“Did you set all of this up for a private viewing of The Polar Express?”
He crouched down and lifted the lid on the basket, pulling out the Blu-ray.
Tears stung Mary Alice’s eyes. “You did all of this for me?”
“A little bird told me it’s your favorite Christmas movie.”
“Which little bird?”
“Margot,” he admitted sheepishly. “Do I lose points for consulting?”
He’d asked her friend what she’d like and gone to an enormous amount of trouble to create something unique and special surrounding that. For her. Judd had never made that kind of effort. Riding on emotion, she pulled Chad to his feet and into a kiss. She poured out everything she wasn’t quite ready to say, hoping he understood what it meant to her for someone to make her feel special. His arms came around her, and he pulled her closer, deepening the kiss she’d only meant as thanks. Mary Alice was helpless to do more than answer.
They were both breathing hard when they broke apart.
“So, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I maybe didn’t lose points?”
She laughed. “You gained so many points, it’s not even funny.” With another quick squeeze, she stepped back. “Seriously, thank you. This is beyond amazing.”
He winked. “Wait until you see what other surprises are in the basket.”
Mary Alice was pretty sure the biggest surprise was him, and she couldn’t wait to find out.
Chapter 5
“EXCUSE ME. SIR? SIR!”
Chad paused in the hallway of Wishful Elementary, as a woman hurried after him, a pair of reading glasses bouncing on a chain around her neck.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“No, I’m good. I’m on my way to Mary Alice Reed’s classroom.”
“Are you one of the parents helping out this week?”
“No, I’m Chad Phillips—” The words “her boyfriend” were on the tip of his tongue, but that was getting ahead of things after only one formal date. “—a friend. But I am helping out.”
Her expression didn’t change at his name, so evidently, she wasn’t up on all the latest gossip. “You can’t just wander around the school without checking in at the office. Miss Reed should have told you.”
He offered what he hoped was a disarming smile. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware. I was surprising her.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “Come with me.”
Her tone had Chad resisting the urge to hunch his shoulders. He felt like he’d been called to the principal’s office. As he followed her back toward the entrance, he realized school was apparently a lot different than it had been when he was a kid.
He didn’t see any familiar faces among the office staff as he was told to sit. The woman who’d chased him down lifted the receiver on a phone and punched in a few buttons. “Miss Reed, can you please come down to the office?”
Well, hell. He hoped he hadn’t just gotten her in trouble, too.
A few minutes later, Mary Alice stepped into the room. “I hope this won’t take long. The kids are—” She caught sight of him. “Chad? What are you doing here?”
“You said your aide was out sick, so I did a little rearranging of my schedule this afternoon to come help with the ornament making. I was going to surprise you, but apparently that’s verboten.”
“That’s incredibly sweet.” She gave him that smile he was starting to crave. “Please let Dr. Phillips sign in, y’all. We need to get back before the kids start hanging from the ceiling. They’re wild today.”
At the mention of doctor, eyebrows were raised and looks were exchanged. He was pretty sure the secretary whispered, “You go girl,” to Mary Alice as he finished signing in.
Once they were headed back to her classroom, he said, “Sorry about this. I didn’t know my walking in would set them to DefCon 4.”