all the classrooms in all the schools in all the world, she walks into yours.”
Ashley managed to smile at the deliberate misquotation. “I just … I didn’t know how to react. I was completely unprepared. I had no idea that he had a child, never mind one I would end up teaching.”
“But he lives down the street,” Megan reminded her. “You never saw her?”
She shook her head. “He only moved in on the weekend. I saw the truck, saw furniture being unloaded, but I didn’t pay attention to anything else.” And she was regretting that now.
“Chocolate fudge brownie sundae?” Meg prompted gently.
Ashley managed to smile. “That sounds like the perfect way to end a crappy day.”
One of the reasons Cam had moved back to Pinehurst was to be able to spend more time with both his parents and his daughter. Another added benefit was that his parents were not just willing but happy to provide after-school care for Maddie on the days that he couldn’t get away from the office in time to pick her up. But he refused to let her first day of school be one of those days, and when she came racing across the grass and into his arms, he was more certain than ever that this move was the best thing for both of them.
He felt a slight twinge when he recalled the shock—and the pain—he’d seen in Ashley’s eyes when she saw him with Madeline that morning, and he realized the first-grade teacher might not agree. But he refused to worry about that while he walked home, hand in hand with his daughter, listening to her animated conversation the whole way.
He remembered her kindergarten teacher expressing concern that Maddie was too quiet in class, silent and withdrawn. But Cam knew it wasn’t a character flaw, just her personality. She’d always been shy with strangers, but at home and with her family, she was quite the little chatterbox.
“Do you want a snack?” he asked.
“Ice cream,” she said hopefully, hopping onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar.
“We don’t have any.”
She pouted. “You promised to get ice cream.”
“I know I did, but I forgot.”
His admission of guilt didn’t appease her and though Cam knew the dangers of being over-indulgent, he figured the first day at a new school warranted an exception to the rules.
“So why don’t you go wash up and we’ll go to Walton’s?”
“Who’s Walton?”
He smiled. “Walton isn’t a who but a where, and it’s where we go to get the very best ice cream in all of Pinehurst, New York.”
“Really?” Her eyes were almost as wide as her smile.
“Really.”
She hopped off of her stool and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Thanks, Daddy. You’re the best.”
Twenty minutes later, he handed a strawberry sundae to Maddie before accepting his double scoop of butter pecan from the teenager behind the counter and turned to look for a vacant table. A quick glance around the room revealed that there weren’t any.
“There’s my teacher, Daddy.”
Maddie’s words registered at the exact moment his gaze landed on Ashley, seated with her sister at a table for four on the other side of the room.
“Her name’s Miss Ashley,” his daughter reminded him.
Cam nodded.
“She’s very pretty,” Maddie said. “And she smiles a lot and she doesn’t yell. Not even when the skinny boy with the curly hair forgot to ask to go to the bathroom and went pee right in his pants.”
His lips curved. “Not even then?”
Maddie shook her head solemnly.
“So maybe first grade won’t be so bad, huh?”
“Maybe,” she allowed. “But it’s really too soon to tell.”
He was smiling at her comment as he guided her toward Ashley and Megan’s table.
“Looks like someone else decided to celebrate the first day of school with ice cream,” Ashley noted, her attention and smile focused on Madeline.
“It seemed appropriate,” Cam said.
“We thought the same thing,” Megan said, when Ashley failed to respond to his comment.
“But there don’t seem to be any vacant tables,” he pointed out. “So we were hoping you wouldn’t object to us joining you.”
“Of course not,” Megan said, though she cast a worried glance across the table.
Ashley still didn’t say anything to him, but she slid across the bench she was sitting on to make room for his daughter. Maddie smiled shyly at her and carefully set her dish on the table before climbing up beside her teacher.
“Thanks,” Cam said, taking the seat beside Megan. “I don’t remember it ever being so busy in here.”
“A lot changes in twelve years,” Ashley told him.
He met her gaze across the table and felt the zing of sparks that weren’t entirely attributable to her obvious annoyance with him.
“And some things,” he countered, “never do.”
Ashley ate her chocolate fudge brownie sundae so fast she was surprised she didn’t get brain freeze. But from the moment she’d looked up and spotted Cam in line at the counter, she’d wanted only to get out of Walton’s as quickly as possible. Thankfully her sister had sensed her discomfort and quickly finished her ice cream as well.
It was only after they’d said goodbye to Cam and Maddie and were on their way out the door that Ashley thought to ask again about the reasons for her sister’s unexpected midweek visit.
Megan dumped her empty dish and spoon in the garbage. “It really wasn’t that important.”
“Important enough to bring you to the school to talk to me.”
Her sister sighed. “Because I wanted to tell you first, but you’ve had a lot sprung on you already today.”
And Ashley knew her sister’s news and why she was suddenly reluctant to share it.
“You’re pregnant,” she guessed.
Meg nodded.
Ashley sucked in a breath.
Her sister was going to have a baby.
She felt a tug deep inside her heart. A combination of excitement and envy. She wanted to be happy for Megan. She was happy for her. And yet she couldn’t help but look at the life her sister was building with her new husband and wonder why all of the stars had aligned so perfectly
