Spring Secrets: Pine Point, Book 3 (7 page)

“You’re okay to drive home?”

The buzz from her martini had long since worn off. “Yes. Perfectly fine.” They reached her Mazda in a matter of minutes, and she unlocked the door but didn’t get inside. Mike leaned against the car, his blue gaze on hers.

“Thanks for dinner,” she said. “It was nice to have a conversation with someone outside of school.”

He inclined his head. “You’re very welcome.”

On impulse, she took his coat sleeve. “I meant that offer about us being friends. I’d really…” Her voice caught in her throat. “I’d really like someone to vent to or work out with. This would be nice to do, every once in a while. But nothing more. I understand. We’ll keep a proper distance and all that.”

“No kissing,” he said.

“No kissing. Or touching.” She withdrew her hand. “Or anything else that might be mistaken for, you know, romance or a relationship.”

His Adam’s apple moved up and down as she spoke. “I think that’s probably for the best. All things considered.” He held out his hand and Sienna took it. “Friends only.”

“Friends only,” she echoed. “It’s a deal.” And she made herself climb into her car and drive away without looking behind her, without wondering if Mike felt the same quiet sadness at their agreement as she did.

Chapter Thirteen

The following Wednesday, Mike dropped a set of keys into Hans’s hand. “I’ll be back around four. Text me if you need anything.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

A respite from snow the last few days had left Pine Point cold and gray, with dingy snow banks along Main Street rising almost as tall as Mike’s waist. He eyed the sky. Didn’t look like precipitation, but he had the tow trucks ready just in case. He hadn’t had much action the last couple of weeks, and he could do with some cash flow from his side business. After L.A., he never wanted to be caught without extra savings again.

He climbed into his pickup and drove straight to Pine Point Elementary School. He glanced at the load in the bed of his truck a couple of times.
It’s the kind of thing friends do for each other,
he told himself as he turned into the parking lot and found a visitor’s spot near the door. But once there, he couldn’t make himself get out of the truck.

Shit. I’m back at school.
Didn’t matter that he had decent memories of Pine Point Elementary. The bad stuff hadn’t started until high school, when words swam on the pages of his textbooks and dates and places got all messed up inside his head. Eventually he decided skipping class was easier than going to it and getting Ds and Fs. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and stared at the squat brick building. The flag whipped in the wind above the courtyard, and Mike remembered on sunny days in the spring, the whole school used to go outside and say the Pledge of Allegiance before the day began.

You never think when you’re that age anything bad will happen
, he thought as he watched the stars and stripes ripple in the wind.
The hardest decision is where to sit at lunch or who to play ball with at recess.
He thought of the tattoos on his right and left calves, matching sides of the yin and yang. He’d gotten them when he was eighteen, first ones he could, back when he thought he knew when yin and yang stood for.

Good and bad. Light and dark. He figured getting one on each leg would balance him out, would somehow give him stability as he moved into adulthood. Mike killed the engine and made himself get out of the truck. Now he knew finding balance was tricky at best and elusive most of the time. He trudged across the shoveled sidewalks and swallowed away the lump in his throat.
Me at a school again. Who would’ve thought?

Eva Hadley greeted him at the desk inside. “Mike Springer.” She folded her fingers under her chin and flashed him a toothpaste smile. “This is a surprise.”

“Uh huh.” Mike scribbled his name on the visitors’ log.

“What brings you here today?”

“Just dropping off some things for Sienna Cruz’s class.”

Eva’s carefully plucked brows lifted. “Really? I didn’t know…she didn’t mention anything to me.”

“She doesn’t know.” He clamped his mouth shut. That sounded idiotic. “I mean, she doesn’t know I’d be here today,” he added lamely.

Eva glanced down the hallway. “It’s Room Eighteen. Down the center hall, all the way to the end on the right.”

“Thanks. Think I’ll go…” He gestured back outside and didn’t bother to finish. Instead, he trotted to his truck and pulled around to the school’s back entrance. He positioned the truck as close to the building as he could get it and then knocked on the small door marked
Custodial
.

