Chapter 8
The next morning Suzanna was up early. She took a shower and then dressed for the day in a pair of black slacks and a long-sleeved black-and-red-striped blouse.
She applied her makeup, brushed her hair and then headed down the hallway, where the scent of freshly brewed coffee let her know Seth was awake.
“Don’t you look nice,” Seth said, greeting her with a big smile.
“Thank you,” she replied, warmed by his lingering gaze on her.
“Sit, and I’ll pour you a cup of coffee,” he said.
“You really don’t have to wait on me, Seth. If you’ll just point me to the right cabinet to get a cup, I can pour my own coffee,” she replied.
“Okay.” He grinned and pointed to a cabinet to the left of the sink.
She opened the door to find the coffee cups. She grabbed one and then walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup of the fresh, fragrant brew. Only then did she sit at the table.
“On the menu this morning is bacon and eggs,” he said as he began to lay strips of the breakfast meat into an awaiting skillet.
“Do you always cook such big breakfasts in the mornings?” she asked.
“I don’t really consider bacon and eggs such a big breakfast, but yes, I always cook in the mornings. I want Sammy to start his day off by being well fed, and to be honest I like to start my day off with a nice breakfast, too.”
“There are a lot of kids who come to school having had no breakfast at all,” she replied. “I always wish I could provide something they could eat before school. Little minds work so much better if they start the day with something in their tummies.”
“It’s a damn shame that some parents don’t do their jobs,” he replied. “But, it’s really a shame if they can’t afford to have breakfast.”
“It makes me so sad.” She wrapped her fingers around the warmth of her cup. “The school used to provide breakfast sandwiches for the kids who were lower income or didn’t get fed at home in the mornings, but tax cuts to the district stopped the program.”
“That’s another damned shame,” he said.
He turned back to the skillet, and for a few minutes she sipped her coffee in silence, and in the silence, she thought about the kiss they had shared the night before.
It had been incredibly hot, and there had been a moment when she’d wanted nothing more than to pull him into the bedroom and make love with him. There was no question that there was a simmering sexual tension between them, and last night it had nearly exploded into fiery flames.
After she had gone into the bedroom, she had tried to fill her head with memories of Davy. However, thoughts of Seth kept intruding.
She had developed such a strong friendship with Seth during those nights when she had tutored Sammy. Now that friendship had become far more complicated with her desire to make love with him.
Of course, she wasn’t in love with Seth.
She couldn’t be because Davy held that particular piece of her.
She would be in love with her dead husband until her life was over.
However, physical desire had nothing to do with love.
She could experience heightened desire for Seth without being in love with him.
Then there was Sammy. She was falling in love with the little boy who was so hungry for a mother in his life. His behavior had pretty much turned around over the past couple of weeks, and he was a genuine pleasure to have around.
“You’re very quiet,” Seth said and turned back to face her.
“I’m just thinking about the day to come,” she replied. She couldn’t very well tell him she was thinking about them making love.
“Did you get your lesson plans all taken care of before you went to bed last night?”
“I did,” she replied and looked out the window. If she gazed at him too long, her desire for him would rise up once again. After the kiss last night, she was feeling particularly vulnerable with him.
When she looked back at Seth, he was taking the cooked bacon strips out of the skillet and placing them on a plate. “I need to go wake up the kid,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
As he left the kitchen, she returned her gaze to the window. The sun had risen and was bright in the sky, promising a clear, cloudless day.
There was no question that she was nervous about seeing Arlan, Boone and Ray today, knowing that the day before Dallas had questioned all three of them about the attack on her.
Would they be angry that she had named them as potential suspects, or would they understand the tenuous position she was in?
The wounds on her arm still hurt this morning, a reminder of the horrendous attack she’d survived. Was it possible that Boone or Ray was responsible? She honestly didn’t know. All she knew for sure was Seth was the only male she trusted in her life right now.
Sammy came into the kitchen with Lady. The boy was dressed for the day in a pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt that perfectly matched the color of his eyes. “Hi, Mrs. Michaels,” he said cheerfully.
“Good morning, Sammy,” she replied.
Seth followed behind him and got the leash and hooked it to Lady. “You take her out while I fix the eggs,” he said. “Put a coat on before you go out. It’s cold this morning.”
Once Sammy and Lady were outside, Seth turned his attention back to her. “Now, tell me, Mrs. Michaels, how do you like your eggs?”
