“Uh-huh.”
“Micah…” She stares at me for a long time, attempting to rid me of my doubts about this being something that happens again. The lights outside my truck illuminate half of her face,displaying the one little beauty mark on her upper cheek. “Text me, and I promise I’ll answer.”
“And if you don’t?”
“Then you have my permission to hunt me down.”
I reach up and run my thumb along that small brown mark on her bottom lip. “You got a boyfriend, Sienna?” It takes a second before she slowly rocks her head back and forth. “You sure about that?”
“Positive.”
“Alright. Then I believe you.”
She pauses for a moment before saying, “You do?”
I shrug my shoulders because I’ve never been one to throw a shit fit unless it was lying right there in front of me. “Give me a reason not to.”
Sienna’s fingers clasp around my hand that’s still resting on her face. “Maybe we can have dinner?”
“Sounds good.”
She begins to get off me, but then decides against it, landing back in my lap when she quips, “Areyougoing to ghost me?”
I chuckle and fist the front of her dress, dragging her closer to me when I say, “I don’t ghost, sweetheart. I show up.”
2
MICAH
Glaringat the clock on my car radio, I sit at my kid’s school, stewing in the parking lot while waiting a few more minutes before going inside.
I swear to God, she’s a fucking pain in my ass.
Miss Vesper, my son’s new first-grade teacher, has been up my entire ass for the last two weeks to set up some bogus parent-teacher conference meeting about Heath’s “behavior”.
He’s a rowdy kid. His attention span is shorter than a fruit fly’s life, and as long as he isn’t punching kids without reason, there isn’t anything wrong with him.
However, she believes differently and has been constantly sending me emails to see if I got the one before, and by the time I get out of work, she’s the last person I want to talk to.
I don’t need some middle-aged hardass that plays by every rule in the book to be all up in mine. His old first-grade teacher decided to retire during the school year and, since then, MissVesperhas been on my case.
Where the school got her from, I have no idea. I swear I’ve met every teacher at Magnolia Elementary because, just like the guys I work with, I grew up with half of them, or they used to bemyelementary teacher. Which means one thing…she’s new.
And I haven’t had the misfortune of meeting the latest Karen.
One thing’s for sure, I’m not going to be lectured by a woman who can’t handle a bunch of kids. I already have my hands full, being a single dad whose baby mama skipped out on my son and me before he turned one. I’m doing the best I can, and I’m doing fine. The mortgage is paid every month, the bills are current, and my son has a father who can support and love him at the same time.
My time is limited.
So when my phone annoyingly buzzes in the cup container of my truck, I can’t help but roll my fucking eyes with a huff.
But my shitty demeanor that just did three rounds in my head vanishes into thin air when I see a specific nickname in my phone that means Sienna.
SIENNA: I should probably say goodnight to you now because when I finally get home, I’m going to pass out and never wake up.
MICAH: It’s four-thirty, woman. Don’t you women have to get caught up on your crime shows at night or something?
SIENNA: …you know our secret.
