Montana Mornings (The Wildes of Birch Bay Book 3) Page 11

Erica could get whiplash with the subject changes from this child, but the significance of each topic imbedded deep inside her. She felt as if she might be edging out to the thinnest ice in the deepest part of the pond, but she couldn’t simply ignore the fact that Jenna was reaching out. The child needed someone to talk to. “And how do you feel about your mom, Jenna?”

  Jenna blinked at the question. “I don’t know. I guess I hate her, too. She was never very nice to me, and anyway, she has a boyfriend now. She likes him way better than me.”

  It was now Erica’s turn to stare. The poor thing.

  The door opened, and Erica jumped in surprise, her pulse spiking. Then she forced her gaze from Jenna’s to find Dani rushing in. Hannah arrived two steps behind Dani.

  “I am so sorry, Jenna.” Hannah ran to the little girl, dropping to her knees in front of her. “I stayed at school too long, and then I got stuck in traffic.” She glanced up at Erica and Dani with a panic-stricken look, then back to Jenna. None of them had moved. Her throat worked and she held up her hand, showing them a phone with a shattered screen. “And I dropped my stupid phone running to the car—” Her voice cracked, and Jenna flung her arms around Hannah’s neck.

  Jenna clung to the other girl as if she’d never let her go, her body shaking like a leaf.

  “I’m sorry, Jenna,” Hannah whispered. She stroked Jenna’s back. “I’d never leave you.”

  Jenna didn’t speak, but she also didn’t turn Hannah loose. Erica looked over the teenager’s head to Dani and caught tears in the other woman’s eyes, just as she felt the sting in her own.

  Finally, the girl released her babysitter and took a tiny step back.

  “I wasn’t worried,” Jenna told Hannah. Her voice sounded far braver than all of them knew she felt. “I knew you’d be here. I told everyone you’d be here, but they made me come back down to Ms. Bird’s room.”

  Hannah rose to her feet, pulling the seven-year-old up with her and letting her ride on her hip. “It looks to me like you were having a lot of fun.”

  Jenna looked down at the desk. At the paper she’d been working on. And Erica could see that the fight had returned. Jenna wanted to declare that she’d had no fun at all with her teacher. That she hadn’t even wanted to be in the classroom to begin with. But then something miraculous occurred. Jenna lifted her eyes directly to Erica’s, and her blue gaze softened. The tension seeped from her little body as she snuggled in tighter to Hannah, her head tilting against Hannah’s neck, and darned if she didn’t give Erica a smile that totally melted her heart.

  “I was helping Ms. Bird,” she said. “She needed my help to grade the papers.”

  “Is that right?” Hannah asked. She looked over the work laid out on the desk beside them, and nodded as if in appreciation of the great effort that had been put into the grading. “Do you need to finish what you were working on so you don’t leave Ms. Bird in the lurch?”

  Jenna lifted her head. “What’s ‘lurch’?”

  Hannah smiled. “So you don’t leave her needing someone to finish that page.”

  “Oh.” Jenna quickly scrambled down. She returned to the desk, but stopped before she sat, and looked up at Erica. “Did you need me to finish this one?”

  Erica nodded. “I do. Thank you very much. That would be a huge help.”

  Color bloomed across Jenna’s cheeks. “You’re welcome.”

  As Jenna settled back into her chair and pulled the two pieces of paper over to her, Erica forced herself to sit, as well. She didn’t want the three of them to all be looking down on the girl. And as she did, she couldn’t help but see love literally spilling out of Dani’s eyes as the aunt looked on. Erica was pretty sure that she and Dani were thinking along the same lines. Her niece had just shed a layer of the shield she wore so tightly these days. Hopefully it would be only one of many layers to fall over time.

  When finished with the paper, Jenna read over the chart to find the correct score for the number of misspelled words, then carefully wrote out the grade at the top of the page. She then stood, and without prompting, moved the chair she’d been sitting in back to its original location before crossing to the whiteboard at the side of the room.

