Into Your Arms (Squad Stories #1)(56)

More jaded people should hang out with small children. Might change their outlook.

Heather and I have outside duty today, so it's our job to wrangle ten children into their coats and mittens and hats to go outside so they can burn off some of their energy. It's an experience every time and usually at least one kid ends up in tears.

"Finally," I say to Heather as we herd the kids outside and onto the small fenced-in playground.

"I'm exhausted and it's not even noon," she says, leaning against the fence and closing her eyes briefly. Heather's a junior and on track to become a special ed teacher. For someone who works with kids, she has a cynical and dry sense of humor, but it totally works for her.

"So, what's up with you?" she asks as we scan the playground and make sure none of the kids are eating rocks or trying to fly off the swings.

"Not a whole lot," I say, crossing my arms and leaning on the fence next to her.

"Bummer," she says.

"Not really. Just . . . busy. Too busy to sit down and breathe." Midterms are coming up and soon I'm going to be begging for a caffeine IV just so I can get through my regular day.

"Tell me about it. I was up until five studying and then had class at eight. But I figure we're young now and we won't be able to stay up all night forever, so might as well do it now. You can sleep when you're dead, right?" I give her a rueful smile.

"Right."

I have to run to break up a toddler fight, which ends up in three kids being sent to timeout inside. If I didn't know better, I'd say that they did it on purpose so they could go back inside. That's probably what I would have done.

"Rhett," a familiar voice says, and I find myself looking through the slats of the fence at Freya when I get back outside.

"Hey, what are you doing on this side of campus?" I move closer to the fence so I can see her better. She's got her hair twisted up in a messy bun and hasn't bothered with makeup. She looks amazing. I almost want to reach through the fence so I can touch her cheek.

I'm a goner. Completely lost.

"Just had a meeting with my advisor and I heard the kids yelling. So this is where you work?" she asks, looking up at the cheerful brick building that houses the day care.

"Yeah," I say and have to turn away from her so I can keep watching the kids. Joey sees Freya and makes a beeline for us.

"Who are you?" he asks. The kid is nothing if not blunt.

Freya looks at him and then at me.

"You don't have to tell him. Joey, what have we talked about when meeting new people?" I say, crouching down so I'm closer to his level.

He sighs heavily, as if he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"That you introduce yourself and say 'Nice to meet you,'" he recites. We've gone over this one a lot.

"So you want to try that again?" He heaves another sigh, and I glance up at Freya, who is trying to hide a smile.

"Hello, I'm Joey. It's nice to meet you," he says and then turns to me. "How was that?"

I chuckle.

"Good, but you need to wait for her to answer."

Joey turns back to Freya and crosses his arms. This kid.

Freya also crouches down and sticks her hand through the slats.

"Well, Joey, I'm Freya. It's nice to meet you too." Joey stares at her hand and then shakes it with his like a little gentleman. He's making progress.



       
         
       
        

"Good job, bud," I say, holding my hand up for a high five. He grins and slaps my hand as hard as he can.

"Bye bye, Freya!" he calls and runs away, making dinosaur noises.

"Cute," she says as we both stand.

"He's okay. Most of the time." She smiles at me, and I think she has something else on her mind than just stopping by to say hello.

"You want to come over tonight?" she asks, curling her fingers around the edges of the fence slats. She could have asked me to impale myself on this fence in that voice and I would have done it.

"Yeah, after practice?" She nods.

"Yeah."

Her voice is soft and there's a sadness that hangs above her head like a cloud. I'm so used to her being a storm that this more gentle side of her is something new.

"You okay?" I ask. She swallows and then nods once.

"Yeah. I went grocery shopping so there's food in the house. I got a ton of stuff, so you can probably make whatever." Her eyes keep darting away from me, and there is something definitely up with her. I'm sure that she won't tell me anything, but still. If I can help in any way, I'll do it. Even if that means just getting her off half a dozen times. It's no hardship on my part. I've never loved going down on a girl as much as I love doing it with Freya.