Page 11 of Fated Mates and How to Seduce Them
For Mary, he gave a nod. “I see. I mean, he’s great; I’m not surprised he comes back here and helps out.”
The nearest child to him, a little girl who looked maybe ten, turned to look up at him. She was incredibly cute, with a gap-toothed smile and the purest light green eyes he’d ever seen.
“Are you Ian’s friend?”
André immediately dropped down to her level, sitting on his haunches. “I sure am. I came to see how everyone is doing. I’m André. What’s your name?”
“Ava!”
“Nice to meet you. Hey, Ava, I got a question for you. If you could ask for anything, what would it be? Any toy, for instance.”
Ava thought about it for a second before blurting out, “Paints!”
“Yeah? You like art?”
She nodded vehemently, beaming.
Mary put a hand on his shoulder. “No, André, don’t worry about that. We’ll be more than grateful just to have the repairs on the building done.”
André stood again and shook his finger playfully. “I’m sorry, I’m my mother’s child. I don’t know how to do anything by halfway measures. Let’s do this.”
He pulled his briefcase around and took out the folder with the paperwork. “You go do the paperwork to make all thisofficial. We’ll discuss how much you actually need in a minute, but does a million a year sound about right? Just give me a ballpark.”
“A mil-million—” Mary staggered in place, nearly falling.
André wasn’t sure how to take her reaction. Was his guess off by that much? “No? I don’t know what your operating expenses are. Should I go higher?”
Emma sounded like she had swallowed a lung the wrong way as she squeaked out, “It’s nowhere near that much! André, are you sure you can afford this?”
“Sure. It’s about half the budget I’m supposed to spend on a charity. I do have another one I support, but it doesn’t take up the whole budget either.” André paused, considered, and looked around the room. Specifically the kids.
Not one of them had a decent outfit on. Most of them wore clothes far too big, without a doubt hand-me-downs, and all faded past the point of any return. His mother would have been horrified and immediately gone into a shopping frenzy.
This wasn’t solely about Ian anymore. André’s heart hurt looking at this situation. Knowing he had the means to fix a lot of it, he couldn’t just not help. Might as well do it with style.
He pointed to a desk at the front of the room. “Sit. Do paperwork. I’m going to talk to the kids.”
Mary and Emma had to support each other as they staggered for the desk, but they took the paperwork. By the time they reached the scarred desk, they’d overcome their shock enough to act giddy.
André left them to it and clapped his hands, gaining the attention of teens and toddlers alike. “Hey, guys! I’m André. I’m Ian’s friend. I’ve come here to help you guys, and I need you to tell me what you want, yeah? I’ll get to know all of you eventually, but for now, help a guy out. You, little miss sunshine with the ponytail. Yeah, you. Grab some paper and pass it outto everyone, please. Hey, buddy, you help grab pencils. All right, everyone have pencil and paper? Cool, here’s your task: I want you to write down three toys you want.”
At the word “toys,” there was a buzz of excitement and smiles.
“We get toys?!” Ava demanded, almost squealing.
André shot her a wink. “You get more than toys, princess. After you write down toys, tell me your favorite color to wear, and if you know your sizes in clothes, write those down. Now, last part. Tell me your favorite animal or character. It can be Iron Man, dinosaurs, whatever you like.”
One of the older kids, who looked maybe five years younger than André, raised a tentative hand. He seemed a bit distrustful, but he spoke politely. “Why do you need to know all that?”
“Well, I’m going to be doing a lot of shopping for all of you later today. I want to buy things you’ll like.” André counted off things on his fingers. “New clothes, but also new bedding for all of you. Yeah?”
Ava scrambled over and hugged him around the waist. “I like you.”
André leaned down and patted her on the head, grinning. “Girls always like me. I spoil them. That probably has something to do with it. Who’s still learning how to write?”
Three small hands raised tentatively from different areas of the room. André gestured them in closer. “Come to me, and I’ll help you. Everyone else, ready, set, write!”
André plopped down right there in the center of the room, took out a notebook and pen from his briefcase, and settled in. One of the little boys climbed into his lap like he had every right to do so—he was maybe three, so he probably thought he did—and the other little boy and girl scooted in close to sit at André’s side.
