Page 9 of A Convenient Heart
His companion thanked the man in a quiet murmur. He caught her distracted glance to the side and turned his head to see what she was looking at.
Two little girls sat on their knees at a nearby table as they peered above the chair backs to watch the schoolmarm. A man and woman—their parents?—were eating and conversing, not paying attention.
“I trust your journey was favorable.”
He blinked and brought his gaze back to the schoolmarm, who seemed determined to ignore the other table.
He shrugged.
She frowned, just a little. “Will you miss being at home for Christmas?”
The innocent question hit a soft spot in his underbelly. “There’s nothing for me there.” His words sounded sharp, a perfect pairing with the way he felt inside.
He’d thought he could playact his way through supper, but this was more than he’d bargained for.
A giggle from nearby drew his eyes, and now the two little girls were even more obvious in their wide-eyed stares. Their parents still hadn’t noticed that they were almost falling out of their seats to watch Jack and his companion.
“Friends of yours?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.
She was clearly torn between smiling and frowning.
“Two of my students.” She settled for a pinched smile. “As I mentioned in my letters, there’s not much privacy for a schoolmarm in such a small town.” She grimaced slightly and played with the napkin in her lap. “I’m afraid my students discovered one of your letters just this afternoon and…well, they were distracted for the rest of the school day.”
He tipped his head toward the table with the girls. “You want to invite them over to say hello?”
He didn’t wait for her answer, heard her soft noise of protest when he turned in his seat and waved the two girls over.
Their eyes grew big in their faces, and they glanced at each other before scampering over.
“Hello, Miss Harding!” two girlish voices chorused.
Miss Harding. He had a surname.
“Hello. I’m Jack—” He covered for the way he’d cut off his sentence by extending his hand for them to shake. He’d almost introduced himself with his real name.
The first little girl, two inches taller than her sister, shook his hand while looking gravely serious.
Miss Harding sighed quietly. “This is Ellie and Lillian Kilman. Two of my best students.”
The younger girl, who was pumping his hand up and down, was beaming at him. “She says that about all of us. Are you Miss Harding’s new husband?”
“Not yet.”
A glance across the table revealed Miss Harding’s cheeks stained with a rosy blush.
“Mr. Crosby has only just stepped off the train,” she told the girls.
“It sure is nice to meet two of the prettiest young ladies in town. Almost as pretty as your Miss Harding.”
The woman was looking past the girls to wave at their parents, but at his words, her gaze snapped back to him.
If anything, her blush grew more pronounced.
Some boyish urge inside him wanted to see it again.
Ellie and Lillian giggled.
“We’ve been practicing for our Christmas pageant,” Ellie said. “You’re going to come to watch, aren’t you?”