A moment later, it opened, and Darryl Cobalt’s wrinkled face peered out. Darryl lived down the road from Mike and his mom and had worked at the school as long as Mike could remember. The old man beamed and pushed open the door. “Michael Springer. My good man, what on earth are you doing sneaking around the back of my school?”

“Little special delivery for a friend.” He gestured at his truck. “Do you have a minute? Do you think you could you help me? It’s for Sienna Cruz’s class.”

Darryl’s smile widened. “Ah, of course. She’ll be thrilled.”

Pleasure slid through Mike at the thought.
She needs a friend, she said so herself the other night.
Plus, his mother would be over the moon at the thought he’d done something nice for Sienna. He told himself that was the reason he was here, and not because he hadn’t stopped thinking about her hand on his arm for the last five days.

Darryl produced a master key and unlocked the double doors that faced the playground as Mike lifted a brand new table from the back of his truck. Only three feet off the ground and painted with cartoon figures, it looked like something that might work for a class of eight-year-olds. He hoped. He blew out a long breath and carried the table inside.

Criminy. Did all elementary schools smell the same? Like paint and pizza and faint antiseptic? A cool sweat settled on his head and neck, and it took a long minute before he could make out the numbers on the doors. Room Eighteen. There. Right beside him. Before he knocked, he peeked through the window. Sienna sat in a rocking chair with one boy on her lap and three others sitting in front of her. She wore her hair down over a navy sweater and jeans. Silver hoops in her ears matched a long silver necklace that hung almost to her lap. The boys stared at her, rapt, as she turned the pages of a brightly illustrated book.

Mike knocked gently.

At once, the students turned. The tallest one jumped to his feet, pointed at Mike, and began talking rapid fire to Sienna. She put a finger to her lips and stood. The boy on her lap slid to his feet, and Mike could see it was Silas Turner.

Mike pushed open the door. “Hi, there.”

When she looked up, the look of genuine pleasure on her face was worth every penny he’d spent. He set down the table just inside the door. “Surprise.”

“Wow. Hello. I’d say it is. “

The boy who’d first jumped up took a few steps across the room and then stopped. “You’re Mr. Springer. I met you once when my daddy took me to your gym.”

Mike yanked at his collar. The kid didn’t look familiar, but that didn’t mean much. “Ah, yes, I am. Hello there.” Four pairs of curious eyes settled on him, and he fought the urge to turn around and flee.

“Yes, Caleb, this is Mr. Springer,” Sienna said. “How do you say hello to adults?”

The boy walked over and stuck his arm out stiffly. “My name is Caleb Arthur Williams. It’s very nice to meet you.” He spoke in clipped tones and looked at Mike’s belt.

Mike took his hand and shook it. “It’s very nice to meet you too, Caleb.” His nerves settled a fraction.

“This is definitely a surprise,” Sienna said again. “A very nice one.” She ran her fingers over the table. “You shouldn’t have. This must have cost a lot.”

“Nah. Anyway, doesn’t matter. That’s what friends are for, right?” Without waiting for her response, he returned to his truck. The next gift took him two trips. When he was done, five brightly colored beanbag chairs sat on the floor of the classroom. Within minutes, the boys with identical faces had plopped themselves down on two of the bags.

Caleb remained standing and watched Mike from the middle of the room. “These are very nice,” he said. He walked over and patted them each with a careful hand.

“Beanbag chairs,” Sienna said in wonder. “You remembered.”

Mike picked up the table. “Where would you like this?”

She shook her head. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“Say thank you and please put it over in that corner,” Darryl offered.

Sienna smiled. “That sounds as good a place as any. They need a place to spread out when they’re doing art projects.”

“I’m pretty sure I can find some extra chairs to go with it,” Darryl added.

“You are too much,” she said, with a squeeze of the old man’s arm. “Both of you.”

Mike shuffled his feet, not sure what else to say or what to do with his hands. Caleb walked over to the table, next to the Turner boy, and the two of them stroked its smooth surface.

“Would you like to stay?” Sienna asked. “We were doing our afternoon read-along.”

Caleb looked over in alarm. “Miss Cruz,” he said, “we don’t do read-along with anyone else. No strangers.”

