It All Started With a Lima Bean (12 page)

The school bell rang ending yet another long week. Grateful that Fridays were always minimum scheduled school days, Abby gathered all of the kids she needed to take to the pickup area, having them grab their belongings along the way. She was thankful that Caleb was there to pick up Madison because she needed to talk to him, so she motioned for him to come closer instead of letting the little girl go out to him. His face showed worry as he made his way over and noticed how sad Madison looked. After the last child in the line was picked up, Abby asked if Madison wanted to go play while she talked to her Daddy. Madison nodded and ran toward the swing set.

“What’s going on? Everything alright?” Caleb really looked concerned now.

“Yeah, I just wanted to show you something.” Anxiously, he followed as she walked into her classroom. “We are learning about how plants grow, so we planted lima beans a couple of weeks ago.” Abby pointed to the seeds in the clear plastic baggies taped to the class window. “And as you can see...”

“Oh no, Madison’s is the only one that didn’t sprout.” Sadness filled his brown eyes.

“Yeah, so you can imagine how she feels today. I noticed the others starting to sprout this week, and the kids were so excited. Now that it’s Friday, and hers didn’t sprout at all, she kind of had a hard day.”

“That’s so odd that hers is the only one.” His brows creased while Abby’s heart fluttered with the concern he had for his daughter.

Tearing her eyes away from his handsome face, she glanced back to the lima beans. “It really is bizarre. It’s fairly common to have several that don’t sprout, and I did explain at the beginning of our lesson that they don’t all grow, but when there’s only one that doesn’t then that’s hard for a child to understand. The upsetting part is that I read one of my favorite children’s books to them beforehand. It’s an adorable book by Brent Ching called The Little Lima Bean. The moral of the story is that no matter how small you are, you can do big things. I can only imagine how crushed Madison must feel after hearing such an inspiring story and her seed being the only one that didn’t grow. I know life is filled with disappointment and kids need to learn how to deal with letdowns, but I feel extremely sorry for her. I hope you don’t mind, but I told her we could try it again outside of school. I don’t want anyone to feel like I’m giving her special favors, but she broke my heart today when those chocolate eyes filled with tears.”

“Welcome to my world.” He snickered. “No, I don’t mind if you do it another time with her. It’s actually really sweet of you.” Staring into her eyes, he lifted his lips into a smile. “Really sweet.”

Without hesitation, her cheeks warmed, and she just knew they turned pink. “Um well, she is really sweet, and even though I’m not supposed to say this,” getting just a tad closer to him, she whispered, “She’s my favorite.” Slowly, she put her index finger to her lips, which is exactly where his eyes wondered. “But shh, don’t tell anyone.”

As if he was mesmerized, he gazed at her mouth until Madison came running in interrupting them. “Daddy, Daddy, did Miss Abby tell you that I get to plant another lima bean?”

When he scooped Madison into his arms, Abby backed away and tried to catch her breath. “Yes she did, but we are going to keep that between us since we aren’t going to do it at school. We don’t want the other kids to feel sad that they only got to plant one seed with Miss Abby.” He turned and gave her a wink. Reminding herself to breath, she thought that was quite possibly the sexiest thing she had ever seen, a man holding his beautiful child and winking at her. “We better let Miss Abby go; I’m sure she has other things to do.”

Not knowing why she was telling him, Abby explained, “I’m helping Leah with the flowers for her cousin’s wedding this weekend, so we are putting some things together tonight at her shop to prepare for tomorrow.”

“She has a flower shop in town?” Gently, he put the wiggly child down, who in turn ran back out to the playground.

“Yes, she owns Sassy Stems on Mission Street.”

“I know the place. It’s been there for a couple of years now.”

Wondering whom he would have sent flowers to, Abby mentally scolded herself. “Yes and she does remarkable work. I love to help when she does weddings, but it’s a bonus when it’s for a family member because I get to see everyone’s reactions too.”

“Are you going to be there late?”

“Probably, sometimes we pull all-nighters and then are dead on our feet for the wedding the next day.” She giggled nervously. Thanks to the magnificently attractive man in front of her, she found herself giggling more and more each day.

“Okay, well I should let you go then. I’m sure you need to get lunch, and Madison needs to eat too. I’ll see you later. Enjoy the wedding.” Grinning, he lifted his hand to her in farewell.

Abby watched his behind as he exited the classroom to collect his child.
That man sure does know how to wear a pair of jeans
, she thought to herself for the second time since meeting him.

“Leah I’m telling you, he winked and my heart stopped. What is wrong with me? The poor guy’s wife died, and I’m drooling all over him.” Ashamed of her growing attraction, Abby didn’t understand what she was feeling. Why was she so drawn to this man who’d lost his wife?

“Honey, she passed away like four years ago; it’s not like you are stalking a dying woman’s husband.” Pausing to gauge her reaction, Leah continued. “It’s so good to hear you get excited about a guy. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you get flustered about someone before.” Leah sprayed the flowers she had just arranged with a mister.

“I feel like I’m a teenage girl when I’m around him, and it just isn’t right. It’s downright uncomfortable.” There was a quick knock on the backdoor, startling Abby, and causing her to prick her finger on a rose thorn. “Ouch!” She’d done that several times already. She questioned, “Are you expecting someone?” before sticking the bleeding finger into her mouth.

“No. I have a sign on the front that says we closed early today. Come with me to the door.”

The two women crept to the back door slowly opening it to find Caleb standing there with bags in his hands. “Do you ladies normally open the door to strange men after dark?” He chuckled.

“Nobody’s ever knocked on that door after dark before.” Leah breathed a sigh of relief.

Focusing on Abby sucking her finger, Caleb eventually moved his eyes to the bags and cleared his throat. “I hope you girls are hungry. Someone told me that you might have to work late here tonight, so I thought I’d bring dinner by.”

“Starving! