Page 68 of Just a Heartbeat Away

“Mostly, I was thinking of ways to reach the most kids at once. Do as much good as I could, you know? I considered being a social worker, but that ended up hitting a little too close to home for me. I’ve seen so many of them over the years. I ended up going into education and the further I went into the program, the more clear it became that I needed to focus on counseling as well. So I went back for my master’s and here we are.”

He chuckled at her nonchalant delivery. “Voilà.”

She smiled at his wry tone. “Easy as pie.”

“Yeah. Getting a master’s is just like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.”

She opened her mouth to reply but just then Mary bustled in from the other room, a joke in her eyes. “Oh my God. I think Fin is telling Tyler’s fortune right now, and the poor guy looks like he’s about to pass out.”

“She’s not!” Via looked horrified, like her friend had decided to put the punch bowl on her head after one too many jungle juices. She hustled immediately out of the kitchen, seemingly to intervene. Seb took a deep breath and was grateful for the momentary reprieve from her little, golden presence. The kids conversation had been a step too far for him. He didn’t need to torture himself with information like that unless he was going to actuallydosomething with it.

The second she was gone, Mary’s midnight blue eyes slid over to Seb, a sly little look on her face. “And what’s going on in here?” The last word was punctuated by her rolling up on her toes.

Seb leaned forward and really gave Mary the once-over. She’d pulled her hair back in a tight, matronly bun, and she wore an extremely unflattering sweater. “Why do you look like that?” he asked, in lieu of answering her pointed question. “That’s the ugliest sweater I’ve ever seen.”

He expected her to be outraged. Mary was a very fashionable woman and had often found herself in the position of defending her sophisticated fashion choices to Tyler or Seb. But today she just grinned. “I changed after work. I just didn’t want to seem threatening at all.”

“Threatening? To who?”

“Don’t be dense, Seb.” She raised an arched eyebrow and looked pointedly at Via as the shorter woman scuttled back over to the stove.

“It wasn’t a full-on reading, but she was definitely trying to spook the hell out of him.”

“Miss Via?” Matty asked as he strolled into the kitchen like he owned the place.

Seb turned quickly, and Via laid a hand on his arm. “I told him he could call me Via when we’re doing friend stuff and not school stuff. He actually insisted on keeping the Miss.”

Seb loosened and nodded at his son, impressed with his politeness.

“What’s up?” she asked him.

“When’s dinner? I’m really hungry. Plus, I finished that coloring book.”

Seb winced. There was no way he’d finished that coloring book in twenty minutes. He knew exactly what he’d find when he went to look at it. A two-color scribble on each page and a declaration that it wasn’t fun if the page wasn’t perfectly pristine.

“Oh, well, that’s great that you finished it,” Via said. “Because nobody has made me my birthday fort yet.”

“Your birthday fort?”

“Yeah.” Via cocked her head at him, spoon in the air. “Every birthday, someone makes me a big fort that I can eat my birthday dinner in. But nobody has done it yet. You wouldn’t happen to be good at making forts, would you?”

“I’m the best at forts. The BEST.”

He really was. So good, in fact, that Seb wondered if his son might be as interested in architecture as he’d been at one point.

“Great. I have to finish dinner, but I’ll get you started.”

“I’ll help,” Mary chirped, her eyes on Via, obviously just about as charmed by her as Seb was.

Who am I kidding? No one is as charmed by her as I am.

It was half an hour later that everyone sat on the floor of Via’s living room with plates of homemade pasta in their laps and a pillow fort precariously towering over them. Crabby hovered, semi-obediently, at the edge of the fort, licking the air at the scent of the sauce and windmilling his tail at anyone who glanced his way. Fin had lit some candles and dimmed the lights. The room twinkled a golden orange, and all of them had instinctively lowered their voices to match the mood.

The conversation flowed much more casually than the other time the group had spent together. Tyler still sat as far from Fin as he possibly could have and alternated between looking anywhere but at her and staring her down.

Seb could only hope he looked a little more casual. But he probably blew that when he choked on his wine when Mary opened her big mouth.

“Where’s Evan tonight, Via?” Mary asked.

---