“You just met Mr. Springer,” Sienna said. Her gaze never left Mike’s face. “He isn’t a stranger.”

“I can’t stay,” Mike said. “I have to get back to the gym.”

“Oh. Sure.” She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans. Mike’s traitorous mind took full notice of the way they hugged her hips.

“Maybe another time,” he added. Yeah, right. He had no plans on spending extended periods of time inside a school. This was a one-time deal.

“We have Friday afternoons free,” she said. “Drop in any time after two. Honestly, it would be good for the kids to interact with someone besides me.”

He nodded noncommittally. He went to leave, but a motion to his right made him look over. Another student he hadn’t noticed before, the lone girl in the room, began to walk. Backwards. Around the room she went, toe to heel, her gaze on Mike the entire time. She pinched her fingers together in a measured motion as she walked.
What the hell is she doing?
Her eyes held no expression, and her entire body had gone rigid.

“That’s Dawn,” Sienna said, and he remembered what she’d told him the other night at dinner. Selective mutism. She doesn’t speak.

Hell, and I thought I had it rough.
At least his troubles hadn’t started until he hit junior high. How did an eight-year-old get so messed up that she dealt with the world by keeping her distance from it and staying silent?

“Nice seeing you,” he said, and pushed open the door. “And nice meeting your kids. I hope everything comes in handy.”

“It will. Thank you again. Really. It’s more than you should have done.” She reached for his hand, and Mike’s heart flopped in his chest until he remembered their stupid agreement.
No touching.
But this wasn’t going to be anything except a handshake, right? Her hand was almost inside his when a familiar voice called out his name.

“Mike Springer?”

Sienna froze. He turned. Harmony Donaldson, too made-up and too smiley, stood in the hall. A gaggle of kids stretched out in a long line behind her. “What are you doing here?” Her gaze moved from Mike to Sienna and back again.

“Just stopped in to say hello.”

“Well, hello.” The tips of Harmony’s ears turned pink, and she motioned to the boy at the head of the line of students. “Brandon, you know where to go. Straight up the stairs and wait for me at the top.” The boy nodded and skipped down the hall with the other students following in a meandering line.

Surely Harmony couldn’t think he was here to see her. Yet the way she focused her gaze on first his mouth and then his chest, he wasn’t sure.

“You know, the offer still stands,” she said in a low voice. She took one step closer and gave him a look he couldn’t mistake. “No strings attached.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, okay,” he stammered, knowing full well Harmony didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of spending the night with him, no matter how many times or how many ways she offered.

She reached out and patted his arm. Then she turned and followed her students, but not without one last wink in his direction.

I can only imagine her getting her claws into someone.
Harmony Donaldson was someone to watch out for. Word around town was that she’d faked a pregnancy last year with a lawyer over in Silver Valley, and he’d almost popped the question before a phone call from the doctor’s office set everyone straight.

Mike turned back to Room Eighteen, but Sienna had disappeared inside. He hoped she hadn’t seen or heard that exchange with Harmony. He looked through the window. She had rejoined her students on the rug, but she looked up with a smile as he waved goodbye.
“Thank you again,”
she mouthed over the twins’ heads. It took all he had not to let the movement of her lips turn into something wicked inside his head.

Friends. We’re just friends.
Mike repeated the words all the way back to the gym, through his workout with Zane, and later that night, when he stepped under the shower and found himself thinking of Sienna naked and wet and wishing for just an instant he hadn’t screwed up his life royally in the past so that he could enjoy someone like her in his life and his bed without knowing how it would all end.

Chapter Fourteen

He brought me a table. And beanbag chairs.

Sienna couldn’t stop staring at the new furniture in her classroom. Even the weird, flirtatious exchange between Mike and Harmony couldn’t dim her pleasure.

Friends. We’re just friends.
She had to repeat the words to keep her feet on the ground. Still, it took a pretty solid friend to buy things out of his own pocket and deliver them here himself. “He’s such a nice guy,” she said aloud as she walked down the hall to check her mailbox after school.

