The Back-Up Plan (4 page)

“Thank you.” Donna accepted the form and frowned at the scrawled handwriting. This guy should be a doctor. He certainly had the handwriting down pat. “Do I need to pay you now?”

“Nope.” He tipped his hat. “You’ll get a bill.” With a gesture that seemed more grimace than smile, he turned and strode away.

His report looked longer than she’d hoped for. Just one more thing to worry about. She shut the door and turned back to her sister. At least
this
was going to get straightened out this morning. One way or another Donna would get the lowdown on Hank Bradley.

She squared her shoulders and prepared for the worst. “How long has Hank Bradley been a teacher?”

“This is his second year.” Patty visibly braced.

“And before that?” Donna knew she was getting close to the ultimate issue now.

“Before that.” Patty stared at the tiled floor. “Before that...he was a quarterback for the Miami Dolphins.”

“Oh…my…God.” Feeling as if the walls of the small room were closing in on her, Donna jerked the door open and stormed out.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Patty called after her.

Halfway across the lobby Donna halted and turned on her. “You’re telling me that my baby’s teacher is a
professional
jock.”

Patty hesitated and then nodded. “Well, at least he used to be, before a knee injury ended his career.”

“And it gets worse!” Donna rubbed her throbbing forehead. “I knew it. The concept actually flitted through the back of my mind. How could...?” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I hate jocks. I hate that surly tough-guy attitude.” On top of that this one was probably mad at the world because he couldn’t play ball anymore.

“I know you do. But, Donna, there’s more to him than that. Hank really is a good guy. He’s nothing like—”

“Don’t,” Donna cut her off. “I don’t even want to think about
him
. Ever.” Brick Wallace was nothing but a jerk. If Donna never saw him again it would be too soon. He could take his pro ball career and…

Patty slid her arm around her sagging shoulders. “Honey, despite the horrid experiences you had, all jocks aren’t low life bastards. If you hadn’t avoided the male species other than Melissa’s father and your partner these last few years you might have learned that by now.” Patty gave her a squeeze. “You shouldn’t hold Hank’s physical attributes against him. Besides, Melissa absolutely adores him, and he’s a wonderful teacher.”

“If you’re trying to reassure me, it’s not working.” Donna dropped into a padded, gray chair. On some level she understood her sister was right but that didn’t make her feel any better at the moment. “What I’d like to know is how did this man—this
coach
—end up teaching kindergarten?”

“I don’t know all the details. Hank was hired by Mr. Taylor, the principal who died last spring. I think maybe it has something to do with the interim principal, Ms. Masters.” Patty shrugged. “She’s a real—well, you know. She’s smart, beautiful, and she likes things her way. Rumor has it she does everything she can to make Hank’s life miserable. I’ve heard she’s a
cougar
and wants…well you know.”

Donna closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall. She didn’t even want to consider what her daughter’s teacher had done to make the principal dislike him so. “I came here to get away from all the stress and insanity.” She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. “All I want is a nice, quiet life. No big staff meetings. No cocktail parties. And no hidden agendas like insurance fraud.”

“I know.” Patty sat down beside her. “But no place is perfect.” She took Donna’s hand in hers. “No matter how it looks at the moment, coming here was the right thing to do.”

Donna looked directly at Patty. “Starting over is the pits.”

“You chose the path that matters. You needed a fresh start for your career. Melissa needed a safe, happy environment to grow up in. I think you’ll find both those things here in our not quite perfect little town.”

Melissa’s unexpected
daddy
question elbowed its way to the front of the issues lined up on Donna’s plate. “You aren’t going to believe what Melissa asked me this morning.”

Patty made a face. “What?”

“She wants to know when she’s going to get a daddy like her cousins and friends.”

“Oh, my.”

“I knew it would happen eventually; I just hoped it would be later rather than sooner.”

“Maybe it’s because she spent the last couple of weeks with us. Sam spends a lot of time with the girls. And starting school changes things, too. She probably hears the other children talking about their daddies.”

“Now, I have to decide what to tell her.” Did being a mom ever get easier?

