24. Dumb As a Post

24

Dumb As a Post

I dressed a sleepy Dylan while Gabe packed her bag for the day and made us both breakfast.

It was the type of routine I had envisioned more times than I could count. I wanted it. I’d always wanted it. But to have it with Gabe? That bypassed dream and landed in miracle territory.

In Sage Ridge, the elementary school, high school, and daycare all occupied the same large plot of land, with the daycare housed within the same building as the high school. We dropped Dylan off and walked through the high school to the shared admin office together, Gabe’s hand holding tightly onto mine.

“Are you okay?”

He chuckled. “I don’t have a lot of good memories of this place.”

I gave him an extra squeeze as we passed the resource room where we met for homework club. “We got this.”

Homework club wasn’t exactly voluntary, but it wasn’t detention either. My first and only detention came when a bitch of a teacher filled in at homework club and centered Gabe out in front of the class, using his work as an example of how not to do something.

Gabe was already larger than life to me at that point. Seeing him shrink under the scrutiny ignited the anger brewing inside me.

I’d already lost my mother.

My father’s health was failing.

I had no patience for petty bullshit, and even less for unkindness.

And I combusted. By the time I finished questioning her worth as a teacher and a human, she was in tears.

My breath came faster just thinking about it.

It was worth it.

Today’s meeting was almost anticlimactic. Fifteen minutes later, we left, laughing at how taut our nerves had been going in.

“That wasn’t so bad despite having to deal with Brittany,” I commented.

There were mean girls and there were mean girls. Brittany was so nasty she needed her own category. I couldn’t imagine a worse person to deal with and was pleasantly surprised by her level of professionalism.

“Yeah.” He shuddered. “She’s a piece of work. I’m a big guy but I can tell you truthfully, you wouldn’t catch me alone in a room with that woman.”

My eyebrows flew up. “She asked you out?”

His eyes flickered toward me before dancing away. His lips tightened marginally before looking back. “Not quite.”

“Ah.” I nodded. Reaching the heavy doors leading out to the parking lot, I looked for my bag to tuck the papers in away from the misty rain. “Shoot! I forgot my bag.”

Spinning on his heel, he took my hand and walked back. “You’ll protect me?” he teased.

“Always,” I answered, wholly serious where he joked.

Brittany’s nasty laughter filtered through the open door into the hallway. “Dumb as a post, but you can’t say he’s not pretty.”

Gabe jerked to a stop.

“He’s not dumb,” Becky protested quietly. “He’s a genius with cars. And he’s wonderful with his daughter.”

“Cars,” Brittany scoffed. “Please.” She paused. “You didn’t go to school with him. You don’t know him like I do.”

Gabe’s eyes narrowed into angry slits as his hands rolled into fists at his sides, but his face flamed.

“Gabe,” I called his name, but he wouldn’t look at me. “I’ll go in and get it.”

He nodded then grabbed my elbow. Not meeting my eyes, he commanded, “Don’t say anything. She carries a lot of weight around here.”

“Yeah?” I scoffed. “So does Mrs. Mason.”

His wary blue eyes flitted to mine. “Who’s Mrs. Mason?”

“My neighbor,” I said pointedly. “The one who flirts with you? She sits on the board. She’s been waiting for an excuse to get rid of her. And I’m going to give it to her.”

Before he could protest further, I stalked into the office. “Sorry,” I called with false cheer. “I forgot my bag.” Lowering my voice so Gabe couldn’t hear, I continued, my steely eyes set on Brittany’s snarky face. “You know me, dumb as a post.”

She glared at me while Becky looked at the floor. Instead of cowing, Brittany bared her teeth in some semblance of a smile. “If the shoe fits…”

Becky gasped and stepped back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her shake her head.

I tilted my head to the side and contemplated Brittany coolly. “You’re just pissed because he rejected your skinny ass.”

Her lips thinned as her nostrils flared. “I’d rather have my skinny ass than the dump truck you’re carrying out back.”

I smiled and it was feral. Stepping close, I dipped my chin to meet her defiant gaze.

The flicker of fear in her eyes sated my thirst for blood.

Leaning in, I whispered for her ears only, “And it’s my dump truck his fingers dig into when he rides me every night.”

She sucked in a harsh breath.

I stepped back, loathe to even give her that much of a picture. Disgusted with myself for feeding her imagination, I sneered, “Enjoy your last day working in this school.”

She laughed. “You can’t do shit to me.”

I glanced at Becky. “You have a choice to make. I suggest you make it wisely.”

Pressing her lips together, she nodded shortly.

I stomped back into the hallway, but Gabe was gone. Picking up my pace, I jogged down the hall. When I got to the door, I spotted him stalking across the parking lot. His long legs ate up the space, his energy blasting me from forty feet away.

I swung the door open and barreled through, the care I’d taken to protect the papers from the drizzle forgotten in my haste to reach him.

“Gabe!”

He kept going.

“Gabe!”

As soon as I reached him, he spun around, big fists clenched at his sides, thunder and lightning in his eyes. “I fucking told you not to say anything.”

I held out my palms. “I know, but—”

He slashed one hand through the space between us. “No fucking buts! I’m a grown man. I don’t need you to stick up for me.”

I stepped back and his face darkened further.

His lip curled. “Scared, Shae? You’re scared of me ?”

I shook my head. “No. Not like that.”

He stepped forward, leaning toward me, his eyes snapping with challenge. “Like what then?”

“Like I’ll screw this up and lose you,” I answered evenly.

The heat gradually faded from his eyes. Leaning back on his heals, he rubbed a rough hand over his face. “Fuck.”

I moved in and placed my hand on his waist.

He braced his hands on his hips, eyes on the asphalt. “I’m sorry.” He glanced up at me. “I was,” he blew out a breath, looking anywhere but at me, “embarrassed that you overheard them talking about me like that.”

“They’re the ones who should be embarrassed, Gabe,” I answered softly, curling my body into his.

His body softened against mine as he crossed his arms around my waist, his big hands resting on the top of my ass.

He shook his head. “I know that logically, but you don’t know what it’s like, all these years, struggling with simple things that come easy to everyone else.

“You don’t know what it feels like to feel less than everybody else.

“How it feels to know they pity you and blame you at the same time.”

I tilted my head back to look up at him. “Don’t I?” I whispered.

His gaze shot to mine as awareness washed over him. His hand shot up to cup the back of my head and he pulled me closer. His big chest rose and fell. “I guess you do.”

I nestled in. “I’m not sorry for what I said to them.”

His chest reverberated with his chuckle. “I didn’t figure you would be.”

I huffed out a laugh. “I guess not everything has changed.”

Having not heard from Zoe all day Monday, he shrugged and figured she’d headed back home with her tail between her legs due to her behavior.

I kissed them both goodbye thinking I was in the clear.

No such luck.