“Yes, he is,” Darryl the custodian said as he wheeled a mop bucket past her in the opposite direction. Then he winked. “Course, I don’t see Mike Springer dropping off a special delivery to anyone else at this school. And he’s friends with a lot of people.”

Before Sienna could answer, the old man turned the corner. She trailed her fingers along the cool cinder-block wall. Drawings by the kindergartners and first-graders filled the display cases by the lobby, and she slowed to take a look. Words ran across the page in crooked lines below some of the drawings.

My favorite food is green beans.

My favorite color is black.

My favorite sport is baseball.

Sienna shivered in the frosty lobby air. What she wouldn’t give to be sitting in a baseball stadium on a hot summer day, with peanuts and a hot dog and a beer in her hand as she watched the Yankees kick the crap out of the Red Sox.

“Hi, Hillary,” she said as she fished next week’s lunch menu and a book catalog from her mailbox. She checked the clock behind Hillary’s gray braids. Three twenty-five. She still needed to ask Jenny a couple of questions about testing and the possibility of taking the students on a field trip in the spring. But the principal’s door was tightly shut.

“She’s busy again?” Sienna asked.

Hillary nodded.

“You know what, I’ll wait.” She plopped herself down on the vinyl couch and rolled her neck. She needed new worksheets for Caleb, and she needed to talk to the special ed consultant about Bailey’s IEP. She also needed—

The principal’s door opened at three thirty-two. Sienna stood before anyone else could zoom in ahead of her. “Do you have a minute?”

Jenny looked at her. For a moment, her eyes seemed cloudy, a little confused. Then she shook her head, and the cloudiness went away. “Of course. I’ve been meaning to check in with you. How’s everything going?”

Sienna took a few steps toward Jenny’s office, but instead, the principal motioned down the hall. “Mind if we walk? I told Mrs. Pennington I’d help her get ready for the book fair tomorrow.” Before Sienna could answer, Jenny had pushed open the office door and begun walking in the direction of the library.

“Oh. Sure,” Sienna said, though the only person who heard her was Hillary. She glanced back at the office. The other day, tears on the principal’s face. Today, confusion. Sienna didn’t know what Jenny did in there after the kids left each day, but she was beginning to wonder.

* * * * *

Jenny James, Elementary School Principal,
Sienna wrote on her research list later that night. Above Jenny’s name were a few lines about the two women Mike had told her about the other day.
Imagine finding out your one and only is someone else’s too.
She whistled. She filled in the details she knew about Jenny’s family background, then Googled her education and experience before taking over at Pine Point. She was ten years older than Sienna, still young to be running a school in Sienna’s opinion, but every picture Sienna found online matched the image Jenny portrayed at school. Open, friendly, confident, a no-nonsense professional.

Closes herself in her office every day after the students leave,
Sienna wrote at the bottom of the page.
WHY?
She underlined the word three times and stared at it for a minute. Then she tossed the notepad aside and walked into the kitchen.

She’d finally made it to the grocery store, but tonight the thought of actually cooking something held no appeal. She took out a container of yogurt, stared at it, and then put it back. “I need a drink.” And a burger. She knew the perfect place to go for both.

Fifteen minutes later, Sienna pulled up outside Jimmy’s Watering Hole. The local pub had opened shortly before Sienna left Pine Point the first time, and though it sat near the highway and had a view of nothing except a strip mall, people didn’t go for the location. Sienna had discovered when she’d returned last month that Jimmy’s had become known for, in this order, its burgers, its friendly bartenders, and its owners’ zero-tolerance policy for fighting, swearing, or bullshit of any kind.

As a result, a mix of blue-collar workers and professionals gathered there on a regular basis, with the average age somewhere around thirty. No loud music to talk over. No college kids home on break, no drunks threatening each other over the pool table, and no sticky, suspicious spots on the bathroom floor.

Sienna hadn’t expected much of a crowd on a Wednesday night, but the entire bar was filled, along with half the tables and booths. The karaoke stage in the corner was set up and ready to go, and a pool game already looked in full swing. A good-looking guy with long blond hair and a leather jacket stood up just as she squeezed her way to the bar.

