Singled Out

Chapter 18

Every year, Principal Ellison hosted a back-to-school barbecue on the beach for the staff and their families.

He and the office staff had the food catered by a local restaurant and supplied coolers full of nonalcoholic drinks. We could bring our own adult beverages as long as we made it to work tomorrow, as it was a Wednesday evening. I was down for water tonight since I’d just finished football practice on a hot field. We hounded the players to drink plenty, but sometimes the coaching staff had a hard time following our own rules.

I’d been to the barbecue every year since I was hired except for last year. Last year, my cousin’s death was recent, and Danny had only been in my care for a few weeks. Truth be told, on top of grieving, I’d been too nervous to take him to the beach, so he and I had skipped it.

We were in a different place this year, I realized as I carried him along the side of the road toward the beach. Though I still often felt like an imposter, all too aware of how many ways I could screw up this little human, I guessed we were making progress.

“Look at us, little man,” I said to him. “Guys’ night at the beach. We’ll eat some dinner and play in the sand with your trucks.” I had an overstuffed diaper bag over my shoulder, complete with trucks and a sand bucket, beach towels around my neck, and his booster seat in my other hand.

There was no such thing as traveling light with a toddler.

“Tuck,” he said joyfully.

“We brought your dump truck and your bulldozer. How’s that sound?”

Danny didn’t answer, his eyes glued to the gathering that came into view with my every step.

There were clusters of people standing and talking, most of them in swimsuits, coverups, wide-brimmed hats, ball caps. Though it was after five, the late-August sun still beat down hot. Danny and I would be taking a dip to cool down at some point.

Several grade-school-age kids splashed and chased each other in the shallow water. A trio of middle-school girls stood in bikinis, trying to look grown-up, their incessant giggles proving otherwise.

I spotted Mills talking to Lisa and her wife, Beth Ann, along with Michael Clausen, the biology teacher, and his wife, Kristina. Ty Bishop, who taught econ and coached the varsity basketball team, was playing two-on-two volleyball with Jasmine Hughes, Amber Ullman, and Amber’s boyfriend. I laughed as Jasmine spiked one emphatically on six-foot-four Ty and scored.

“Bah,” Danny said, pointing at the volleyball in the sand.

“That’s a volleyball,” I told him, loving his inherent interest in all things sports related.

Some baby babble came out of his mouth that I thought meant volleyball. I smiled and kissed his forehead.

“Hey, Coach.” Several people greeted me as we arrived.

“Hi, guys,” I said. “Can you say hi, Danny?”

My son burrowed his head into my chest, which elicited several awws from nearby women.

“Such a doll,” Jody Rivas said.

“Need some help, Max?” Rissa Raymond was suddenly in our space, reaching for the diaper bag. She was single, transparent, and persistent in her quest to worm her way into my life. I’d never given her any reason to believe I was interested.

“I’ve got it. Thanks,” I told her in a friendly but noncommittal tone. Without making eye contact with her, I continued toward Mills, Lisa, and Beth Ann, greeting everyone as I passed, leaving Rissa behind.

“Ooh, here comes that handsome little boy,” Beth Ann cooed as I approached. She waved at Danny. “Hello, Daniel. Remember me?”

Instead of hiding, Danny nodded shyly. He’d met her a few times, and she always fussed over him enough to make an impression.

“Want to set up by us?” Lisa asked, gesturing toward an umbrella, a large blanket spread over the sand, and a single beach chair next to it.

“I forgot to pack a blanket,” I muttered.

“You can share ours,” Beth Ann said. She took the booster chair from me. “We’ll set this up on the blanket, and your daddy can sit right next to you,” she told Danny.

I gladly let her take the chair and followed her. Lisa moved their bag so there was more space.

“That’s Mills’s chair,” Lisa said. “Food just started arriving so we should be able to eat soon.”

“Are you hungry, Danny?” Beth Ann asked as I lowered him to the ground.

Standing next to me, Danny held on to the bottom of my swim trunks and nodded.

“I heard there’s chicken nuggets,” Beth Ann continued, bending down to Danny’s level.

“She’s good with kids,” I said to Lisa as I dug out Danny’s bib and sippy cup.

“She’s ready for us to have one,” Lisa confided.

“Yeah?” My brows went up as this was the first I’d heard of it. “Are you?”

Lisa’s smile as she watched her wife was softer than the ones she used at work. “We’ve started the process.”

“Congrats,” I said, handing Danny his water.

“A little early for that, but thanks.”

“Water for you?” Mills joined us, holding out an ice-cold bottle to me.

“Thanks, man.” I took it, opened it, and downed half of it.

As I screwed the lid back on, my hunger hit. I scanned the food-serving area, set up under a large white awning closer to the road than the lake.

