Someone Like You (6 page)

He needed to stay in control. Keep the boy in line. It was the only way he could get through each day, by not letting
any
emotion in. Instead of wallowing in the memory of his dead wife, he’d thrown himself into his job as mayor. At home he behaved like an automaton.

That way, he couldn’t be hurt again.

Straightening, he pivoted away from the baby grand he’d bought Rebecca for birthday and moved to the liquor cabinet.

It took two scotches before the numbness came back.

Chapter 5

Hell, Nick felt like one of his kids walking through the side door of the school, anxious to see his girl. Oh, he got glimpses of her over the weekend, but she was always with Cella. She
had
invited him to lunch on Sunday, and he was hoping for some time alone with her, but that didn’t happen. And now, as there were 500 students milling around the building, he wouldn’t catch her by herself today. But at least he could talk to her, hear how her classes went, get a peek at her legs in one of those skirts he loved.

What a sap!
he thought as he made his way down the corridor. And how the hell had that happened? It only took one kiss? No, it was more than that. He’d confessed his darkest secret to her and not only had she been sympathetic, she’d cried for him. Attraction to the woman had been smoldering inside him for years, and Friday night sealed the deal. He wanted Brie Gorman in bed. And in other ways, too.

He opened the door to the PE office and found Pete Jenkins and Mike Laramie, the two other gym teachers inside. “You’re finally here,” Mike said.

“Jesus, Laramie, I didn’t know you cared.”

“Not about you.” He angled his chin to Nick’s desk. “For whatever’s in the box. It smells amazing.”

It did. Like dough and icing on a cake. “Who brought it in?” Nick asked.

“Don’t know. The box was there when we got here.” Pete slugged him in the arm. “You got a secret admirer.”

“God, I hope so.”

He tore open the top and nestled inside were a dozen pastries, some sugared, some glazed. The guys were looking over his shoulder. “Can we have one?” Jenkins pleaded.

“Knock yourself out.” 

Beneath the one Pete snagged was a note, which his buddy also grabbed. “Let’s see who she is.” He read, ‘Southern pastries from my cookbook. Maybe they’ll make that accent kick in. Enjoy.’ Huh! You get some action this weekend, Corelli?”

“None I’d tell you guys about.” 

And certainly not as much as he’d like. But remembering what he
had
done with the beautiful Gabrielle on her deck Friday night got him hot all over again. So, after eating one the treats with apple filling, he left the office and went directly to her room. She was seated at her desk, pen in hand, a stack of papers in front of her. The pink cotton sweater she wore with Jared’s pearls fit her…nicely.

He cleared his throat. “Morning, Miz Gorman.”

When she glanced up, he saw pleasure in her face at seeing him. Damned if that didn’t make his day. “Morning, Coach.”

He matched her smile, stepped inside and crossed to her. Right away he noticed the pastry on a napkin on her desk.

“Hmm, you got some, too?”

She glanced at the treat. “Yes. Somebody left one for me.”

“I wonder who did that.”  Man, he wanted so bad to kiss those raisin colored lips, to taste this woman, he could barely control himself.  “For the life of me, I can’t imagine why I agreed to no funny stuff in school.”  Glancing back at the door and seeing nobody was in front of her room, he smoothed down her hair. It was silky, and soft. “I want to kiss you, long, slow and deep, Gabrielle.”

She watched him with eyes that said she wanted that, too.

He braced his hands on her desk, leaned in closer and whispered, “I’m fixin’ to do just that on Friday night.”

She bit her lip. “Cella’s been invited to Lisa’s for a sleepover. I’m hesitant to let her go. She’s never stayed there before.”

“Let her go, babe, please, let her go.”

“We’ll see.”

He
saw a trace of fear on her face. Too fast, he guessed. And he remembered how attached she’d gotten to her daughter since Jared died. “Hey, it’s okay. We can just have some time together. No pressure.”

“I know. But I’ll think about Cella staying at the Markhams.”

The warning bell for first period rang.

“Gotta go. Have a nice day.”

“You too, Nick.”

He whistled his way back to the gym.

o0o

At noon, Brie headed to the west wing of the building which housed the middle school. Grades six through eight were separated from the high school population, but she and Annie had managed to wrangle lunch together so at least they had that even if they didn’t plan their lessons with one another anymore. Today, she’d emailed Annie asked to eat in her room instead of going to the cafeteria.

