Mandy murmured for him alone, “Adores me, loves the house, thinks you’re cute, and gets howawesomeof a dad you are.” It took everything in him not to laugh. “Reel her in, Dad.Reel. Her. In.”
He was all over it.
Chapter Seven
“I’m glad you like it, Zoe. It means a lot to me.” Nate rubbed her back. “I’ll get another chair so you can go over Mandy’s project.”
Zoe watched him leave the room with a little breathlessness. He was attractive, kind, and an incredible father. It was hard to understand his interest in her. She never would have imagined being his type.
Still, she’d never been so infatuated with a man before. His dedication as he worked at the library, his easy laughter during their dinners together, the way he was with Mandy, and the pride he took in his home filled her with want.
That he truly didn’t seembotheredby her deafness was something she hadn’t expected. Even her family often acted annoyed that she could no longer hear them.
It was almost too good to be true.
Quickly squashing such thoughts, she took a deep breath as he returned to the room with a chair from their dining table.
Mandy placed her hand on Zoe’s arm and she glanced at her with a smile. “I’m giddy you agreed to look over my project, Zoe. I want it to be perfect. I’m determined to earn top scores.”
“I have no doubt you will.”
The massive science project display was set up in front of a wide window overlooking the back of the house. It was obvious she’d taken great care with her overall presentation.
Zoe was immediately enthralled.
“I didn’t want Dad to make the board but knew how I wanted it to look. He spent hours talking me through the build.”
“There’s so much detail, Mandy,” she signed. “This is incredible.”
There were graphics and text temporarily taped to the board as placeholders. There were also tiny indented shelves that held various field samples affixed to microscope slides and in petri dishes.
They sat side by side and Mandy explained agricultural molds, the results of her tests, and possible preventions. Asking occasional questions, she had the young woman walk her through each aspect of her research.
Nate left the room for a few minutes and came back in jeans and a t-shirt. Instantly distracted, Zoe turned and let her eyes track down his body much as his had done to her earlier.
He wasn’t wearing his kilt and she couldn’t help a little bit of disappointment. As if he read her mind, he gave her a wink as he sat in an overstuffed chair in the corner to pull on his boots.
Dragging her attention away from him, Zoe focused on the laptop that displayed the full research paper. She read through each section carefully. If she found small edits, she discussed them with Mandy and they made the corrections together.
When they’d gone through every page, Mandy printed out the final paper as well as the text slides she’d created for the board.
They put everything in place and looked it over.
Zoe signed rapidly, “This is outstanding, Mandy. Truly advanced work. You should be proud of yourself. None of the minor edits we made would have impacted your final grade. This is competitive at the college level. I’m impressed.”
“Thanks, Zoe. I mean it.”
Crossing her legs, she brought up a topic they’d been discussing for a while. “How are things with school overall?”
“Theyreallywant me to skip a grade. They’re talking about skipping more than one.” Zoe knew it was a difficult decision that the young woman had struggled making. “Instead of going into seventh grade, I’d go into the eighth. That part wouldn’t be too bad because my birthday’s in June. Right now, I’m already the youngest in my class so I’m used to that.”
“How do you feel about it?” Zoe signed.
“Maybe skip one? I know I’m way ahead of the kids in my grade but…I want the years. I don’t want to rush through.”
Zoe nodded. “I agree. I’m certain there are courses you could take through the tech center or online that would transfer to college later. Even if they didn’t, additional classes would give your brain more to do without getting you to graduation faster than you want.”
Nodding, Mandy said, “That’s a great idea. My classes are so boring but I don’t want to miss the years in regular school, growing up like other kids my age, and spending time with the people I care about.”