LITMIR.BIZ

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well…” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and struck a casual pose. “So, will you take him?”

      “I can ask my boss. I suppose one more—”

      Across the room, Sissy yowled. Tina whirled just in time to see redheaded Tommy McArthur upend a dish of yellow poster paint over her head. The thick goo pooled in her curls, then began to ooze over her forehead and trickle down her face.

      “Tommy!” Racing back to the art table, Tina held out cupped hands to try to catch the worst of the mess.

      Sissy chose that moment to shake her head like a kitten whose nose had been dunked into a saucer of milk. Globs of yellow pigment flew. Several caught Tina in the face. She was sure she could feel others clinging to her long hair.

      The rest of the children backed away, wide-eyed and uncertain. Except for Sissy’s ongoing wails, silence reigned. The boy who had caused the ruckus dropped the empty paint dish as his lower lip began to tremble.

      “Hold still, Sissy,” Tina said firmly. “You’re just making things worse.”

      “My dress!” the little girl howled, looking down at her skirt. “My mama sewed it for meeee…”

      “I’ll wash it out for you and it’ll be good as new. I promise. Just stop shaking your head!” Tina had momentarily forgotten Zac Frazier. Then she heard him start to laugh. The sound was warm and full. It filled the room and made the hairs at her nape tickle. Goose bumps stood up on her arms.

      She glanced over her shoulder at him. “There are towels in that cabinet up there,” she said, cocking her head to indicate. “Top left. Mind handing me one?”

      “You sure one will be enough?” Zac was still chuckling as he moved to comply.

      “Let’s hope so.” Tina was trying to keep from bursting into giggles and upsetting Sissy even more. “I’d get it myself but I seem to have my hands full.”

      “No kidding.” He stopped behind her and passed the towel over her shoulder. “Here you go. Anything else I can do for you while I’m handy?”

      She was concentrating on wiping Sissy’s face and sopping up the worst of the paint in her hair. “Like what?”

      “Oh, I don’t know. Hose the place down, maybe?” He crouched beside Tina and solemnly eyed the red-haired boy who’d started the trouble. “Or maybe you’d like me to dunk this guy in a different color for you?”

      Tina gave Tommy a stern glance, then smiled at Zac. “Sorry. As tempting as it sounds, I’m afraid they don’t let me paint naughty children, even if they do deserve it.”

      “What a shame,” Zac said, straight-faced. “He’d look great in purple.”

      “We’ll have to settle for an apology, instead,” Tina said, playing along. “Tommy, what do you have to say to Sissy?”

      “She started it!” the boy wailed. “She splashed green on my shirt.”

      “Okay. That does it. Painting time is over,” Tina ordered. She straightened and wiped her hands on a relatively clean corner of the towel. “Everybody to the sink to wash. Sissy first. March.”

      Zac stood, too. “You sure you’ve got a handle on them?”

      “As good as I ever do,” she answered, smiling fondly as her small charges headed for the low sink in one corner of the room. “They’re really good kids. They just have a lot to learn about getting along with others.”

      “So do the kids I work with…and they’re considerably older.”

      “Oh? Where do you work?”

      “Over at the high school, starting next week,” Zac said. “I’m going to substitute teach when I’m needed but I’ll mostly be a guidance counselor.”

      “Well,” Tina said, grinning up at him, “that sure will simplify things around here.”

      “It will?”

      “Uh-huh. Once you get established in your job at Serenity High, all we’ll have to do to spot the teenage troublemakers is look for the ones you’ve painted purple.”

      Tina was glad her boss, Mavis Martin, was the kind of woman who listened to reasonable suggestions. She’d waited until all the children had gone home before approaching her and explaining about wanting to add Justin to her class.

      “I suppose it’s okay, if you’re sure you can cope,” Mavis said, nodding her graying head soberly. “If it was me, I’d probably do the same thing. The poor man obviously needs help. Might as well come from us, don’t you think?”

      Smiling broadly, Tina nodded. “Absolutely. Bless you. You’re a dear.” She reached into the pocket of her apron for the card with the phone number of the motel where Zac and Justin were staying. “I’ll call Mr. Frazier and tell him his son can start tomorrow.”

      “Okay. I just hope you aren’t biting off more than you can chew. What kind of kid is he?”

      “I don’t really know much about him, other than what I was told. He’s supposed to be overly attached to his father but adjusts better when he has other children as a distraction.”

      Mavis’s forehead puckered in a frown. “You mean you didn’t meet him today?”

      “No. His daddy came by alone.”

      “Hmm. What do you suppose he did with Justin when he came to look us over?”

      Tina was beginning to see why her boss seemed troubled. “That’s a good question. Let’s use the phone in your office so I can put it on speaker and you can hear, too.”

      “That’s not necessary. I trust your judgment.”

      I wish I could say the same, Tina thought. But she couldn’t. Being too trusting, too gullible, had cost her plenty in the past and would have ruined her future, too, if she hadn’t left everything behind and started over where no one knew her.

      Mavis followed her into the cluttered office. “Push aside my stuff and make yourself a place to sit down, honey. I keep meaning to get this place straightened up. I just never seem to find enough time. One look at all this and I give up because I know it’ll take too long.”

      “My mother used to say cleaning up a big mess was like eating an elephant. It can’t all be done at once. You have to take it one bite at a time.”

      “Well, well, well,” the thin, middle-aged woman drawled, staring at Tina in amazement. “You’ve worked for me for over a year and that’s the first time you’ve mentioned your family. How is your mama?”

      “She passed away a long time ago,” Tina said softly. Thoughts of the past had obviously caused her to let down her guard. That mustn’t happen again. Once she started telling her story she’d run too great a risk of inadvertently revealing her secret shame.

      “I’m so sorry to hear that,” Mavis said. “Is your daddy still living?”

      “No.” The answer sounded crisp and off-putting, much to Tina’s distress. She didn’t want to be unkind, especially not to a friend and mentor like Mavis Martin, but she didn’t intend to discuss any aspect of her prior family life. Not now. Not ever.

      Looking for a distraction, she quickly dialed the motel and asked for Zac’s room. He answered on the first ring.

      “Hello?”

      “It’s me, Tina Braddock, Mr. Frazier. I’ve talked it over with my boss, and I’m calling to invite you to bring Justin to meet me and the other children. Is tomorrow morning too soon?”

      She was sure she heard a relieved sigh.

      “No. That will be fine. What time?”

      “If you come around ten, he can start by having milk and cookies with us.”

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