Page 20 of The Run Home
“She’s an entomology major, dude,” the football coach bellowed.
Boon was suddenly by my side, studying the exquisite orange lines on the bug’s back. “It’s just a lovebug or something,” he grumbled. “I thought it was going to sting you.”
“We don’t have lovebugs here. This is a rubrolineata.”
“A rube-what?”
“A western boxelder bug.” I began walking, intent on getting this baby outside where it would be free to live out the rest of its dazed and confused life. Boon followed.
“Seriously, I had no idea. I thought you were about to be stung. Did I hurt you?”
I freed the bug in the first bush I saw outside the door leading to the quad area. When I was convinced it would live to see another day, I turned to Boon, hands going to my hips.
“I’m fine, no thanks to you. Hit women often?”
His handsome face went ashen behind the perennial five o’clock shadow. I almost felt bad for a split second. But before I could let him off the hook, he took my elbow in his hand again, just as gently as last night, and led me back to the break room. Thankfully everyone’s attention had moved on from the crazy bug lady’s dramatic rescue. Except Lydia, however, and her gaze was firmly affixed to where Boon still touched me. I shifted to get my arm away from him and sat back down at our lunch table. He followed, gaze still on my face.
“I’m sorry. Seriously. I didn’t mean to hit you. I would never.”
I brushed away his apology with my hand. “I know. I’m just giving you crap, bat boy. Calm down.”
We all took a bite of our lunch, tense silence dominating the table. Finally Boon put down his sub sandwich and wiped the napkin across his lips.
“So. You’re an entomologist? What other incredible things have you done since high school graduation?”
“Yeah, Shae. We want to know all about you,” Lydia drawled, much drier than the pasta I was trying to eat. I considered kicking her under the table again.
I turned a fake smile on Boon, looking at his hat and not his expressive brown eyes. “Let’s see. Entomology degree from Arizona, came back here to teach, the end. How about you?”
Boon gave me a look that was all too familiar. He knew I was messing with him and he was about to return the favor. “Played with some balls, came back here to teach, the end.”
Lydia choked on her lunch. My cheeks flushed.
“Oh, sure. Like being a world-famous baseball player with a World Series title under your belt is no big thing.”
His grin made his dimples pop. “You been keeping tabs on me, lovebug?”
The switch in nicknames had my cheeks flaming hotter.
“Did you forget the part about having a daughter?” Lydia asked, a hardness to her tone that made me want to reach across the table and give her a bear hug for grilling this man when I was apparently incapable.
Boon’s dimples disappeared and he went back to eating his sandwich, buying time to answer Lydia’s question. I’d studied this man for hours when we were kids, and not much had changed. Not really. I didn’t miss the way his shoulders seemed a little too tense. The shift in his gaze that wouldn’t land on anything and hold. He was nervous.
He finally put down the sandwich and addressed Lydia. The expression on his face was fierce. So much so that Lydia was the one now swallowing hard and struggling to hold his gaze. The man was potent.
“I have never forgotten I have a daughter. It’s my daughter who’d like to forget she has a dad, something I’m working on rectifying.”
Lydia’s painted-red mouth popped open, but no sound came out. My heart bled for Kinsley. Positively ached for this huge man with an easy smile and flirty nature. There was something dark and painful below the surface that he never alluded to. And now both Lydia and I had seen it.
“Mind if I sit?” a syrupy-sweet voice asked from my left.
I looked up to see the young school nurse that had been hired this year. Alyssa Rivera was short, dark-haired, and beautiful in a youthful way even the best makeup couldn’t do for me these days.
“Absolutely,” Boon responded, standing like he was some kind of gentleman.
Alyssa giggled and had a seat. She’d never asked to sit with us before and maybe that was an oversight of mine. As a tenured employee, I should have reached out to her when she first started. But I didn’t think today’s request had been because she was dying to get to know me and Lydia. As she licked peanut butter that had dripped onto her finger, her dark eyes on Boon, I had a feeling she’d noticed the latest new hire.
“I’m Boon, by the way,” the man said magnanimously, flirty smile at the ready.
