Second Chance Family. Margaret Daley

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СКАЧАТЬ sitting in the front seat of the SUV while Shane buckled his son in the back one. Jason rubbed a yellow cloth between his forefinger and thumb and stared at the floor. He seemed unaware of what his father was doing.

      Shane switched on the engine and peered at her. “I want to at least pay for the damages to your car.”

      “My insurance will take care of it.”

      “Not your deductible. I’ll take care of that. How much is it?”

      Whitney hesitated. She wasn’t quite sure how to take Shane. She realized she’d veered to avoid hitting his son, but she had crashed into his SUV.

      “Please, Whitney. The situation could have been so much worse if you…” He snapped his mouth closed, a nerve twitching in his jaw. “Let’s just say I’m grateful you’re a quick thinker.”

      “Five hundred dollars.”

      He blew out a long breath, throwing his SUV into Drive and pulling away from the curb. “Thanks. I appreciate you letting me do this.” He slanted her a look. “I’ll also pay for a car rental. You can’t go without a means of transportation.”

      She hadn’t even thought about that. Shane had a way of covering all the bases, which made her squeeze her hands together in her lap. “I’ll take care of it.” Embedding strength into each word, she was determined to make it clear she didn’t like accepting help like he was throwing at her. She didn’t want to be beholden to anyone, and she already had allowed her older brother to do too much for her. That had to end.

      Thankfully he must have gotten the message because he didn’t say anything else. She relaxed back and uncurled her hands.

      When they passed Zoey Crandell’s house, she looked down the driveway at the two-car garage with an apartment over it. The well-groomed yard with neatly tended flower beds and two maples standing sentinel out front appealed to Whitney. She peered back at the quiet street, shaded with large trees. She liked the area.

      Ten minutes later, Shane parked in the oval lot in the center of the elementary school campus. “Are you sure I can’t do anything else?”

      “Yes,” she said, then shook her head. “Are you always this relentless?”

      “On occasion I’ve been considered determined. I just feel bad about what happened.”

      “Well, don’t. It won’t change anything.” She hopped out of the SUV and leaned back in when Shane and Jason stayed put. “Are you two coming in?”

      “In a while. We’ll walk around out here first. Visit the playground.”

      Whitney grinned at the child. “Jason, I’ll see you later.”

      The little boy ignored her and continued to rub his cloth, his gaze fastened onto the back of the seat in front of him.

      After a half minute of silence, she swept her glance to Shane. “Thanks for the ride.”

      “Let me know when you need the money for the deductible.”

      “Sure. I’ll know more after I talk with my insurance agent and the body shop.” Quickly she shut the car door and hurried toward the primary building.

      At the main entrance she peered back at the SUV. She glimpsed Shane’s attention directed at her, and a shiver of awareness shimmied down her length. He was an attractive man, but their worlds were vastly different. Besides, when she’d come back to Cimarron City nine months ago, she had promised herself she was going to start over, make something out of herself. Finally her plans were in place. And they certainly didn’t include getting involved with a man.

      Chapter Two

      “Thanks for showing me the ropes around here, Amanda.” Whitney stood and stretched her muscles, which had cramped from her sitting on the floor while she labeled cubicles and supplies. Sweat beaded her forehead and upper lip. “I hope they can get the air-conditioning fixed by the time school starts in a few days.”

      “I was hoping it would rain today and cool things off, but it passed us by.” Dressed in a turtleneck shirt and jeans, Amanda Miller, another teacher’s assistant, gathered up the labeling machine and markers they used.

      “I can imagine. I would have roasted in what you’re wearing.” Thankful she had on a split skirt and a short-sleeve blouse, Whitney didn’t know why the young woman hadn’t gone home at lunch and changed. Whitney knew from their conversation earlier that Amanda only lived a few blocks away from the school with her boyfriend.

      “I’m always cold,” Amanda said, but her armpits were drenched with perspiration. Still sitting, she turned away to put the pens in a box.

      “Oh, there’s…” Whitney reached toward Amanda to snatch up a marker on the floor next to the young woman that Whitney had missed while cleaning up.

      The redhead flinched when she shifted back around and glimpsed Whitney out of the corner of her eye. She grabbed the black pen and gave it to Amanda. The woman’s hand quivered as she took the marker.

      Strange, Whitney thought. She’d remembered right before lunch, when another teacher’s assistant had popped into the room they were working in, her sudden appearance had startled Amanda and she’d shaken even more right after that.

      “I’m glad it’s time to leave. All I’d like to do is soak in a hot tub, but when I get home, I have too much to do.” Whitney put the labeling machine on the teacher’s desk. “How about you?”

      “Yeah, I still have housework to do and to fix dinner.” Amanda pushed to her feet.

      “A frozen meal is about all the energy I have to make tonight. See you tomorrow.”

      Exhausted after her first day on the job of meetings and helping prepare the classroom for the children, Whitney gathered her purse, then headed toward the front doors. Coming around the corner, she nearly collided with Shane leaving an office near the main entrance. He smiled, but beneath the grin she glimpsed weariness.

      “Tough meeting?” she asked, remembering he said that morning he had one at the school in the afternoon.

      “A long one, but I think we worked everything out for Jason to begin school this week.”

      “Good.” She started forward.

      Shane fell into step beside her. “How was your day?”

      “Long.”

      “And starting with a wreck probably wasn’t the best way to begin it.”

      She chuckled. “You think?” She’d called about the bus schedule and found one stopped not too far from the school so she would have a means of transportation to and from work until her car was fixed.

      Whitney exited the building into the hot August day. Not a breeze stirred. Perspiration ran in rivulets down her face. She wiped her hand across her forehead then cheeks.

      “Can I give you a ride anywhere?”

      She glanced from the bus stop to Shane’s SUV. With the suffocating one-hundred-degree weather, she СКАЧАТЬ