After filling out additional paperwork with my contact information, the secretary files the temporary guardianship papers with Isabelle’s records and assures me everything is in order. But I still need to have that conversation with her teacher, the one about any changes in Isa’s personality. That means I have to find Daisy and talk to her, for my family’s sake, not for my own.
When I step into her classroom, another woman is in there instead. I glance around the room, expecting to find Daisy working with one of the kids, but she’s not there.
“Can I help you?” The non-Daisy woman glances around the room, then turns her attention back to me with a cautious eye.
“Yes, I’m looking for Daisy Nash. I’m Isabelle’s uncle, and I need to give her some vital information.”
“Miss Daisy is in a staff meeting with the principal and the other teachers. I’m Glenna, the paraprofessional assigned to this room to help her with the workload. If you’d like, you can give me the information, and I’ll make sure she gets the message.”
Damn.
I can’t withhold the information now that I’ve stated it’s vital. This means I’ll get to keep my oath of steering clear of Daisy at all costs. I relay the message from Juliana and explain the temporary guardianship arrangement, so they’re not surprised when they see me standing in for my sister. She takes all the information down and slides the note into a file inside Daisy’s desk with a promise to share it verbally too.
As fun as it could be to fill my days with kindergarten activities, I’ve been away from work long enough as it is, so I turn and walk out to my car. Nowhere along the path between Isabelle’s classroom and the front door do I run into Daisy.
Not even a single glimpse of her.
When I walk into the office, everyone is busy working, but Kevin isn’t in his office. I glance at my watch and realize I’m twenty-five minutes late for an important meeting. With everything in my personal life blowing up in my face, I completely forgot about it. After I rush to my office and grab my laptop, I quietly enter the large boardroom and take a seat in the back.
Kevin, ever the consummate professional, doesn’t miss a beat when he catches me sneaking in and taking a seat along the back wall so I won’t disturb the clients around the table. He continues the presentation we were scheduled to give together, covering my ass as the second-in-command of the company. He doesn’t mind since he didn’t rise to the level of vice president based on his good looks, but missing anything work-related isn’t in my DNA. My business has been my life since I was a teenager, studying computer language late into the night after Juliana and Mom had fallen asleep hours before.
When the lights brighten at the end of the demonstration, Kevin recaps the important details of the meeting and provides a reminder of the next steps. After a quick introduction and vague explanation of my tardiness, I thank them for considering our company before they leave. When they’re out of earshot, Kevin turns his attention to me.
“How are you holding up, brother?”
“I’m taking all of this one step at a time. Juliana. Isabella. Daisy.”
“Daisy?” His bewildered expression would make me laugh if I didn’t have this elephant sitting on my chest, making it impossible to breathe.
“Yes, Daisy. She’s Isabelle’s new teacher.”
“Oh, shit.”
“That about sums it up.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Daisy
“How do you like it here so far?” Cam Brooks, the fifth-grade science teacher, strolls up beside me as Landen and I walk into the school early one morning.
Cam is the schoolgirl crush of every young girl in this elementary school. With soulful brown eyes, dark brown hair, classic good looks, and a genuinely friendly smile, it’s easy to see why he also turns the heads of the single teachers. Since the day of our teacher staff meeting last week when we first met, he’s gone out of his way to help me learn the ropes and be a friendly face.
“I love working here. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I’m glad the previous teacher made her maternity leave permanent. Everyone has been so helpful, and I haven’t found the mean girls club among the teachers like I have in other schools. I’m convinced the smaller classrooms keep us sane here.” We laugh together while he holds the door open for me.
“I’m glad to hear that. The staff here is more like a family than anywhere I’ve taught. We’ve all experienced the politics you’re talking about, and we’ve agreed to keep that mentality out of our school. Since we spend more time with each other than at home during the school year, we all have to get along.”
“That’s exactly the same argument I made at my last school, but it fell on deaf ears. You and I seem to think a lot alike.”
“Yes, we sure do. I’d be willing to bet we have a lot more in common too.” He smiles down at me with a mixture of teasing and appreciation in his expression.
“Possibly.” I’m not trying to flirt with him, but I can’t seem to stop batting my eyelashes and smiling like a dork at him.
When we reach the corner that separates the upper grades from the lower, he stops walking and turns his full attention to me.
“There’s something I want to ask you about, but I don’t want you to think I’m overstepping my bounds or anything,”
“You can ask me anything.” Seriously, stop it, Daisy.
“I’ve been thinking about the summer camp you organize every year, and I’d like to help if you’ll have me. I have a few ideas of how to raise the capital you need to fund the program, and even
