One Night with her Bachelor(28)

By Wednesday, tension jackhammered inside her skull. Josh’s principal, who was also Molly’s boss, had called her into the office to talk about how they could help him adjust, but all Molly had heard was disruptive attitude. Her patience snapped when she got him home. “We need to have a talk, young man.”

His shoulders hunched sullenly, and he slouched in his chair, giving her a pathetic look. She shook her finger in reprimand. “Don’t try that with me. I’m your mom and I love you, but I will not let you disrespect me by manipulating me. I won’t let you be disrespectful to Mrs. Slager, either. I know it’s tough sitting in a classroom all day, but you have eight more years of it so you have to get used to it.”

He hung his head, finally taking her seriously. “I hate school.”

“I know. And I can help you to a point, but you have to make some effort yourself, too. If you don’t, you can kiss your Wednesday nights with Aunt Lily goodbye.”

He gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“You bet I would. School’s important, Josh. Hard but important.”

“Okay, but I can still go to Aunt Lily’s tonight, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah.” Lily was picking Josh up just before dinner, and Molly desperately needed the alone time. She was going to have a bath, maybe read a book.

Yeah, right. She was going to sleep.

“You packed everything you need, right?”

“Mom, it’s just dinner and some movies. It’s not like I’m spending the night.”

No, definitely not spending the night. That was out of the question for a long while. Adrenaline pumped through her as she tried to push aside all the things that could go wrong. He could fall out of his chair. Was Lily strong enough to get him back into it? What if she struggled to get him out of the car? Okay, so he could get himself out of cars, but what if she didn’t set the chair’s brake right? What if his chair slid on the ice? What if—

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. “Are you sure you want to go? Because we could always invite Lily to stay for dinner here…” She opened the door, fully expecting Lily to be standing on her porch. She was staring at Gabriel’s chest instead.





Chapter Eight





?


“Gabriel. Hi.”

The sound of her breathy voice made his blood pump away from his brain and down to his groin. Damn, why did she have to sound so breathless? It made him think of all the other ways he could make her pant his name.

“Hi. Bad time?”

“No! I just, um…” She glanced down at herself, unconsciously rubbing at the paint on her shirt. “I, uh…”

Oh, shit. She’d forgotten their date. He’d been able to think of almost nothing else since Saturday, and she’d completely forgotten. How…humbling. He tried not to cringe as he pulled the bouquet of hand-painted, wooden flowers from behind his back. “For you.”

Her eyes widened as she took them. “Did you make these?”

“Yeah.” He’d spent four days getting them just right. Four damn days of thinking about her.

And she’d forgotten their date.

“They’re beautiful. Thank you. Come in.” She stepped aside, and he stomped his boots on the porch to dislodge the icy snow that clung to them. The house’s warmth seeped through his shirt when he took off his heavy jacket and hung it on a coat hook. His cabin was well insulated but had no heating other than the fireplace, so he spent the winter wearing so many layers he moved like Gumby.

She stood there awkwardly as he hung up the coat. “I have to confess something.”

“You forgot I was picking you up tonight.”

The corners of her mouth tugged tight. “How’d you know?”

He brushed the soft skin of her cheek with his thumb, trying to ease her frown. “Because you’re not very good at hiding what you’re thinking.”

“I’m really sorry. I feel awful about it. It’s just been such a hectic week, and it’s only Wednesday and I feel like my brain’s going to explode if I have to deal with one more thing.”

Was he something she had to deal with? He didn’t want the answer, so he didn’t ask the question. “Tell you what. I’m here, I’m hungry and I’d still like to take you out. I understand if you’re not up for it, though. I’d offer to cook for us, but my vegetarian repertoire is limited to toast. So why don’t we go out, have dinner and see if we can make you forget all the things that’re making your brain detonate.”

Her shoulders seemed to relax a little. “Deal. Come in and say hi to Josh. Lily’s going to pick him up soon.”

So she remembered that Lily was coming over but not him. What had she planned to do tonight?

And why did that make him feel so shitty?

He followed her into the living room, where Josh was listening to something through headphones and playing air guitar. Gabriel shot Molly an amused look before waving his hand in front of Josh’s face to get his attention. Josh gave him a grin and slid his headphones off. “Gabriel!”

“Hey buddy. I came to get your mom for our date.”

“Cool. I’m going to Aunt Lily’s and we’re going to eat donuts for dinner and watch PG-13 movies.” Josh slapped his hand over his mouth and gave his mom a horrified glance.