She found her friend staring out the window. “Thinking about the wedding?”

Annie turned. “Hmm. We had such a wonderful weekend. But it was hard to let Dylan go home at night.” 

Brie knew the couple had decided, because they lived in a small community, and because of the boys, they wouldn’t live together until they were married.

“November can’t come soon enough.”

“I’ll be happy for you, too.” She sat at a side conference table and waited while Annie got her lunch out of her desk and joined Brie at the table.

“Where’s your food?”

“I woke up late and didn’t have time to make anything.” Because she couldn’t fall asleep thinking about Nick.

“Have some of mine.”

“No, I’m fine. I ate a pastry after breakfast anyway.”

“Where’d you get pastry?”

Brie glanced at the open door, then rose and closed it. When she sat back down, she said, “I have to talk about this or I’ll burst.”

Annie’s eyes widened. “The date with Ian went that well?”

“Um, no. Well, the date was fine, but it was afterward that mattered.”

“Wow, so soon?”

“Not like you mean. Ian dropped me off and left. I, um, oh, God, Annie, Nick Corelli kissed me senseless on my deck.”

Annie’s bottle of water thudded to the table. “Did I hear you right?”

“Yes, I know, it’s crazy. Like I told you, we’re so different I can’t believe he’d be interested in someone like me. Or vice versa, but I’ll tell you the kiss was totally hot and knocked my socks off.”

“You said you don’t even like him.”

“That’s not true now. I never cared for Nick when he was friends with Jared, but having contact with him over Matt Keller, I’ve seen another side of him. And talked to him quite a bit. I think I’ve gotten to know more of the man Jared cared about.”

“How did the kiss happen?”

 “I met up with him in the driveway after Cella and I walked the babysitter home. He asked to have a drink on the deck. We spent a few minutes talking, then he teased me into confessing something I liked about him. It was fun, trading compliments.”

“Then he kissed you?”

“Not yet. He mentioned what a good mother I am and I asked him if he ever wanted to have kids.”

She probably shouldn’t share private information with Annie, but Nick hadn’t asked her not to, and besides, best girlfriends didn’t count.

When she finished the story of his wife’s aborted pregnancy, Annie eyes were moist.

“I cried, too,” Brie said, a lump in her throat. “Then it all exploded between us.”

Annie’s smile was mischievous. “So, is he fast and forceful? He seems like he’d be.”

“He was. Later, though, he was as gentle as a lamb.”

“Dylan can be both, too.”

“We’re seeing each other Friday night after the game.”

“Want me to take Cella?”

“No, when I called Lisa to babysit, she asked if they could have a sleepover at her house. She’d promised Cella they’d do that sometime.”

“Well, then the stage is set.”

“No, we’re going to take this slow.”

Annie giggled. “Good luck with that. I’ve never seen you behave so impulsively.” She touched Brie’s arm. “I like it. Let yourself go, honey. Don’t hold back. Life is short.”

“I know.” She thought of Jared and David—the men they’d loved and lost. “We both know.”

o0o

“Thanks for driving me, coach. It’s fun to have somebody to share this experience.”

Your father should be doing it with you,
Nick thought, but bit his tongue. Mention of the mayor would make that smile Matt wore disappear and because it was so infrequent, Nick didn’t want to spoil the moment. But damn the s-o-b, just the same.

They parked in front of the domestic violence shelter, a nondescript building in the city, and hustled up to the door. The place was four stories and from the outside appeared to be a small apartment complex. Security cameras honed in on them as they reached the porch and rang the bell. Through an intercom, someone asked, “May I help you?”

“I’m Matt Keller. I have an appointment with Ms. Wallace.”

They heard a shuffling of some sort, then they were buzzed in. Clipboard in hand, a uniformed guard stood inside a small entryway with a desk, computer and a few chairs. He pressed another intercom button. “Matt Keller to see Carol.” 

As they waited, Matt asked, “Why so much security in this place?”

“Because the women living here need protection,” the guard answered. “Their husbands or boyfriends could show up any time.”

“Isn’t the shelter a secret? The letter I got said not to tell anybody the address.”

“It is, but people find out.”

At a knock, the guard opened the main door. “Hi, Carol.”