“All yours,” he said and motioned at his vacant stool. “Good timing.”

“Perfect timing,” she said.

“Gotta go home and give the kids their bath,” he said, and then flipped his fingers at the bartender and left.

“Hiya,” said the tall guy behind the bar. He tossed a coaster in front of Sienna. “What’s your poison?”

As tempting as a martini sounded, it would probably put her to sleep in a matter of minutes. “Just seltzer with lime, thanks. And a menu.”

“You got it.” A moment later, both appeared in front of her. The bartender gave her a wide smile and rested his arms on the bar. “Don’t recall your name. Your face, yes, but…”

“Sienna Cruz. I just moved back to teach at Pine Point Elementary for a few months.”

He snapped his fingers. “That’s it.” He reached out and shook her hand. “Nate Hunter. Well, kids used to call me Catfish back in school, stupid nickname, but no one calls me that anymore. I think we went to school together.”

Sienna searched her memory.

“I know, it was a long time ago. But you were on the Red Team in middle school, right?”

“The Red Team? Wow. I haven’t thought about that in ages.”

He winked. “Who would?” He tossed his hair, long in the front and so blond it almost appeared white. “Middle school is something you’re supposed to forget for good, isn’t it?”

Before she could answer, someone at the other end of the bar called Nate’s name, and he rapped his knuckles in goodbye and sauntered away. Sienna studied the menu for a few minutes and then turned to the crowd around her. She recognized a few faces, though she’d be hard pressed to put names with them.

She did remember Nate after thinking for a minute or two. Goofy kid, always skateboarding with his friends before and after school, or teasing his older sister Rachel. He’d shot up, though he hadn’t filled out much, she noted.
Could benefit from some time at the gym.

With that, her thoughts zoomed back to Mike. To the gifts he’d brought today, and the inadequate way she’d thanked him. She’d been so taken aback and hadn’t known what to say.
I should text him. Just to say hi and thanks again
. She reached into her pocket, but someone jiggled her arm from behind, and her phone slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.

“Oops. So sorry.”

Sienna turned at the familiar voice. Polly and Harmony stood behind her. Polly bent and retrieved Sienna’s phone. “Hey, there. Sorry again. It’s super crowded in here tonight.”

“Yes, it is.” She took a drink of her seltzer. “Didn’t know you guys came here.”

Harmony peeled off a tight ski jacket and draped it over one arm. “It’s a pretty decent place on a Wednesday night.” Her gaze roamed the room, pausing momentarily on each available-looking guy. Polly bent over her phone, her petite features drawn into a frown.

“What’s wrong?” Harmony asked, reading over Polly’s shoulder.

Polly shoved the phone into her pocket. “Nothing. And stop doing that.”

“Please tell me you’re not still—” Harmony looked at Sienna and stopped.

“It’s none of your business,” Polly said in a low voice. She finger-combed her hair from her face.

Nate returned and waved at the two teachers. “Hiya. Same as usual? Polly nodded, and he poured two glasses of white wine. Sienna passed them over. Polly held out a twenty, but Nate waved it away. “Already paid for,” he said over the growing din in the bar. He pointed at Mac and Damian.

Polly flushed and put her twenty away.

“That was nice,” Sienna said.

“They’re nice guys,” Polly answered.

“Not really what we’re after,” Harmony said, “but nice enough.”

Sienna choked back a laugh. “What exactly are you after?”

Harmony shrugged. “Money. Isn’t every girl?”

“Money’s nice,” Sienna agreed, “but I can’t say it’s everything.” She took another sip of seltzer. “Besides, wouldn’t you want to make your own money? So you don’t have to rely on a guy to take care of you?”

Polly looked at her with genuine surprise. “I
want
a guy to take care of me,” she said. “I don’t want to have to worry about paying bills for the rest of my life. I want to have kids and take care of them.”

Sienna nodded, not sure what else to say.

“Not like I wouldn’t keep myself busy in the meantime,” Harmony said. Her gaze lighted on Nate. “I wonder what he’s like in bed?”

