He gave a little nod and dropped it in the bucket, then turned to face her. He opened his mouth and she waited to see what words would escape but after a few seconds, the only thing that came out was, “Gotta go.”
Even as the disappointment swept through her, she knew it was for the best.
“See you Tuesday at six,” she said weakly, unsure if she should thank him for the orgasms.
Would that be weird?
That would be weird.
After another hesitation, but without a confirmation of him showing up Tuesday, he slipped silently into the dark.
The dampness between her thighs and the sound of her wooden gate latching closed a sudden wake-up call of what just happened.
Chapter Ten
Chelle stepped out into the warm sun, squinting at the brightness. She paused to dig her sunglasses out of the small backpack that doubled as her purse when she worked.
It wouldn’t be long before the winter swept into northern Pennsylvania, so she wanted to take advantage of the nice weather by walking over to the high school and eating her lunch on the bleachers at the football field. She had today’s true-life murder mystery podcast cued up on her phone and her earbuds dangling around her neck.
After slipping her sunglasses on, she heard the double doors open behind her and a little girl chatting away at a quick clip.
With a glance over her shoulder, she noticed Cassie from Tioga Pet Crematorium with her daughter Daisy.
It was the middle of the school day, maybe Daisy was going home sick.
As soon as Cassie spotted Chelle, she smiled and gave a wave. “Hey, Mrs. Goodson!”
Daisy bolted from Cassie’s side and ran up to come toe to toe with her and flopped her head back. “Hi, Mrs. Goodson! I’m ready for a new book!” Some of the children hadn’t learned about personal space yet. Daisy was one of them.
Chelle took a step back and leaned over to get face to face with her instead. “You are? That’s great. It looks like you’re leaving right now, so come visit me when you get back. I’ll pick one out for you.” She straightened, squeezed Daisy’s shoulder and turned toward Cassie. “Everything all right?”
Cassie waved a dismissing hand. “Yes, she’s scheduled for a regular check-up. She won’t be back today but she can get a book from you tomorrow.”
“I want one now!” Daisy insisted.
One of Cassie’s blonde eyebrows lifted in warning at her daughter’s demand.
Daisy pouted and huffed in answer. Chelle waited for the accompanying foot stomp, but it didn’t happen. Someone must be working with her on that.
The sass in that girl just oozed from her pores. She was grateful Maddie and Josie never acted like that. It would’ve made parenting on her own even more difficult.
“I’ll find you a book this afternoon and put it aside for you for tomorrow. Is that a deal?”
Daisy smiled and gave her an exaggerated nod. “Deal!”
“All right, let’s go, young lady,” Cassie urged. “We don’t want to be late for your appointment.”
“Momma, am I gonna get shot?”
Shot?
Chelle rolled her lips under. A shot.
Cassie grimaced. “I don’t know.”
Cassie knew.
Chelle did her best to keep her expression blank.
“I don’t want a shot.”
“None of us do, Daisy, but sometimes they’re necessary,” Chelle said as the three of them walked toward the wide concrete sidewalk that ran in front of the elementary school. She noticed Cassie’s SUV was parked at the curb.
That wasn’t the only thing she noticed.
She caught herself before she stumbled.
Daisy broke away in a sloppy lope with her arms flailing and her cartoon-themed backpack swinging wildly, leaving a high-pitched squeal in her wake.
Cassie sighed loudly beside Chelle and quickened her pace. “She’s going to be the death of me. And Judge wants another. I don’t know if my sanity can take it.”
Chelle smothered a nervous giggle as they got closer to the curb and the man she’d had two orgasms with last night. In the dark, behind the shed, with most of their clothes on.
Daisy had run up to him yelling, “Hey! Can I ride on your sled?” so loudly, they could hear her on an orbiting space station.
Sled?
“That’s not a sled, honey, that’s a motorcycle,” Chelle corrected the six-year-old as she caught up to her. Shawn’s dark sunglass-covered eyes met hers and held.
Even without seeing his almost black eyes, his quiet stare made her tingle in quite a few places of note. Which was not appropriate in front of a six-year-old, the girl’s mother and a whole elementary school full of children.
After a few more intense moments, he dropped his gaze from Chelle to the blonde whirlwind standing next to him with a hand now planted on his denim-clad thigh.
Of course, if Cassie was a part of the same club as Shawn, then Daisy would know the members well. So, it shouldn’t be weird that the girl was touching an adult male who was not related. If so, Cassie would be stepping in. Right?
Maybe they considered themselves family, just not in the traditional way.
Family or not, she wondered why he was there. Certainly not to see her?
“Not thinkin’ your momma’s gonna want you ridin’ with me,” he finally answered Daisy in his typical slow speech.
Cassie seconded that. “That’s correct. Her momma does not want her on the back of your sled. Not because I don’t trust you, Sh— Shawn,” she grimaced, “but—”
“Who’s Shawn?” Daisy interrupted with a scrunched-up face. “Shade’s name is Shade, Momma! You’re silly!”
Shade? That was a weird name. Chelle noticed the name matched the embroidered lettering on a rectangular patch sewn onto the front of his black leather vest. Another one said, “Manning Grove.”
“Yes, your momma is very silly.” Cassie peeled Daisy’s hand from Shawn’s thigh and tugged on it. “Okay, let’s go.”
Of course, Daisy dug in her heels. “Where’s Saylor? Why didn’t she pick me up?”
“She needed a break from all your questions.”
Chelle turned her face away to hide her smothered laugh.
“She did not!” Daisy insisted. “Do I ask a lot of questions?”
When Chelle turned back, she realized the little girl had asked the man straddling the motorcycle.
“Yeah, baby girl, you do,” Shade answered, his lips twitching.
Daisy laughed, not caring one iota that she did.
“Asking questions gives you answers to most of life’s mysteries,” Chelle told her. Not always, but it sounded good. She never wanted a child’s curiosity to be dampened by being told not to ask questions. It was one way they learned.
“As long as you aren’t demanding those answers and stomping your foot when you don’t get them fast enough.” Cassie tugged on her hand again. “C’mon, little miss curious, let’s go.”
“I wanna ride with Shade to the doctor’s.”
“We already had that discussion. He doesn’t have your helmet with him, anyway. Judge told everyone they had to follow that rule no matter what. You don’t want to get Shade,” she shot a quick glance at Chelle, “in trouble, right?”