on my knee. “We don’t have to be so formal, you know,” I said, bouncing my leg up and tossing a sideways glance to the kids, who were happily coloring on their mats. “They don’t judge.”

  When our eyes caught, Josh’s expression was anything but businesslike. Heat rose in my cheeks. The kids might not judge, but I’d never been out on a date in this stage of a relationship with them. It was strange and confusing, and as much as I was starting to like Josh, it was totally unnerving. But like he said, if I waited for everything to be perfect, nothing was ever going to happen.

  The waitress brought our food, and it snapped the bolt of electricity that was surging between the two of us. I got the kids’ food situated, then put ketchup on my burger.

  “You’re good at this,” Josh said softly. I looked up at him, still chewing, puzzled. “Does anyone ever tell you that?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean.” I looked down at my plate, then back up at Josh. “Eating?”

  He shook his head. “No, with the kids. I know it’s not easy. But you make it look that way.”

  “Oh.” He was right. “No, no one ever says that.” A lot of people liked to give me what I made myself think of as constructive criticism for my own sanity. Compliments were few and far between. “Thank you.”

  “I have an idea. Do you want to get ice cream down at the waterfront and bring these guys to the park?” Two excited sets of eyes turned toward Josh at the P wo
rd, then to me. Like I had any choice once that suggestion had been put on the table.

  I laughed. “Let me just get one thing straight. Are you dating me or dating them?”

  He shrugged. “I thought you guys were a package deal.”

  “Mr. Maxwell, you are a very smart man.” The kids were still waiting for the verdict. “Of course we can.”

  Chapter Seven

  Everyone was covered in ice cream minutes after we got to the park. I’d come prepared, and cleaned up the boys and Bish with baby wipes once they finished their cones, then handed one to Josh.

  “You’re not going to do it for me?” He raised an eyebrow. The boys had already run over to pirate house, and we were alone for the first time tonight. The park had quieted, most of the kids had gone home for dinner.

  “Come here.” I started with his hands, slowly wiping the cloth down each of his fingers and his forearms, then grabbed a clean wipe from my bag and traced this lips, our eyes locking. “How’s that?”

  He grabbed my hand, wipe still in it, and slid his fingers between mine. Moving our hands down, he pulled me in to him. I was trembling, my eyes only breaking contact with his to make sure the kids were okay. Lucas needed to be watched really closely on that thing.

  “It’s good.” Josh put his fingers under my chin and moved my eyes back to his. We were so close, and I wasn’t sure what he was going to do. There were still a few kids running around, their parents on benches, but I had to block it all out as Josh leaned in close and kissed me right below my lips. “You had a little bit right there,” he murmured against my chin.

  It had been a long time since I’d had my first kiss at a playground. Like since I was fourteen and had to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night. This one was way hotter.

  Lucas tackled my legs, pushing me into Josh. “Swings!”

  “Where’s your brother?” I asked, horrified that I didn’t know. Lucas motioned toward the swings. Landon lay on his stomach over the swing, head and legs hanging close to the dirt as he moved back and forth. “Shit.” I picked up Lucas and dragged Josh over with my free hand.