Page 36 of Declan's Hope

Hope groaned and pulled her friend in for a hug, a grin spreading over her face. "You’d better not," she said, then let out a long sigh into the comfortable silence.

"So," Destiny finally said, her voice low—almost cautious. "Garrett was okay after his and Declan’s little scuffle?"

"I have a feeling he’s going to have a black eye, and probably a couple of other bruises. But, yeah, he’s fine."

"That’s good."

More silence followed while Hope rubbed over Destiny’s sweater-clad arm. "I think you need to talk to him."

Destiny tensed, then let out a slow breath. "It won’t do any good. He wouldn’t even call me to let me know he was checking on you. He texted me." She snorted. "In a group text with Haven, no less."

"He’s watching over you."

A slight gasp left Destiny as she dropped her arms from around Hope and leaned away from her. "What?"

Hope met her friend’s incredulous gaze and nodded. "He considers several places, including our apartment and the Shaw Estate, to be strategic locations," she said, using air quotes on the last two words. "In other words, he’s got surveillance on us."

Destiny lowered her gaze, a slight smile barely touching her lips, before she covered it with a frown and pushed herself up from the chair. "Mr. Shaw wouldn’t be happy to know he’d done that. Besides, he shouldn’t bother," she said, her tone prim. "If he can’t talk to me, then…" Her expression closed as she straightened her dark blue and green tartan skirt. "It doesn’t matter anyhow."

It did matter, even though Destiny would deny it with her last breath. She eyed her friend as she smoothed her hands over the blue sweater she wore over a cream blouse. And, once more, Hope wished Destiny didn’t feel the need to be so buttoned up all the time. Anger filled her—an anger she did her best to hide—over why her friend felt compelled to do so.

She and Haven had tried without success to get Destiny to realize nothing had been her fault. And her clothing choices shouldn’t be dictated by what others might have said or done. But past experience had taught them it wasn’t a topic for discussion where Destiny was concerned. That’s why if it happened to come up, they didn’t pursue it.

Destiny checked her watch, then Hope marveled again at how her agile friend rushed across the room in her 5-inch heels. "With all this talk of THF and beard-gasms, I almost lost track of time. I’ve got to get my day started," she said, grabbing her purse from the top of the console table by the front door. "I’ve got an early class, then I have to get to the estate." A sparkle lit her eyes as she cast a grin at Hope. "Mr. Shaw has a special collection coming in he wants me to catalogue." Her friend truly did love all those dusty old tomes.

"When you get to Mr. Shaw’s, be sure to give Garrett a wave," Hope said sweetly, then laughed as Destiny shook her head and hurried from their apartment.

Speaking of early classes…

Hope stretched and let out a loud yawn before grabbing her cooling coffee and taking a sip. "Blech," she muttered, grimacing as she stood from the chair and headed toward the kitchen. She poured the remains of her coffee in the sink and rinsed out the cup—she’d wash it later—then strode back through her apartment.

What was Declan doing right now?

If she had the time, she’d call him. He had to be up by now. But she didn’t need to get caught up in a conversation, no matter how much she longed to talk to him. So…

She tapped out a quick message, then grabbed her purse from atop the same console table Destiny had had hers on, then turned her phone on silent mode and shoved it inside.

"My first field trip," she groaned, opening the door to her apartment.

Riding herd on her class outside the school should be quite an experience, and one she wasn’t sure if she was looking forward to or not. She let out a short laugh as she left her apartment and locked the door, murmuring, "Here’s hoping this particular natural history museum survives Toby."

* * *

"Okay, class, everyone line up single file," Hope said loudly enough to be heard over her excited students. They’d had a blast. And even Toby had been so in awe of his surroundings he’d managed not to leave his mark on the place. "Now, Evelyn, you’re the line leader for group one. Lead everyone onto the bus. Don’t forget, children, take the first empty seats you come to, just like we did this morning."

She cast her gaze over the second lineup of kids, landing on Toby at the end, which meant he’d be close to her place at the back of the bus. That probably would be a good thing. She’d noted a lot of teachers sat at the front, but she’d learned it was best to keep her eyes on them at all times.

"Alright, Michael, lead your line onto the bus," she called out. The children filed past her with Toby giving her a broad grin before he entered the bus.

"Heaven help me," she muttered, taking the steps. She looked over the students finishing taking their seats before turning to the bus driver. "Okay Mr. Dur…" She frowned at the stranger sitting in the driver’s seat. "What happened to Mr. Durbin?" she asked the dark-haired, deeply tanned man. He didn’t look at her at all, but shrugged as he pulled the lever to close the door behind her.

Okay.

She made her way down the aisle, making sure everyone had settled in their seat, before taking her own in the last row. Toby sat across the aisle from her, with Aiden sharing the bench seat with him.

"I had fun, Ms. Danford," Toby said, his smile still big and eyes not filled with the mischief she usually saw in them. "I want to be a archagist when I grow up too, like Ms. Megan."

"I think being an archeologist would be a great job."

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