LITMIR.BIZ

      “My, my, my, somebody has a big ol’ fine sexy admirer. A big ol’ fine sexy Hightower admirer! The single women at Mount Zion Baptist are going to mourn up a storm when the word hits that the last Hightower has bitten the dust.” Toni started running off at the mouth as they led the children back into the classroom.

      Aisha shook her head. She should have known her nosy little teaching assistant wasn’t going to let the incident at the firehouse slide.

      Toni was one of those long and lean sisters who wore style and fashion like it was her birthright. She had one of those chopped and blunt hairstyles that made her look like a rocker girl instead of a teaching assistant and part-time college student. She was in her late twenties and life was still an open book for her. And she apparently knew the fire captain, so getting her to give it a rest would be darn near impossible.

      Impossible or not, Aisha knew she was going to try her best to ignore the girl.

      “Nap time.” She readied her little munchkins for their naps. When they awakened, it would be exercise time, math time, then time for them to go home.

      Watching them resting on their cots with their little blankets and pillows made her heart full. All of a sudden she felt so glad that she had finally followed her heart and become a teacher. It had been a long and circuitous journey but she’d made it, and her life was on the right track. No way was she going to let some sexy fire captain turn her head.

      “Have you thought about the book club? We’re meeting this Saturday at my cousin Jenny’s house. Everyone is bringing at least one other person. So I’m hoping you’ll be my person. Be my person, ple-ase.” Toni grinned and it was all Aisha could do not to laugh.

      Aisha straightened one of the lopsided construction paper turkeys that her students had made by tracing their hands. It was only mid-October, but they started making holiday decorations earlier and earlier. Soon they’d be making paper Santas and stockings with their names on them. She then turned her attention back to Toni.

      “You know I only like to read romance novels. If I join a book club, then I’m going to have to read sad and depressing books and Lord knows what else.” She had seen enough sad and depressing in life and didn’t need to read about it in her free time.

      She had given the book club some thought, though. While she would love to make a few new friends in the area finally and have some adult company, as a single mom, she didn’t have a lot of free time to read and what free time she did have she saved for her romance novels. A. C. Arthur, Ann Christopher, Brenda Jackson, Deatri King-Bey, Victoria Wells, Beverly Jenkins and LaConnie Taylor-Jones had first billing whenever she had a moment to spare.

      “Plus, you know I don’t like to leave Dillon with a babysitter, especially on the weekend. My ex finds every conceivable way to skip his visitations. And I’m not mad about that because I don’t want my son around him anyway. But that means no weekends off for me.”

      “First of all, it would do us all some good to expand our horizons and read outside our comfort zones. I’m doing it because I want to read something besides all the boring stuff I’m reading in school.” Toni shook her head and the razor-sharp asymmetrical cut moved with precision and then fell right back into place.

      “And it will only be one book a month,” Toni added. “You might like it. And for all those romance novels you’re reading, you would think you would be more open to going out on a date with that fine Captain Patrick Hightower. Yummy…I can’t believe you turned him down!”

      “Oh, would you look at the time…” Aisha glanced down at her watch. “It’s almost time to get these little ones up so they can get ready to go home for the day.”

      “Uh-uh, don’t even try it. We’ve got five minutes. But I promise I’ll leave it alone if you agree to go with me to the book club meeting. Just come to this first open meeting and see if you like it. Maybe we could even read a couple of those romance novels you like so much…”

      “What about Dillon? It’s too late for me to look for a sitter—”

      “You don’t need one. You can bring him along. My cousin Jenny has two kids of her own, a little boy and a little diva-in-training, and they’ll more than likely be playing in another room. So you can totally bring Dillon with you. He’ll have fun and you’ll both make new friends.”

      “Well…I have wanted to meet new people. We’ve been in Paterson a few years, but I still haven’t made a lot of friends outside of work. And Bill got all our Montclair friends with the divorce…I suppose I could go and check it out. But I’m telling you they need to read at least two romance novels.”

      “Great!” Toni bounced up and started putting away books and construction paper and anything else the children might have left out in the common areas.

      Aisha smiled. At least she had gotten Toni to stop ragging her about Patrick. She had narrowly escaped that situation still on course. It would have been so easy to say yes to him. To give him her number and take a chance, even when he was everything she needed to avoid in a man.

      The only place a larger-than-life alpha male like that could exist and not be a danger to those around him was in a romance novel. And the only way for her to change the cycle of abuse that plagued the women in her family was not to date and never be vulnerable again. As long as she kept her focus and stayed away from men like Patrick Hightower, she should be okay.

      That should be a snap. She could totally do that. No problem.

      Patrick who?