Her gaze fell to the sheets in front of her, and Lizette released a little sigh.
“I haven’t had time to type up the schedule for you as yet.”She replaced another pen that her hand had displaced from the side of the desk.“There’s a progress form I’ll ask you to complete for each child.You can fill those in until it’s time for the next session, which is in roughly forty-five minutes.”
“Why so long between sessions?”
“We clean and disinfect for each new group.”She grimaced playfully.“And it gives you a chance to complete the forms and regroup.”
“Ah.That makes sense.”
When she looked at the desk and sighed a second time, he frowned and then asked, “Is it my imagination, or are you stressing a little bit?”
“You guessed right.”
Pointing to the scattered papers, he said, “What’s the issue?”
“There’s a project document I must complete.”
She might have imagined it, but Shomari’s eyes brightened as he sat forward.“What kind?”
“For Wintertime.I want to expand it into a prep school.”
His slow smile and continuous nod reminded her of Zack’s reaction when he approved of something she did.“So, back to your problem.What is it?”
“I’ve been trying to meet with a consultant to get me on track.There’s data I need to present to the Ministry of Education, but it’s like trying to hit a moving target to settle on a time and date with her.”
“Is there an overview of what you need to present?”
When she said yes, he held out one hand.“Do you mind me taking a look?”
“Not at all.”She handed him the file and moved on to scan an email on her laptop.From time to time, her gaze strayed to him.While reading, he sometimes frowned and spoke under his breath—all of this, while she wondered why it seemed their earlier close contact hadn’t affected him.
Shomari startled her when he spoke.“I can help with this.”
Intrigued, she asked, “Really?”
“Yes, ma’am, this is one of the things I’m good at, preparing project documents and such.I used to help my sister during the summers.Preparing business plans and helping people to apply for loans, et cetera, is what my sister does for a living.”
As a realist, Lizette figured when something was too good to believe, it usually was, but right now she was so over the business of tracking down an unreliable consultant that she’d take help where she found it.
“Okay.What do I need to do?”
“First, do you have the guidelines the education ministry requires?”
“It’s at the back end of what you’re holding.”
“And do you have the document you started working on?”
His quiet assurance boosted her morale and she quickly found and opened the file, then spun the laptop toward him.“It’s on the screen.”
While he scanned the list of conditions to be fulfilled, Lizette kept her gaze on him.If he were as capable as the twins said, then she might be in luck.Nobody knew more than she did how much help she needed.If she didn’t submit the proposal by year-end, the education ministry wouldn’t be able to review and approve it in time for her to start operations by next year’s Christmas term.
“Okay, so let’s do the requirements in the same order as the ministry document, you agree?”
“Fine by me.”
He reached across the desk to hand her the file.“You’re going to read the headings, starting with the compliance requirements.”
“You’re a bit bossy,” she said, looking up from the page.
