Page 137

I groaned.

“I have a solution for you.” She nudged me with a smile. “Enroll them here until your place is fixed.”

I shook my head. The second I got home from the diner this morning, I looked into it. “I can’t. Enrollment is closed.”

“So? You know the teacher. It’s Nicole.”

Back in high school, Nicole was a popular girl who hated all of us. I thought she would get out of here just like I had, but I heard she’d returned right after college. I’d seen her on Facebook a few times but never looked too deeply.

“She’s a teacher?”

“And a good one too. She could wrangle them.”

Thinking back to Nicole in our younger days, I seriously doubted that.

“She would kill them.”

“She’s come a long way since you knew her. She only hates adults now.”

I paused and thought about it. “You think she’d work with me?”

“She loves a challenge. And that’s exactly what your kids are.”

“They are.” My lips turned upward.

“Oh, a smile?” Jade asked. “You like them, don’t you?”

“I do. Just like I like this. Talking with you again, I mean.”

We could cut it off here. Jade was fine, and I could go home.

But neither of us moved.

“I do too,” she said. “Should we get another beer?”

31

JADE

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Theo Murf: Kerry. You’re on thin ice.

Comments:

Piper M: He means it. Be careful.

Tammy Jane: Ooooh, Kerry is in TROUBLE!

Jackie Anne: Imagine what you have to do to get in trouble with Theo. Kerry, fess up!!!

Kerry Winsor: NO. PLEASE. I just tried the one coffee place. It meant nothing!

Theo Murf: Hm.

Kerry Winsor: I’ll buy baked goods for a year!

“You didn’t.” Gabriel was trying to keep a straight face, but the corners of his mouth twitched.