Grumpy Jake

by Melissa Blue

  And I don’t. “The non-dark secret is making more and more sense.”

  She put her hands on her waist and tried to look menacing. It didn’t work. She was too damn cute. “Stop giving me shit about that.”

  “I can’t help it. The way you were giving me the evil eye during that first meeting, I was sure you had a crazy tattoo story. A bad boy ex you still call up when you’ve got an itch to scratch. A wild Vegas story. You have an age appropriate uncle. He wasn’t even a sugar daddy.”

  She dug into the supply box beside her then threw a crayon at him. “This will be the last time I ever tell you a secret.”

  Something inside him went tight and warm at the words. “Had I known I could get more secrets, I wouldn’t have teased you.”

  Maybe she felt the same because Ms. Thorne cleared her throat. “I’m starting to see how you get all those dates.”

  Despite his less than enthusiastic demeanor on any given day, he prided himself on being a good listener, a straight-shooter and someone a date wanted to get to know better. There were no tricks up his sleeves and that is why women didn’t see the harm of going out with him at least once.

  Jake yearned to know what she saw in him. “Don’t make me ask what you mean by that.”

  “You have to admit, you are not, um…charming.”

  Fuck. He really, really, really liked her. “Ouch, but correct.”

  Her smile creased the corners of her eyes and his heart thudded at that little detail.

  She said, “You’re direct, funny and surprisingly playful.”

  He made an eh face at the last. “I disagree with playful.”

  “And yet, still so grumpy.”

  “Thank you, I think, Ms. Thorne.”

  “Bailey,” she corrected him, her expression warm and soft.

  His scalp tingled, and he leaned forward before he caught himself. Her gaze dropped to his mouth and stayed for the longest moment of his life then she bit her lip.

  Oh, no. Fuck. It was one thing to like her. One thing to wish in passing they’d touch. It was altogether a different problem when an urge to close the space between them flashed through his limbs like fire. It was a world of trouble because she hadn’t stopped looking at his mouth.

  Shit.

  Ms—Bailey was the last woman on earth he wanted a connection to snap sharp between them. Anyone but her, yet his skin prickled at just the reality of her being a few feet away, and her being just as aware of the lack of space.

  Dammit.

  A knock came at the elevator doors. They both jumped as though they got caught doing something they shouldn’t have. Only for a moment did he hate the timing of the rescue. He told himself, it was for the best.

  Chapter Five

  “Who is he?”

  The question came from Bailey’s oldest brother Xavier. He stood at his island, apron-less but sporting a black tee and jeans. He was taller than her by a foot, but they shared the same brown almond-shaped eyes, rounded chin and skin tone the rich color of earth.

  She stuffed her phone back into her dress pocket and tried to focus on cutting the carrots. “He, who?”

  “Right.” He leaned on the knife, cutting the chicken carcass in half through the breastbone. He added those pieces to the pile at the end of the cutting board.

  Since their parents were off to the beach for the weekend, family night was at his place. Their mother had passed on the joy of cooking in bulk. The lessons had only stuck with her and Xavier. Booker and Damien, the two in the middle, skated through life with barely the essentials of taking care of themselves and others. Thankfully, they made up for their ignorance by always being willing to coral the kids and entertain them. Given they were twins, it was more like a two-man circus.

  Her phone vibrated a second time and she decided to ignore the alert. The vibrate setting though, might as well had been as loud as a foghorn.

  “No one, huh?” her brother asked while seasoning.

  With the carrots done, she moved on to prepping the rice in the large pot on the stove. The water boiled. She tossed in seasoning then butter.

  “Who were you stuck with in the elevator again?”

  That question is why her deepest, darkest secret was a non sugar daddy, age-appropriate step-uncle. It was a miracle she’d managed to have an affair no one knew about. Not that she was having one now. She was being friendly…with a parent of one of her students.

  She tried to keep her voice steady and non-guilty. “The man in the elevator with me was Jake Polaski.”

  “One of your student’s parents?”

  Her brother had the memory of an elephant and to no one’s surprise was nosy.

  “Yes, he is. I have no lasting trauma from the experience. He was a gentleman. All is well.” Her brother hummed in a way she had to glance at him over her shoulder. “Why do you think it’s him calling me?”

  “You tried things like Tinder and hated it. You didn’t tell me of anyone new at your job on the faculty. Is Kamille back?”

  Bailey smiled and some of her sour mood evaporated. “I wish. I miss her like shit. She’s still burning through her vacation days teaching in Ghana. School isn’t the same without her.”

  “And that is my case closed.”

  “There are phones in Ghana, and we talk every few weeks or so.”

  He stopped long enough to roll his eyes at her. “My point is if it was Kamille texting you, you wouldn’t look guilty. We wouldn’t even have had this conversation. You would have told me it was Kamille. But instead you keep sneak looking at your phone after spending an evening with a guy.”

  “Exaggeration. It wasn’t an evening.” Bailey said that because she couldn’t argue with anything else he’d said.

  “Then why won’t you answer your phone?”

  She picked up the stirring spoon and ignored him.

  “I see,” he said after a minute.

