Page 58 of Takes Two to Tango

''You going to get it?"

“Probably just Meg.She’s having trouble with a supplier at Serendipity and has already called me twice.” Rayne didn't want to get up. Instead she wanted to pretend she and Brent were on a deserted island, a private oasis of delight. She wanted to make love to him again. This time, she wanted to be on top so she could watch him, but instead she crept from the bed, padded the short distance to the living area, and found her phone in the pocket of her abandoned sundress.

The number on display was unfamiliar. Oak Stand number, so not Meg.

She pressed the answer button.

"Mom?" His small voice was frantic and whispery.

"Henry, what's wrong?"

"The bus left me."

A wealth of information in those words. Her son had been left behind. He was scared. And she was standing naked in Brent's living room.

"I'll be right there, honey."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

RAYNE DIDN'T NOTICE THE scenery as she sped toward Oak Stand Elementary. All she could think about was how selfish she'd been not to give a thought to her only child in the past hour or so. She'd been so focused on taking her relationship with Brent to the next level she'd forgotten who she was.

A mother.

Of course, forgetting everything had always been easy when she'd been wrapped in Brent's arms. But sooner or later, life intervened and reminded her that, first and foremost, she was a mother with a child who had severe anxiety issues.

Remember why you came to Oak Stand, Sister. It wasn’t to get tangled back up in Brent Hamilton.

What had she been thinking?

The answer was she hadn't. She'd been feeling.

It wasn't as if she couldn't have a life of her own. She'd never play martyr, but she still needed to prioritize putting her child before herself, something she wasn't sure she'd done enough of. After all, if she'd been less focused on her career and morefocused on her family, she'd have been there for her son when Phillip died.

But she hadn't been.

She'd been in the studio of the local news channel filming a segment on a soufflé. She'd skipped out on Henry's karate exhibition at the school, sending him a smiley face cookie in his lunch to make up for it. Phillip had gotten stuck in traffic and that's where the aneurysm had struck. Henry had waited outside the gym with an annoyed karate instructor until Rayne had thought about him.

What kind of mother forgot her child?

Strike that. What kind of mother forgot her child a second time while she was having hot sex with the neighbor?

A bad one.

She pulled to the curb of the elementary school and shut off the car, her gaze finding Henry who stood next to the duty teacher. He’d been drawing in the dirt with the toe of his sneaker, but his head popped up when he heard the car door slam. The look on his face spelled relief.

"I'm so sorry I'm late. How did this happen?"

The duty teacher gave her a smile. "It's no big deal. Happens to a kid nearly every few weeks.”

Henry's face didn't look as if it weren't a big deal. But then again, Henry wasn't like most kids. Most didn't worry obsessively about being left behind... and then have it happen to them. His shirt was damp around the buttons, and Rayne knew he'd likely been chewing it. She teased him about being a baby goat, but she knew the compulsion was a result of perpetual worry.

She felt her heart break but plastered on a contrite smile. "Not sure it's much comfort knowing children get left often by the bus drivers."

The teacher, whose tag read Mrs. Frye, ruffled Henry’s hair. "There's no time to take roll on the bus. Usually the drivers ask the other children if they don't see a particular student, but sometimes it's rowdy and the drivers get distracted. Things like this happen." She looked down at Henry and smiled. "Don't worry, Henry. We'd never leave you. You're safe here."

"Okay," Henry said, not bothering to look up at the teacher.

"You guys have a good evening. See you tomorrow, Henry." The teacher gave her son a pat and headed toward the double doors of the school, passing Mr. Cleveland, the janitor who had been sprinkling vomit dust and unclogging toilets at Oak Stand Elementary for as long as Rayne could remember. She gave him a halfhearted wave and took Henry's sweaty hand and led him toward the car.

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