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Beth had a bad feeling about Corey Grey. Loss of his mother plus a tight-lipped father and a new school usually added up to trouble for a seven-year-old. She’d have to keep a close eye on the boy. It wouldn’t be hard to do. The kid had already stolen her heart.
Still, Beth needed to review the previous school’s assessments before making any assumptions, but her gut feelings usually turned out correct. In Corey’s case, that wasn’t a good thing. Her guess was Nick Grey wasn’t the kind of man who’d take bad news about his son very well.
She rubbed her arms as if a cold breeze had blown into the room. Nick Grey might be a difficult parent to deal with, but she’d find a way to figure it out. She always did.
* * *
At the end of the school day, Nick climbed into the driver’s seat as Corey buckled up in his booster seat in the back. “How was your first day?”
The kid shrugged.
Nick gripped the steering wheel a little tighter and tried a more specific question. “What about your teacher? Is she nice?”
“Yeah, she’s nice.” Corey stared straight ahead.
“Good.” Nick was beginning to think maybe he’d been wrong in taking Corey from his grandparents.
He’d been wrong about so many things, but Nick believed a boy belonged with his father. Was it selfish to uproot Corey yet again, so soon after losing Susan? Or was all this the price of leaving his kid behind while he finished up a tough case?
Lord, help me out here, please.
Waiting in the line of cars belonging to parents picking up kids, Nick drummed his fingers along the base of the steering wheel. This sort of thing was all new to him, but he’d get used to it. After this morning’s appointment with the county sheriff to complete paperwork before he officially started as a deputy, Nick had finished unpacking their belongings. He had purchased a small house complete with a picket fence situated on two pretty acres a couple miles north of town. It was a start. A new start. One he prayed he’d get right.
“Hey, there’s Miss Ryken!” Corey had suddenly come to life and waved out the open window. “Beep the horn.”
“I’m not beeping the horn.”
No way did Nick want to invite her attention. She was everything he liked in a woman on the outside, but she looked a little bit like his dead wife. Only taller and fuller, which, he had to admit, he liked even better. Susan had been obsessed with losing weight when she didn’t need to. She constantly fussed over food, measuring and counting calories.
“Come on, Dad.”
“The line is moving.” Too late—Beth Ryken noticed them and walked toward their idling car. Nick swallowed hard.
“Hi, Corey. Mr. Grey. How was your first day?” She leaned down near the open window on Corey’s side and her blond hair fell forward in long waves.
Nick watched the two cars ahead of him creep and then stop. He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. “He’s pretty stiff-lipped about today.”
Beth gave him an amused smile. “Like father, like son.”
Corey glanced at him and Nick thought he might have seen a glimmer of pride in his son’s eyes, but it came and went so fast, Nick couldn’t be sure.
“It was fun,” Corey finally said.
Beth’s perfectly shaped eyebrows rose. “Fun is good. That means you’ll come back tomorrow.”
Corey nodded.
“Miss Ryken.” Nick tried not to stare at her. “Do you know of any after-school programs or good caretakers in the area?”
Her brow furrowed as the cars in front of him started to move. “Why don’t you pull around so we don’t clog up the line?”
Nick nodded and nearly kicked himself for asking her instead of the principal, but he needed the information. Should have gotten the leads before he’d moved here, but he believed face-to-face was always better than over-the-phone conversations. He was a pretty good judge of character.
Most times.
He’d never been wise when it came to women, though. He fell too hard too fast.
He pulled out of line and parked and then got out. “Corey, stay in the car.”
His son stayed put.
Beth jogged toward him. Tall and strong. Confident.
Nick clenched his jaw. She was a sight to be savored.
“Are you looking for a structured program for Corey?”
“I start work soon, and I don’t want Corey home alone after school. Any recommendations?”
“I can send a list of care providers with Corey tomorrow. We have an art-and-crafts-focused program after school, but it’s only on Thursdays. I’m one of the teachers who staff it.”
Nick looked at his car. Corey hung on their every word as he looked out the window. “That sounds good. Sign him up.”
“I’ll send a release form for that, as well.” Her attention was caught by something across the street and then she waved.
Nick turned to see who it was and spotted an older woman dressed for yard work. Raking that lawn was bound to be a challenge considering all the flowers and statues that littered the grass.
“My mother,” she explained.
“So your folks live right there?”
Beth’s deep blue eyes clouded over. “Just my mom and me. My dad died when I was fourteen.”
“Sorry to hear that.” Nick tucked the knowledge away. He’d patrol this area soon and he’d pay special attention to that house with two women alone.
“Thank you. I understand that you’re widowed.”
“Yeah.” Nick narrowed his gaze. He knew the kind of offers that usually came after that information. He was in no place to get involved with anyone, let alone someone like Miss Ryken, whose sunny nature seemed too good to be real.
“That must be difficult for you both.” Her expression was open and honest. Sweet, even.
“It can be.” Nick braced for an invitation he might want but wouldn’t accept. He hadn’t missed the blatant interest in her eyes when she’d checked him out this morning.
“We have a really good school counselor.” Beth fished in her mammoth-sized purse. “Here’s her card. She meets with all the students, but it would be wise for you to make an appointment to talk with her right away.”
Nick swallowed his surprise and nodded. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Gotta run.” She smiled brighter than sunshine and headed toward the back of his car. “See you tomorrow, Corey.”
“See you tomorrow.” His son sounded eager.
Nick flipped the card for their school counselor/social worker into his wallet. He’d call the woman in the morning. This school stuff was all new to him. His wife had taken care of that. After Susan’s death, Nick’s mother had stepped in to finish out first grade and get the boy started with second grade until she got bogged down with his sister’s issues.
