behind and started over where no one knew her.
Mavis followed her into the cluttered office. “Push aside my stuff and make yourself a place to sit down, honey. I keep meaning to get this place straightened up. I just never seem to find enough time. One look at all this and I give up because I know it’ll take too long.”
“My mother used to say cleaning up a big mess was like eating an elephant. It can’t all be done at once. You have to take it one bite at a time.”
“Well, well, well,” the thin, middle-aged woman drawled, staring at Tina in amazement. “You’ve worked for me for over a year and that’s the first time you’ve mentioned your family. How is your mama?”
“She passed away a long time ago,” Tina said softly. Thoughts of the past had obviously caused her to let down her guard. That mustn’t happen again. Once she started telling her story she’d run too great a risk of inadvertently revealing her secret shame.
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Mavis said. “Is your daddy still living?”
“No.” The answer sounded crisp and off-putting, much to Tina’s distress. She didn’t want to be unkind, especially not to a friend and mentor like Mavis Martin, but she didn’t intend to discuss any aspect of her prior family life. Not now. Not ever.
Looking for a distraction, she quickly dialed the motel and asked for Zac’s room. He answered on the first ring.
“Hello?”
“It’s me, Tina Braddock, Mr. Frazier. I’ve talked it over with my boss, and I’m calling to invite you to bring Justin to meet me and the other children. Is tomorrow morning too soon?”
She was sure she heard a relieved sigh.
“No. That will be fine. What time?”
“If you come around ten, he can start by having milk and cookies with us.”
“Good. We’ll be there.”
Mavis was waving at her and making hand signals from across the desk. Tina got the idea. “One question, if you don’t mind?”
“Sure. Shoot.”
“You said Justin didn’t like to be away from you, right?”
“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