“Hey, Artie.”  The pretty black woman introduced herself then drew them inside. “I can’t tell you how glad I am you’re volunteering, Matt. The kids need guys, especially young ones, to play with.”

“I’m excited to help out.”

She led them down a corridor and up a flight of stairs. Nick could hear the chatter of young voices before they reached the door with a sign on it reading, PLAYROOM. There were five preschool age children inside—one ran a fire truck on the floor making a siren noise, another rested on the lap of a woman who was reading to him. At a table, two were coloring. But another boy sat alone in the corner, head down, curled up into himself. Nick’s heart went out to him.

A woman of about thirty approached them. “Hi, there, I’m Jill. You must be Matt.”

“Hi,” Matt said, his eyes wide. Jill was very pretty.

Then she turned to Nick. “And you’re Matt’s coach. He said you’d be bringing him this first time. How sweet that is.”

“Coach is great,” Matt told her, “And he loves kids.”

She gave Nick a flirty smile. “Then maybe we can talk
Coach
into volunteering, too.” She squeezed Matt’s arm. “Let me show you around.”

The room consisted of one big area sectioned off into smaller ones. A kitchenette and little table graced one end near the windows, a small rug with numbers and letters in its perimeter next to that. The craft area had a bookcase full of crayons, paper, chalk, paints and other art supplies. Off to the right was a reading area. And, finally, lone chairs in the corner where the boy sat still covering his face.

After the tour, Jill asked, “Do you have time to play with the kids today?”

“Coach?”

Nick checked his watch. “Sure.”

She led them to the lone child in the corner. “Hey, Sammy. I know you’re not happy, but these two guys would love to play with you.”

Matt hunkered down when Nick did. “Hey, buddy,” Nick coaxed. “Wanna play with us?”

When the child looked up, Nick froze.

Sammy had Down’s Syndrome.

o0o

Matt almost didn’t recognize the emotion because he hadn’t felt it in so long. The joy he got from being with those kids—especially little Terry who was frequently sent to time out--was foreign to him. As they drove home, he quipped, “Working with those kids was fun, wasn’t it, Coach?”

“Yeah, Matt, it was.” He grinned at the boy. “I haven’t seen that smile in a while.” A pause. “How’s the other going? Your dad. And everything.”

“Same old, same old. I don’t wanna talk about it. I feel too good.”

“Then let’s talk football, boy.”

They discussed the scouting report on their next opponent until they got back to school in the middle of activity period. “Can I go tell Mrs. Gorman about the shelter?” The kid checked his cell phone. “I’d miss more weight training.”

“Yeah, sure. Coach Laramie is covering so I’ll come, too. I’d like to see Mrs. Gorman.”

Coach’s tone was strange, but they arrived at her room before Matt could figure it out. Inside, Mrs. Gorman was talking to Mr. Lancaster.

“Good, you’re both here.” Matt’s words tumbled out. “We went to the shelter and it was so cool. Well, not why the women are there, but we played with the kids and they
loved
us.”

“Hey, man, that’s terrific.” Mr. Lancaster gave him a big smile. “Hello, by the way. You too, Nick.”

“Ian, Mrs. Gorman.”

Mrs. Gorman smiled broadly.

Mr. Lancaster looked at coach. “Thanks for going with him.”

“My pleasure.”

“He liked it. You should have seen him on the floor with that one kid—what does he have, Coach?”

Coach’s face got sad all of a sudden. “Down’s Syndrome.”

Mrs. Gorman’s eyebrows rose.

“Coach and I gotta go to weight training. But I wanted to tell you how great this all was.”

Mrs. Gorman stood. “Coach Corelli, can you stay a minute? I need to ask you something.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’m outta here, too.” Mr. Lancaster got up. “Come on, Matt, I’ll walk you down to the gym and you can tell me more about your project.”

“Sure.” He hesitated, then gave coach a bear hug like he did on the field sometimes. “Thanks again, Coach.”

They left the room.

o0o

Crossing to the door, Brie closed it and faced Nick. His eyes had filled with emotion when Matt mentioned the Down’s Syndrome child. The experience must have been painful. “I’m so proud of you, Nick. I want to kiss you right now.”

The sadness on his face was replaced with a sexy grin and wide, outstretched arms. “I’m all yours, sweetheart.”