Margaret Daley - Second Chance Family

At the main entrance she peered back at the SUV. She glimpsed Shane’s attention directed at her, and a shiver of awareness shimmied down her length. He was an attractive man, but their worlds were vastly different. Besides, when she’d come back to Cimarron City nine months ago, she had promised herself she was going to start over, make something out of herself. Finally her plans were in place. And they certainly didn’t include getting involved with a man.

“Thanks for showing me the ropes around here, Amanda.” Whitney stood and stretched her muscles, which had cramped from her sitting on the floor while she labeled cubicles and supplies. Sweat beaded her forehead and upper lip. “I hope they can get the air-conditioning fixed by the time school starts in a few days.”

“I was hoping it would rain today and cool things off, but it passed us by.” Dressed in a turtleneck shirt and jeans, Amanda Miller, another teacher’s assistant, gathered up the labeling machine and markers they used.

“I can imagine. I would have roasted in what you’re wearing.” Thankful she had on a split skirt and a short-sleeve blouse, Whitney didn’t know why the young woman hadn’t gone home at lunch and changed. Whitney knew from their conversation earlier that Amanda only lived a few blocks away from the school with her boyfriend.

“I’m always cold,” Amanda said, but her armpits were drenched with perspiration. Still sitting, she turned away to put the pens in a box.

“Oh, there’s…” Whitney reached toward Amanda to snatch up a marker on the floor next to the young woman that Whitney had missed while cleaning up.

The redhead flinched when she shifted back around and glimpsed Whitney out of the corner of her eye. She grabbed the black pen and gave it to Amanda. The woman’s hand quivered as she took the marker.

Strange, Whitney thought. She’d remembered right before lunch, when another teacher’s assistant had popped into the room they were working in, her sudden appearance had startled Amanda and she’d shaken even more right after that.

“I’m glad it’s time to leave. All I’d like to do is soak in a hot tub, but when I get home, I have too much to do.” Whitney put the labeling machine on the teacher’s desk. “How about you?”

“Yeah, I still have housework to do and to fix dinner.” Amanda pushed to her feet.

“A frozen meal is about all the energy I have to make tonight. See you tomorrow.”

Exhausted after her first day on the job of meetings and helping prepare the classroom for the children, Whitney gathered her purse, then headed toward the front doors. Coming around the corner, she nearly collided with Shane leaving an office near the main entrance. He smiled, but beneath the grin she glimpsed weariness.

“Tough meeting?” she asked, remembering he said that morning he had one at the school in the afternoon.

“A long one, but I think we worked everything out for Jason to begin school this week.”

“Good.” She started forward.

Shane fell into step beside her. “How was your day?”

“Long.”

“And starting with a wreck probably wasn’t the best way to begin it.”

She chuckled. “You think?” She’d called about the bus schedule and found one stopped not too far from the school so she would have a means of transportation to and from work until her car was fixed.

Whitney exited the building into the hot August day. Not a breeze stirred. Perspiration ran in rivulets down her face. She wiped her hand across her forehead then cheeks.

“Can I give you a ride anywhere?”

She glanced from the bus stop to Shane’s SUV. With the suffocating one-hundred-degree weather, she decided to be practical. “Sure. Thanks. I’m going to Noah’s.”

She slid into the passenger seat. At odd times during the day she’d thought about Dr. Shane McCoy, patiently working to help his son understand or reassuring her he’d take care of everything. But mostly she had remembered the concern in his green eyes that sparked something she’d been sure she had buried years ago. Living on the streets as a teenager had quickly persuaded her not to trust anyone and to do everything herself. She’d compromised some while living at her brother’s estate, but she was going to change that when she moved out. Compromising meant giving up part of herself, and she didn’t intend to do that ever again.

“Was everything all right when you arrived late?” Shane asked as he pulled out of the parking space.

“Yeah. Did you ever get Jason into the building?” She’d never been comfortable with chitchat, but with Noah’s large family she’d had to learn quickly, especially with Lindsay, the only girl, following her around.

Disappointment glinted in his eyes. He shook his head. “On the bright side, Jason seemed to like the playground. He loved the yellow-seated swing and tunnels to crawl through. I had a hard time getting him to leave.”

“So he hasn’t seen his classroom?”

“No, maybe tomorrow.”

“What will you do if he won’t go in?”

“I’ll take it one step at a time. With Jason that’s all I can do. He’s my son.”

The love that filled his words made her study his profile presented to her as he drove toward her brother’s estate. Strong. Steady. Full of compassion. Those traits had come to mind when she’d thought about Dr. Shane McCoy. Nothing like her own father. She pushed thoughts of that man from her mind; she tried not to go there.

“But still it must be hard.” She found herself wanting to know what made someone like Shane tick. The men she had known had been people users, thinking only of themselves. Except Noah and his two foster brothers, Peter and Jacob. They were different. But weren’t they the exception, not the rule? Certainly from her experience they were.

Shane didn’t say anything for a good minute while he parked the SUV at the side of Noah’s house. Then he turned to her with a smile deep in his eyes, the color of a lush patch of grass on a spring day. “The challenges of life are what make it interesting. I was blessed the day the Lord gave me Jason. He has made me a better person, and yes, it can be hard at times, but it makes me appreciate each step forward.”

“So you’re one of those people. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.”

He chuckled. “I guess I am. I like lemonade.”

Well, she didn’t. She wanted something better than constantly struggling. Although she’d fought the decision to come to Cimarron City last November, to be involved in Noah’s family, it had been a good one for her at the time. She needed to start fresh and do something with her life. And her brother’s children had caused a dream from childhood to resurface. She wanted to be a teacher and would be one day.

“How long will it take for your car to be fixed?” Shane asked.

“I should have it by the end of the week.”

“How are you going to get to—”

She held up her hand to stop his question. “I’ve got it figured out. The bus runs between here and the school. It’s a pretty direct route.”

He frowned. “How direct?”

“I only have to walk a few blocks. No big deal.”

“In this heat? It’s eighty at seven in the morning and over one hundred in the afternoon. I can give—”

“Don’t. I’m a tough cookie. I can’t let a wreck stop me.” She sent him a grin that he immediately responded to.

“Okay. Okay, I give up. I won’t say another word. I think I’ve met my match in you.”

Her grin grew as she opened the door, the searing heat invading the car’s cool interior. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Thanks again for the ride.”

Under the shade of a large oak near the guesthouse, she watched him turn around and head toward the gate that automatically opened at his approach. She could see why the children he counseled responded to him. His caring nature shone through even when dealing with a situation like that morning.