  She hated those two words also. She turned down the fire under the rice then put a top on the pot to let it simmer. “Stop being cryptic. Say what you want to say so we can finish dinner and feed everyone.”

  He began to place the chicken on a cookie sheet to bake in the oven. “I’m going to say this and then stop poking the bear.”

  Oh, god. That wasn’t good. “Yes?”

  “You know how Mom is when it comes to all of her kids being happy and settled down?”

  “Oh, boy, do I?”

  Since the three oldest were settled down and happy, her mother was a bit relentless. Booker had found a nice guy, married when it was finally legal, and adopted two beautiful daughters with his husband. Damien had fallen for a classmate in his poli sci class in high school then did everything in his power to lock her down. Two beautiful daughters later…because he and Booker were always in some kind of competition.

  Xavier had been the most hardcore bachelor even after the birth of his first child in college. Him and the mother had a rocky relationship for years, then they ended up married and happy. They then had another baby girl two years ago.

  In that sea of happy and settling down, Bailey was drifting. For their mother that meant Bailey might be anti-marriage and too scared to admit it. Or lesbian, and too scared to come out. A lot of reasonable assumptions that included being scared of some consequences. Yet, not a single explanation that Bailey didn’t have time, which was the actual problem.

  Shit, Bailey had to be stuck in an elevator to meet a guy who made her laugh, to flirt with one and the downside was he was the last guy she should even find interesting. Two weeks had passed since the elevator incident and somehow a forced conversation had turned into email exchanges about homework, Jayden’s progress then texts about their day, flirting, jokes—everything that didn’t cross a line but blurred the hell out of it. It was all a mess.

  A mess she wasn’t going to tell her brother about, especially not when he’d just invoked “you know how mom is.” Their dad wasn’t as bad, but he definitely dropped enough hints that she was his last hope
for a grandson.

  He said, “But mom’s not entirely wrong. You do want the whole marriage and kids thing.”

  “Never said I didn’t.”

  “But, you love your job. Don’t you think things will be a bit troublesome if you get tangled up with this parent?”

  “It’s complicated, and not at all what you might be imagining. Now can we drop it?”

  He sighed and said like it was punishment, “Cagey, I see, then you’re peeling potatoes as penance.”

  Even though the rest of the night went like it usually did whenever her and her family spent time together, she couldn’t help but let his words dig doubt into her mind. So much so, she didn’t read the text until she made it home, showered and fell into bed.

  Jake: Let me guess, big brothers are big brothering

  She laughed because of the absolute accuracy.

  Bailey: How’d you guess?

  Jake: You home?

  Bailey: Yeah

  Her phone rang, and she only hesitated for a moment then answered. “Now I know you are one of those people,” she said as a greeting.

  “I am that horrible person who calls instead of texts, yes.”

  God. His voice. It always left her both tight and warm all over. “What a shame, Jake. Your grumpiness is bad enough.”

  He snorted. “Like I was saying before you decided to shit-talk again, I remember all too well the ways my brother was in my business, giving unsolicited advice and being a big brother.” His chuckle sounded bittersweet.

  “If he was anything like you, I can very well imagine it.”

  “He was like Jayden, actually. Charming as shit. He didn’t demand to be the center of attention, but his personality just kind of drew everyone to him.”

  And then she understood. Every day since the elevator they’d talked about their day, what they planned to do or wish they could do. It was friendly and sometimes flirtatious. She’d told him that morning she was going to see her brothers. The thoughtless statement must have put his brother at the forefront of his mind. That realization put an ache in her chest.

  “Sorry,” she said, holding onto the light part of the conversation with everything she had, “even with Jayden as evidence, I can’t imagine someone related to you that is the life of the party.”

  “I swear he was. It was so annoying.” He paused, his voice deepening. “I really miss him.”

  She closed her eyes at the show of grief so clear in his voice. “I would imagine twenty years from now you still will.”

  They sat silently on the phone for a minute, just breathing. His was ragged. Eventually he said, “Well, I don’t want to keep you up too late.” He exhaled, loud and long. “Thank you for listening to me.”

  “Any time. I think…I think we’re becoming friends and that’s what they do.”

  “Friends,” he said the word like it was something foreign.

  She laughed. “It’s a thing—a relationship between people that’s platonic. I’m sure you’re not used to that with women.”

  “You never give me a break.” His laugh filled the phone, and she slipped deeper into her bed as warmth damn near smothered her at the sound.

  “When it’s a day that ends in ‘y,’ and I can sit in the teacher’s lounge and not hear about how you dogged one of my co-workers, I’ll let you off the hook.”

  “I’m going to regret asking this, but what are they saying about me?”

  She cringed. “I am really tired.”

  “Hey, you opened the door. I’m just walking through.”

  She pulled the comforter up. “Usually it’s how you were amazing in the beginning. You did set boundaries on when you could see or talk to them, and that was usually on Saturdays. Then right at the six-month mark, you drop them.”

  “That makes me sound like some kind of Lothario.”

  “Then what are you, really?”

  “I’m a man who doesn’t like to jump head-first into a relationship. I can’t. I have a kid. I want the person I introduce to him to be someone I’m very sure about.”

