The next afternoon, Mack had come to the school to read another one of his stories to the class. He had asked if he could meet with me first during my lunch break.
His hands were in his pockets as he stood waiting for me under a tree on the school grounds. The colorful leaves of fall were drying up and falling around him, a sign that the New England winter wasn’t too far away.
I hadn’t had a chance to speak to him in great detail since our coffee date, but honestly, not an hour of any day went by when he wasn’t on my mind.
Mack looked beyond amazing in a black, ribbed sweater and knit hat. His unintentionally sexy look was in stark contrast to the conservative atmosphere.
He lifted his hand when he noticed me approaching. “Hey.”
“What’s up, Mack?”
Cutting right to the chase, he said, “I heard she came to see you yesterday.”
“Yes.”
He examined my eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine. The visit went better than I expected.”
“Okay, just making sure.”
“We mainly discussed Jonah’s anxiety in light of all of the changes in his life.”
“So, she didn’t badmouth me?”
“I didn’t say that.”
His face turned red. “Fuck. I knew this would happen.” He looked down at his shoes and shook his head in disgust before looking up at me again. “Frankie…”
“Mack, listen. You don’t have to defend yourself. If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you’re a good father. There is nothing that she can ever say to make me believe otherwise.”
He blew out a breath that momentarily warmed the skin on my face. “Thank you. Some days I feel like a failure. But I swear, I’m trying my ass off.”
“I can see that. I’m not blind.”
“Not anymore, at least. You got Lasik.”
“Yeah.” I smiled.
My body suddenly became all too aware that he was only inches from me. Time seemed to stand still for a bit as the leaves rustled around us. He kept looking at me intensely, and I just stood there soaking him in.
“Thank you for always believing in me,” he finally said.
Trying to fight the feelings of hurt that were also creeping in, I had to ask, “I don’t know why, but I’d assumed you two had gotten married.”
“No. We were engaged for a long time, but the wedding never happened…much to my father’s dismay.”
“I can imagine he gave you a lot of grief about that.”
“I just couldn’t go through with it. Ending it was not easy. I knew she wouldn’t take it well. I put it off for so long because I didn’t want her to taint Jonah’s view of me. I worry about what she says to him.”
“All you can do is your best to show him you love him. As he gets older, he’ll see things for what they are.”
“I hope so.” He sighed. “She’s bringing this new guy around lately. Never told me anything beforehand. I happened to accidentally find him there when I dropped Jonah off recently.” He brought his hand to my forehead, removing a flyaway hair. “Anyway, I don’t mean to vent to you like this. You need to get back to class.”
My body shivered from the contact. Whenever he touched me, it felt like the world stopped.
Touch me again.
I cleared my throat. “It’s okay. I’ll see you in a bit. You’re still coming in at one?”
“Yeah. I’m just gonna take a walk, kill some time. I’ll see you soon.”
We each walked away in separate directions. Almost at the front entrance, I turned back around to look at him in the distance. My heart clenched upon realizing he was staring back at me, too.
A couple of women who’d been volunteering elsewhere in the school weaseled their way into my classroom for Mack’s story time that afternoon. Among them was Clarissa McIntyre, the mother of one of my students. She was single, and it was obvious she had her eye on Mack.
With her long, blonde hair and svelte figure, Clarissa was probably as attractive as the mothers at this school got. Her being here because of Mack definitely made me uneasy. The same thing had happened the last time he’d come in to assist with a Halloween art project. Random women seemed to just magically appear in the corner of the room. Whenever I would hear them whisper the nickname “Mack Daddy,” it made me want to punch someone.
Mack took his spot in the chair at the center of the circular rug. He took out his book, and I immediately noticed a new drawing of the cartoon version of me on the front.
“I’ve brought Frankie Four Eyes back in today for a new adventure. This one is called Frankie Four Eyes and the Boy Band Bathroom Conundrum.”