The Cinderella Plan. Margaret Daley

lip stuck out in a pout, his arms crossed over his chest. Silence eroded Caleb’s confidence that one day he would be able to reach him. He moved to stand in the boy’s direct line of vision.

      “I didn’t ask you to be my foster parent,” Dylan finally muttered, his gaze lifting to Caleb’s.

      “I know. I want to be.”

      “Why?”

      “Because I think we need each other.”

      “I don’t need you.” Dylan dropped his gaze away, hugging his arms to his chest.

      “But I need you.”

      For a long moment Caleb wasn’t even sure that Dylan had heard him this time. Then the boy drew in his lower lip and chewed on it, his shoulders now bowed as though he were an old man. In many ways he had seen more of the darker side of life than most at his age. Thinking about the boy’s past only reaffirmed Caleb’s need to pierce through Dylan’s armor and reach him. He hadn’t lied to the child. He needed him.

      Dylan was his chance to right a wrong.

      Tension knotted Anne’s neck, causing her shoulders to ache and a dull pain to throb behind her eyes. She stood and stretched, rolling her head. She had spent an hour looking through the old ledgers, and yet, she hadn’t found anything to help Kelly. Maybe the answers weren’t in the books, but she couldn’t rule them out.

      Checking her watch, she hurriedly shut the book and put it on the top of the stack of old ledgers for the adoption agency. She hadn’t realized how late it was. She needed to get to the youth center to help make the decorations for the carnival. With a glance out the window she noticed that dusk began to blanket the landscape.

      Snatching up her purse, she rushed from her office, arriving at the center ten minutes later. The lights in the building blazed as the dark shadows of night crept closer. She was never late, but she had become so absorbed earlier in the ledgers that she’d lost track of time, which was most unusual for her. Lately she had felt many things about her life weren’t usual. She didn’t like not having control over what was going on. But worse, she was wrestling with whom she was, questioning how she saw herself.

      In the arts-and-crafts room, Caleb looked up from sprinkling silver glitter all over a large star. “I was wondering where you were. I was going to give you fifteen more minutes and then send out a posse.”

      “Yeah. I’ve never seen someone look at the clock so much,” Gina mumbled, whisking the star away from Caleb and replacing it with another one to be decorated.

      “He was cutting out the stars until he cut off one of the points. He’s been banned from using a pair of scissors.”

      Anne offered a weak smile. “Sorry I’m late. I got busy and forgot the time. What do you need me to do?”

      “Help Caleb with the stars.” Gina moved over to let Anne sit next to him. “He needs help. Desperately.”

      “Hey, I’m not that bad,” Caleb muttered and proceeded to dump more glitter on the table than the star in front of him.

      As Anne worked, her arm brushed against Caleb’s. She started to scoot her chair over to give them more room but noticed that Gina had her penned in. The teenager flashed her a smile and winked. If Anne didn’t know better, she would think that Gina was sitting too close on purpose. But why would she do that?

      Caleb reached for another star and their arms touched again. “Sorry about that. It’s a little crowded in here.”

      He turned to Nikki next to him and asked her to move over. Her chair scraped across the wooden floor maybe a whole two inches. Caleb gave her a quizzical look. The child busied herself with cutting out a star.

      He bent close to Anne’s ear and whispered, “Is something going on that you and I don’t know about?”

      She shrugged, unable to say anything because all her senses honed in on Caleb’s nearness that brought his scent wafting to her nose. His warm breath fanned her skin below her ear until it became hot and cold at the same time.

      “Guys, give us some room here,” Caleb said after he nearly elbowed Anne in the side while reaching for another star. “Maybe one of you could work at the other table or I could—”

      Nikki shot to her feet, toppling over her chair in her haste. “I’ll move. You can stay put.”

      After the girl took her paper and scissors and parked herself at the other table with Billy, Dylan and Jeremy, Caleb righted Nikki’s chair, then moved it around so he could scoot his down. Disappointment fluttered through Anne now that she had breathing room.

      “I tried, Anne,” Gina whispered.

      Anne peered at the girl. “Tried what?”

      Gina tossed her head in the direction of Caleb. “You know, to help you with Caleb.”

      “Help me?” Her question squeaked out louder than Anne had intended. A few people, including Caleb, glanced her way. She edged toward Gina and lowered her voice, asking, “What are you all up to?”

      “Oh, nothing. Just helping a friend get what she wants.” Gina straightened away from her, winked again and resumed working.

      Short of making a scene Anne didn’t think she would get anything else out of Gina—like what in the world was she up to. But she knew now that the girl thought she had a crush on Caleb—which she did. Embarrassment burned her cheeks as she thought of who else might think that. She hoped Caleb was clueless. If she thought he realized how she felt, she would—she wasn’t sure what she would do.

      While reaching for the glitter, she chanced a look toward Caleb, and just at that moment, he lifted his head. He smiled at her. Warmth flushed her. When his gaze caught hers and held it, she didn’t look at what she was doing. Her fingers fumbled. The jar tipped over, scattering silver glitter all over the table, completely outdoing Caleb’s earlier sloppiness.

      The sound of the plastic container rolling off the table and bouncing on the floor dominated the sudden silence. Caleb peered away, breaking his visual hold while she saw the mess she’d made and cringed. Leaping to her feet, she tried to clean up all the glitter. Caleb rose, too. Her hands shook as she swept the silver sprinkles into a pile while he scooped them up into the jar. She felt as though she were all thumbs, not able to do anything right when she was in his presence. She’d never had this problem before meeting Caleb Williams. What must he think of her?

      “No harm done,” Caleb said, setting the jar back on the table, minus just a little silver glitter.

      “You know, Anne, that’s not a bad idea for us to sprinkle glitter all around,” Gina said. “It adds a special touch to the room.”

      “You didn’t say that when I spilled some,” Caleb interjected with humor in his voice.

      “Yeah, I like it, Gina,” Tiffany said while the guys groaned.

      “There’ll be enough swords and dragons for you all, so a little glitter won’t hurt,” Nikki said to the boys.

      “A little!” Jeremy snorted. “I’ll be tracking this all over the place. Mom won’t let me in the house.”

      Anne noticed Dylan lower his head and appear as though what he was cutting out was the most fascinating activity he could do. He hung out on the fringe, much as she had done while growing up.

      “A little glitter never hurt anyone. It makes the world sparkle.” Nikki took the glitter she was working with and tossed some at Jeremy.

      He jumped back, his chair crashing to the floor. He grabbed the jar that had begun this whole episode, cupped his hand and poured some into it. He started around the table to get at Nikki. She shrieked and ran to Caleb.

      Laughing, he sidestepped at the exact second Jeremy threw the silver glitter at Nikki, who managed to leap away, too. The sparkles caught the light and gleamed as they floated to the floor.