“Don’t make too much of it just yet. Wait and see if she mentions it again. Five-year-olds are like butterflies, they flit from one fancy to another.”

“I hope you’re right.”

It started with a rumble. Donna frowned. The sound or the feeling got closer and closer until it felt as if the whole building was shaking. A whistle like shriek filled the air.

Donna straightened away from the vibrating wall. “Is that a train?” She vaguely remembered crossing tracks somewhere on the way from Patty’s house to here.

“Yeah.” Patty winced. “I forgot to mention the train. It comes through about nine every morning.”

The rumble faded and the room fell calm again but the full realization was only then fully setting in for Donna. She turned on her heel and marched out the front entrance and around the corner of the building. Sure enough there was that train track cutting right through the already harvested cornfield not a dozen yards from her clinic.

Maybe she and Melissa should jump on that track and start walking. They could just keep going until they reached the end.

Donna squared her shoulders and dismissed the thought. This was home now. One by one she would work things out.

She hoped.

~*~

Hank shut off the lights and locked up the gym. The team was coming along. A couple of the freshmen were a little rowdy but they would learn that if they wanted to be on his team, they had to be a part of the team. This wasn’t junior high anymore.

When he crossed the deserted parking lot, he considered the town’s new doc. He had a feeling she wasn’t going to play nice either. If he were lucky maybe she would be too busy with opening her clinic and getting settled in a new town to give him any more grief. She definitely didn’t like him.

Shouldn’t bother him but it did. He headed for home. The air held the promise of cooler temps on the way. Perfect football weather: warm days and cool nights. He pulled in a long, deep breath of fresh air. He enjoyed teaching—or at least he would if he could get the principal from hell off his back.

Mostly he enjoyed the kids. But his heart was still in the game. Coaching filled the void to some extent. If he hadn’t been so damned bullheaded things would be different now. When his playing career ended, he’d arrogantly refused all other offers, ESPN included. His bum knee hadn’t allowed him to make a comeback and the other offers never came again.

“Give it a rest, Bradley.” He had burned that bridge three years ago. There wouldn’t be any going back now. He had to make the best of things as they were.

He turned up Main Street and caught a glimpse of someone else admiring the gorgeous September afternoon. He grinned. Things were looking up already. Not far ahead of him, the doc strolled along at a leisurely pace. Might as well put his charm-the-doc plan into action. He quickened his pace to catch up with her. Not too quickly though, he liked the view from this angle.

He’d love to see all that long, chestnut-colored hair hanging loose around her shoulders instead of pulled tight in that long braid. Big brown eyes, flecked with gold. Pouty lips. Before he met her, Hank had imagined Donna as tall and willowy like her sister. He’d been way off. Not much over five feet, she probably wouldn’t weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet, but she was all sweet, soft curves.

Patty Russell had taken every opportunity during the last two weeks to mention her wonderful sister, the doctor. Hank knew a matchmaker when he saw one. He had certainly been plagued with enough of them since moving back home. He liked choosing his own conquests. A time or two he had come close to telling Patty to give it a rest. But now he was having second thoughts—at least, part of him was.

“Doc,” he called, as he caught up to her, “wait up.”

She stopped, but didn’t turn around. He knew when a woman was attracted to him. And this one definitely was—whether she wanted to be or not. Chemistry had exploded between them last night like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

“You just out for a leisurely stroll or did you have another flat tire.” He turned on his most charming smile as he came up alongside her.

She spared him the briefest of glances. “Melissa’s at a birthday party with her cousins. I thought I’d take a walk around town. Get to know the place.”

For all his effort, she didn’t even smile back. She resumed her journey, content to leave him behind.

The doc might be attracted to him, but she definitely didn’t like him. Hank watched her walk away. She didn’t like him at all. He grinned. She would just have to learn to like him. He hustled to fall back into stride next to her.

She ignored him. Something witty to say about now would be good. She appeared engrossed in admiring the scenery. Maybe he would dazzle her with Huntley history.

