a moment she couldn’t quite meet his eyes. She stared down at her huge baked potato and the mound of sour cream exploding from it. “Good thing I’m not dancing anymore. After a dinner like this one, I’d get kicked off the show at the next weigh-in.”
Danny refused to let her change the subject. He asked softly, “You gonna answer my question, Cleo?”
She made herself look at him. “Oh, really. Nothing’s wrong. Nothing at all. Why?”
“You seem … I don’t know. Kind of sad.”
“But I’m not sad. Not in the least.” It came out sounding way too vehement. She smiled to show him it was no big deal.
He shrugged. “Maybe just distracted, then?”
“Well, okay. A little …”
“Over the deal with Impresario, right?”
She answered lamely, “It’s a big step.”
“Cleo?”
“What?”
“Relax. You’re going to do just fine.”
She beamed him an even bigger smile. “Somehow you always manage to say just the right thing.”
He came in for coffee when they got back to her house. As she was filling the drip basket with fresh-ground decaf, he came up behind her and wrapped his strong arms around her.
She jumped in surprise.
“Hey,” he whispered, smoothing her hair out of the way and pressing his lips to the side of her neck. “It’s only me….”
“No kidding.” She turned in the circle of his arms and rested her hands on his chest.
He whispered, “You’re so beautiful. And I’m crazy for you….” His mouth touched hers.
Cleo kissed him back. But her heart wasn’t really in it.
Danny knew it. He pulled away and gave her a rueful smile. “Not in the mood, huh?” He was too much of a gentleman to mention that she hadn’t been in the mood since a little over a week ago. Since the day she’d met—
She cut that thought off before it went any further. This had nothing to do with any other man. A whole lot had happened in the past week. She was taking on a huge new project. It was only natural that she would be a little bit distracted….
“Danny, I’m sorry. I—”
He laid a light finger against her lips. “Shh. It’s okay.” He stepped back. “Go on, make that coffee.”
She felt as though she ought to say something, to explain herself somehow. But she didn’t want to make a big deal about this. Because it wasn’t a big deal. She was busy and preoccupied and, well, Danny had said it himself: just not in the mood.
Turning back to the coffeemaker, she finished loading the basket.
In the days that followed, Cleo hit the floor running every morning and collapsed into bed exhausted every night.
She bought equipment and supplies, reworked the program guidelines for each of the classes, tweaking and improving so she could start out with the best study blueprint possible at the new location—and keep things fresh and exciting at the original school, as well. She called a big meeting with her current staff, explained her plans for expansion and asked for volunteers to move to the new location. The idea was to take at least a few experienced people over to Impresario so that the new facility wouldn’t be starting with all new hires. It worked. Two teachers—she had six teachers in various capacities at the original location—and three aides said they’d be happy to make the move.
Cleo knew that to expand effectively, she was going to need a really good associate director, someone who could step in and hold down the fort at one location whenever Cleo was needed at the other. Fortunately she found just the right woman for the job on the first day of interviews. A former elementary school assistant principal, Megan Helsberg had the right education and training, the right experience and excellent references. She was also available to start immediately.
Brian Klimas’s security check on Megan came back clean, so Cleo had Megan work with her to hire the rest of the new staff. Megan caught on quickly, but her job duties were varied and complex; there was a lot for her to learn. Cleo trained her as they worked—all while continuing her director’s duties at the first KinderWay and preparing the Impresario facility for its grand opening on Valentine’s Day.
Cleo and Danny hardly saw each other. There was simply no time. Once she finished a day’s work on the new facility, she had to play catch-up at the old one. She was at her desk every night until after ten, determined to keep up her standards at the existing KinderWay and also to honor her contract with the Bravo Group to deliver a top-quality service and to open the doors to the new facility on time.
Cleo and Megan met with Darlene Archer on Friday, the fourth, in the HR offices at Impresario. Darlene was impressed with the progress they’d made. Cleo promised they’d be ready to open on the fourteenth—and realized as she made that promise that they had a very good chance of making it.
Darlene gave them the access code to the student list. It contained all the basic information on the students who would be showing up for preschool on Valentine’s Day, including emergency phone numbers and a health profile for each child. With that code, she already had all the information usually gleaned from the endless forms that parents filled out at enrollment. The new KinderWay would be operating at capacity from the first day it opened its doors.
Saturday, Cleo went to Ashlyn’s birthday party at the Adventuredome.
Fletcher, looking heartbreaker-handsome in a light cashmere sweater and dark slacks, greeted her with a cool smile. “I’m glad you could come.”
“I’m so pleased Ashlyn invited me.”
They traded a few more generic pleasantries. As she made the obligatory small talk, she felt … desperate, somehow, just at the sight of him, at the sound of his deep, tempting voice.
Yes, desperate. And sad.
My God. I’ve missed him.
As quickly as the thought took form, she banished it. He turned to greet another guest, and Cleo moved away, into the group of kids and parents that had formed nearby while they waited for everyone to arrive.
For the rest of the afternoon she kept her distance from the father of the birthday girl. It wasn’t all that difficult; he made no effort to get close to her. She watched Ashlyn and her friends take on the junior rides—the Frog Jump and the Miner Mike roller coaster and the miniature airplane ride. She enjoyed the magic show and the clowns. There were also “family” rides, where the kids needed an adult to ride with them.
For one of those, a Ferris wheel called Drifters where the cars looked like hot-air balloons, Ashlyn ran up and slipped a small hand into hers. “Cleo. Ride on the big balloons with me, please?”
Cleo looked down into those serious eyes and all at once her chest was too tight to contain her heart. There was just something about Fletcher’s little
