Spring Secrets: Pine Point, Book 3 (9 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Sienna almost missed Mike’s call. Hungry patrons filled Zeb’s Diner, and the door kept opening and closing behind her, letting in a fresh gust of cold air each time. Above the noise of constant conversation, she didn’t hear her phone buzz on the counter. Only when Josie pointed at it on one of her runs to the kitchen did Sienna see the incoming call.

Her heart skipped a beat as she scooped up the phone. “Hi.”

Josie returned and set a coffee mug in front of Sienna. She was about to ask for decaf, but the waitress already had her hand on the pot with the orange neck.

“I’m sorry I didn’t make it today,” Mike said. “For your reading time.”

She stared at the counter as her cheeks warmed. “It’s okay. I’m sure you have a lot going on.”

“I wanted to. Planned on it. Something came up.”

“I understand. You don’t have to apologize.” Although it was awfully nice of him to say the words, she had to admit.

“Thought I might make it up to you,” he went on. “There’s a fundraiser next Saturday night. For Pine Point Paws.”

“The animal shelter?”

“Yeah. Becca set it up. They’re having a dinner and…” He cleared his throat. “And other stuff, like a silent auction. I wondered if you wanted to go.”

She smiled. He might have missed read-along time with her students, but he still wanted to spend time with her. On a Saturday night. “Like a date?” she teased.

He didn’t answer.

“Okay, not like a date. Like a friends’ thing?”

“Yeah, I guess. Zane said Becca asked if you and I wanted to go. It seems like a good cause, and to be honest, I’d rather go with you than go alone, so…”

“I’d love to.” She pointed at the pot-roast special and slid her menu over to Josie, who nodded and scribbled on an order slip. “Good cause and all that.”

“It’s over in Silver Valley, so I can drive if you want.” A paper rustled in the background. “I’m not sure what time it starts. I’ll ask Zane.”

“Sounds good.” Two older women walked into the diner, arm in arm. Sienna stared at them.
That one looks so familiar.
Former school teacher? A nurse from the hospital?

“Have a good weekend,” Mike said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Sienna hung up and tucked her phone into her purse. The women sat at a table nearby, and Sienna tried to figure out who she might be. For only being back in Pine Point a couple of weeks, she’d grown to know quite a few faces. Ella Ericksen sat in a back booth with a good-looking guy that Sienna guessed was probably the boyfriend of the month. They held hands and cooed at each other across the table. Two men from the maintenance crew at school sat at a table near the door, and a lanky bus driver had a family of five crammed into a booth beside them. People talked over each other, waved, got up to show pictures on their phones, and Sienna cataloged it all as best she could.

“Refill, honey?” Josie asked. She waved the coffee pot in front of Sienna with a bemused smile. “Or you busy taking in the Friday night sights?”

“Oh. Sorry. It’s crowded in here.”

“Every Friday at dinner time. Don’t know why. Maybe people don’t like to cook at the end of the week.”

She looked again at the two older women, one about ten years older than the other, with dyed-red hair turning white at the roots and a broad laugh. The younger one had frosted hair and a wide smile.

That’s it. The smile.

And the blue eyes, obviously passed down from mother to son. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t remembered Loretta Springer right away. “Hey, Josie?”

The waitress ambled over, clearing plates and topping off drinks as she did.

“That’s Mike Springer’s mom sitting over there, right?”

Josie’s gaze shifted. “Yep. Want me to introduce you?”

“No, that’s okay.” Sienna took a long sip of coffee. She didn’t need an introduction. She’d already met Loretta, eleven years ago in the waiting room of the Med Center. Heat moved over her, and she scratched the scar on her wrist. The kind woman had been the only person to talk to Sienna, besides Doc Halloran, the day her mother died. She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten.

I should go over there. Say something. Thank her.
But before Sienna could, the diner door opened, and all the color left Loretta’s face. She blinked a few times, turned to her companion, and muttered something. Sienna couldn’t hear the conversation, but it involved hushed tones and frowns. Sienna studied the man who’d just stepped inside. He didn’t look out of the ordinary, other than needing a shave. He wore a red watch cap and a dark jacket that looked handed down a few times. He rubbed his bare hands together and looked around for an empty table.

