Page 8 of A Beach House Beginning

“Do you want to get pizza from the à la carte line?” she asked him, her voice low and calming.

“No. I don’t like pizza.” That was news to her, since his favorite food was usually pizza and he could eat it five days a week without fuss.

“What about chicken tenders?”

He appeared to consider that for a long moment, his blond head tilted and his brow furrowed. Finally he nodded. “Okay. I like tenders.”

The lunchroom was crowded with parents and friends of the students who had come for their monthly Lunch with a Guest activity.

She strongly suspected another of the reasons for Cody’s outburst might have something to do with that. His parents were recently divorced and his father, who used to come have lunch with him every month, had moved two towns over.

Normally she didn’t eat with the students, preferring to grab a quick bite at her desk while they were out at recess, unless she was on playground duty. But because Cody was being so clingy, she had decided to bring her sack lunch to the table. Now he slid in next to her with his tray of nuggets.

She waved to a few of the parents, then pulled out her sandwich just as she felt the presence of someone behind her.

She turned and was astonished to discover her upstairs neighbor standing beside his daughter, Brielle. He was holding a tray that carried both their lunches.

“Hello.”

In boots, jeans and the same black T-shirt he had been wearing earlier in the day, he looked big and tough and intimidating. Completely out of place in an elementary school lunchroom.

He should moonlight as a bouncer at a biker bar, since nobody would dare mess with him.

“Hi, Mrs. Haynes. This is my dad.” Brielle, his daughter, beamed with pride.

“I know. I’ve met him. We’re neighbors.”

“This is his very first time coming to one of the Lunch with a Guest days.”

She forced a smile. “Welcome. I hope you enjoy yourself.”

“So far so good. It’s pizza. What could go wrong with pizza?”

He obviously had not tried the school pizza yet, which could double as a paperweight in a pinch.

Jenna was disconcerted when Wes pointed to an empty spot down the row from her. “Is it all right if we sit here? There doesn’t seem to be room with Brielle’s class.”

It was always a tight squeeze in the small lunchroom when each student brought a guest. Parents ended up finding spots wherever they could. She gestured to the empty spot. “Go ahead.”

She was fiercely aware of him as she finished her sandwich.

“I have a dog,” Cody suddenly announced. “Her name is Jojo, and she’s white and brown with white ears and a brown tail. Do you want to see?”

Jenna realized with some alarm that the boy was talking to Wes in particular, unfazed by his intimidating appearance.

“Um. Sure.”

Cody pulled out the small four-by-six photo album he carried with him all the time in the front pocket of his hoodie, a sort of talisman. He opened it and thrust it into Wes’s face, far too close for comfort.

“Wow. She’s very pretty,” Wes answered.

“Does she do any tricks?” Brielle asked, genuine curiosity in her voice as she peered around her father’s muscular arm to see the photograph.

“She comes when I call her and she sits and she can roll over.”

“I wish we had a dog,” Brielle said, a hint of sadness in her voice. “We have a cat, though, and it’s the best cat in the whole world.”

Jenna thought the interaction would end there, as Cody could be quiet and withdrawn with strangers. She was surprised when the boy turned the page of his well-worn photo album to show other things that were important to him in his life. His bedroom. His bicycle. His father, who had walked out the previous year.

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