“Right.”
“So where was he today when you came by the day care center? Why didn’t you bring him with you?”
“Ah.” Zac let out his breath in a whoosh. “I guess that might seem odd if you didn’t know the whole story. We’d been awake most of the night. He was sound asleep when I left. I figured it would be better to be by myself when I scouted out places for him to stay, so I let him sleep.”
“You didn’t leave him in a motel room all alone?” She couldn’t believe a father who had seemed so concerned would have done such a thing.
“Of course not. I paid one of the maids to babysit. Justin never even knew I was gone.”
“Oh. Thank goodness. I thought…”
“Look, Ms. Braddock,” Zac said tightly. “I’m doing the best I can under the circumstances. I’d like to spend every minute with my son, but I can’t. I have to work. That’s why I need a place like yours to take care of him during the day. The rest of the time he’s my responsibility. One I take very seriously.”
Instead of attempting to justify her position, Tina fell back on her professional demeanor. “I’m sure you do. I certainly didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”
“Sorry.” Pausing, he muttered to himself before continuing. “It’s not your fault. I know I get defensive sometimes. It just galls me that so many people don’t think fathers are capable of taking good care of their kids by themselves.”
“All anyone can do is try,” Tina told him. “No two children are alike. Sometimes, even a person’s best efforts aren’t good enough without the help of divine intervention.” Like she’d gotten with Craig.
“You sound like an expert,” Zac said. “Do you have children?”
Touched by the irony of his question, she gave a soft, self-deprecating chuckle. “Dozens. All other people’s. And I’m certainly no expert. At least, not once they get older than about six. I’d rather face an unruly gang of twenty preschoolers than try to figure out one teenager.”
“Boy, not me,” he countered. “I don’t envy you your job one bit. Give me a reasonable teen any time.”
“There is no such thing as a reasonable teen,” Tina argued amiably. “Believe me, I know.”
“That sounds like the voice of experience. We’ll have to compare notes sometime. Maybe I can give you a few pointers and you can do the same for me.”
“I’ll be glad to help you and Justin in any way I can. See you tomorrow, then. Bye.”
Curiosity filled Mavis’s expression as Tina hung up the phone. “I thought your specialty was little tykes. You never mentioned that you’d worked with teenagers.”
“I haven’t.” Tina busied herself straightening piles of paper on the desk rather than continue to meet her boss’s inquisitive gaze. She’d slipped again. That was twice in one day, which was two times too many. “I was just making polite conversation.”
“Oh.” The older woman reached out and stilled Tina’s fluttering hands. “If you don’t stop rearranging my papers, I won’t be able to find a thing. Go on home. I’ll lock up.”
“You’re sure?” Tina was eager to leave, to be alone where she could sort out her thoughts and gain better control of her tongue.
“I’m positive.” With a motherly smile, Mavis looked her up and down. “You deserve a break. You’ve either had a particularly rough day or a truck full of raw eggs crashed into you while I was busy in the other room.”
Tina laughed lightly. “The yellow spots are from finger paint, not egg yolk. Tommy got mad at Sissy, and the rest is history. I was kind of caught in the middle.” Recalling the funny incident, she shook her head. “To make matters worse, it happened exactly when Zac decided to drop in to look the place over.”
Mavis’s left eyebrow arched. “Zac?”
“I meant Mr. Frazier,” Tina said, blushing.
All her boss said was “Of course you did.”
Justin Frazier was a miniature version of his daddy. The minute she saw the lonely little boy, clinging tightly to his father’s hand, Tina’s heart belonged to him.
She made sure all the other children had their cookies and milk, then approached father and son. “Hello, Justin. My name is Miss Tina. I have an extra cookie that really wants to be eaten. Do you suppose you could help me with that?”
He buried his face against his father’s pant leg.
“Okay,” Tina said casually. “I guess I can give it to one of the other boys if you don’t want it. That wouldn’t be really fair, though. They’ve already had theirs. I saved this cookie specially for you.”
Justin rolled his head just far enough to reveal one dark eye, and peeked out at her.
“It’s chocolate chip. Of course, if you don’t like that kind…”
One pudgy hand reached out. Tina quickly handed him the cookie and turned to rejoin the class, subtly motioning Zac to follow. “How about a carton of milk to go with that?”
Without looking back, she proceeded to get the milk, insert a straw and set the carton at an empty place at the low table as if she fully expected Justin to agree to sit there. “Here you go. Nice and cold.”
For a moment it looked as if he was going to continue to hang on to Zac in spite of Tina’s assured manner. At the last second he let go and slid into the scaled-down plastic chair. None of the other children said a word. They were all too busy studying the new arrival and his daddy.
Across the table, little blond Emily began to giggle, when Justin bit into his cookie and half of it crumbled and fell on the floor. Tina was about to offer him another, when she saw Tommy McArthur carefully break his own cookie in half and lean closer to hand the piece to Justin. She was too far away to hear what the boy said, but she figured it had to be funny because Zac had his lips pressed tightly together and was struggling not to laugh.
To her relief, Justin accepted the gift and whispered something back to Tommy before stuffing the whole half of the cookie into his mouth at once.
Zac stepped back quietly. As soon as he was far enough away, Tina joined him. “What did Tommy say?” she asked.
Shaking his head for a moment to compose himself, he said, “I think my son just took his first bribe. He promised Tommy he’d see that I didn’t dunk him in any paint.”
“No wonder you looked like you were about to burst!”
“I was surprised he even remembered me. I told you I didn’t understand little kids.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. Nobody really does. They don’t even understand themselves.”
“You sure seem to know how to handle them, though. I was worried Justin would pitch a fit when I tried to let go of him. It was amazing he didn’t.”
“I think sometimes we underestimate the adaptability of children. All I did was act like sitting at the table with the others was the most natural choice for him to make, and he made it. It’s that simple.”
“For you, maybe. When I told him he was going to day care this morning, he threw a terrible tantrum. It’s a wonder the folks at the motel didn’t hear him and call the police.”
“Have you found a house, yet?” Tina asked, keeping watch on the children as she talked.
“No. And I’m getting pretty frustrated.”
“Well, as long as you don’t throw a tantrum…”
“Very funny. Although