The Summer Proposal. Judith McWilliams
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The sound of her name on his lips did odd things to her equilibrium. Somehow, shaped by his deep voice, her name took on an allure that she knew it didn’t really have. It sounded mysterious and seductive, totally different from her normal practical self.
Mentally, Julie shook her head, trying to dislodge the fantasy. You are here to work, she reminded herself. Concentrate on the son. Him you can handle.
Julie’s gaze dropped to Will, noting the belligerent thrust of his lower lip. He looked confused and unhappy. She wanted to assure him that everything would be all right, but she refused to lie to him. She had no idea if everything would be all right in his world. Nor had she any way of making it so. She shot a quick glance at Caleb, who was watching his son with a hungry longing, and felt fractionally better. If human effort could fix Will’s world, then she didn’t have the slightest doubt that Caleb would do it.
“What’s you going to do?” Will demanded.
“Just read a little with you, ask you a few questions and play a few games,” Julie said.
“I ain’t ath…a…letical.” Will stumbled over the word. “Sports is dumb.”
“Tell me, what are your feelings on the English language?” Caleb asked dryly.
“Huh?” Will gave his father a blank look.
Julie cleared her throat, and gave Caleb a repressive look. This was no time to be worrying about Will’s command of English. Or lack, thereof. Trying to focus on too many things at once would only confuse the child. And probably make him more uncooperative than he already was.
“If we could get started?” Julie said.
“This way,” Caleb said as he headed toward the open French doors on the far side of the large recreation room.
“Is that one of them ret…things?” Will whispered to Julie.
“Yup,” Julie whispered back.
They followed Caleb through the French doors onto a brick-paved terrace. There were large terra-cotta pots filled with multicolored flowers scattered around, and beneath the shade of a huge sugar maple tree was a glass-topped table with four wrought-iron chairs circling it. To the left of the French doors were several loungers with brightly flowered cushions. The whole scene radiated a sense of peace and tranquillity. It would be the perfect place to relax after a busy day.
“How lovely this is,” Julie voiced her appreciation.
“He ain’t got no swimming pool,” Will pointed out. “At home, everybody’s got a swimming pool.”
“Everybody?” Julie set her briefcase down on the table and pulled out a pack of cards.
“Well, everybody who ain’t poor,” Will claimed. “Is you poor?” He shot the question at his father.
“Don’t worry. I have enough money to pay the bills,” Caleb said.
“Mom says that no one never has enough money. I have lots though. I gots me a trust fund from Mom’s dad who died afor I was ever born. I don’t mind sharing with you,” Will offered.
“I appreciate the thought—” Caleb smiled at his son “—but you can’t spend your money until you are of age.”
“I got age, six years of age,” Will insisted. “And Mom said I can spend my money just as I please.”
“I am not your mother,” Caleb said.
Not hardly, Julie thought with an appreciative glance at Caleb’s very masculine body, her eyes lingering on his muscular forearms beneath the rolled-up sleeves of his pale blue denim shirt.
“But—” Will began.
“Shall we get started,” Julie interrupted before the argument could escalate.
“Will, you sit there.” She pointed to a chair.
Reluctantly Will sat down. “I hate tests.”
“Really?” She sounded mildly curious. “If you haven’t been to school, how do you know about tests?”
Will opened his mouth, closed it again and scowled at her.
“Please sit down there, Caleb,” Julie said, hoping that having the distance of the table between them would help her to ignore him. It was a tactical error. Across from her, he was directly in her line of sight, and her eyes kept straying to him.
You are a teacher, she reprimanded herself. You are here to evaluate a child, not fantasize about the child’s father.
“What’s them?” Will pointed to the deck of cards she was holding.
“These are to test your ESP, because if you really are an alien in disguise then I can’t teach you. Aliens are outside my area of expertise,” Julie said seriously as she dealt ten of the cards facedown in front of him.
“Cool! Just like on X-Files!” Will scooted around on the chair in excitement. “Do you find many aliens?”
“Nary a one,” Julie said.
“Aw, sh—”
“William Alister Tarrington!” Caleb bit out.
“What?” Will gave his father a confused look.
Julie looked from Caleb’s furious features to Will’s confused ones and stifled a sigh. From the look on Will’s face, she had the discouraging feeling that the boy had no clue as to why his father was so mad. It would appear there was a cultural gap a mile wide between father and son.
“I absolutely forbid—” Caleb began.
Julie hastily reached across the small table and touched Caleb’s shoulder, intent only on stopping him before the whole situation exploded into anger on Caleb’s part and tears on Will’s, which would ruin any chance for her to evaluate the child today. Her fingers involuntarily twitched as she felt the warmth of his body beneath the soft cotton of his shirt.
Her touch felt like a live wire had been laid on Caleb’s bare skin. It scorched his flesh and raced over his nerve endings, speeding up his heartbeat. He took a deep breath, hoping to regain control of his senses. It didn’t work. The faint scent of the perfume she was wearing drifted into his lungs, deepening his sexual awareness of her.
Damn! Caleb thought with black humor. Of all times for his body to indulge in a sexual fantasy. When he was lecturing his son about inappropriate social behavior!
“Why can’t I say sh—that word?” Will substituted at Caleb’s glare. “Everybody says it. Mom does and all Mom’s friends, and in the movies and—”
“What kind of movies do you see?” Caleb demanded.
“We seem to have wandered from the purpose of my visit,” Julie interrupted, despite her sympathy for Caleb. He was really going to have his work cut out for him. Not only was the poor man going to have to try to forge some kind of relationship with a child he had never laid eyes on before two days ago, but he was also going to have to teach that child what was and wasn’t allowed in normal society. A task that was bound to initially earn Will’s resentment.
To Julie’s relief, Caleb subsided without another word. Almost as if he was relieved to have her deal with the present problem.
Julie turned to Will. “I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on the number that is hidden on each of the ten cards. Tell me what you think each one is.”
Will, with a cautious look at his father, obediently squeezed his eyes shut and caught his lower lip between his small teeth in concentration.
“The first one is six,” Will decided.
“Am I right?” He opened one eye and peered hopefully at her.
“I’ll tell you at the end,” Julie said. “Guess the rest.”
Will