Page 10 of Scoop Me Up
I nodded. “She’s one of my students. She moved into town at the beginning of second grade with her mom. Divorce.”
“Ellie liked your tamarind ice cream?”
I leaned close to Cooper. “Not Ellie. Herdad.”
“Oh. My. God. You didn’t.”
“What? I didn’t do anything,” I protested.
Cooper smirked. “I bet you didn’t.”
My cheeks heated. “Look, just because he’s hot—”
“Iknewit.”
Dropping my voice to a whisper, I leaned a little closer. “He really seemed to like it. But… he’s straight. Probably. Right?”
Cooper shrugged. “Just because he was married to a woman doesn’t make him automatically straight. I mean, hello. Welcome to Maplewood.”
I snorted, and I was about to point out the fact that he’d shown no interest in me as anything other than his daughter’s teacher, when I heard a voice call out to me. At that moment, Ellie skipped over to the table. “Hi, Mix,” she said, waving enthusiastically.
“Hey, Ellie. I thought you were going home to take a rest.”
She shrugged, and a second later, Gabe caught up to her.
“El, you can’t just run—oh. Hi.” He rubbed the back of his neck and nodded in greeting.
“Daddy, can I go back to the coloring station?”
Gabe frowned and hesitated.
“It’s safe,” I assured him. “This is Maplewood.”
He turned to Ellie. “Okay, but go straight there. I’ll be over in a minute.” With that, Ellie took off in the direction of the kids’ zone and the coloring tables.
When she was gone, I cleared my throat, a little nervously. “No rest for the weary?”
Gabe laughed. “No rest for parents, especially not this parent.”
We were silent for a second before Cooper broke the tension. “Hi. I’m Cooper.”
With a smile, Gabe turned his attention to him. “Gabe.” He raised his eyebrows. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
I elbowed Cooper in the side and shot him a look that begged him not to embarrass me.
Gabe chuckled a little. “Have you?”
I kicked Cooper under the table and leaned forward. “I was just about to tell Cooper how you conquered that ice cream eating contest.”
With a snort, Gabe shook his head. “Hardly.”
“You gave it your best,” I said.
Another little chuckle. “I guess I did.” He paused for a moment before speaking again. “Well, it was good to see you again. I guess I’d better keep up with the monster. See you at the judging.” He gave us a little wave before heading off in the direction of the kids’ tent.
The minute Gabe was out of earshot, Cooper grabbed my arm with one hand. “Oh. My. God. Heishot. The dad bod is totally working for him.”
“Okay,” I said, holding up a hand to stop him.
