Page 27 of Securing the Odds

She’d worked at the school too long for people to have not discovered that Nate Reed was her brother. The school's gossip vine was worse than Hollywood’s any day of the week.

Tammy’s next smile was forced. “I guess so.”

After a bit of awkward silence, Carol said, “Well, I know you’ve probably got stuff to catch up on. I’ll leave you to it.”

Thankful she decided not to linger, Tammy was quick to respond, “Thanks for stopping by.”

After Carol walked away, Tammy regarded her desk and sighed. She did have a large stack of papers to grade, but they could wait until after dinner. She’d curl up on the couch with Jake and look them over while he watched TV. She stood from her desk and shoved the last of her paperwork into her briefcase.

Even though the danger with Kevin and the goons was over, she’d promised Jake she’d spend the night again. That meant she needed to stop at home to pick up more work clothes for the next day. Then she wanted to head to the market. Jake had mentioned he loved lasagna, and she had a killer recipe, but she needed supplies. His kitchen was not well stocked even if it did now contain milk.

She waved goodbye to a few coworkers and students on her way to the parking lot and was just getting into the car when her phone rang. Grabbing her purse, she dug it out and connected it to her Bluetooth before answering. “Hey.” She didn’t try to fight back the smile and knew Jake could hear it in her voice.

“Hey, baby. How was your day?”

A squishy feeling blossomed in her stomach. It had been a heck of a long time since anyone had cared enough to ask. “The kids were terrors, but I had a great day anyway. How was yours?”

He sighed over the line. “Still going strong. I may be a little late tonight.”

“That’s okay. I still need to stop at home for clothes and then go to the market for dinner stuff.”

There was a moment’s pause. “You making me dinner?”

“My mom’s world-famous lasagna.”

There was another short pause. Then, voice gruff, he said, “World famous, huh?”

“Totally.” She was still grinning like a fool. Stopped at a red light, she gave the car that idled beside her a sidelong glance, but its driver wasn’t paying her any attention.

“Can’t wait to eat it.”

“Good.”

“See you soon, baby.”

He could call her baby in that soft voice of his all day long, and she’d never grow tired of hearing it. “See you soon.”

“Tammy?” he said, right as she was about to hang up.

“Yeah?”

“It’ll be nice coming home to you.”

The squishy feeling in her stomach spread up her chest. The verdict was out. She was in love with the man. Emotion clogging her throat, she croaked, “It’ll be nice being come home to.”

Still sitting firmly on her cloud the rest of the drive home, she made a mental note not to forget a nice bottle of wine at the supermarket. They were going to celebrate. And maybe if she had enough to drink, she’d work up the nerve to tell Jake how she felt about him. If there was one thing she’d learned from her relationship with Kevin, it was not to waste time. She’d wasted too much of it being miserable. She wasn’t going to waste it not being happy.

Tammy turned into the alley at the back of her townhouse and hit the remote on the visor. Pulling into the garage once the door opened, she parked and shut off the engine. Knowing she wouldn’t be too long, she left her purse and briefcase on the passenger seat and got out of the car.

Right when she was about to slam the car door, she spied her phone still attached to the hands-free unit on the dash. Even knowing she wouldn’t be long, she still didn’t want to take a chance of missing Jake if he called again.

Boy, she really did have it bad.

Reaching in, she nabbed it and slipped it into the front pocket of her blazer.

Her mind consumed with all things Jake, she hit the switch on the wall to shut the garage door and fumbled with her key in the lock before opening the door that led into the house.

She should have been paying better attention.

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