The past six months, Susan’s parents had kept Corey safe and sound with them while Nick finished a delicate undercover case that took him out of town most nights. He’d had few days off and they were erratic at best.
He watched Beth cross the street and slip inside the modest home where she lived while her mother made a feeble attempt to rake up dead leaves from last fall.
Nick needed to step up. He wanted to be the kind of father his boy deserved, only he wasn’t exactly sure how. He slipped behind the wheel and looked at his son. “Hungry? There’s a café in town or the mini-mart and then we have to hit the grocery store.”
Corey wasn’t listening. He watched where his second-grade teacher had gone like a hawk. “Is that where Miss Ryken lives?”
“It is.”
Corey looked at him. “Why can’t I go there after school?”
Nick coughed. Not exactly something he could ask his son’s teacher and she certainly hadn’t offered, but that sure would make things convenient. “You really like your new teacher.”
Corey nodded, looking deadly serious. “She’s kinda like Mom, on her good days.”
“I know.” Nick felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. Corey had noticed the resemblance, too.
How did he handle that one? Ignore it, as he’d tried to do with his wife? She’d had too many bad days, and some days Susan barely bothered to get out of bed. Nick and Corey had been a team then. A silent partnership of protection against Susan’s mood swings.
Nick hoped Miss Ryken’s blond hair and blue eyes were as far as the similarity to Susan went. Corey’s teacher had a sunny demeanor as well as good looks, but the instant attraction that had sliced sharp through him made him nervous. He’d fallen hard before, before he saw the darkness that lay underneath Susan’s cheerful facade.
If love was blind, then Nick had been deaf, too.
* * *
“Who was that you were talking to earlier?”
Beth picked through her mother’s latest shopping bag on the kitchen table, sorting out things to keep and return. “Do you have the receipt for these?”
“In my purse.”
“Mom, you really need to stop buying stuff you don’t need.”
“But they were on sale.”
Beth rubbed her eyes. Everything on sale ended up in her mother’s tiny house. “We’ve got to stick to your budget.”
Her mother gave her that look of tried patience. They’d been over this before. Several times in fact. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“What question?”
“Who was that tall man you were talking to?” Keen interest sparkled from her mom’s eyes. Her dishwater-blond hair was covered with a flamboyantly patterned silk scarf, another “on sale” purchase. Who did yard work wearing Ann Taylor?
Beth waved her hand in dismissal, but her heart skipped a few beats at the mere mention of Nick Grey. “Oh, he’s the dad of a new student in my class.”
“Married?”
Okay, so every one of her friends was either married or getting married and her mom hoped the same for her. At twenty-six, it wasn’t as if Beth was beyond hope, but she’d always been the proverbial bridesmaid. In a couple weeks, she’d repeat that role for her best bud and ex-roomie, Eva Marsh. Beth didn’t need a reminder of her very single status, nor did she need her mother ferreting out prospects. Not that Beth had much success on her own.
She let loose a sigh. “Mom...”
“Well, is he?”
“No. He’s widowed.”
Her mother’s smile grew even wider. “Interesting.”
Yeah, very. Who wouldn’t be moved by a handsome widowed man and his adorable son? “Can I have that receipt?”
“You’re awfully bossy since you moved back home.” Her mother bustled for her purse and then handed over the offensive slip of paper totaling the merchandise from a department store in Traverse City.
“Just trying to keep you out of bankruptcy.” Beth smiled sweetly. She’d moved home over Christmas after she’d gotten wind of her mother’s dwindling bank account. Something had to be done.
“You’ve got a smart mouth just like your father, God rest his soul.” Her mom stripped off her work gloves and washed her hands. “What do you want for dinner?”
Beth shrugged.
Her mother used to get in hot water with her father over spending habits, too. On a cop’s salary, they could afford only so much and her mother had expensive tastes. But she’d never been this bad with her shopping sprees before, had she? Maybe now that Beth saved every penny, her mother’s spending glared brighter.
Beth’s dad used to say the key to happiness was being content with what you had. He used to tell Beth to do whatever she loved and be grateful to God for everything. God had given her a passion. It was teaching. Her dad’s had been for police work. It got him killed.
“Beth?”
She shook off her thoughts. “What?”
“Dinner?” Her mom cocked her head. “My, my, that man really got to you, huh? What’s his name, this father of your new student?”
Nick. Nicholas Grey. The name kind of rolled easily around in her brain. “What about the leftovers from last night? Let’s eat those and I’ll make a salad.”
Her mother made a face. “I suppose.”
Beth chuckled. She’d called a halt to throwing out food, too. Her mother was a wonderful cook who loved to create masterpieces in the kitchen, but she made too much and then left it in the fridge too long. Since moving in, Beth never had to worry about packing something good for lunch.
Beth got up to make that salad while her mom reheated the chicken carbonara from Sunday’s dinner. Beth glanced at the woman who worried her. Ever since her mom’s work hours had been severely cut back at the airport in Traverse City, her mom’s handle on her finances had slipped. Even with Beth’s rent payments for living here. The shopping trips increased. Was she bored? Or was something else going on?
Nick Grey’s question about after-school day-care providers filtered through Beth’s mind. Could watching Corey bring meaning back to her mother’s daily routine? Something about that little boy’s reserve made Beth think her mom’s flamboyant style might be good for him. It didn’t get any more convenient than walking across the street from school.
The fact that Beth would get to see more of Nick Grey when he picked up his son brought a heady flip in her belly. Followed by guilt. This couldn’t be about exploring the immediate attraction she’d felt for Corey’s dad. Although it might be a nice side benefit.
Beth stopped cutting a carrot and looked at her mom. “Would you be interested in watching a seven-year-old boy after school?”
“Is he a good kid?”
“I think so.” Another gut feeling.
