Touching fingers to where she’d kissed him, Ian watched her go back inside. Shelby was starting to become more affectionate, and he didn’t think he’d ever get used to it. Heart warming, he smiled until his gaze dropped to the letter in his hand.
Mrs. White shouldn’t have made Shelby feel bad for defending herself, and he planned on telling her just that tomorrow. What about telling Shelby to apologize to the little shit who made fun of her? He should be apologizing to Shelby, and Ian couldn’t believe the nerve of the teacher for asking that of his daughter, and not Bobby.
He’d go have a talk with Shelby’s teacher, for sure, but she might not like what he had to say. He had a thing or two to tell the old biddy.
HOLLY LIMPED TO HER DESK AND TOOK her seat with a groan as the last of her students left. Her leg was bothering her badly today, but she just had to suck it up like she so often did. She injured it years ago, and it would never be perfect, but she’d learned to live with it. Opening her planner, she looked over tomorrow’s lesson plan before she started grading. She’d stay late today, like she had since she sent the letter home with Shelby, in the hopes her father would finally come in for the meeting she requested.
What kind of father was he? She couldn’t believe he still hadn’t come in. First letting his daughter be exposed to the kind of fighting lifestyle he had, and then he didn’t show up to talk to her teacher. Even a phone call would have gone a long way to making this right, but she’d heard nothing from him.
Smiling over a remark one of her students wrote on their homework, she glanced up as a knock came on the doorframe. Eyes widening as she saw the behemoth in the doorway, she ran her eyes up and down the man’s frame. He was built like a mack truck, tall enough that his head almost brushed the top of the door, and his muscles strained his black shirt. His black jeans were snug, with a silver chain looping from his belt loop and disappearing into his back pocket.
Raising a thickly muscled arm, decorated with various tattoos, he ran his fingers through his longish light brown hair. So many muscles, so many tattoos. Even his hands and knuckles were tattooed. He had the face of a model, with reddish dark blonde stubble highlighting his jaw, and surprisingly full lips for a man. His ears had two gauged piercings in each, and those, combined with the tattoos, gave him a rough edge. He looked familiar, but it wasn’t until she looked into his bright blue eyes that she realized who he was.
This was Ian Gallagher, Shelby’s father. The eyes gave him away, the same as his daughter’s. Holly knew who he was, but she’d never seen him in person before. There was no way she’d have missed him, as huge and imposing as he was.
And handsome.
Ignoring the thought whispering through her head, Holly cleared her throat. “So you finally decided to show up.”
Frowning at her, he replied, “I’m looking for Mrs. White.”
“That’s me.”
Frown deepening, he muttered softly enough she almost missed it. “You’re not old.”
She raised an eyebrow. “No, I?
?m not old.”
She couldn’t stop staring at him. He averted his gaze and cleared his throat, a flush creeping up his neck. She waited expectantly to see what he’d do next.
Taking a few steps forward, he said, “I’m here for the meeting you requested. I’m Ian Gallagher, Shelby’s dad.”
“I gathered that. Thank you for finally coming in,” she replied, adding a slight emphasis on ‘finally’.
His frown deepened as he stopped in front of her desk. “Shelby just gave me the note last night. I came in right away.”
Craning her head to look up at him, she replied, “I thought you were ignoring my request.”
“I’d never do that.” The frown edged toward a scowl. “Shelby said this is about her hitting that little shit the other day?”
Doing some frowning of her own, Holly glared at him. “Mr. Gallagher, that is beyond inappropriate. You don’t call a child names like that.”
“I do when they’ve been making fun of my daughter,” he replied hotly. “And call me Ian. Mr. Gallagher is my dad.”
“What do you mean, making fun of her?”
“You didn’t know?” he asked, expression easing. “He’s been pulling her hair, chasing her, trying to scare her. Things like that. The day she hit him, he was making fun of her birthmark. That’s unacceptable.”
“I agree, it is unacceptable,” she replied, mind racing. “I didn’t know. Shelby never told me any of this.”
He nodded. “Well, now you know. I assume we’re done here?”
Watching in disbelief as he started turning away, she said, “Wait! No, we’re not done here. I’ll talk to Bobby, get to the bottom of this, and I’ll put a stop to the teasing. But we still haven’t discussed Shelby responding by punching him.”
“What’s to discuss? She had a problem and she put an end to it. She took action, which is more than I can say about anyone else.”
Holly stiffened as indignation filled her. “Now wait just a minute. I couldn’t put an end to it, because I didn’t know it was happening. Nothing like what you described ever happened in front of me. But the way Shelby responded to it wasn’t appropriate.”