Just One Thing (The Alexanders 6)

Bennett read the same line in his book easily five times before he gave up. There was no point pretending to relax. He’d spent the entire drive home from Katie’s house going over every aspect of their date in his mind, looking for where he’d gone wrong.

She’d been friendly and flirtatious at the restaurant. Obviously his conversational skills hadn’t been that bad. Then at her house, he’d tried to slow things down. She’d pulled him down to her and wrapped her legs around him. Clearly she’d been on board with the plan to get naked. And there was no way she had an issue with his actual performance between the sheets.

Bennett took a deep breath as he was slammed with images from their night together. He ran a hand over his hair. It had been so damn good and he knew it had been good for Katie, too. Despite what a lot of people thought, orgasms actually weren’t that easy to fake if a guy knew what a real one looked like.

He chuckled, remembering something Nick had told him in high school when he’d been known for having quite a few girlfriends. If it doesn’t look like a demon is being exorcised through her face, it’s not the real thing.

He’d later learned that as crudely put as it was, Nick’s advice was spot on. Katie definitely hadn’t been faking it. She’d screamed loud enough to shatter the windows several times and a woman couldn’t fake getting that wet. She’d nearly burned him alive with how responsive she was.

So why did she kick you out this morning?

Frustrated, Bennett decided he could go around and around the issue all day and not get anywhere. Something had gone wrong unless he was imagining how eager she’d seemed to get him out of her house that morning. Maybe it was as simple as she’d said and she was worried about her kids finding him there. He’d never dated anyone with children before so he couldn’t say if that was a common concern but it seemed reasonable to him.

He went about running his errands, going to the grocery store, jogging five miles on the treadmill and working on lesson plans for a community college course he’d committed to teach over the summer. There was no point stressing over something he couldn’t change and Katie was the straightforward type. If he’d done something wrong, he had no doubt that she’d tell him when he saw her at work the next day.

It wasn’t until he woke up Monday morning to a voicemail from Katie explaining that she wasn’t coming in that he got the sense that he had well and truly fucked things up.

All morning, he went through his usual routine but couldn’t concentrate. Finally he gave up and went to his office to see if there was anything administrative he needed to do. Unable to stop himself, he picked up his cell phone and listened to Katie’s message again.

How pathetic was he? He was so desperate for the sound of her voice that he was sitting here alone listening to the only recording he had of her voice. Bennett scowled. It was better than sitting in the lab and pretending to get work done. He’d been completely useless all morning.

Halfway through the message he sat up straight. He’d been so focused on the part about her not coming in that he’d completely ignored the reason she’d said she had to miss work. He skipped to the beginning of the message and played it again.

I got a call from the guidance counselor at Hunter’s school. They requested a conference for today at two o’clock. I’m not sure what’s going on. I hope he’s not in trouble. Anyway, sorry for the late notice but I’m not coming in today.

Bennett hung up and glanced at his watch. He had just enough time to get over to New Haven Elementary if he hurried. He shrugged out of his lab coat. He wasn’t sure what was going on between him and Katie just yet but none of that mattered when she sounded worried. Not that having him there was going to do much but at least he could offer support if she was about to get bad news.

Maybe this thing between them wasn’t meant to be and maybe he was reading too much into this and she wouldn’t be happy to see him at all. But if he’d learned anything growing up as an Alexander, it was that being there for the people that mattered to you was important. So he’d be there until Katie told him she didn’t want him around.

He only hoped his heart and his ego could take it if she did.

?

Katie looked up when she heard the sound of her name. She’d been sitting outside the guidance counselor’s office for the last ten minutes, wringing her hands. She still had no idea what this meeting was about and could only hope that Hunter wasn’t in some kind of trouble.

She didn’t think he was. He’d always been such a good kid. He’d been a little more sullen since the divorce but that was to be expected, right? Even though Don had been gone a lot, he’d still spent time with the boys in the evening whenever he wasn’t working and she knew both of the boys missed that. He’d been a terrible husband and a mostly absent father but he loved his children. That was part of what made it so hard to see their relationship deteriorate completely.

“Yes? I’m Katie Mason, Hunter’s mom.”

“Hello, I’m Miss Meadows. Come in, please. Have a seat.”

The guidance counselor looked like she’d just graduated from high school herself. Geez. Katie wondered when had she gotten so old? Everyone looked like an infant to her lately.

She took the seat in front of the counselor’s desk and placed her handbag on her lap. The other woman rifled through some papers on her desk and then put a pair of glasses on.

Finally when Katie couldn’t take it anymore, she asked, “Hunter isn’t in any trouble, is he?”

The other woman looked up then. “Oh no. I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. Hunter has always been a model student.”

“Oh good. I’ve been a little worried about him since the divorce.” Katie swallowed hard at the admission. It was hard not to feel guilty, as if she was to blame for her family falling apart. Even when she knew people weren’t judging her, it still felt like it sometimes.

“Actually that’s why I called you in today. The students had an assignment last week to write about their family. This is Hunter’s work.” She held out a piece of construction paper.

Katie took it with trembling fingers.

It was a picture of a woman and two kids. A man was in the corner of the picture with a white mask over his face. She gasped. Hunter had drawn Don wearing blue scrubs and a white mask but he’d drawn Katie with tears on her cheeks. Both of the little boys in the picture had sad faces.

The counselor spoke softly. “When I asked him about it, Hunter said that his mom is always sad and he misses his dad. I just thought you should see this.”