let’s face it, he was weak and wanted to be with her even though he knew it was stupid as shit to see her and spend time with her. He was dumb as a bag of doorknobs.
He’d never stopped loving Arden.
Chapter Nine
‡
A rden was making herself crazy. One second she hated her father and then the next she wanted to hug him after all he’d been through. Clearly he’d been trying to protect her from growing up as the “girl whose mother had been shot” and that was admirable, but he should have told her the truth when she became an adult. As it was, she had so many questions and there was only one way to get the answers.
After her last class on Friday, she’d stopped into the principal’s office for a chat. Keith Centers was a good man and admitted he’d heard that her father had left town under somewhat mysterious circumstances. When she filled in few details he was more than willing to give her what she asked for. Time off. She was only a substitute, after all.
Dammit, she hated herself for asking. She’d wanted this job and now a month into the school year she was asking for a leave of absence, but this was important. If she was fired, so be it. Finding her father and learning about all that had been kept secret from her had to take priority over everything else in her life.
Back in her classroom, Arden cleaned the dry erase board and straightened up the room before leaving. She was finishing up the last of her work when a noise made her look up.
“I’ve been standing here awhile.” Shane stood in the doorway looking like he’d spent the day on the ranch. “You were completely engrossed in your writing.”
Quickly emailing the notes to Keith, she closed the laptop with a loud click. “I was making assignment notes for the new substitute next week.”
Shane took off his hat and tossed it onto a desk. “ New substitute? Are you sick?”
Arden didn’t have to have spent the last fifteen years with Shane to know how this conversation was going to go. He wasn’t going to stop her but he was going to try.
She began packing away her papers and books into her messenger bag. “No, I’m not sick. I’m going to meet my family that I’ve never met and find out about my mother’s murder.”
She was also going to have a long talk with her grandmother when she came back, but not before. Elaine wasn’t going to be allowed to make excuses for what she’d done and then try and talk Arden out of this trip. Angry with her grandmother for lying all these years, Arden wasn’t ready to face her yet without losing her temper.
“I had a feeling you’d say that.” Shane squeezed himself into one of the desks, dwarfing it with his large frame. “That’s why I made arrangements for someone to cover my office next week. We leave as soon as you can get packed.”
Mouth hanging open, Arden couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re not going to try and stop me? Talk me out of it?”
Chuckling, Shane stretched out his long legs. “Doubt it would do any good so I might as well just go with it. You’ve found out some very disturbing things and it’s only normal that you’d want to check all this out for yourself. I’m going to help you.”
Arden fell back into her chair, still not believing her ears. “I thought you’d try and stop me. I thought you’d tell me all the reasons I shouldn’t go.”
“Seems to me the only reason would be that you might lose your job by taking time off so early, and I don’t think that would compel you to stay.” He grinned, showing off the Anderson dimple in his cheek and looking so darn smug she wanted to kick his shin. “It would appear, princess, that you’ve forgotten quite a bit these last few years, especially about how I indulge your every whim. When have I ever been able to say no to you unless it involved your health and safety?”
Searching the nooks and crannies of her mind, she was surprised that she couldn’t think of one time that he had. He only put up
He’d never stopped loving Arden.
Chapter Nine
‡
A rden was making herself crazy. One second she hated her father and then the next she wanted to hug him after all he’d been through. Clearly he’d been trying to protect her from growing up as the “girl whose mother had been shot” and that was admirable, but he should have told her the truth when she became an adult. As it was, she had so many questions and there was only one way to get the answers.
After her last class on Friday, she’d stopped into the principal’s office for a chat. Keith Centers was a good man and admitted he’d heard that her father had left town under somewhat mysterious circumstances. When she filled in few details he was more than willing to give her what she asked for. Time off. She was only a substitute, after all.
Dammit, she hated herself for asking. She’d wanted this job and now a month into the school year she was asking for a leave of absence, but this was important. If she was fired, so be it. Finding her father and learning about all that had been kept secret from her had to take priority over everything else in her life.
Back in her classroom, Arden cleaned the dry erase board and straightened up the room before leaving. She was finishing up the last of her work when a noise made her look up.
“I’ve been standing here awhile.” Shane stood in the doorway looking like he’d spent the day on the ranch. “You were completely engrossed in your writing.”
Quickly emailing the notes to Keith, she closed the laptop with a loud click. “I was making assignment notes for the new substitute next week.”
Shane took off his hat and tossed it onto a desk. “ New substitute? Are you sick?”
Arden didn’t have to have spent the last fifteen years with Shane to know how this conversation was going to go. He wasn’t going to stop her but he was going to try.
She began packing away her papers and books into her messenger bag. “No, I’m not sick. I’m going to meet my family that I’ve never met and find out about my mother’s murder.”
She was also going to have a long talk with her grandmother when she came back, but not before. Elaine wasn’t going to be allowed to make excuses for what she’d done and then try and talk Arden out of this trip. Angry with her grandmother for lying all these years, Arden wasn’t ready to face her yet without losing her temper.
“I had a feeling you’d say that.” Shane squeezed himself into one of the desks, dwarfing it with his large frame. “That’s why I made arrangements for someone to cover my office next week. We leave as soon as you can get packed.”
Mouth hanging open, Arden couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re not going to try and stop me? Talk me out of it?”
Chuckling, Shane stretched out his long legs. “Doubt it would do any good so I might as well just go with it. You’ve found out some very disturbing things and it’s only normal that you’d want to check all this out for yourself. I’m going to help you.”
Arden fell back into her chair, still not believing her ears. “I thought you’d try and stop me. I thought you’d tell me all the reasons I shouldn’t go.”
“Seems to me the only reason would be that you might lose your job by taking time off so early, and I don’t think that would compel you to stay.” He grinned, showing off the Anderson dimple in his cheek and looking so darn smug she wanted to kick his shin. “It would appear, princess, that you’ve forgotten quite a bit these last few years, especially about how I indulge your every whim. When have I ever been able to say no to you unless it involved your health and safety?”
Searching the nooks and crannies of her mind, she was surprised that she couldn’t think of one time that he had. He only put up
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