As a first-grade teacher, her business was children. She loved them all—even the little heathens who stuck boogers under the desk. Children were programmed to mimic their parents. The thought of Alex Cruz being this child's role model made her cringe. He was an arrogant asshole, and that was the impression she got after a few minutes. How would she feel after an hour? Two? A day? A month? Perfect smiles, hot bodies, and full, no doubt, soft lips might satisfy a woman short term, but they weren't the qualities needed to raise a child—a child obviously traumatized by her mother's death.
Maddie's despair pulled her like a magnet to a fridge. She slid from the booth and inched toward her, so she didn't startle her.
"Hey, you?" Lowering to her haunches, she smiled. "How about we get you seated at the table? I bet your nuggets and fries are almost ready."
Maddie looked at her with eyes that could melt the heart of the hardest man, and Mercy hoped they would soften the hard expression on Alex's face.
She held out her hand, and Maddie stared at it warily.
"It's okay," Mercy said softly. "Everything is going to be okay." She knew when her students were troubled, all they needed was a hug and someone they could trust. "Do you need a hug?"
Maddie inhaled a shaky breath. She lifted from her seat on the Disney Princess suitcase and fell into Mercy's arms.
Holding Maddie made her realize how much Randy had stolen from her. She should have had her own child by now but would have to settle for loving everyone else's.
Mercy stood, holding Maddie and her bear in her arms. "I've got crayons at my table. Would you like to see them?"
She felt the nod against her chest. Hugging Maddie close, she walked to her booth and sat her in the seat in front of her current project.
"Hey," Alex said. "What are you doing?"
"What you should have. I'm comforting her and redirecting her energy toward something positive."
He stood and looked at the cutouts she laminated each summer and used in her classroom.
"A fish is positive?"
"It is to a confused little girl."
She lined up several primary colors and spread a few of the fish in front of Maddie. "Do you think you can make these look pretty while I talk to him?" Mercy nodded her head toward Alex.
Maddie picked up the red crayon and started coloring. As soon as the sweet little thing was occupied, she walked to where Alex stood.
"Wow," he said. "How did you do that?"
"I have an empathy gene. Which is something you seem to lack."
He stared at her like she'd spoken a foreign language. "I can empathize. She's lost her mom, but what am I supposed to do about it? I mean … what person leaves a kid with a stranger?" His voice hitched up a notch with every word.
"Someone fulfilling the wishes of a friend, I guess. It was misguided and not thought out, but somewhere in the craziness, I imagine she thought she was doing the right thing."
He peeked around her. "I can't keep a kid. Hell, I don't know if she's even mine. Just because someone says so doesn't make it true. Her mother was a groupie."
In a whispered yell, Mercy said, "That woman was her mother, and there's a good likelihood you could be her father. The last thing you want to do is make her feel unwanted."
Her head snapped around to look at Maddie, who moved the red crayon and drew hearts all over the next fish.
Feeling the heat of anger rise, she gave him her best teachers, do-what-I-say look, and pointed to Alex's booth. "Have a seat. You and I need to talk."
Like a star student, he did what she said. He lumbered to the bench and sat.
"Why do you care?" His hand ran through his short hair, leaving it sticking up like a kid who'd woken from a nap.
"Because I know what it feels like not to be wanted."
"Is that why you left your underwear in my fence? You wanted me to want you?"
She gripped the edge of the table until the blood left her fingers. "This isn't about me and whether I did or didn't leave my panties in your fence."
He grabbed his phone, moved his fingers over the screen, and then shoved it in front of her.
Her whole groupie experience was on security footage. She wanted to melt into the seat and disappear.
"What does that have to do with Maddie?"
"A lot. You're chastising me for my behavior when yours is questionable."
She couldn't argue with that. A part of her wanted to grab his phone and find some way to delete the recording. What would her peers think if they saw the video? Mortification sat like a brick in her gut.
She nodded. "You're right, and you can flog me later, but right now, you need a plan for Maddie. What are you going to do?"
He let out a grunt. "I'm going to call child services. I mean … who abandons a kid in a small-town diner?"
"Are you kidding me?" she asked through gritted teeth. "What if she's yours?"
"What if she's not? Maybe this is some crazy way for a mother to get her daughter a better life."
Getting arrested for assault wouldn't be good for her career, but Mercy was ready to throw a punch. "You have a big ego. Too bad it's pressing on your brain, making it inactive." She let go of the table edge and flexed her hands to get blood flow to her numb fingertips. "In what world would living with you provide that beautiful little girl a better life? Money doesn't buy happiness."
His head moved side to side. "Nope, but it buys clothes, a better education, good food, and a roof over her head."
"If that's the case, then the mother failed.