Joanna, one of the office staff who always oversaw the food at these events, was unloading food onto the long folding tables. I glanced to the other end of the tent, expecting to see Bronwyn, the school secretary.

Instead of Bronwyn’s bottle-blond head, I saw dark, glossy hair in a messy pile on someone who bent over a rolling food carrier. There was something intensely familiar about that color, that shininess…

At that instant, Harper stood, sliding a covered tray from the carrier onto the table. As hungry as I was, I ignored the food, my gaze locked on my boss’s breathtaking daughter.

She wore a slate-blue bikini top, a long, flowered skirt with a slit up to her hip, multiple necklaces that, even from this distance, I’d bet were her creations, and large hoop earrings.

My stare got hung up on her, and my dick stirred in my swim trunks.

Fuck.

What was she doing here?

“Good thing you two aren’t a thing,” Mills quipped.

I glared at him. His grin said he’d witnessed every second of me watching Harper.

Luckily Lisa and Beth Ann were focused on my son, with him demonstrating the bulldozer at work.

Mills leaned closer, his smug smile disappearing. “I’m just a bystander, but she’s pretty tough to ignore, huh?” Instead of smart-assery, his tone was empathetic. I let my defensiveness come down a notch and nodded.

“That’s one way to put it. I’ll just keep my distance.”

“Looks like if you want food, you’ll have to interact.”

“It’s not a problem.”

I was glad I’d spotted her ahead of time, because when I went through the food line, I’d have to manage a balance between politeness and warmth that would fluctuate depending on who was around us and how close they were.

Not a fucking problem at all.

I kept a close eye on the serving status as Mills and I talked about upcoming statewide test dates. As soon as the call went out for us to fill our plates, I scooped up Danny and headed that way. If there was a long line behind me, I couldn’t be expected to do more than say hello, please, and thank you.

As Danny and I approached the long tables of barbecue pork, homemade buns, cold fried chicken, and more from Henry’s Restaurant, I set him beside me and took his hand. I stacked two plates, then piled food for both of us on the top one.

There were a few people in front of us, and the line moved slowly. I tried my best not to gape at the vision that was Harper Ellison. She looked like a goddess in that bikini top, with her flat, bronzed abdomen exposed and her skirt hanging low on her hips.

“Hi, Max,” she said before I was directly in front of her. Before I was ready.

“Harper.” I smiled, reining it in enough so it hopefully didn’t radiate the lust that pumped through me. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

She brushed a lock of hair out of her face. “My dad begged me. Bronwyn had an emergency root canal this afternoon and wasn’t up to the task.”

“Understandable. Well, we’re glad you’re helping out.” I cringed inwardly at my lameness. Extra points for sounding like a stuffy teacher with no connection to her.

“Who is this handsome boy?” she said, her eyes on Danny.

I took two full seconds to understand she was a step ahead of me in pretending she’d never met my son. Considering it’d been the middle of the night when she had, I appreciated the act.

“Can you say hi to Harper, Danny?” I said.

When I thought he would duck into my thigh, he surprised me by peering up at Harper with a shy smile. He didn’t say anything, but the eye contact alone was notable.

“You enjoy your nuggets, cutie-pie,” Harper said to him. Her gaze drifted over me for an extra second as if acknowledging our secret that she’d previously met Danny.

With a half smile and a nod, I moved forward in line. I forced my thoughts to the fruit selection in an effort to keep from reacting to that look from Harper.

Ty Bishop was in line behind me. He was an inch or two taller than me and twice as loud as he kept an ongoing dialogue with anyone and everyone around him, most of whom were female. He was a few years younger, good-looking, athletic, and unlike me, he loved attention from women. He could have it.

“Hey, pretty lady,” he said to Harper as he came up even with her.

I clenched my molars together as I leaned over to ask Danny if he wanted watermelon or apple slices.

My son pointed at the apples.

“Hi, Ty.” Harper’s smile at the basketball oaf was audible.

Her use of his name, as if she knew him well, grated on my nerves. I reminded myself he was closer to her age than I was and possibly ran in the same social circle as her, unlike me.

“Guess we got an upgrade to the food servers this year,” Ty said.

I rolled my eyes, then scolded myself for showing any reaction.

Harper laughed, and I hated that the musical sound that turned me inside out was directed at him.

My son tugged at my hand, diverting my attention from Harper, who was offering Ty an extra-large serving of potato salad.

“Dat,” Danny said, pointing at the watermelon slices, so I piled some of those next to the apples, then moved us along, farther from Harper and her suitor.

Back at our places, I settled Danny into his booster, added food to his plate, and dug into my own dinner.

I’d made it through the necessary interaction with Harper without apparently drawing undue attention. Now I just needed to avoid looking at her for the rest of the evening.