  At Dani and Hannah’s quizzical expressions, Erica followed and helped Jenna to pull out the small stool provided so the kids could reach up high on the board. Jenna got the stool in just the right place, picked out a black dry-erase marker from the attached tray, and climbed on top of the stool. She reached up high, brows furrowed in concentration, and used the tip of the marker to carefully draw out a perfect little check mark beside her name.

  Gabe watched his daughter through his kitchen window as she paced in a tight path in the backyard. She had Mike by her side and looked tiny among the tall pines, while her attention remained focused entirely across the street. She’d been like that for the last ten minutes.

  She looked at him then, and nodded, and he gave a returning nod of okay. And then she jumped into action.

  “Ms. Bird!”

  He could hear her through the closed window.

  “Ms. Bird!” Her small hand waved back and forth above her head.

  It was only a second before Jenna whooped with excitement and headed for the fence’s gate. Gabe leaned forward and watched, hoping she didn’t forget the rules—but willing to forgive her if she did. It was rare to catch her in this good of a mood.

  But she didn’t forget. She stopped inside the gate.

  “How are you today, Jenna?”

  Gabe couldn’t see Erica.

  “I’m amazing,” Jenna gushed to their neighbor. “Did Daddy tell you?” She reached for the gate latch, but snatched her hand back as if she’d been burned. “I’m not supposed to leave the backyard,” she explained.

  “Then how about I come to you?”

  A smile bloomed on his daughter’s face, and then a matching one appeared on Gabe’s when Erica came into view. His daughter wasn’t the only one who’d been anxious to see her teacher.

  Erica asked if she could come into the yard, and after Jenna nodded, she unlatched the gate and stepped through. And that’s when Gabe finally got his first real look at her for the day. Similar to Monday, she seemed years younger today, and as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Her hair swung loose, and the snug jeans she wore stopped at the ankle with a little rip over the knee. They certainly weren’t anything she’d wear at school.

  “I got to go to the game last night,” Jenna announced. “Pops and Gramma took me. And it was away. And Daddy won.”

  Pride shone on his daughter’s face, and the sight of it swelled Gabe’s chest. He so rarely did anything to get that kind of response.

  “And I got to stay up way past my bedtime. I asked Daddy if I could ride home on the football bus, but he said no. But he did let me say hi to the boys after they won. Because the football players are so cool, and because I love hanging out with them.”

  Erica chuckled at his daughter’s torrent of words. “And I’ll bet they love hanging out with you.”

  Jenna nodded again. “Chase is my favorite, but I like Caleb almost as much.”

  Gabe decided to join them. He’d wanted to give Jenna a few moments to herself since she’d been waiting all morning to tell Ms. Bird about last night’s game, but he couldn’t stand the thought of not getting the opportunity to talk to Erica, as well.

  She glanced at him as he stepped onto the patio, but immediately returned her attention to Jenna. “It sounds like a pretty perfect night to me.”

  “It was,” Jenna assured her. “And today is even better. We got to go to the Pancake House for breakfast.” Jenna slowed long enough to look at him, her eyes losing a hint of their gleam, but not enough to make him change his course. Then she turned back to Erica and whispered, “Daddy doesn’t make very good pancakes.”

  Erica nodded with complete understanding. “My Daddy doesn’t make very good pancakes, either. But he makes the best homemade ice cream.”

  Jenna’s animati
on abruptly stopped. “Makes ice cream?”

  Gabe smiled over his daughter’s head as he met Erica’s eyes. Man, it was good to see her. He’d wanted to go over Thursday night after finding out she’d helped when Hannah had been late, but given that their last conversation hadn’t been on the best of terms, he’d decided to wait until he could more casually bump into her.

  After she finished explaining to his daughter what homemade ice cream was and how to make it, Jenna turned and looked up at him, a serious expression on her face. “Do you think you could make ice cream sometime, Daddy?”

  “I could definitely try.” His culinary talents may be limited, but he’d for certain pick up an ice cream machine and whatever ingredients were needed in the near future. Anything to keep this less hostile side of his daughter showing up.

