Page 31 of Sweet Surrender

But the best thing she had seen today was the look in Nick’s eyes when he sang out the name of the ice cream flavor his brother had encouraged him to read.

And the best thing she had heard was Zane’s quiet promise to her that he would be willing to put the boys in the same class.

Convincing Zane to change his mind hadn’t even been on her radar today. She had honestly just hoped he wouldn’t be so angry that he sent her home without Cal giving the promised tour. But now, things were coming together so well that it almost didn’t seem real.

“I really will have to run soon and work on my lesson plans,” she told Zane again.

“That’s fine,” he told her. “Everyone will understand. But Mom will never forgive me if you don’t come in and have a bite to eat before you go.”

“Okay,” she told him.

She was actually ravenous. Once again, she had eaten a granola bar in her classroom while looking over her students’ work at lunchtime. And walking around in the cold had definitely stoked her appetite.

When they reached the house, Nick threw open the front door and dashed in, followed by Cal. Even from out here, Becca could hear them yelling to their grandparents that their teacher was coming.

“They’re so nice,” she said quietly. “You’ve done such a great job with them.”

Zane didn’t respond, and she glanced up at him, trying to understand the look on his face.

“I guess maybe when I said they needed to be in the same class, I made it seem like I thought you hadn’t,” she realized out loud, looking down at her feet now. “And I’m sorry for that. I still have a lot to learn, Mr. Lawrence… Zane. Thank you for giving me another chance.”

There was an odd sound, and she looked up again to see he was chuckling.

“What?” she asked.

“You kind of read my mind,” he told her, shaking his head. “But you’re going to be just fine, Becca Hawthorne. Just keep doing things the way you’re doing them.”

“Some things you have to learn by doing,” she said, nodding. He wasn’t wrong.

“That’s true,” he said. “But I meant that you have good instincts.”

“Oh,” she said.

“About the boys, obviously,” he went on. “But plenty of people wouldn’t have shown up here today. It couldn’t have been easy for you, after the way I spoke to you, but you knew it was the right thing to do. You didn’t even try texting me to get out of it.”

“I thought about it,” she admitted, laughing.

They had reached the front porch now, and there was nothing to do but go inside. She found herself wishing she could stand out here talking to Zane Lawrence, even though it was freezing out and her stomach was rumbling.

“Just take your boots off and put them in the tray,” he told her quietly as they stepped inside.

It was nice and warm in the farmhouse and something smelledincredible.She did as she was told, and he moved in after her, shutting the door behind them.

“Boots,” a bunch of voices yelled out happily from deeper inside the house.

“That’s everyone reminding me to take off my boots,” Zane said with a wry half smile as he placed them on the tray by the door. “But I’m not the one who forgets. That’s Tripp.”

“I’m sure your parents just want to be fair,” Becca guessed right away.

“Maybe,” he said, shaking his head. “Come on, let’s go see what’s for dinner.”

She followed him through the hall and into the back of the house, where a nice big kitchen and a large, open eating area with a massive wooden table seemed to spread across almost the whole back of the house.

“Hello, there,” Zane’s mother said warmly as they stepped in. “How was the rest of your tour?”

“She saw the whole herd,” Nick yelled.

“She went to the creamery,” Cal said at the same time.

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