When she entered the room with Erica, Aimee saw that it wasn’t as daunting as she’d thought. It had fewer than thirty people, and several strips of fluorescent lights shed light on the area. At one end was a kitchen, separated from the main room by a serving window. A podium and an electric keyboard were located at the opposite end of the room.

      Two men stood near the entryway. Something seemed familiar about the muscular shoulders of one of them, and when he turned, Aimee recognized the friendly man she’d met at school earlier in the day. He must have recognized her, too, because he stared at her with a look of surprise. By the time they reached him, an infectious smile that spread to his dark eyes had stretched across his face.

      “Well, hello again,” he said.

      Surprised at how pleased she was to see him, Aimee returned his smile. “I didn’t expect to see you again, either, at least not so soon.” She felt her face flushing. She hoped her remark didn’t sound as if she’d been thinking about him.

      Aimee sensed Erica’s sharp glance. “Say, do you two know each other?”

      “Not really,” Aimee said. “We met at school this morning, and we haven’t even been properly introduced.”

      “I can take care of that,” Erica said. “Aimee Blake, this is Jacob Mallory.”

      “It’s great to see you,” Jacob said, moving closer and extending his hand. “Thanks for being so kind to my friend Alex today. He’s a shy kid.”

      She placed her hand in Jacob’s and welcomed the warm pressure of his hand grasping hers. This morning she had assumed he was Alex’s father, but apparently he wasn’t. Then why had he brought the little boy to school?

      “I’ll introduce you to the others before the meeting starts,” Erica said, and Aimee and Jacob exchanged polite smiles as she followed Erica. Walking from one group to the other, Erica kept up a low commentary about the people in the room. Aimee was grateful for the information, hoping she would be able to associate names with faces. They finally sat in a row of chairs not far from the podium. Soon, Jacob stopped beside Aimee and Erica.

      “Hi, is it okay if I sit with you?”

      “Sure,” Erica said. “I have to help set up the stage for our musicians when they get here. You can visit with Aimee while I’m doing that.”

      As Jacob took the chair to her right, Aimee sensed that Erica wasn’t too excited about his sitting with them. She slanted a curious glance toward Erica but couldn’t read her expression. For months, Erica had been trying to get Aimee “out of her shell,” as she often described it, and Aimee would have thought Erica would be pleased to have Jacob Mallory befriending her. But Erica evidently wasn’t keen on leaving her in Jacob’s company, and Aimee couldn’t imagine why.

      In Aimee’s opinion, Jacob seemed like a really nice guy—and he wasn’t bad to look at either. Again, she noted the tall, well-built man’s thick, brown hair and dark brown eyes. His chiseled face was lean with a well-proportioned nose and a large, shapely mouth. Even more important than his physical appearance, he appeared to have a genuine interest in the people around him that instantly put Aimee at ease.

      “Have you and Erica just met?” he asked.

      “No. We’ve been neighbors for several years.”

      “I can’t believe she’s waited this long to bring you to our meetings,” Jacob commented.

      “Oh, she’s invited me lots of times,” Aimee answered, “but I’ve always refused.”

      Jacob’s brows lifted inquiringly, but Aimee didn’t feel like explaining her lack of interest in a singles group. When she remained silent, he said, “Tell me about yourself, Aimee.”

      Grimacing, she said, “I’m a widow with a fourteen-year-old daughter, going on twenty.”

      Jacob chuckled as if he understood what she meant, and Aimee added, “Samantha is spending the night at a friend’s, so when Erica invited me to this meeting, I came as her guest. I don’t intend to join the group.”

      “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it,” Jacob suggested.

      “Probably, but my main job is being a mother. I started working at Eastside Elementary years ago when Samantha started there, so my job and being a single mom keep me plenty busy. How about you? Are you a native of Benton?”

      “Except for four years in college and a few years at a job in the eastern part of Virginia, I’ve always lived in Benton. I’m a professional counselor. I moved back home when I had the opportunity to buy a counseling service here.”

      “I assumed that Alex your son,” Aimee commented.

      “I don’t have many relatives,” Jacob said, his smile vanishing as he looked slightly disturbed, slightly wistful. “Alex is just a boy I’m trying to help. He’s been sick and had to miss several days of school. His mother is ill, too, and she asked me to take him back to school and explain his absence. I met him through Substitute Siblings.”

      “Substitute Siblings?”

      “It’s a fairly new organization,” Jacob explained. “In my line of work, I see a lot of children from dysfunctional families who are growing up without much love or guidance. The goal of Substitute Siblings is to pair these children with older adults who will be buddies to them.”

      “Sort of like the Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteers?” Aimee asked.

      “Similar to that,” Jacob said. “And because there wasn’t a branch of that organization in Benton, my grandmother and I decided to start something. In a few cases our volunteers take the children into their homes on a temporary basis, but mostly they just befriend them by taking them shopping, to ball games, to movies or to other activities to make them