Page 26 of Smoke Show

The twenty-something man arched one perfectly manicured brow. "Any comment on the rumors you played knight gallant to Eve Pendleton's fair maiden at play practice last night?"

"Is there anythingwork-relatedI can help you with, Chris?"

"Nope," he said. "Just the latest gossip." He waved a hand toward his desk. "If we're stretching the truth, I could claim to need to know if I should put Eve through if she calls… but really, I'm just nosy."

"Please put Ms. Pendleton through if she calls. After all, she's doing sets for theSnow Queen. She's also my point of contact with the council for the Winter Warmth Auction," I reminded him gently.

"Yes, yes, of course," Chris fluttered his hands. "But what if she calls with something of a morepersonalnature?"

Chris's persistence was invaluable when I needed something done. Remembering that on the rare times he turned that bulldog attitude on me took some effort. I heaved a sigh, lifting my cell phone.

"She has my number, Chris."

The other man grinned. "Yeah, Ibetshe does. Eve is a catch. She does beautiful work."

"Yeah? Have you gone to her for a tattoo?"

"Umhm," Chris murmured. "But I won't tell you where." He added a saucy wink, and I scrubbed my face with my hands. It was my own damn fault for asking.

Chris maintained the bare minimum of decorum for my comfort level, but he was a damn good office manager. I definitely didn't need to know about anything he did outside of work, or about any tattoos that lurked under his long sleeves.

"Please don't. Can you please bring me the latest budget report? I need to go over it before the next school board meeting."

Thankfully, Chris turned to do as I asked. But he set the pattern for the day: person after person alluded to my flirtation with Eve at play practice.

Ishouldregret it. Small town gossip was ruthless and the morality clause in my school district contract meant that I had to be careful. Thankfully, not even the school board could find fault with a little playacting at an actual drama practice.

After a long day of meetings and classroom observations, I was eager to see Eve at practice. Surprising, since I'd started out dreading the whole affair. Thankfully, the cast was coming together and most were nearly ready to go off-script. Only Caleb seemed to struggle, more entranced with Lissie than his lines. My students were blessedly calm, maybe all exhausted from play practice four nights a week on top of school full-time, but I appreciated the serenity after yesterday's theatrics. Granted, I had no one to blame but myself for overreacting to Eve's injury. I'd panicked, worried that she'd caught her hand on the saw, visions of a bloody mess blinding me to the reality of her splinter. The sight of blood still made me nauseous. I had to wonder if it always would, or if the rush of memories that accompanied blood would fade over time. It’d been more than ten years since the accident. I’d managed to hike again, forcing myself to get beyond cell reception, but even minor injuries with blood still spun me out.

Shaking off the melancholy that thinking about Joe always brought to the surface, I focused on wrapping up practice without letting the fact that I was mooning over Eve become too apparent. She'd been on time for once, leaving me without a reason to tease her. I hadn't expected to miss it. She and Mitch had been working industriously at the back, painting set pieces all practice.

"Hey," I said, approaching her as the students filtered out. Eve was capping her paints. "You missed a spot," I said, swiping at a fleck of green on the tip of her nose.

"Thanks, but that was my emotional support paint."

Snorting gently, I shook my head. "Emotional support paint? Why do you need that when I'm right here?"

Eve chuckled, the sound rolling through me like thunder, sparking me to life.

"Brady, pretty sure you're the problem."

"Ah," I said, watching her carefully. "I take it you got the third-degree today too?"

She nodded. "Yup."

"And does that change your answer for Saturday? I thought we could grab lunch, then maybe head to the snow park at Kings' Lake?"

"You want to take me sledding in the mountains?" she asked.

King’s Lake wasn’t that far out of town, and the elevation change meant they got more snow than Campfire.

"If you're game."

"Oh, I'm game," Eve promised, delight in her expression. "I haven't been sledding in ages."

"Do you have snow gear?"

She nodded. "I can pull something together and borrow from Izzy if I need to."

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