It took Darren all of three seconds to figure out which of the third grade boys were obviously the ones harassing Bella. Of course, Darren’s brain was completely distracted at this point. All he could think about was the kiss he had shared with Maggie in the tiny office in the corner of the school gymnasium. She tasted so sweet. Just being around her made him want to smile like some lovesick idiot.

But right now wasn’t the time to be distracted by his desire for the school’s guidance counselor. Especially not when that guidance counselor was trying her best to get the attention of those third graders so that she could introduce Darren to the class.

So, Darren forced himself to stop appreciating the way Maggie’s skirt cupped her round backside and focused on the three boys completely ignoring Maggie’s attempts to get their attention.

“Hey!” Darren said sharply. He took three long strides toward the boys sitting on the hardwood floor of the gymnasium and loomed over them in what he hoped was a pretty decent imitation of every coach he’d ever had over the years. At least that’s what he was intending to do. “What do you think you’re doing? Do you have any idea how to respect an authority figure? This woman is your guidance counselor! Do you understand me, young man?” He leaned down and got right in the biggest kid’s face. “Do you?”

For just one second, Darren thought he was actually going to have a throw down with a nine-year-old. Holy crap! The kid was in that kind of chunky phase that many boys go through right before they hit a growth spurt. He had brown hair, blue eyes, and a whole bucket load of freckles on his nose. About half his big teeth were in and the rest were missing. His chin jutted out mulishly, and for one second, Darren was pretty sure the little turd was going to get in Darren’s face and argue that he didn’t have to show respect to anybody.

Then at the last second the kid looked down and sighed. “Yes, sir,” the boy mumbled.

Darren immediately followed up on his advantage just to see what would happen. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear your apology to Ms. Brown.”

There was a flare of anger in the boy’s eyes, but then he turned toward Maggie and bobbed his head. “I’m sorry, Ms. Brown.”

“I appreciate your apology, Julian,” Maggie said solemnly. “Now. I was trying to introduce Mr. Hernandez to your class. He will be your new gym teacher until we find someone to permanently take over the position.”

All twenty pairs of eyes drifted toward Darren. They started at his feet and then craned their necks back all the way to look up at his face. Darren smiled. He wasn’t trying to scare them. He didn’t even particularly want to intimidate them just yet. That felt a little preemptive. But damned if he was going to deal with their disrespectful behavior, especially when it involved being rude to Maggie.

“It’s very nice to meet all of you,” Darren told them in a voice that did seem to carry throughout the gym. He attempted to dial it back a bit more but didn’t have too much luck. “I want each and every one of you to stand up one at a time, tell me your name, how old you are, and what your favorite sport is. If you don’t like sports, that’s okay too. Just own it. Then after you’ve told me your name and your favorite sport, go sit down on the blue line. We’re going to do some warm-up exercises today just so I can get to know you and so you can get to know me.”

Where was this crap coming from? Darren felt like there was some strange entity inhabiting his body. He had never run a class like this before. He hadn’t ever even thought about what it might be like to run a class like this. Yet here he was, pulling activities out of his ass like he’d had some kind of training to do it. Oddly enough, it felt good. Not just interacting with the kids but also feeling as though he was not only doing something worthwhile but also something honest. There was a certain simplicity to what was happening in this gym that appealed to Darren in a way he had never experienced before.

Maggie Brown moved in closer to Darren. She put her back to the kids and leaned over to speak to him privately. “Was that in the lesson plan?”

“No,” he murmured. “I’m just making this up as I go.”

Maggie touched his arm. The sensation sent a jolt of excitement from the point of contact to every extremity of his body. Her fingers were so soft, and her touch was so light. It was almost featherlike. He thought about what it was like to have those fingers tugging at his hair and touching his face. They had shared one kiss, and he could not stop thinking about the next one.

“I’ll see you after class to see how things went.” With those words, Maggie left the gym. Darren struggled with the urge to watch in slack-jawed appreciation as she walked toward the double doors leading out of the gym. But that certainly would not be sending a message of respect to the youngsters still staring at him as though they were waiting on pins and needles to see what would happen next.

“All right.” Darren clapped his hands so hard that the echo made a few of the girls slap their hands over their ears. He was glad that Bella wasn’t in this first class. He wanted to have things down before he had her in front of him. “Let’s get started. Shall we? Julian, why don’t you go first?”

“My name is Julian, and I like football.” The kid grunted like a professional wrestler and smashed one fist into the other before trotting over to the blue line and plopping onto his bottom.

