Page 27 of Hank

For now.

Okay, Hank. Time to do your job.

"Good morning, everyone." A round of half-hearted replies sounded around the class, with a few cheerier ones scattered about. Poor kids. Monday mornings were usually bad enough, but he was about to make it evenbetter. "Let’s start the day with a pop quiz."

"Dr. Lawton?"

Hank lifted his gaze to Collin standing in front of his desk, before glancing behind him. The rest of his second-period class had already left and were probably on their way to the lunchroom.

"Yes, Collin."

"I just wanted to thank you again for Tuesday." Could the kid look anymore sheepish?

"You don’t have to keep thanking me." And he didn’t. Collin had earned the grade he’d gotten, regardless of how long it had taken for him to retake the test.

"Well, it’s not just about the test."

Hank sat back straight in his seat. The only other thing Collin could possibly have to talk about with him would be his mother.

"It’s not?"

"No. Um, thanks for liking my mom now."

And there it was. Alright, this was about to get into some sticky territory.

"I neverdisliked your mom." A look of doubt accompanied a grin on the young man’s face. Collin wasn’t stupid. So, to keep from completely lying to the kid, he ended up saying, "Well, let’s say maybe I misunderstood her."

"Yeah, I get that," Collin said with a shrug. "Like I told you the other day, she worries too much. And sometimes it makes her a little overprotective." He grinned again. "We’re working on that."

"Well, that’s good." Why was he hovering? "Was there anything else?"

"Kinda. So, you reallydolike my mom now, right?"

"I like her fine." Where was this going?

"She likes you too."

"She does?" Why had his heart started pounding so hard? And more than that, why did he feel like the geekiest high school nerd finding out the prettiest girl in school wanted him to take her to the prom?

Keep it cool.

"I mean, I’m glad she does."

"Yeah. I think she likes you a lot."

He liked her a lot. Maybe more than liked. And though he’d only spent a handful of time with Jo, he couldn’t see her confiding anything about him to her son. So, the question was, why was Collin trying to matchmake?

This might not be a bad thing.

Right. Who was he kidding? It could be monumentally bad, depending on how you looked at it. Because, yeah, that whole parent/teacher thing again.

"That’s good to know." Had he sounded composed enough? Maybe. A flash of long, strawberry blond hair at his open classroom door caught his eye. "Now, you’d better head to lunch or you won’t have time to eat." He gave Collin a grin. "Besides, I think you have someone waiting on you."

"Yeah," Collin said, his cheeks ruddy as he rubbed the back of his neck and flicked his gaze toward the door and back. "Well," he continued, dropping his hand. "I just wanted to let you know that Mom is going to that Laverty’s place tonight, and you, um…"Hank held his breath, a sense of expectation filling him, until Collin finished in a rush with, "You have my blessing."

Before Hank could do anything more than drop his jaw and heave out that breath he’d been holding, Collin had scurried from the classroom. Then a slow smile started, one that hurt his cheeks with how broad it was.

"I have his blessing."

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