  “But six months on the dot?”

  “Not always, just the ones with potential.”

  She pushed. “But why six months?”

  “You really know someone after six months of dating every weekend. Sometimes shorter, but definitely by half a year. So whatever number of people have said I’ve been with, it can’t be more than five or six.”

  Bailey scoffed. “Well there’s about four teachers each grade. There are eight grades between pre-school and sixth. That’s about thirty teachers. Subtract the ones who are cishet and male, and any other people who don’t date men…”

  He laughed. “I see your point.”

  “And this is why you need a friend who is a woman.”

  “I can see the pros,” he said, sounding cagey as fuck.

  “Think on them. I’m going to head to bed.”

  “Good night, Bailey.”

  “Night.”

  She grinned like an idiot until she remembered the conversation with her brother. There were no concrete rules on file that said she as a teacher couldn’t date, flirt or have a personal relationship with a child’s parent.

  But what was she doing? This was Jake the Rake. Had his reputation been anything else, she’d brush away the doubts. And, hell, was this how he reeled in the other teachers? God, was she about to be another notch on his belt? She was being reckless, and that was not like her at all.

  Bailey grabbed a pillow then placed it over her face. The scream she let out did nothing to assuage her doubts.

  Chapter Six

  As always Jake double-checked the seatbelt that held down the booster seat before letting Jayden climb into the backseat of the Kia.

  “Dad, today was so gross.”

  Now that was said with unadulterated excitement. “Why is that?” he asked, wary.

  “Everyone was throwing up.”

  He pulled back and eyed his son. “When’s the last time you washed your hands?”

  “Ms. Thorne made sure everyone did before we left for school.”

  That was only two hours ago, but Jake reached into the passenger seat pocket for wipes. Jayden walked him through the horror show of at least four classmates falling ill while Jake gave him and his backpack a wipe down with sanitizer.

  “And how did Ms. Thorne handle it?”

  “I never seen her move so fast.”

  He smiled picturing her getting out of dodge. “She’s full of surprises.”

  “She made sure they got it all in the trashcans. It was so nasty, but then the school nurse came and sent them home.”

  “And how are you feeling?”

  “Good. I think the other kids got sick because it was really gross.”

  Some part of him relaxed. He’d seen things as a nurse and had cleaned up his fair share of gruesome in the E.R. A thought occurred to him, and then it refused to relent.

  Jayden looked no worse for the wear of the experience, and if God was kind, whatever happened wasn’t the start of a stomach bug. “Want to do something nice for Ms. Thorne?”

  “Can we go see her?”

  He opened his mouth to say yes but decided it was best to not promise something he couldn’t deliver. “Give me a second.”

  He leaned against the open door then pulled out his phone.

  Jake: Need help sanitizing your classroom?

  Bailey: You’ll have to bring your own hazmat suits.

  Jake: Be there in twenty.

  He said to his son, “We are in fact about to see Ms. Thorne.”

  Jayden kicked his feet, a grin spreading. “Does this mean she likes you now?”

  God, he hoped so. “This will help her get past my regular but grumpy face.”

  Jayden’s brows knit. “Are you sure this will be enough?”

  He laughed then closed the door on his smart-ass son.

  Didn’t take them long to get there and suit up. She glanced up when they walked through the door and laug
hed. They were both wearing gloves and a face mask. He had to roll up Jayden’s gloves then use white medical tape because his arms and hands were too small to keep the rubber in place.

  “My heroes,” she said. “I’ve done the books and everything the kids might have touched. I just need to do desk sweeps. That includes the chairs and anything inside that might need a bleaching.” She pointed to the bottles and sponges that sat on a chair beside her desk.

  With the three of them, it didn’t take them long to finish sanitizing the room. She collapsed in her chair and tiredly smiled up at him.

  She’d done something to her eyelashes that made them thicker, longer. He could spend the night staring into her brown eyes and not considered those moments wasted. Her lipstick was the shade of plums. Although she’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail, the curls were an explosion that looked soft to the touch. And he so wanted to touch.

  But Bailey had offered him friendship, and god it would kill him to stay within those confines.

  She glanced at Jayden and her smile brightened. “I feel like you guys deserve ice cream.”

  Jayden gasped. “Can we?” His gaze shot to Jake.

  “I think it’s only fair.”

  She bit her lip then pulled out her phone. “I have some at my house, if you don’t mind. I don’t think I have it in me to go out after today.”

  “Need help locking up?” Jake said.

  “I should be good. See you in about fifteen minutes? I’ll text you my address.”

  “Sure.”

  Fifteen minutes was all he had to shore up any attraction wanting to choke him. It wasn’t enough time. Thankfully, Jayden chattered most of the way there. He slowed on the street since some teenagers were playing street hockey then pulled up to her townhouse. The small yard out front was neat.

  “Can I play?” Jayden asked.

  Since he doubted Bailey would mind, he took Jayden up to the yard. It didn’t surprise him to find she had a small box of outdoor toys right by her front door. They played catch until she parked behind his car.

  She sported a smile, but it looked tired around the edges. He waited until she was close enough for him to whisper, “You didn’t have to do this.”