Polly turned two shades of red. “God, Harmony, that’s like all you think about.” She pushed her way through the crowd. Harmony rolled her eyes at Sienna as if to say, “Do you believe her?” but she followed her friend.

Sienna ordered her burger and took some time to check out the rest of the crowd. She wondered if Mike would show up. Her watch read a little after eight. Wouldn’t that be nice, if he walked in the door and bought her a drink and—

“Sienna? Sienna Cruz?” A wide-faced woman jumped in front of her. Sienna’s hand jiggled, and she almost spilled half her seltzer down the front of her sweater.

“Ah, hello?” Another face she sort of recognized.

“It’s Tanya Martin. Well, Tanya Jakubowski now. I heard you were back in town.” She looked over her shoulder and waved at someone. “Marie! Come see who’s here.”

A blond with perfect makeup and hair emerged from the crowd, a near-mirror image of her older sisters Tara, Joyce, and Eva. “Oh. My. God.” Before Sienna could say a thing, Marie Hadley flung her arms around Sienna’s neck and hugged her. “You’re back. I heard you were back, Eva told me, but still.” She took a step back, then hugged Sienna again. “I’m so sorry I didn’t text you.”

A little rumpled and overwhelmed by the welcome, Sienna said, “You don’t have my number.”

“True, but still…” Marie pushed her hair behind her ears. “What’s it been? Ten years?”

“Eleven, actually.” Grittiness settled into Sienna’s throat. “I’m sorry I never called you or anything after I left.” The closest thing she’d had to a best friend in Pine Point, Marie had sent her two letters and a Christmas gift after Sienna had moved to North Carolina. She still had the tiny blue bear somewhere back home. “I was just kind of a mess.”

Marie waved the words away. “Oh my God, of course you were.” She leaned in and studied Sienna’s face. “I missed you though. I always wondered where you ended up. And here you are, back home again.”

“Temporarily.”

“Right, right, of course. So how are you doing?”

“I’m okay.”

Tanya wiggled her way to the bar and tried to catch Nate’s attention. “You’re filling in for Lucy Foster, right?” she asked as she waved him down.

Sienna nodded.

“That’s so awesome,” Marie said. “I’m glad you’re back, even if it’s just for a little while. We’ll have to get together, have dinner or coffee or something.”

A tall, broad set of shoulders appeared behind Marie, yet another face from Sienna’s past, and the back of her neck went cold. “My word. Sienna Cruz?”

She blinked and tried to think of something to say.

“It’s good to see you.” The man’s voice had grown a little deeper, and his hair a lot whiter, but she’d recognize Doc Halloran anywhere. He put a large hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

Sienna fought for air. “You too,” she squeaked out. The last time she’d seen him had been at her mother’s funeral. The last time before that, in the Med Center two nights before the funeral. Everything in between was a blur.

“Sienna, do you want to sit with us?” Marie was saying.

She managed to shake her head.

“Honey, you all right?” Doc Halloran bent closer, and she nodded. The anxiety went away after a moment, and she rubbed her knuckles on her glass to cool her skin and her racing thoughts.

“Sorry. It’s just a little weird being back here and seeing familiar faces.”

He nodded. “I’m sure it is.” He squeezed her shoulder again, then took a large draft beer from Nate and turned to go. “I’m retired now,” he said, “but anytime you want to stop in and say hello, you know where I live.”

Oh, the kindness of small-town doctors. Sienna blinked away the wetness at the corners of her eyes. Doc had made a habit of dropping in every so often to check on her and her mother, as if knowing they couldn’t afford the office fee. In fact, they’d seen him a few weeks before her mother had died. He’d brought her a book and a king-sized chocolate bar, sneaking them to her behind her mother’s back. Now she wondered if he’d known something all those years ago, if he’d sensed some hidden risk factor in her mother’s faulty heart.

Nate delivered her burger, and Sienna sank her teeth into it. Between Mike’s surprise visit at school today and the reunions here tonight, her emotions were frayed to their last thread. She should probably go home and take notes with everything still fresh in her mind, but when she finally did open the door to her apartment, she left her notepads strewn on the floor and went straight to bed.