Page 21 of Rum & Coke

“Bring him.”

“To L.A.?”

“Sure, why not?”

“But the drive, the noise.”

“I know what to do.” I smiled. “Remember, I specialize in this.”

“Right, but I don’t think he’ll be able to ride there and back in one day, plus a baseball game.”

“We’ll make it a weekend trip and get a hotel—”

“I can’t get a hotel room with you.”

I grinned. “Two rooms, of course.”

“Let me think about it. Our last road trip was when he was three and we moved to Vegas. It didn’t go so well.”

“We’ll make stops along the way. We’ll bring snacks, his favorite toys, noise-canceling headphones, an iPad, and whatever else I can think of. We’ll be fine.”

“Okay.”

I was starting to really love that word as it left her lips. “Okay?”

Tessa smiled, and after a few seconds she agreed. “Yeah, let’s do it. It will be good for him, and he loves the Giants.”

I smirked. “Not after he sees how much better the Dodgers are.”

She tsked. “That will never happen because it’s not true.”

“Only time will tell, Tess. Only time will tell.”

Holy shit. What the hell was I doing?

Before Tessa left my classroom, I told her I’d buy the baseball tickets and book our hotel rooms near the stadium. Sure, friends did that, and it shouldn’t be a big deal, but being friends with her was fucking with my head. I wanted to be more than friends. I wanted to only have one hotel room—alone. I wanted to know what she looked like fully naked, not just her tits.

I wanted her.

But now that I was going to be her son’s teacher, there was more of a chance it would never happen. Maybe it was the universe telling me we were only meant to be friends. I didn’t like that idea, but I was going to have to deal with it. I didn’t want to cross the line and lose my job. I was already walking on eggshells because it would only take one co-worker or a parent of a student to book a date with me through S&R and my career in education would implode.

I had a feeling shit was going to go down, and it wasn’t going to be good for me.

Since Tessa needed to work Friday night and tonight, I decided we would go to the Sunday game. That way, we could drive after Tessa got off work Saturday night, and Colton could sleep on the drive, which would make for a better car ride in general. Tessa gave me her address and asked me to be at her apartment an hour after her shift ended.

After parking, I made my way to her apartment number and knocked on the door. When it opened, I expected to see her smiling face. Instead, it wasn’t her. It was the stripper I’d paid forty bucks to tell me Tessa wasn’t working.

“Ah,” I stuttered, glancing at the apartment number on the door again.

She smiled. “It’s good to see you again,Duane.”

“Um …”

The door opened wider, and Tessa was there. “Hey.” She smiled.

“Hey.”

“This is Melony, my best friend and co-worker.”