“Is Dylan going to be at our swim lesson tomorrow?” Tyson asked. “I know he’s helping Ms. Laura do something for the horses tonight. But what about tomorrow?”
“I think so,” she replied. “He wanted to come paint with us, but Ms. Laura needed his help to take one of the horses into town. I’m sure he’ll come tomorrow.”
She had hoped to see him today, but an emergency with one of the horses had kept him busy. She wanted to kiss him again. She wanted to talk to him and make sure that last night wasn’t just a fluke. She liked him and not getting to eat dinner tonight with him had been strange. At least Tyson had kept her company.
“Okay. Good. I really like having him around,” Tyson said with a smile. “What else can I do?”
She smiled at him. He was such a good helper. “We need to bring those empty bowls back to the kitchen,” she told him.
“I can do that,” he announced. He carefully picked up a stack of empty pudding bowls and balanced them in his hands as he walked to the kitchen. His little tongue stuck out as he concentrated on what he was doing.
She smiled at him as he worked hard not to spill the bowls. She’d made sure to spend some extra time with him today, and it was obvious that the attention was appreciated. He was smiling and had even tried a new food at dinner. She was excited to see what a little more work with him could accomplish. He was such a great kid.
She looked around the room, making sure they had cleaned up the cafeteria after their pudding painting. The only thing left in the room was the picture Tyson had painted. She went over and picked it up.
It was three stick figures. There was a tall stick figure on one side, a small figure in the middle, and a figure wearing what Bonnie assumed was a skirt. They were all holding hands inside a blue square. Tyson said it was a picture of Dylan, Bonnie, and him swimming. It warmed her heart and made it ache at the same time.
She always got attached to her students. It was impossible not to, but Tyson was quickly stealing her heart. She shook her head and set the picture down. She was happy here, just like he was. In the two weeks she’d been here, this felt almost more like home than her townhouse did.
“Bonnie?” Tyson called from the kitchen doors. “There’s a stranger asking for you on the back porch.”
Bonnie’s ice ran cold. All the happy feelings from pudding painting fell from her like dropped water.
“What?”
“It’s a man. He says he’s looking for you,” Tyson told her. He came out of the kitchen and walked toward her. “I don’t know him.”
She swallowed hard on a suddenly dry throat.
“Did you tell him I was here?” she asked, trying to keep her voice light. She didn’t want to scare him.
Tyson nodded proudly. “I said I’d come find you.”
Her heart pounded an odd rhythm in her chest. They’d found her. She glanced around, trying to figure out the quickest way out of the building. She needed to make sure Tyson stayed safe. She could drop him off at the kid cabins if she went out the south door. From there, she had her go bag ready. If she could get to her car, she could maybe make it out.
“Bonnie?” Chef stepped through the kitchen doors and smiled at her. “There you are. You have a package.”
Bonnie nearly ran right there. She nearly grabbed Tyson and sprinted, but she noticed the brown box in Chef’s hands.
“What?”
“You got a package. It looks like it’s from Amazon,” Chef said. “I signed for it. The delivery guy just needed a signature.”
Bonnie heard a car engine start up and saw the distinctive design of the delivery truck pass outside the window. It was a false alarm.
“Are you okay, Bonnie?” Chef asked, coming over and putting the back of her hand on Bonnie’s forehead. “You look like you might be sick.”
Bonnie pulled away. “I’m fine. My package wasn’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow. It’s something for my computer.”
Chef handed her the small brown box. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” Bonnie replied automatically. She still wasn’t sure that she wasn’t going to puke all over the cafeteria floor, but she wasn’t going to tell Chef that. “Thank you for the package.”
“Sure thing,” Chef replied. She frowned but went back to the kitchen to finish prepping food for the next day.
Bonnie needed to be more careful. She didn’t realize how unprepared she was until just this minute. What if it hadn’t been a delivery? What if they had found her? They would have her, and probably Tyson and Chef too.
“Tyson? I need to go make a phone call. Can you head over to story time?”