Chapter Ten
A niggle of unease took hold when Grace looked around the school cafeteria and did not spot Theo. She did see Sherri and hurried over to her. “Hey.” Grace knelt beside her daughter.
“What are you doing here?” Sherri asked.
“Theo forgot his lunch box, so I was bringing it to him. Where is he?”
“Oh, his class isn’t eating in the lunch room. They’re having pizza.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, lucky ducks. Mr. Beau showed up with a big stack just for Theo’s class. You think he would do that for me?”
Grace was stunned by the news. Sure, Beau had promised to have lunch with Theo and even help him with the bully problem, but she had never expected him to come through.
Apparently, she’d not given him proper credit for living up to his word. “Well, I don’t know, sweetie. Listen I have to go get back to the shop, but I’ll be here to pick you up.”
“Okay, Mama.” Sherri turned her attention back to the other children at her table, and Grace hurried out of the cafeteria and in the direction of Theo’s classroom.
The door to the classroom was open, and she could hear the laughter of children before she reached it. Grace stopped at the door and looked inside. The desks had all been slid to the perimeter of the room, and the kids were all sitting on their mats in the center of the room in a big circle.
There were easily a dozen boxes of pizza on the projects table along the window along with paper plates, bags of chips, and juice boxes.
Grace’s eyes teared up as she saw Theo grinning up at Beau who sat cross-legged on the floor beside him. Damn, girl, you’re turning into a freaking fountain. She wiped the tears away, smiled and quietly eased into the room to take a seat in a little chair along the back wall where she wouldn’t be noticed.
It wasn’t long before she was grinning. The kids were having a ball, and every one of them seemed to want Beau’s attention. He responded to every single child who yelled out a question or tried to make a joke.
Grace’s gaze went to Theo. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him look this happy. The look he gave Beau was one she’d always hoped to see on his face when he looked at his father. Open adoration.
The difference here was that he’d never looked at his dad that way, and Tad had never made such a gesture for Theo. Beau had. He’d done this for a child he barely knew, but one who had reached out to him.
Her hands went to her chest, crossed over her heart. No matter how many times she’d told herself it was too soon, it wasn’t wise, wasn’t safe, couldn’t be—no matter how many times she said she wasn’t—she was falling for Beau all over again and this had just cinched the deal.
How could she not fall for a man who would go out of his way to do something so kind for her son?
At that moment, Theo spotted her and waved. “Mommy, look! My friend Beau brought pizza for us!”
“Well, wasn’t that just the nicest thing? Did you thank him?”
“I did. We all did.”
A chorus of voices chimed in, kids yelling “thank you” to Beau and others letting Grace know that they had said thanks. Finally, the teacher, Mrs. Welch, interrupted. “Okay, children, it’s time for us to clean up.” Grace saw the way Beau grinned at the kids and the way he put his arm around Theo and hugged him.
“Now, let’s take our all our cups, plates and napkins to the trash and line up for recess.”
It was a surprisingly organized group of kids, which impressed Grace. They all disposed of their trash and lined up. Theo grinned at Grace as he got into line.
Grace didn’t expect Beau to fall in line with Theo. He stepped over to lean down and speak softly. “Theo and I have a little something to take care of on the playground.”
“Oh. Okay.” She waited until the class had left and then followed.
Beau was waiting for her.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Just wait.”
She looked over the playground and spotted Theo. He and another boy were on two of the swings, talking and swinging. As she watched, a bigger boy approached, and when the arc of Theo’s swing moved him backward, the kid grabbed the chains.
“Gotcha!” Beau murmured and strode away, his long legs eating up the distance.
Grace followed, resisting breaking into a run.
“This is my swing, four-eyes,” the bigger boy said as he jerked on the chains.
“Let go. I was here first,” Theo yelled back in a fearful tone, clinging to the chain with a less-than-brave expression on his face.
“Get off or I’ll knock you off!” The boy went to shake the chains again when Beau reached the swingset. Grace arrived just in time to hear Beau address the kid.
“Now that’s not very nice.” What followed his words was a sound she’d heard before, but not one coming from a man. It was the sound Brick made when he felt Theo or Sherri were being threatened, that low growl that said, “go ahead, one more step and I’ll gnaw your face off.”
From the expressions on the bully’s face, as well as the kid sitting in the swing beside Theo, it was obvious she wasn’t the only one who’d heard it. They both looked very much like kids who’d just come face-to-face with the big bad wolf.
Theo, on the other hand, was smiling like Superman had just swooped in to save the day.
Bully Boy let go of the chains. “I was just kidding.”
“Well, sure you were. A nice guy like you wouldn’t be mean to a swell kid like Theo, would you?”
“Huh uh.”
“I didn’t get your name.”
“Uh, Harry Willis.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Harry. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around, seeing as how we’re both friends with Theo.”
“Uh, yeah.”
Beau smiled. “Oh, and when I can’t be around, I know I can count on you to keep an eye out for Theo, you know like friends do. Just to make sure no one gives him any trouble.”
“Yeah, I mean yes. Yes, sir.”
“Well, thank you, Harry. It’s nice to have another friend I can depend on.”
“Yes, sir. Uh, you want to go play kickball, Theo?”
Theo slid out of the swing. “Can Jaime come?” He gestured to the little boy in the swing next to him.
“Yeah, I guess.” Harry looked over Theo’s head at Beau, and Beau gave him the thumbs-up sign. “Yeah, sure,” Harry agreed.
As Harry and Jaime headed for the field where a group of kids was gathered, Theo looked up at Beau. “Thank you.”
“What are friends for?” Beau asked and knelt.
Theo flew into his arm and hugged him tightly. Grace had to stifle a sound that involuntarily tried to escape her lips when she heard her child whisper. “You my very bestest friend.”
He released Beau and smiled at his mom. “See you after school, Mommy!” Then he ran off.
Beau rose and turned toward her. “You okay, Gracie?”
She nodded and turned her back on him, not trusting herself to speak. He walked along beside her in silence. It wasn’t until she reached the parking lot that she had herself in control. She stopped beside her truck, and so did he.
“That was the kindest thing anyone’s ever done for him,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Theo’s a great kid. I couldn’t stand the thought of him getting bullied, and it seemed to me like he needed to feel special.” Beau’s expression changed, and he hurriedly continued. “Not that you don’t make him feel special. That’s not what I meant. I just meant—“
Grace silenced him with her kiss. It was a chaste kiss, slow and gentle. “I know what you meant and thank you,” she said when she pulled back.
“You don’t have to thank me.”
“That’s what makes it so precious. I have to go. I promised Mama I would be back in an hour.”
“Wait.” Beau took her hand as she turned away. “Can I see you tonight?”
She shook her head. “I want to say yes, but no.”
“Will you tell me why?”
“Because of what you did today. That wasn’t a small thing for me, Beau. It carried a lot of power, and I have to move beyond it before I see you again because it blows my defenses all to hell and right now I need them.”
“You don’t need to protect yourself from me, Gracie.”
“You’re the only one I do need protection from. I have to go. Thank you again. I wish I had the words to tell you how much that meant to me. I’ll see you.”
With that, she got into her truck and pulled away. As she looked into her side mirror, she saw Beau standing there watching. It took everything she had not to stop, get out, and run to him.
How in the world was she going to fight these feelings? Even as she asked herself that, a little voice inside asked why do you even want to?
That little voice made a good point.