The Player Next Door

Or will Cody be embarrassed and hide it from them?

I guess we’re going to find out.

I take a deep breath. “What’s the snack situation like at your place?”

Fifteen minutes later, I find myself on Shane’s porch, my blood pounding in my ears as nervousness swells.

Shane opens the door before I can knock, as if he were waiting for me. His eyebrows arch at the plastic bags dangling from my grip. “Did you run out to the store?”

“Just the convenience store around the corner.” Where I spent half of next week’s grocery budget in the candy and chip aisle, loading up on junk to win over an eleven-year-old boy.

His eyes are smiling as he collects the weighty bags. He leads me into his house. We stall at the threshold to the living room where Cody is sprawled across the couch, his attention glued to the TV screen, his thumbs flying over his game controller.

“Hey, bud. Pick out a movie for us while we get ready. And no horrors. Scarlet gets scared easily.”

Scarlet. I’m no longer Ms. Reed to Cody outside of the classroom. Of course, I shouldn’t be. Still, it’s momentarily jarring to hear Shane use my name with his son for the first time.

Cody spares a second to glance at me. “Okay,” he says, before turning back to his game.

Shane leads me into the kitchen.

“What did he say?” I whisper, as Shane sets the bags on the counter and begins rooting through the cupboard.

“He said ‘cool.’”

I frown. “Cool? That’s it?”

He tears open the Doritos with a smirk. “That’s it.”

“Huh.” And here I was, worried about his psychological state upon finding out his dad is dating his teacher. “So, he’s fine with it?”

“Seems to be.” He grins. “But I’m sure he’d be fine with you still trying to bribe him to like you with all this junk.”

I laugh, my cheeks heating. “Am I that obvious?”

“Oh, yeah. He’s a smart kid. He’ll see right through you.” He plucks a chip from the bag and shoves it into his mouth. “But it’s adorable.”

“So are you.” I reach up to wipe Dorito cheese powder off Shane’s lip with the pad of my thumb.

He catches my thumb in his mouth, sucking it in while he pulls me into his body, his mood light and infectious. “You don’t need to bribe that kid. Trust me, he won’t be able to resist you.” He leans in to lay a quick Dorito-flavored kiss on my lips. “Just like his dad couldn’t.”

Twenty-Five

The end of day bell chimes over the PA system. “Make sure your name is at the top of the page and leave it here on your way out!” I holler over the clamber of rising bodies, patting the corner of my desk.

Math tests land on my desk in a frantic pile as students scramble to pack up for home. As am I. I steal a glance out my classroom window to the dreary November weather that has rolled in. I don’t mind walking in that, though, because Shane is home, waiting for me. His lewd text earlier promised a date with his bed, after three long nights apart.

The anticipation of that has had me watching the clock all afternoon.

“Umm … Ms. Reed?” Cody stands by my desk, the only student remaining.

Now that we’ve been on a first-name basis for a few weeks outside of class, hearing him refer to me formally sounds odd. I smile. “Yes, Cody?”

He stalls, glancing at the door as a group of kids rush past, their laughter swelling. Shane warned him of what would likely happen should he start telling kids that his father is dating their teacher. The teasing and ridicule. When they’ve passed, he brushes his hand across his forehead to push his hair aside. It’s a nervous tic, I’m learning. It makes me smile every time. “Do you know what my dad’s doing this weekend?”

Besides me?

I stuff that thought into the drawer of deeply inappropriate thoughts I should never have when Cody’s around. “Let’s see … Nothing big tonight, now that the Panthers season is over. Tomorrow he’s helping his friend Dean move some furniture in the morning.”

“Oh. Cool.” He bites his lip, like he has more to say but isn’t sure if he should.

“What do you have planned for this weekend?” I ask lightly.

He shrugs, his mood darkening a touch. “Nothing. Travis is going away so it’s just me and my mom.”

I hesitate. Cody divulged to Shane that the cataclysmic fight a few weeks ago stemmed from something Melissa said to belittle Travis and it quickly escalated to Penelope accusing Travis of an affair with a coworker, with plenty of shrieking, name-calling, and a few dishes smashed for effect. But I’m not supposed to know any of that, so I play dumb. “Have things settled down a bit over there?”