Of course, Julian’s buddies Bentley and Sawyer both claimed to love football as well. There were about half a dozen soccer players from both genders, a few cheerleaders, one girl that was pretty much a hardcore gymnast, and two figure skaters, and nearly everyone said that they skied in the wintertime, but only one kid claimed to do so competitively. Then there were the five or six youngsters that didn’t play a sport and didn’t really care. They did admit to enjoying a chance to play outside though, which was something.

“So, how good of shape do you think you’re in?” Darren asked the kids.

Most of them were nodding their heads and shouting that they were in terrific shape. There was lots of bouncing and eagerness that made Darren feel about a million years old. When in the hell had he ever possessed this kind of energy?

“Well, show me how much energy you have!” Darren shouted. He started clapping his hands. “Get up! Let’s do some jumping jacks. Go! One. Two. Three…”

Darren began bouncing up and down with the kids doing some basic jumping jacks. He got the kids to ten before he started going through the line and trying to help out a few youngsters who weren’t quite coordinated enough to get the legs out, hands out, and were too eager to clap their hands together over their heads to worry about form.

They moved from jumping jacks to push-ups and from push-ups to sit-ups. He even got the kids to split into pairs and hold each other’s feet while they counted. It was actually pretty startling how willing and how excited these kids were about physical fitness once you got them moving. Darren was having a blast. That was something he hadn’t expected. He’d obviously figured that he could handle it, but he hadn’t anticipated how much satisfaction he would get from teaching a bunch of nine-year-olds how to do a proper jumping jack.

Finally, a teacher showed up at the double doors of the gymnasium, presumably to pick up the class currently doing modified shuttle runs on the far side of the echoing space. She was wearing one of those pink wraparound dresses that are supposed to be very flattering, and it was plain to see that she carried herself very much as though she was aware of her good looks. She also had a huge rock on the ring finger of her left hand.

Darren didn’t think much of her appearance. The big clock on the far wall told him that it had been forty-five minutes, which seemed like a reasonable amount of time for a gym class. He raised his hands. “All right, class! I need you to line up for me right now. Go to the blue line, and no shoving. It doesn’t matter where you are in line because you’re all going to the same place.”

The teacher did a double take. It was almost comical to watch. Darren tried to gauge what she might be thinking. He was wondering if he was doing a decent job or if he was completely mucking this up. It had been decades since he’d been in an actual gym class. He’d certainly never actually taught one. So, there was a real question in his mind as to his effectiveness in this new albeit temporary job.

“My, my,” the teacher breathed. She had dark brown hair cut into a bob and a whole lot of makeup. “Aren’t you just a lifesaver for all of us?”

“A lifesaver?” Darren knew they’d been without a gym teacher for a long time, but it didn’t seem like the classroom teachers would be affected quite as much as the administration.

The woman sidled closer and put out her hand. “I’m Sarah Farnsworth. I teach third grade.”

“Darren Hernandez.” He took the hand and gave it a very formal shake. For some reason, just being around the woman made him feel like he needed to take a bath. Strange. “I’m just substitute teaching as a favor to Ms. Brown.”

“Oh. Ms. Brown.” There was a glint in Sarah Farnsworth’s eyes that Darren recognized all too much from the many years he’d dealt with women in general. Obviously there was no love lost between the two. “Yes, poor Maggie is always sticking her nose into the principal’s business. You know it isn’t her place to hire or fire staff. You should really talk to the principal if you want to stick around.” Farnsworth was clapping her hands together in order to get the class’s attention. “Go ahead and head on out of the gym, Julian. Bentley, you may be our door holder. Come on, let’s go!”

It was obvious that the three obnoxious boys were personal favorites of Sarah Farnsworth. Darren wondered if it had anything to do with their parents’ bankrolls. In any case, he wasn’t here to make friends, lose them, or get in the middle of school politics. So, he raised his hands and gave Sarah a smile. “I’m just here temporarily, ma’am. I don’t know anything else about it.”

“Well, then, you have yourself a wonderful day!” Sarah beamed at him before sashaying down the hallway.

About five seconds later, the double doors opened once again and Bella exploded into the gym. “Uncle Darren!”

“Hi there, Poodle.” Darren picked her up and gave her a hug. “Now, you have to call me Mr. Hernandez like everyone else, and you can’t expect to get away with any rule breaking.”

“Yes, sir!” She was jumping up and down with glee. “I promise.”

“Let’s have everyone go and stand on the blue line!” Darren told the class entering the gym. Ah. Third graders. How many classes full of these kids were there anyway? “I want you to tell me your name and your favorite sport! If you don’t have a favorite sport, that’s okay. Just be honest about it.” Darren felt himself settle into what he might have actually called “the zone.” It was pleasant. No. It was more than that. It was just—it felt right.