LITMIR.BIZ

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a little.

      He’d enjoyed the surprise on her face when he did his very bad Bogart imitation, something he hadn’t done since his college days. He’d even laughed at himself for doing it.

      Surprisingly, he’d actually had fun for those few moments. There had been very little to tickle his amusement in the past few years. Certainly not since Danny had passed away.

      Why now? Why something so simple?

      Perhaps it had been too long since he’d seen genuine interest from a woman for simply being a man. No frills, no expectations, just a thread of plain attraction.

      He switched his cell phone on, and two seconds later it rang. Automatically, he reached for it. His incognito jaunt had come to an end and his business agenda and calendar demanded his immediate attention. “Yes?”

      “Peter! At last!” Tony’s frustration made his tone gruff. “I’ve been calling you for hours.”

      “Don’t sweat it, Tony. I’ll be there in time for our lunch meeting with Carter and Jones….”

      It came to him as a certainty. He’d be back to the eastern edge of Kansas City, Missouri, for sure. New Beginnings met each week and he’d arrange to be there often enough to meet Eric, and to discover if Eric wanted to know him. He’d rather enjoyed his time spent there. Being anonymous was a new experience. Why shouldn’t he have a little fun?

      Just after noon, Cassie grabbed her blue canvas lunch bag and thankfully headed toward the teacher’s lounge. Fridays the kids were always fidgety in anticipation of the weekend, and today was no exception. The weekend promised to be beautiful. They’d been so restless today she felt like tearing out her hair.

      Rico was the worst—he couldn’t sit still nor keep himself quiet for more than five minutes. He agitated the other children around him on purpose.

      Cassie liked the boy, and thought he needed only a little more personal attention at home. But his mother had five others at home, a busy husband and no extra time to give Rico.

      If Cassie had to call Rico’s mother one more time…

      She’d have to pray and think about it, Cassie decided as she swung open the teacher’s lounge door and plopped her bag on the table. Maybe she could find another way to help Rico.

      “Hey, Cassie,” Jacqueline, who taught sixth-graders, greeted from the cola machine. “Did you get that notice on the visiting Oregon Trail historian for next week?”

      “Hi. Yeah, I have it.” Cassie grimaced at Jacqueline’s lunch plate from the cafeteria and dug into her bag for her tuna sandwich on whole wheat. “I thought I’d do some reading over the weekend to refresh my memory of trail lore. Couldn’t hurt to be prepared.”

      “Not me,” Liz Dapple remarked, scooping cottage cheese into her full, perfectly shaped mouth. Her quick glance held a bit of the usual withering pity for anyone who took their job too seriously. “I don’t plan on wasting my time on anything related to kids, school, clocks or bells. I’m going to have a luxurious dinner and a cuddle with my honey, a shopping spree tomorrow, and then a long Sunday in the park.”

      A cuddle with someone loved. Cassie could picture the romantic thought.

      “My weekend won’t contain anyone who doesn’t stand taller than me, either,” Amanda Smith remarked with a grin. “I do have to clean house, though. And then Dwayne and I are going to a concert with friends.”

      A concert with friends. That sounded fun….

      “Wish I could say the same,” Donna chipped in with a sigh. “But it’s an animated feature film for us with our kids tonight, then after some major laundry tomorrow, my hubby and I are working in the yard.”

      “By the time I leave here on Fridays I’ve had enough of smart-mouthed kids,” Jacqueline said. Still in her twenties, she’d just graduated from college, and had come to the school as a substitute. “I’m going to a friend’s party down in Westport and I’ll hopefully meet some cute guys.”

      “My boy Derrick and I are heading to Branson just as soon as the final bell rings,” Farley, the band teacher, said. He brushed a hand over his balding head, tapping a rhythm on his forehead. “Do a little fishing on Table Rock Lake, then take in a music show, maybe.”

      Dinners, concerts, parties. It was a repeat of the litany Cassie heard every weekend, every holiday and vacation. What Cassie wouldn’t give to have what Donna had—a husband and family of her own.

      “Mmm…” Her sigh sounded more like a groan. Several pairs of eyes turned her way.

      “Um, I—” She shoved a pickle chip into her mouth, and mumbled, “I’m going to a—a—”

      She didn’t want to call it a Bible Study. This group already thought her an immense Goody Two-shoes, and except for Donna, who was a believer like herself, most of them didn’t understand her love of Godly things and her eager spiritual journey.

      Goody Two-shoes. She was so tired of that tag. Besides, she couldn’t bear another pitying glance over her reports of another quiet weekend spent alone.

      “A Friday night thing at a friend’s house, then maybe an outing on Sunday afternoon with…um, someone new in my life.”

      Peter came to mind, with his silver hair and his eyes the color of a summer sky. They made her insides all shivery. Cassie stopped chewing while she drifted off.

      Amanda gave her a curious stare. “Cassie?”

      “Someone new?” Jacqueline asked, raising a doubtful eyebrow.

      “Uh—you could say that.” Cassie let a smile form, then picked at the remainder of her sandwich.

      “Do tell,” Amanda begged.

      “Cassie has a boyfriend?” Jacqueline sounded just too incredulous. It set Cassie’s back up.

      “Why is that so surprising?” she wanted to know, her sudden heated look defying Jacqueline to add another remark. Then she turned to answer Amanda. “It’s too soon. There’s nothing to tell.”

      Then slanting a mysterious glance at Jacqueline, she let her mouth curve. “Yet….”

      Now what was she doing? Implying something that wasn’t there. Lying, Dad would call it. But she had met a gorgeous man, and he had smiled an incredible smile at her. She had exchanged conversation with him. She did hope to see him again, didn’t she? It wasn’t a lie.

      She ruthlessly pushed Peter out of her thoughts. She should do something about Rico, something practical, that’s what she should be thinking about.

      She’d call Rico’s mother and ask to take Rico and his two older sisters to see the National Trails museum in Independence. From the last time she’d talked to Mrs. Sanchez, she thought the harried woman would welcome the suggestion. That should give them all an outing, and it sure would beat having to make another complaining call.

      However, to set things straight…

      “Then again,” she spoke up in a decisive tone, “I have a different interest in another direction, too. So perhaps Sunday will turn out…oh, you know.”

      Rico couldn’t be counted on to remain quiet about the excursion if they went, but she’d chance it. His two sisters were already in middle school; they were unlikely to rat on her.

      “Two guys? Cassie, you flirt!” Liz teased.

      Heat climbed Cassie’s cheeks. “Not really two. The one isn’t really dating material. But I’m not sure if my first choice will be in town.”

      “It’s about time you met someone new,” Donna kindly remarked as she got up from the table to throw trash away. “What’s he like?”

      Much too good-looking for comfort.

      “Who’s the dreamboat?” Jacqueline asked.

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