“Well, would you look at what the cat dragged in.” Josie set down her coffee pot and brushed her hands on her apron. “Didn’t think we’d be seeing you again anytime soon.” She pointed at the only empty stool at the counter, right beside Sienna. “Have a seat, Al, and tell us what the hell you’ve been up to.”

He ducked his chin. “Evenin’, Josie.” He walked up to the counter, but he didn’t sit. Instead, he ordered a cheeseburger to go and then disappeared into the restroom.

“You know Doc Halloran?” Josie asked. She slipped her order pad next to the cash register.

Sienna nodded.

“That’s his oldest son. Albert.” Josie looked around and then lowered her voice. “He moved away for a while, was workin’ odd jobs and such, and no one heard from him. He got in some trouble with the law here, don’t know if you heard, but he was takin’ pills from his daddy’s office, I guess. Back when he was still in high school.” She snapped her gum and hollered across the diner, “I see ya wavin’ your arm, Henry. I’ll be there in a minute. Can’t you see I’m havin’ a conversation?”

She turned back to Sienna and shook her head. “Anyway, I’m surprised to see Al. His father threw him out after all that mess with the cops an’ told him never to come back.”

“Really? That’s some pretty hardcore stuff to happen in Pine Point.”

“Woo whee, tell me about it.”

I’ll have to find the old news articles.
Sienna began a mental list.
See what he’s been doing and where he’s been living. And why he came back, and whether Doc’s glad to see him.
Actually, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up the daily paper for her research. The police blotter, town meetings, and letters to the editor might give her more insight into the underbelly of Pine Point. She finished her burger in three large bites. This, finally, was the reason she’d come to town. She waited for Al to return, but he didn’t. Ten minutes passed. Josie packaged up his burger and left it sitting on the counter.

“What happened to him?” Sienna asked after a while.

Josie shrugged. “Henry said he went out the back. He always was a strange duck.” She carried a bucket of dirty dishes into the back. Sienna yawned. Time for some work and then some shut-eye. She fished out Josie’s order pad and flipped through it, looking for hers so she could pay.

I long to be deep inside your soul,

Two hearts joined as one despite the…

My fingers and yours, ten then twenty.

Sienna dropped the pad as if it had caught fire in her hands. She recognized the large, loopy writing. Without a doubt, it belonged to Josie. But these weren’t diner orders. Her gaze returned to the register, where another identical order pad rested. She blinked.
Josie writes love poems?
As fast as she could, Sienna shoved the pad in her hands back where she’d found it.

Josie reemerged from the kitchen. “Dessert tonight? We got homemade lemon meringue or store-bought cheesecake.” She winked. “You know which one I’m recommending.”

“Ah, no, I’m good, thanks.” Sienna pulled out her wallet. “Just tell me what I owe you, and I’m on my way.”

Josie narrowed her gaze. “You’re in an awful hurry all of a sudden. You got a rendezvous with a guy somewhere?”

I long to be deep inside your soul.

Sienna almost choked as she paid the bill. “No,” she managed to say.
But maybe you do, huh, Josie?
It certainly had been a strange day for secrets. She hurried upstairs as fast as she could.

* * * * *

“I thought he was still in jail.” Early the following morning, Loretta sat stiffly at the kitchen table, one hand around a mug of coffee.

“Guess he finally got out.” Mike poured coffee into a travel mug and added three packets of sugar.

“Is he going to cause trouble for you?” She tightened her hand around the mug.

“Ma, no. What can he do? It’ll be fine.” He had no idea if Al’s reappearance in Pine Point was fine. He’d lain awake half the night thinking about different scenarios in which Al could bring more ruin to his life.
Guess who spent almost a year in county jail for felony theft? Yep, that owner of Springer Fitness you all love so much around here.

Except ratting Mike out would also inevitably rat Al himself out, since he was the one who’d gotten Mike into the whole lousy situation to begin with. He supposed Al could come up with some way to blackmail Mike—
Give me a job at your gym or I’ll tell everyone you were married before
—but he didn’t think Al was that stupid either.

He screwed the lid on his travel mug and kissed the top of his mother’s head. “Please don’t worry about it. I have a feeling Al’s only passing through. He doesn’t have anywhere to go, so I don’t think he’ll stick around. His father won’t take him back, that’s for sure.”

