Page 73 of Control Freak

She flapped her hand. “You’re just substituting for now. We’ll have plenty of time to observe you in the classroom before a permanent teaching position becomes an option. Besides, Parker vouched for you.”

I seriously owed him a beer. He was sticking his neck out for someone he barely knew. I was new to the small-town life, but if this was how it worked, I was ready to sign up.

I said my goodbyes to Sheffield, promising to check my email later for scheduling, tax forms, and the district policy. Basically, all the red tape that went with starting a new job.

Holden had let me take his GTO to my interview, to Bailey’s outrage. Apparently, he’d never been allowed to drive it.

I slid behind the wheel, started the engine, and turned on the GPS, even though I mostly knew my way back. Riverton wasn’t too hard to navigate. The town curved along a river, with an industrial district on one side and the downtown square and nicer neighborhoods on the other.

The brothers’ auto shop and house were on the edge of town, past the pool hall, tattoo parlor, and sex shop. In other words, as far as possible from the fancier houses by the community college.

I turned on Bluetooth and streamed some Taylor Swift on the way back, bouncing in my seat. Even with the low pay, it felt like a step in the right direction.

When I returned, Bailey was bent over an open car, talking some mechanical foreign language to Flynn, who looked like he understood it better than I did.

Holden opened his office door, face set in stern lines that eased as soon as he saw me. “Hey! How did the interview go?”

I skipped over to him, beaming. “I have a job!”

“Yes! That’s great, Shy!”

I raised my arms as if to hug him, then caught myself and dropped them.

“Yeah!” I said, speaking quickly to cover the blunder. “The principal was great, and I owe Parker big-time. He basically told them I’d be good.”

“You will be,” Holden said, tone a bit off, as if he, too, was feeling the missing hug between us. “You’re a great teacher.”

“None of you know that,” I said. “I could be crap at it.”

“Some things you just know,” he said with a shrug. “You love it way too much to be anything but great.”

Gray handed us each a beer from the corner fridge, the glass bottle cold and wet with condensation. “Drink up, Teach. You did good.”

I took the bottle, a little bemused. I didn’t think I’d ever had so many people invested in my goals before.

Holden held up his drink. “Here’s to Riverton getting the best damn teacher in Nebraska.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Gray said.

“Me too.” Flynn raised his bottle and took a sip. Poor Bailey was stuck with a root beer, but he drank gamely.

“I still say I should get to drive the GTO,” he said.

“Nope!” Holden said with relish. “That’s reserved for teachers only.”

The guys all laughed, even Bailey, but I was too busy trying not to cry. I’d thought I’d lost teaching, and I hadsureas hell lost my family. Who knew they’d be waiting for me in some tiny little town in the Midwest?

While the guys finished their shift at the auto shop, I went shopping and got to work on a special dinner. Now that I had a job, a potential future, I had to figure out my next move. Which meant talking to them.Allof them. Holden was happy I was here, but he wasn’t the only one who lived in this house.

I wasn’t the best cook ever, definitely not as good as Emory, but I had one surefire meal in my arsenal that I thought the guys would like: pork chops with skillet gravy, homemade mac and cheese, and my grandmother’s famous cornbread biscuits.

“Wow,” Emory said after I’d called everyone in for dinner. “This looks amazing.”

Holden carried a casserole dish of mac and cheese to the table for me. “Emory’s right. You really outdid yourself tonight.”

“Yeah, you’re a working man now,” Gray teased. “You don’t have to spoil us so much.”

“Now, don’t sell him short,” Axel said, “Shiloh wasalreadya working man. He worked long and hard for our brother, remember?”