“If you like old houses, this is the street to live on.” Hank followed her gaze as she stopped to admire the big old Victorian and Colonial houses that dotted the landscape.

“I love old houses.” An almost reverent wonder haunted her voice.

He had never in his life been jealous of the way a woman looked at a house, but damn if he didn’t wish she would look at him that way.

“This street has a reputation as one of the most beautiful in the state.”

“I can see why.”

“In a few weeks the leaves will start to turn. When they reach their peak, it’s an awesome sight.”

She finally allowed her gaze to meet his. And then she smiled. Hank’s heart stumbled.

“I can’t wait to see.”

She tilted her head to look past him at the squirrels scampering around in old man Stedman’s yard. There wasn’t much of a resemblance between mother and daughter. Melissa evidently got her blonde hair and blue eyes from her father.

Nothing—not even the name of the father—appeared on the child’s registration papers. What did it take, Hank wondered, to make a woman hate a man so much that she wouldn’t even give their child his name? Maybe the man didn’t want the child. Ridiculous, Hank concluded. Who wouldn’t want a sweet little girl like Melissa?

Who wouldn’t want a woman like Donna Jacobs? What fatal flaw lay beneath that beauty and professional title?

“By the way,” he said, “I saw a marked improvement in Melissa’s behavior today. I guess all she needed was you.”

“Good.” She glanced around as if looking for an excuse to escape. “This is my street.” She nodded toward Lucas.

“Mine, too.”

“You live on Lucas?” She looked startled at the news.

Something else her sister hadn’t told her. “Three houses down from you.” He couldn’t help but smile at her dismayed expression. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course not.” She looked away and hurried forward.

Hank frowned as he followed along behind her. In all his thirty years he never had to worry about people liking him. Popularity came naturally, even when he didn’t necessarily want it to. He never had to work at it, it just was. This lady sure knew how to put a dent in a guy’s ego.

Not that he intended to give up. He liked a good challenge. “What made you decide to become a doctor?” he asked, pausing to kick a small rock and send it skipping down the sidewalk.

She cut him a look that suggested she considered the question none of his business. “Probably not the same thing that made you decide to become a professional football player.”

Ouch. So the lady had no respect for pro athletes. “Guess not.”

She stopped and looked at him. “If that’s the life you prefer, then why did you become a teacher?”

Hank jammed his hands into his pockets and studied her more closely for some indication as to why she had taken an instant dislike to him. “It seemed like the right thing to do,” he finally said. “My degree
is
in education.”

“But it wasn’t your first career choice,” she nagged.

“No,” he conceded. “But it was
my
choice.” Irritation pricked him. Why the hell was she attacking him? Most folks thought it was noble that he’d come back here, to his hometown, to support the community.

She lifted her chin in challenge. “So you’d rather have two hundred and fifty pounds of sweaty, angry muscle charging at you than to be chasing a room full of kindergartners?”

Now he was pissed. “That’s no longer an option,” he said a bit too sharply.

Regret stole across her holier-than-thou expression. “I’m sorry.” She blinked furiously. “I meant that you’d probably be happier anchoring some sports program than wiping noses and teaching ABC’s.”

A burst of frustrated air hissed past his lips. “But I’m not, am I?” He twisted his lips into a wry smile. “I’m a firm believer in making the best of things. Besides, I love the kids.”

“That’s good to know,” she allowed before moving forward again, leaving Hank to wonder if that was her off-handed way of giving a compliment.

They turned up the sidewalk to Donna’s house. The old Langford house. Hank knew it well. The house needed some work, but it had several redeeming qualities. A wide, sprawling front porch. Lots of fancy fret work that women loved and men hated to paint. Patty and her husband, Sam, had spent weekend after weekend painting the exterior of the place before Donna’s arrival. One of the neighbors told Hank that Patty’s sister, the doctor, had bought the house and would be moving to Huntley soon. Nothing stayed secret for long in a small town. And, of course, when school started, Patty set into her matchmaking mode.

“So Monday’s the big day,” Hank ventured, hoping to reopen the conversation.