“He better not.” Loretta shook her head. “Can you imagine him living right around the corner from us again?” She drank, then slammed her mug back on the table. “I hope Doc doesn’t even consider it.”

Mike cleared his throat. “You took me back when I screwed up.”

Loretta got to her feet so fast the table shook. “You listen to me.” She took his shirtfront in one hand and leveled him with a look that made him feel ten years old again. “You were set up. You were put in a position by someone you thought was your friend—” a dark expression twisted her face, “—and a horrible, money-hungry
whore
.”

He flinched. “Ma.” His mother never used words like that. Never.

“I don’t care. She was, and she and Al ruined your life, and I will make it my mission to see that he never does anything like that to you again.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his nose. “That no one does. You’re a good boy, Mikey, and you’re making a good life here.” She patted his chest. “You’ve done your time and made your amends. That one—” she jutted her head in the direction of the street and the Halloran residence, “—I don’t think he has. I saw him last night. He looked the same as always. Not sorry at all.”

With that, she sat back down and returned to her coffee.

Mike pulled on his winter jacket. Leave it to him to end up with a guard dog five feet tall who weighed all of one hundred pounds. Still, there was something nice about knowing Ma had his back, no matter what. He touched his chest and the spot with her name tattooed across it. At least there was one woman in Pine Point he could trust. As he climbed into his truck, his thoughts turned to Sienna. Or maybe there would end up being two. He could only hope.

Chapter Eighteen

On Monday morning, Sienna hung a large poster on the wall of Room Eighteen. Across the top in brightly colored letters, it read
We’re On Our Best Behavior!
As the students walked in from the bus, they clustered around it. Even Dawn stared at the banner instead of retreating to her usual beanbag chair in the corner.

Caleb was the first to touch the fuzzy raised letters that made up each of their names. “What is
this
, Miss Cruz?”

“This is a way we’re going to keep track of all the good things that happen in this room.” She touched each of their names and then pointed to the gold star pins lined up on the opposite side of the poster. “Each time you do something we all think is good behavior, you get a star next to your name. If everybody gets at least five stars every day in a week, we’ll have a special celebration that Friday.”

“I want a star, I want a star, I want a star!” Billy chanted. He hopped from foot to foot, leaving melted snow everywhere.

Sienna placed her hands on his shoulders. “Do you think calling out is good behavior?” she asked. Billy stopped hopping.

“I don’t think it is,” Caleb said with a serious frown. “But how do we decide what is?”

“I thought we could all talk about it together.” She pointed across the room, to where she’d taped a long piece of construction paper to Mike’s table.

Mike’s table.
She’d come to calling it that in her head. Silly, since all he’d done was buy it for them. But she smiled every time she thought of him carrying it into the classroom with an awkward look on his face.

“We can make a list together,” she said.

“Okay,” Billy agreed. He sat down, pulled off his snow boots and replaced them with his favorite blue and red sneakers. Bailey had matching ones.

Sienna helped Silas with his winter clothes, checked Dawn’s backpack for notes from her foster mom, and remembered to take attendance and call in their lunch order without prompting from Caleb. Pretty good start to the week. She’d even managed to pack herself lunch today, which meant she wouldn’t have to scavenge in the faculty room for lunch. Thanks to diner food and an endless supply of brownies, cookies, and coffee cake, she’d gained a few pounds since coming to Pine Point.

That means I need to get to the gym more often
. And thinking of the gym meant thinking of Mike, which led into a lovely little fantasy that left her a little flushed by the time they finished their morning work.

“Miss Cruz, why is your face all red?” Caleb asked as they returned from the library.

Leave it to my child with Asperger’s to point out the obvious.
“I think the heat might be on a little high today,” she said. Before Caleb could run over to the thermostat and check, she said, “How about we work on our list of good behaviors and give out a few stars?”

“Yippee!” Bailey clapped his hands together. His brother clapped too. Silas spun in a circle, his arms out straight like airplane propellers. Only Dawn seemed unaffected by the promise of stars and good behavior. She sank into her beanbag chair and pinched her fingers together.

“Billy should get one for doing his math without complaining,” Caleb said.

“What about Dawn?” Sienna asked. The other students turned and looked at her. She ducked her head and played with the hem of her sweater. “Let’s look at our list. I think Dawn definitely gets a star for being on time with her work this morning, right?”

