Page 13 of My Darling Mayhem

I laughed. “Do it. Please. I’d love to see your face on the news for scamming someone. You know that shit’s illegal, and you’ll never get away with it.”

Brian took a second to consider what I said, then sighed. “You used to like me.”

I rolled my eyes because that was over a year ago, and that was a mistake.

He clicked his tongue. “Then let’s start with something small…coffee?”

His backpedaling was insane, but I'd do it if it got him out of my face and the house sold.

“Fine.”

“Tomorrow.” Brian offered, but I shook my head.

“Tuesday. Tomorrow, I have to volunteer at Cruz’s school for something.”

Brian considered it, then let out a sigh. “Fine.”

Leaning forward, I narrowed my gaze on him. “Let’s be clear. That is all you’re getting from me. The sale gets pushed through by tomorrow afternoon, or our coffee date is off.”

Brian nodded his understanding and then stood up.

“One of these days, you’re going to introduce me to him.” He gestured down toward the filing cabinets.

He was wrong. Today was the one chance he had to make an impression on my son, and he failed. He’d never really meet my son, not where Cruz shook his hand or knew his name.

Instead of saying that, I turned and started typing on my laptop.

I was running late to Cruz's school.

Our morning was more chaotic than usual. Cruz heard Archer's motorcycle drive in and wanted to ask if he'd gotten our pie.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that if Archer had been gone all weekend, the pie would have been left out, meaning he'd have to throw it away. It didn't matter. I wanted the pie situation to never resurface for as long as I lived.

Once I finally got him to school, I had to rush to work and help finalize the sale of the Mathews home. Brian had come through, which meant I was getting coffee with him the following morning. I'd have to reconcile that and have him take me somewhere with good coffee, but I had to shove it to the sidefor now. I was drafting an email to my boss to have Brian work exclusively with Gwen, the other sales associate, from now on.

Denise wouldn't like it because Atlas was small, and I was the senior agent who secured more deals than Gwen did. However, I couldn't work anymore with Brian. In fact, I refused to. By the time two in the afternoon rolled by, I was running late to volunteer at Cruz's school.

I was snapping my volunteer nametag in place over my blazer when the sounds of the kindergarten class echoed around me in the hall. I slowed down and tiptoed into the back of Cruz's class, seeing a few parents helping with other kids. I smiled at another mom and then looked for Cruz.

I scanned his desk, not seeing him or Kane, his deskmate. In fact, several of the desks were empty, with a large portion of kids gathered on the reading rug near the tree wall.

"Ms. Vasquez." Mrs. G found me, giving me a broad smile.

I smiled back, "So sorry I'm late."

"Oh, no problem, but we've started storytime. I was hoping you could alternate with Mr. Green and read your story, which is in Spanish, to the kids, and then he'll read the English version."

She was walking away, and I was supposed to follow her, but I was stunned when Archer was mentioned.

He was here?

Why?

I didn't have time to ruminate on the idea as I moved halfway across the classroom and stopped on the edge of the reading carpet. At the base of the artificial tree, there was Archer, sitting on a small chair with his elbows on his knees and a book in his hand. He didn't have on his leather club vest, but he wore his worn denim jeans, boots, and a dark hoodie.

"Mr. Green, Ms. Vasquez is here now, so you two can begin your reading slot together."

My smile was as fake as it always was at work. Archer didn't smile at me, he just stared. I carefully stepped around the kids until I could get to my seat directly next to my neighbors. I felt his body heat and could smell his spicy, citrusy cologne. There was an undertone of leather and something else that tickled my nose in a good way. The sort of way that made me want to turn my face into it.

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