“Any way is okay,” she replied. “I’m not really particular.”
He looked at her with mock frustration. “Let me put the question another way. If you make eggs for yourself at home, how do you make them?”
She grinned. “Over easy.”
“Then over easy it is.” He got a carton of eggs from the refrigerator and then moved back to the skillet.
Sammy and Lady came back inside, bringing a burst of the cold air with them.
Sammy hung the leash back on the hook by the door, and then he smiled.
“I’m getting used to the routine,” he said.
“But Lady still doesn’t exactly get it yet. ”
“She will,” Seth assured his son. “You just have to give her more time.”
“Time, I got,” Sammy replied, making Seth and Suzanna laugh.
Within minutes breakfast was on the table. She had two eggs, perfectly cooked, along with bacon and toast. Sammy had two over easy eggs as well, and Seth had three eggs scrambled on his plate.
“Dad, are you going to marry Mrs. Michaels?” Sammy asked when they were halfway through the meal.
Both Seth and Suzanna looked at the boy in surprise. “No, why would you think that?” Seth asked.
“’Cause I got up to go to the bathroom, and I saw you kissing her last night in the hall, and I thought when you kissed a girl you had to marry her,” Sammy replied.
Seth laughed while Suzanna was appalled that the little boy had seen them kissing each other the night before. “Sammy, you don’t have to marry a girl if you kiss her,” Seth said. “Is there a particular girl in your class who you want to kiss?”
“Yuck, no,” Sammy replied with utter disgust. “Me and my buddies think kissing is totally gross.”
“Trust me, son, there will come a time when you won’t think it’s so gross,” Seth said in amusement. “I hope you kiss lots of girls before you get married.”
“Just so you know, it would be okay with me if you want to marry Mrs. Michaels.” Sammy shot her a shy smile and then looked back at his dad. “’Cause I love her.”
Suzanna reached over and patted Sammy’s hand as her heart expanded. “I care a lot about you, too, Sammy.”
While they finished eating, Seth talked about Lady, who he intended to barricade in the kitchen with puppy pads on the floor and plenty of toys for the dog to play with.
“There isn’t much she can get into and, in any case, I’ll be in and out throughout the day so I can check on her,” he said.
“Just make sure you give her lots of kisses and tell her how much I love her,” Sammy said.
They finished eating and Suzanna helped clean the kitchen, and by then it was time for them to leave for school. Within minutes they were in the car, and the closer they got to the school building the tighter Suzanna’s chest constricted with nerves.
It was too early for the students to be arriving, so Seth was able to pull up in the bus lane and park at the front door. “I hope you both have a great day,” he said. “Sammy, I’d like to see that necklace today when you get home from school.”
“I’ll do my very best,” he replied earnestly.
“And since you arrived here with me so early, you’ll need to sit quietly at your desk until the other students arrive,” Suzanna explained to Sammy.
The tension in her stomach twisted even tighter as moments later she and Sammy stepped into the school building. Thankfully they encountered nobody else as they made their way to her room. Sammy sat at his desk, and Suzanna settled in at hers.
She pulled from her work notebook the lesson plans for the day and was surprised when Tinsley Robard stepped into her room. It was very rare that the principal would enter her classroom.
“Mrs. Michaels, can I speak to you for a moment in my office?” Tinsley asked.
Suzanna shot a quick glance at Sammy who was reading one of the books she had bought him for his birthday. “Sammy, you sit quietly, and I’ll be right back,” she said to him.
As the two women walked to the office, Suzanna wondered if Tinsley wanted to talk to her about naming her fellow teachers as potential suspects in the attack on her. She couldn’t imagine what else it might be about.
When they got into the office, Tinsley gestured her to the chair in front of Tinsley’s desk. Suzanna sank down and eyed the woman worriedly. “Am I in some kind of trouble?” she asked.
Tinsley smiled at her. “I don’t know, should you be in trouble?”
“I don’t think so,” Suzanna replied hesitantly.
Tinsley frowned as her gaze lingered on Suzanna’s bandage. “But it looks like trouble found you. Are you okay?”
“I had a little run-in with a knife, but I’m fine,” Suzanna assured her. She could tell Tinsley had more questions, but Suzanna didn’t want to go into all the details of how she’d been hurt. “You needed to discuss something with me?”