The others nodded.

“And helping to clean up the book corner without being asked.” She added another star next to the girl’s name. Dawn lifted her head and stopped playing with her sweater.

Someone knocked at the door, and Sienna glanced up.

“It’s Mr. Mike!” Caleb said with glee. “Miss Cruz, I didn’t know he was coming to visit us today.”

“Neither did I.” And where had the name Mr. Mike come from? He’d introduced himself as Mr. Springer last week. But it didn’t matter. Her pulse sped up as she opened the door. He smelled like the outdoors, like fresh snow and wind. “Hello there. This is a nice surprise. Again.”

His smile washed over her, and that blue gaze caught and held hers for a moment before he stepped inside. “Hello, Caleb.” He shook the boy’s hand. “How are you today?”

“I’m fine.” Caleb turned and pointed at the two posters hanging on the wall. “Look what we have.”

“Wow.” Mike walked over, put one hand under his chin, and studied them both. “This is very impressive.” He glanced at Sienna. “Did you all make this? Or did Miss Cruz?”

“Miss Cruz did,” Billy piped up. He tugged Mike’s pant leg. “I’m Billy. That’s my twin brother, Bailey. I’m older by six minutes.”

Sienna stifled a laugh.

Mike crouched down so he was eye level with them. “Really? I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so that makes you pretty lucky.”

“I have a younger sister,” Caleb said. “Her name is Dinah and she’s in Miss Preston’s class.”

“All right, you chatterboxes,” Sienna said. “It’s time to get ready for lunch.”

“Can Mr. Mike come with us?” Bailey asked.

“No, not this time.” Sienna said and arched a brow at Mike.

“Will you come to read-along this Friday?” Caleb asked.

“I think I can. I will do my best to make it.” His smile returned to Sienna, and heat zinged through her.

“Billy, you’re line leader this week.” Sienna waited as they arranged themselves in a haphazard group near the door, then she turned and beckoned to Dawn. The little girl hadn’t moved from her beanbag chair. Her gaze moved from Sienna to Mike and stayed there. Sienna held her breath. Dawn didn’t do well with strangers, especially the adult male variety. Sienna waited for the telltale signs of an anxiety attack—twitching fingers, burning cheeks, circling the room, vanishing into the closet. But nothing came. After a moment, Dawn got up and walked to the end of the line. She never stopped watching Mike with her huge brown eyes.

“She’s freaking me out a little,” he said under his breath.

“She’s just being cautious.”

“Hmm mmm.” He stayed where he was, hands at his sides, as if Dawn was a wild animal and remaining motionless was his best approach to not scaring her off.

“Do you want to walk down with us?” Sienna asked. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even ask why you came in today.”

He peeled off his jacket and draped it over one arm. They followed the students down the long central hallway. “I wanted to give you this.” He pulled a small envelope from his back pocket and took out a ticket. “It’s for Saturday night.” He flushed. “I thought you might want the details of the fundraiser. It has where and when and stuff on it.”

“Oh.” She took the red-and-white stub and peered at it.
Dinner. Silent Auction. Dancing.
“You didn’t mention the dancing.”

“I didn’t?” Mike kept his eyes on Dawn’s back.

Sienna smiled. “Are we still driving together, or since I have a ticket now, should I meet you there?”

“Oh. I didn’t mean…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Shit. I’m not good at this. Yes, I’d like to drive you there. I want to go together. I just thought you’d like this ahead of time.”

They reached the cafeteria, and the students filed inside. Caleb looked back and waved. “Bye, Mr. Mike.”

Mike waved too. “Cute kids.”

“In a ten-minute time span, sure. Come back on Friday and stay a while.”

His gaze locked with hers. “I’d like that.”

“Well, then, ah, good. Anytime after two o’clock.” They stood in the hallway, an awkward distance and an awkward silence between them.

Finally, Mike stuck out his hand. “I’ll see you later.”

Here we are again with the handshakes,
Sienna thought as a pebble of disappointment lodged in her throat. But she took his hand and squeezed all the same. A jolt of attraction shot up to her shoulder.
Does he feel it too? Or is it just me?

“See you later. And thanks for the ticket.” She felt the warmth of his palm, and that amazing current of attraction, for the rest of the day.