  Jenna suddenly whirled back to Erica. “I’m going to Leslie’s house today and so is Haley. We both like Leslie a lot.” Jenna squatted when Mike put a paw to her stomach, and the dog began licking her face. “I love my dog,” she announced to no one. Then she fell to her back and Mike pounced on her. Giggling rang out from underneath the dog.

  Gabe merely stared at his daughter. The sight of her so happy expanded a place inside him that felt as if it had been closed off for years, and though he had yet to fully understand why, he knew he had the woman standing in front of him to thank for the change.

  He tucked his fingers into the front pockets of his jeans and cocked his head. “I heard you helped Jenna out at school a couple of days ago.”

  Erica dropped her gaze to his daughter. “I did.”

  “Thank you.” He said the words as sincerely as he could, and the emotion in them must have made it through to Erica. She lifted her gaze. “I messed up,” he continued. “My phone will always be on me from now on, practice or not. It never even occurred to me that something like that might happen.”

  He’d felt the lowest sort of low when he’d retrieved his cell and seen so many missed calls.

  “She seems to have recovered just fine.” Erica looked toward her house, as if plotting her escape route.

  “So what do you have going on this weekend?” He wasn’t yet ready for her to leave. “Aside from being the target of my daughter’s energy, that is.” They both watched as Jenna and Mike rose and sprinted across the yard, and Gabe remained amazed at the extent of the change. “How did you do that?” he asked. “One day she practically hates you, and the next, she’s driving me crazy wanting to see you, to tell you all about the game.” Erica swung her gaze back to his, and he finished with a lame, “It’s impressive.”

  “I didn’t really do anything,” she said. “I’ve simply treated her consistently from day one. Friendly and engaging her participation during class time, but not letting her get away with misbehavior. And then Thursday while we were waiting for Dani, I let her help me grade papers. She started talking and . . .” Her words trailed off as she once again got sucked into watching the totally different girl now squealing with her dog.

  “I’m sorry,” she said to him. “I was rude to you last week, and I shouldn’t have been.”

  Gabe swallowed. “And I’m sorry I was rude to you on Monday. My behavior was childish.”

  Light laughter spilled out of her. “Still. It wasn’t my place to say those things.”

  He appreciated the apology. “And I’m no longer positive you were wrong. I mean, she did her homework assignment over the weekend, and that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t taken her book home to her. But I have no idea if her doing it actually had anything to do with me.”

  “Kids,” she murmured. “You never know what will strike a chord.”

  “Well, I’m pretty sure you’ve struck one. I haven’t heard her laugh this much in months.” She’d been like that since he’d gotten home Thursday night. “And I’ve yet to have her try and put me in my place in the last thirty-six hours.”

  “Give it time.” Erica gave him a wry smile, and Gabe found that he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her smile was beautiful, her swinging hair and the more casual clothes she wore nothing but attractive. But her eyes told a different story, as they tended to do each time he talked to her.

  “How’s your day going?” he asked. “Everything okay?”

  “Same as any other.” Her gaze remained somber despite the happy-go-lucky picture she’d painted, and Gabe knew in that moment he had to dig deeper with her. He had to get her smile into her eyes.

  Jenna saw Leslie’s mother turn onto the far end of their street then, and she disappeared into the house. She returned just as the car slowed to a stop in front of them, and with suitcase in hand, she hurried to the car. Her dog had come out with her, but Mike was no idiot. He’d understood immediately that the suitcase meant he was being left behind. He dropped down on the porch, looking sad and bereft, and gave a single, grudging thump of his tail.

  After a quick word to the adults, Leslie’s mother drove back down the street, and Gabe didn’t waste a second setting his plan into motion. He put the dog in the backyard—while not so much as glancing at Erica—then headed across the street.

  Chapter Eight

  Erica watched Gabe walk toward her house. “Where are you going?”

  “To put away your groceries.”

  “To put away my . . .” She frowned at his retreating back. “Why?” She hurried to catch up, but his footfalls landed on her small porch before she could make it to the middle of the road. “Why would you do that?” she shouted after him.

