Winning the Teacher's Heart. Jean C. Gordon

shook off the water Connor had splashed in his face. A small mob of kids was invading the beach, led by several women, including Becca and Jinx Hazard Stacey. “Look out, Conn. They’re coming for you.”

      Connor paddled over to the dock ladder. “No, that’s the third-through sixth-grade kids,” he said over his shoulder. “They’re people. Nothing like the little darlings I got to experience down and dirty this morning.”

      Jared followed him up the ladder and picked up his towel. “You were two once. I remember you being two. Mom used to make me watch you in the backyard so she could get stuff done in the house.”

      “I was one kid. There was a whole herd of them at day care.”

      “Sure.” Jared toweled his hair dry.

      “So, this is where you ran off to,” Becca said.

      Jared peered out from under the towel to see her and Jinx stepping onto the dock.

      “You’ve got that right.” Connor tossed his towel over his shoulder and gave an exaggerated shudder.

      “You should have seen Connor,” Becca said. “I wish I’d had my phone with me to catch his look of pure terror when I walked him into the room after he’d agreed to help the teacher’s aide.”

      “I heard all about it.” Jared dried off quickly and pulled on his T-shirt, feeling inexplicably self-conscious in front of Becca and Jinx without it.

      “Hey, Donnelly, it’s okay. We’ve seen men at the beach before,” Jinx teased.

      Strange, the sun wasn’t that intense that his cheeks should feel so warm. “Jinx Hazard. How have you been?”

      “Emily Stacey now. And I’ve been good.”

      “I know, Mom and Gram have kept me up to date.”

      Becca pushed her hair behind her ears and looked from him to Jinx, seemingly confused by their banter. “I hadn’t realized you two were friends.”

      They weren’t really. They’d simply shared the affinity of both being students on the fringe of their high school’s cliques and an ambition to get out of Paradox Lake as soon as they’d graduated. He doubted Becca and her popular crowd had ever noticed either of them.

      “I could say the same about you two.”

      “When Emily returned to Paradox Lake to stay with her niece a few years ago, we connected and found we had a lot in common.”

      Becca caught and held his gaze until he contemplated another dive into the lake.

      “Jared.” Brendon and another boy about his size clambered onto the dock, breaking the connection. A connection that probably existed only in his wishful mind.

      “Tell Ian that you are the guy in my magazine. He doesn’t believe me.”

      “I am.”

      Brendon’s red-haired friend scrutinized him. “You sort of look like the picture.”

      “That’s your motorcycle in Pastor Connor’s driveway. Right, Jared?”

      “It is.”

      “Ian,” Becca said, coming to his and her son’s rescue. “This is Jared Donnelly. He’s the racer in the picture in Brendon’s magazine.”

      “Aunt Em. You know this guy?” Ian asked, skepticism still coloring his face.

       And Connor thought two-year-olds were tough.

      “Yes, Ian.” Patience laced Jinx’s face. “My brother’s oldest son,” she said as if that explained the little Doubting Thomas. “Jared is a champion racer.”

      “Former racer. I’ve retired.”

      “Get out!” Ian’s voice rose with excitement.

      “Told you,” Brendon said, shooting Jared a triumphant look. “Wait, aren’t you and Pastor Connor going to stay and swim with us?”

      “Brendon, I think Jared and Pastor Connor have finished swimming, and you and Ian are going to miss out if you don’t go and get your buddy tags.” Becca pointed to one of the other teachers on the beach handing out colored plastic bracelets.

      “See you, Jared. Remember you still owe me a ride on your bike.”

      “Your mom’s going to let you ride on his motorcycle?” Ian said in a loud whisper.

      “Why not? Yours lets you ride with your sister Autumn’s husband, Dr. Jon.”

      “Right, but he’s a doctor, not a motocross racer.”

      “Brendon,” Becca said.

      “Ian,” Emily echoed.

      “Go,” they both ordered.

      Connor laughed. “We’ll leave you to your charges.”

      Jared hesitated. He didn’t have anything else planned for the rest of the afternoon. “I can stay if you need another person to watch the kids swim.”

      “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

      “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.