Beautifully Broken Pieces (Sutter Lake, #1)(32)

I imagined sliding a hand up one of her tanned legs to find her bare beneath. Fuck. I had to stop. “You’re welcome.” It came out half choked. Grabbing an oven mitt, I pulled the two plates out of the oven. “Hope you like lasagna.”

“Love it.” Taylor’s eyes sparkled when she said it, in a way that told me she did indeed love food. “Can I get us drinks?”

“Sure,” I called as I made my way to the dining table. “Help yourself to anything in the fridge and grab me a beer.”

“Got it.” I placed our plates across from each other just as she returned with a beer and a bottle of water. “Thanks.”

“This looks amazing,” Taylor said as she sat.

“Tastes even better.”

She took her first bite and moaned. Fucking moaned. I choked on my drink. Her eyes looked panicked for a moment. “Are you okay?”

I coughed, then got out, “Yeah, fine. Just a little beer down the wrong pipe.”

“This is delicious. Even better than my favorite Italian restaurant in LA.”

“Gran will be happy to hear that. It’s her recipe.”

“Impressive.”

I took a pull on my beer. “I have a favor to ask.”

Taylor sent a quizzical look my way. “What?”

“You used to be a teacher, right?”

She tensed but answered. “Yes.”

“I was wondering if you could help Noah with his reading. His teacher thinks he’s a little behind. We’ve been trying to read with him more, get him to sound out words and stuff, but he’s still struggling.” Noah did need a little help, but I might have been exaggerating things as an excuse to have Taylor around more.

Taylor twisted the bottle of water by her plate. “What grade is he in this year?”

“First.”

“I don’t know. I taught fifth grade, it’s pretty different.”

I could see the apprehension in her eyes, the desire to run, to isolate. She didn’t want the Cole family any closer than we already were. I pushed. I had to. “But you learned the basics of how to teach reading, right?”

“Yes…” She let the word trail off.

“It would be a huge help. And I know it would mean a lot to Jensen.” I went for the death blow that I knew would mean her agreement. “Being a single mom, she needs all the help we can give her. It’s a lot to have on a single pair of shoulders.”

Taylor stared me down. “You don’t fight fair.”

I popped a crispy corner of lasagna into my mouth. “Nope. I fight to win.”





18





Taylor





Balancing a pile of books at least a foot high, I reached out and knocked on the Cole family’s front door. I had spent the past week brushing up on reading techniques and going in search of books that might entice Noah. I had to admit, this project had reminded me why I had decided to go into teaching in the first place. Maybe it was time to think about going back to work.

The door swung open, and Sarah appeared. “Oh, my goodness. Let me help you with those.” She slid the top half of my book pile into her own grasp. “Well, you’ve certainly come prepared. I’m afraid your student is sulking in the study. He’s not too excited about this.”

I followed her inside. “Hopefully, these books will help.” Sarah sent me a quizzical look. “Part of getting a child excited about reading is giving them a wide variety of material about subjects they’re interested in. I asked Jensen to fill me in on the things he loves. So, lots of books on airplanes, fighter pilots, animals, and even a children’s biography about Muhammed Ali.”

Sarah beamed. “This is wonderful. I can’t thank you enough for doing this.”

I returned her smile. “I’m happy to help. We’ll start off with shorter sessions. Maybe thirty minutes, a break, and then another thirty?”

“That sounds perfect. I’ll be in the kitchen, working on some cookies. They should be just about ready in time for your break.”

“That’s great. A little reward for hard work is always good. Also, it would help to have everyone in the family read to him as much as possible. Instilling the habit now and seeing his family enjoy the activity will go a long way.”

Sarah nodded. “We can do that. Jensen always reads to him before bed, but we can start doing some reading during the day, too.”

“That should help. Reading before bed is wonderful, but it’s also when Noah is most tired. Picking up a book when he has more energy to focus will help him to retain more of what he learns.”

“That makes a lot of sense. Come on, I’ll show you to the study.”

Sarah led the way to a pair of glass French doors and swung them open as she revealed not a study but a gorgeous library. The room was large and housed floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on every wall except one—the one dominated by a large bay window. There were worn and cozy-looking chairs and a couch that just begged you to curl up on it with a good book. “This is incredible,” I whispered.

Sarah patted my shoulder gently. “You’re welcome to come over and read anytime you’d like.”

I chuckled. “Careful what you offer, with a room like this, you might never get rid of me.”