CHAPTER TWO

Kenzie

“WAIT, WAIT, WAIT…” I TOOK a deep breath knowing my sister, Lena, was about to have more than something to say about things. “Hold the phone. You’re going on a date? With Mr. Tucker?”

“Lena—”

“In his classroom?”

“Lee,” I warned.

“Is this a euphemism for something?” She tapped her lip ridiculously, pretending to think.

“Lena…”

“This is some themed porno shit, literally in the making, but I like it. I dig it.” She grinned.

“Lena!” I exclaimed, looking around to make sure the boys weren’t within earshot.

“Please, like I would talk about you roleplaying with Jack’s teacher around tiny ears.” She rolled her eyes as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and stood next to me by the island in the middle of the kitchen.

“I swear to—”

“You think he’ll have a regular ruler or a yardstick?” She wiggled her eyebrows at her innuendo.

“Lena, I love you, but you’re like a thirteen-year-old.”

“You like it, though.”

“Whatever, and it’s not a date.”

“I’m pretty sure that isn’t what Jack heard.”

“He was joking, it’s not really—”

“And Jimmy-Jam heard it, too.”

“Again, Mr. Tucker was just joking around. He needs help and—”

“And you volunteered for some extra credit! You dirty girl.” My sister winked, and I shook my head trying to fight from giggling at her teasing. There was no need to egg her on. She did a bangarang job all on her own.

“I swear you are impossible.” I walked out of the kitchen and didn’t miss her following close behind me.

“If it isn’t a date, why are you going to change?”

“My shirt got wet while I was washing the dishes,” I said while looking back and stepping into my bathroom, where I hooked up my flat iron.

“Huh.” She stood in the doorway. Her arms were crossed over her chest. “Is that why you’re doing your hair, too?”

“I didn’t get a chance to do it earlier,” I argued, knowing I wasn’t convincing worth a crap.

“I wonder if you would go to all this trouble if Jim’s teacher needed your help.”

“I swear to the moon, you are annoying, Lee.”

“You love it. Just… Ughhh!” she cried, entered my bathroom, and sat on the closed toilet lid. “Please, babe, tell me you get what’s going on here.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Not really. I knew what I would have wanted, but I wasn’t even sure Chase saw me as anything other than one of his student’s parents.

“Don’t do that,” she quietly said. “You are the smartest person I know by far. Don’t be dumb about this.”

“There is no this. Chase is—”

“Chase is it?” She smirked, and I shook my head.

“Mr. Tucker,” I corrected, pretending like my cheeks weren’t burning, “is a nice man who is an incredible educator and has inspired Jack to read and actually try this year. He has my respect.”

“Is that what he had at the baseball park, too, last weekend?” Lena asked, and I rolled my eyes.

“His nephew plays on the same little league as the boys. We bump into one another at the park.”

“Mhmm.”

“I admire how he’s there for his sister and her child.”

“Bet he’s gonna have a lot more than that by the end of the night.”

“Lena!”

“He’s a man, Kens. At the end of the day, he is a very good-looking man who has his eyes on my big sister. My big sister, who deserves a little something, something. Especially after the asshole douchebag of her ex-husband does everything he can to knock her down. And by that I don’t mean while she was married to him. Nope. Even after the jerkface remarried, he still makes my beautiful sister’s life difficult.”

“Babe—”

“And I think we can all agree that big sister needs some grown-up time with someone who knows how to handle his.”

“Oh, my god, you are too much. And can we not talk about me in third person?” I requested because my sister was all kinds of special.

“I bet he would give you some great D.”

“The only D I want right now comes in the form of donuts and is served by the dozen in a pink box.”

“I bet if you asked nicely, he’d give it to you glazed.” She winked, and I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

“You are too much,” I said, shaking my head while concentrating on trying to tame my hair.

“Kens.”

“What?” I asked, looking away from the mirror while holding a chunk of my hair in my hand.

“Don’t shy away. Not from this,” she said gently, and I looked at her in the reflection of the bathroom mirror.

“I’m not. If there was a remote chance of something like what you’re saying was even a possibility, I would jump at it.” Probably. “But let’s be realistic here, Lee. A man like Mr. Tucker is probably already involved with someone, and if he isn’t, trust me, he wouldn’t be interested in me.”

“I hate how much that douche-canoe hurt you.” She scowled.

“He didn’t—”

“You doubt yourself so much now. And you talk about yourself like you’re Shrek’s sister—”

“Hardly,” I scoffed, crossing my arms after setting the flat iron on the counter by my sink.

“You do. He did a number on your self-confidence.”

“Babe—”

“I just want you to grab a little happiness for yourself.”

“I’m happy, Lee.”

“You are. With your boys in your life it would be impossible not to be, but I mean more than just life with the boys.”

“I have you,” I pointed out.

“Or me,” she argued, and I opened my mouth, but she pointed at me, so I closed it. “Or family. I mean a partner.”

“And you think Chase Tucker is it? You think he could be a partner in my life?”

“I don’t know,” she exclaimed with wide eyes. “I’m not a psychic, BUT you never know unless you try.”

Try something with the sexy Mr. Chase Tucker.

Damn if that wasn’t as tempting as a dozen donuts on the third day of a diet!