Brambleberry House: His Second-Chance Family. RaeAnne Thayne

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СКАЧАТЬ curriculum to plan, students’ pictures and names to memorize. Everything.”

      Her voice vibrated with excitement and despite his discomfort, he almost smiled. “You can’t wait, can you?”

      She flashed him a quick look. “Is it that obvious?”

      “I’m glad you’ve found something you enjoy. I’ll admit, back in the day, I wouldn’t have pegged you for a schoolteacher.”

      She laughed. “I guess my plans to be a rich and famous diva someday kind of fell by the wayside. Teaching thirty active fifth-graders isn’t quite as exciting as going on tour and recording a platinum-selling record.”

      “I bet you’re good at it, though.”

      She blinked in surprise, then gave him a smile of such pure, genuine pleasure that he felt his chest tighten.

      “Thank you, Will. That means a lot to me.”

      Their gazes met and though it had been a long, long time, he knew he didn’t mistake the currents zinging between them.

      A gargantuan mistake.

      He was almost relieved when they caught up with Maddie, who had slowed her steps considerably.

      “You doing okay, cupcake?” Julia asked.

      “I’m fine, Mommy,” she assured her, though her features were pale and her mouth hung down a little at the edges.

      He wondered again what the story was here—why Julia watched her so carefully, why Maddie seemed so frail—but now didn’t seem the appropriate time to ask.

      “Do you need a piggyback ride the rest of the way to the ice-cream stand?” Julia asked.

      Maddie shook her head with more firmness than before, as if that brief rest had been enough for her. “I can make it, I promise. We’re almost there, aren’t we?”

      “Yep. See, there’s the sign with the ice-cream cone on it.”

      Somehow Maddie slipped between them and folded her hand in her mother’s. She smiled up at Will and his chest ached all over again.

      “I love this place,” Maddie announced when they drew closer to Murphy’s Ice Cream.

      “I do, too,” Will told her. “I’ve been coming here for ice cream my whole life.”

      She looked intrigued. “Really? My mom said she used to come here, too, when she was little.” She paused to take a breath before continuing. “Did you ever see her here?”

      He glanced at Julia and saw her cheeks had turned pink and he wondered if she was remembering holding hands under one of the picnic tables that overlooked the beach and stealing kisses whenever her brother wasn’t looking.

      “I did,” he said gruffly, wishing those particular memories had stayed buried.

      Maddie looked as if she wanted to pursue the matter but by now they had reached Murphy’s.

      He hadn’t thought this whole thing through, he realized as they approached the walk-up window. Rats. Inside, he could see Lacy Murphy Walker, who went to high school with him and whose family had owned and operated the ice-cream parlor forever.

      She had been one of Robin’s best friends—and as much as he loved her, he was grimly aware that Lacy also happened to be one of the biggest gossips in town.

      “Hi, Will.” She beamed with some surprise. “Haven’t seen you in here in an age.”

      He had no idea how to answer that so he opted to stick with a polite smile.

      “We’re sure loving the new cabinets in the back,” she went on. “You did a heck of a job on them. I was saying the other day how much more storage space we have now.”

      “Thanks, Lace.”

      Inside, he could see the usual assortment of tourists but more than a few local faces he recognized. The scene was much the same on the picnic tables outside.

      His neck suddenly itched from the speculative glances he was getting from those within sight—and especially from Lacy.

      She hadn’t stopped staring at him and at Julia and her twins since he walked up to the counter.

      “You folks ready to order?”

      He hadn’t been lumped into a folks in a long time and it took him a moment to adjust.

      Sometimes he thought that was one of the things he had missed the most the last two years, being part of a unit, something bigger and better than himself.

      “Hang on,” he said, turning back to Julia and her twins. “Have you decided?” he asked, in a voice more terse than he intended.

      “Bubblegum!” Simon exclaimed. “In a sugar cone.”

      Lacy wrote it down with a smile. “And for the young lady?”

      Maddie gifted Lacy with a particularly sweet smile. “Strawberry cheesecake, please,” she whispered. “I would like a sugar cone, too.”

      “Got it.” Again Lacy turned her speculative gaze at him and Julia, standing together at the counter. “And for the two of you?”

      The two of you. He wanted to tell her there was no two of you. They absolutely were not a couple, just two completely separate individuals who happened to walk down the beach together for ice cream.

      “Two scoops of vanilla in a sugar cone,” he said.

      “Make that two of those.” Julia smiled at Lacy and he felt a little light-headed. It was only because he hadn’t eaten, he told himself. Surely his reaction had nothing to do with the cherry blossom scent of her that smelled sweeter than anything coming out of the ice cream shop.

      Lacy gave them the total and Will pulled out his wallet.

      “My treat,” he said, sliding a bill to Lacy.

      She reached for it at the same time Julia did.

      “It is not!” Julia exclaimed. “You weren’t even planning to come along until we hounded you into it. Forget it, I’m paying.”

      Even more speculative glances were shooting their way. He could see a couple of his mother’s friends inside and was afraid they would be on the phone to her at her retirement village in San Diego before Lacy even scooped their cones.

      Above all, he wanted to avoid attention and just win this battle so they could find a place to sit, preferably one out of view of everyone inside.

      “Nobody hounded anybody. I wanted to come.” For one brief second of insanity, he thought, but didn’t add. “I’m paying this time. You can pick it up next time.”

      The minute the words escaped his mouth, he saw Lacy’s eyes widen. Next time, he had said. Rats. He could just picture the conversation that would be buzzing around town within minutes.

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