Page 16 of Sweet Surrender

Every single person in the room was staring at him.

“It’s fine,” he said quickly, realizing they all had the same knee-jerk tendency to worry when it came to the boys. “It was just kickball—just a bloody nose.”

His mom was the first one to quickly turn back to the cornbread she had been cutting. His dad spun around to tend to the chili, and Tag looked down at the napkins he was laying around the table like they might be in imminent danger of making a run for it.

Only Tripp was left facing his brother, and he started laughing like a hyena.

“What?” Zane asked, frowning at him.

“She was nice?”Tripp quoted him. “Call me anytime?”

Oh.

“You’ve got her lighting your phone up already, brother,” Tripp said, his eyes dancing. “I’m impressed.”

Zane rolled his eyes to let his brother know he was being ridiculous.

But he couldn’t help secretly wondering if this meant Tripp would leave Becca Hawthorne alone now.

He didn’t love how relieved that made him feel.

6

BECCA

Later that evening, Becca stood in the sanctuary of the prettiest little church she had ever seen. There were beautiful stained-glass scenes, simple wooden pews, and a real pipe organ.

The choir was small, but they sounded amazing together. And they were somehow so welcoming that Becca hadn’t felt shy at all about jumping right in.

Being part of the group, their voices melting together and bouncing off the high wooden rafters of the church ceiling brought her back to childhood, and all the fun she’d had singing in the children’s choir.

“That was lovely,” Madge, the music director, told them as they finished “Silent Night.” “Why don’t you all take ten to hydrate, and we’ll try “Joy to the World” when you get back?”

There was a little smattering of applause amongst the group, and then everyone began moving off to grab their water bottles or their phones and chat.

“Come on,” Angela said, wrapping a friendly arm around Becca’s shoulders. “Let’s head down to the kitchen for a nice cup of tea.”

Becca was glad she’d taken the school nurse up on her invite. The night was turning out to be more fun than she’d imagined.

“That sounds amazing,” she said as they headed out of the practice area.

Becca was wearing a thick cardigan that her grandmother had knitted for her, but like most churches, this one was old and drafty. She was definitely happy for a chance to warm up with some hot tea.

The church basement was finished nicely with a tile floor that reminded her of the one in her classroom. One of the other members was also downstairs, a young woman who looked familiar. She was pulling mugs down from the shelf and placing them beside the electric kettle on the counter.

“Hey, Allie,” Angela called out. “This is Becca Hawthorne, the new second-grade teacher.”

“Hi, Becca,” Allie said, wiping her hand on her jeans and heading over. “I’m Allie.”

“Allie is a kindergarten teacher over at the school,” Angela told Becca.

“Oh, are you Cal and Nick’s aunt?” Becca asked.

“Guilty as charged,” Allie said with a big smile. “You’re Cal’s teacher. I’ve already heard all about you.”

“But today was my first day,” Becca said without thinking.

The other three women laughed.

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