“Ms. Andrews,” I say when I reach them. “I trust you didn’t fight any bushes last night.”
Her eyes widen like saucers. “Erm…uh. Bushes?” She squeaks. “Nope. No bushes. No idea what you’re talking about.”
Her friend laughs and bumps her shoulder. “Chill out, Liz.”
“Or was it Howard Putty?” I tilt my head.
Lizzy coughs as her face brightens with a blush. I chuckle and smile at Walker. “Ready to go, buddy?”
“I thought Mom was coming today.” His eyebrows furrow.
“She has to work late so it’s you and me.” Brooke works at the doctor clinic as the office manager, and they had an issue to resolve.
“I need help with homework. Right, Ms. Andrews?” He looks over at her. “She said I need to practice my subtraction.”
“Is that right?” I look at the woman before me with raised eyebrows.
“He’d benefit from some extra help.” She nods, crossing her arms over her chest.
“In real-life, people use calculators.”
“Mr. Moore, we teach children the proper skills to defend themselves. When they’re older, they can use one but it’s necessary to know how to solve a problem. Imagine that calculators evaporate.” She arches an eyebrow, looking really fucking cute fired up like this.
Noted, make Ms. Andrews mad but not too mad or she’ll bury my body in her backyard.
“Evaporate? Can you elaborate on that?” I fight my smirk.
“You never know when dinosaurs will return and eat all of technology.”
Her friend snorts beside her, and Lizzy glares in her direction.
“I hadn’t realizedJurassic Parkwas an alternate reality waiting to merge with ours.”
“You never know.” She shakes her head, not letting up.
“Dinosaurs are dead. They can’t come back, Ms. Andrews,” a little girl tells her.
“I know, Dana. It was a joke.” Lizzy sighs, looking back at me.
“I guess you thought I needed some company on the bad sense of humor side.” I grin and wink.
“That’s it. Solidarity, man.” She holds up her clenched fist in the universal symbol of solidarity, and I laugh.
“We’ll see you tomorrow.” I grab Walker’s hand and head toward my vehicle.
“Solidarity, man?” The other teacher questions, and I hear Lizzy quietly cursing.
“I keep making a fool of myself,” she says.
Lucky for her, I’ve got a craving forfooland can’t seem to get enough of it. Lizzy may be embarrassed, but her awkwardness and untimely events are charming. She could ignore me the next time she sees me, but it’s not how she rolls. She faces me, humiliated and all, and it makes her that much more interesting.
Not that I can or will act on it. My focus is on Brooke and Walker. Besides, things will become messy, and I can’t let my attraction to her get in the way of Walker’s education and stability or my own job.
Not only will I be working at the school now, she’s related to the sheriff. I don’t need to have any issues with my boss.
Chapter 7
Lizzy