  “Why wouldn’t I?” He disappeared inside her house.

  By the time she entered through her own door, Gabe was buried in her refrigerator. “How did you even know I had groceries to put away?”

  “I made Jenna wait to call for you until you’d finished unloading them.”

  “Oh.” She hadn’t realized anyone had been watching her.

  She studied him for a minute, his hands making quick work of redistributing everything currently in her fridge, then she crossed her arms over her chest and pulled out an attitude. “If you’re thinking that by helping me I’ll cook dinner for you . . .” she began, but she didn’t finish the sentence. His shirt had ridden up over the waistband of his jeans, and the thin strip of naked flesh had her forgetting about her groceries.

  Gabe peeked over his shoulder. “Is dinner a possibility?”

  She tore her gaze from his back. “Not even.”

  His eyes swept over her as if assessing her motives—as if understanding that she’d had impure thoughts at his expense—then moved to survey the food currently covering every available surface in her kitchen. She’d bought a lot of groceries. “It’s not like you can eat all this before it goes bad,” he told her. “You having a party or something?”

  “No, I’m not having a party or something.” She picked up the cookbook she’d bought the afternoon before. “I’m just in the mood to try cooking a few new things.”

  “A few?” He came out of the fridge long enough to scoop up more than she could carry in two trips, then hunkered back down in front of the open door. “I’d say this amount of food could make more than a few meals.”

  That same strip of skin winked at her again, and a quick shiver lifted the hairs on the back of her neck. She blamed the cool air escaping into the kitchen.

  “So who’s going to eat all of this after you cook it?”

  “There’s no guarantee it’ll even be edible.” She finally forced her feet to move, joining him by working on the nonperishables, while he grunted from inside her fridge.

  “Give me a break.” His voice had a weird hollowness coming off the inside walls of the appliance. “You were already a great cook back when we were dating,” he continued. “You might not have gotten a lot of opportunities, but I do remember a few meals made just for me.”

  They’d both lived in dorms, but they’d had a friend with an apartment who went home a couple of weekends a month. Erica and Gabe had made a habit of borrowing that apartment on those w
eekends. She’d liked the intimacy of cooking for a man, while Gabe had enjoyed the ability to take her to bed without having to worry about being interrupted by a roommate.

  And honestly, she’d liked that benefit, as well.

  “So you liked my cooking back then?” she asked. Her words came out a tad on the sultry side, but she pretended not to notice.

  “I liked it a lot.” Gabe closed the fridge door and began opening cabinets without looking at her. She didn’t have a pantry, so the rest of the food would be stored in the overhead shelving. “But to be fair, I would have liked just about anyone’s cooking. Dani had prepared all our meals for years, so I knew how to fix absolutely nothing.”

  His lack of remembering what else they’d done besides eat in that apartment was a letdown.

  “But yes.” He grabbed the jars of spices she’d bought and lined each up on the designated shelf. “I liked your cooking.” He didn’t so much as look at her, but she did catch his half smile and the naughty brow lift. “And I liked your desserts.”

  She chuckled under her breath. More times than not, she had been dessert.

  They both finished putting away the food, a comfortable smile lining Erica’s mouth and an ease about Gabe that she hadn’t seen since she’d shown up in town, and as they worked, he told her more about the game from the night before, as well as the fact that his brother had joined him on the sidelines.

  “Cord showed up at your game?” she asked.

  “Yeah. He played football in school, and I guess he’s mortified at the poor job I’ve been doing.”

  Erica turned to him, leaning back against the countertop and dropping her hands to the granite on either side of her hips. “Mortified?” She shook her head. “I doubt it. He seemed impressed with the progress you’ve made.” She’d talked to Cord Monday night, and he’d definitely been proud of the role his older brother had stepped into with the school. “Plus, that game didn’t sound too bad. The team is clearly improving.”

  Gabe’s brow shot up. “You listened to it?”

  “I did.” Though she hadn’t meant to admit that.