Winning the Teacher's Heart. Jean C. Gordon

some questions.”

      “Ask away.” He leaned back in his seat.

      “Why? Why come back here when you could go anywhere?”

      He worked to maintain his casual pose, while a small blaze lit inside him. From her words, it sounded to him as if she was as opposed to him being in Paradox Lake as she was to him building his racing school here. He’d thought better of her. Correction. He’d thought better of the image of Becca he held in his head from high school. An image that could be all wrong.

      “Yes, I could go anywhere. I could build the school and motocross track here and run it from somewhere else. Let me ask you a question. Is it the racing school or me you have a problem with?”

      Becca blanched and he slunk down in his chair. What had gotten into him, jumping to a dumb conclusion like that? He knew. He wanted this project to succeed with the same competitive hunger that had made him a champion racer. And the stakes here were greater than any race’s.

      “I’m sorry if that’s how I sounded.”

      The contrition in her voice tore at him worse than her misinterpreted question.

      “I’ll start over. My neighbors and I have some valid concerns about a motocross track near our homes, some of the same concerns we had when Bert Miller was considering selling his property to a syndicate bidding on a state gambling license.”

      Becca was equating his racing school for needy kids to a gambling casino? The banked flame in his belly reignited.

      “Other people in the community may have issues, too. I thought it would help me if I knew why you wanted to build it here.”

      “Understandable. I...”

      The ring of her cell phone interrupted him.

      She pulled the phone from her pocket and glanced at it. “I have to take it. It could be about the kids.”

      Jared finished his coffee while Becca listened to the person at the other end of the call.

      “That was Debbie. My daughter’s running a temperature. I have to go.”

      “I hope Ari’s okay.”

      Becca stood and scooped up her purse. “It’s probably just a summer cold.”

      He pushed his chair back. “Let me know if you want to get together to talk about your concerns before the public forum. I can show you the plans and tell you more about them.”

      “Okay. I’ll call you at Connor’s. You do understand that it’s not personal.”

      “Of course.” He walked her out and they parted at her car. The problem was that it was personal for him—both his reasons for wanting to build the school and track in Paradox Lake and the urge he’d had earlier to pull Becca into his arms and comfort her when she’d blanched at his sharp question.