Page 60 of Pretend To Be My Cowboy
Corbin shrugged, kicking the dirt at his feet.
Emma leaned forward so she was at his eye level. “You don’t like school?”
“I like playing.” His lower lip stuck out so far Nash had to bite his own lip to keep from laughing.
But Emma had no problem staying serious, her brows down as she considered that with a nod. “Well, playingislearning. That’s what I tell the kids in my class. We don’t do any work at school.” She sat upright with a shrug. “We just play all day.”
Nash noticed Principal Toulouse watching Emma from where she sat at the next table over. A smile played on her lips as she listened to Emma telling an enraptured Chloe and Corbin a story from her class last year, all about how they built a rocket ship out of cardboard and learned about the planets by flying through space.
“Did you go to the moon?” Corbin asked with furrowed brows.
“Oh yes, our moon landing was very successful. And you should have heard my kids.” Emma beamed with pride. “They could tell you everything there is to know about space by the time we returned back to Earth. Plus, they learned a bunch of math, how to work as a team, how to construct things and explain how something works. It was very impressive.”
“I know three planets!” Corbin lifted his chin with pride.
Emma leaned forward with obvious interest. “Okay, go.”
Corbin straightened like a cadet being called to attention. “Mars, Jupiter and the one with the rings.”
Emma arched a brow playfully. “Do you remember what the one with the rings is called?”
“Umm…”
“Ssssss…” Emma whispered quietly.
“Saturn!” Corbin threw his arms in the air.
“Good job.” Emma grinned. “Wow, you know what? I think you are going to rock the kindy world.”
“If we get to build spaceships, I’ll love it.” Corbin’s eyes were gleaming with excitement like he wanted to start kindergarten right this second.
Nash glanced over to see Principal Toulouse still watching Emma with a small smile and a light in her eyes like she’d just discovered a rare gem.
Maybe she had.
“Tell us something else you did,” Chloe piped up. “Do you get to play with dolls and stuff?”
“Some of my kids practice reading to their dolls. They bring them in at storytime and read out loud to them. And at the end of last year, we did a cool project where my students got to design and make a teddy bear.”
Chloe’s eyes grew so wide it looked painful. “They made a bear?” she whispered in awe.
“Yeah, from scratch.” Emma nodded.
Nash dipped his head with a chuckle. Now both Chloe and Corbin were gazing up at Emma like she hung the moon.
He snuck one last look at this woman who’d won over every member of his family in one foul swoop. He couldn’t blame the kids for being in awe. He was pretty dang awed himself.
Out of the corner of his eye, Nash spotted his father peeling away from his brothers to head inside.
“Will you excuse me?” he murmured to Emma.
She flashed him a quick grin and a wink before turning her attention back to the litany of questions Chloe was rattling off.
He found his father alone in the kitchen, restocking some ice into a bucket for the cooler. Nash didn’t waste a second. “Did you say something to Emma?”
His father turned around, a brow arched in wry amusement. “You didn’t tell me she was an O’Sullivan.”
Nash swallowed. “Yeah, about that…”
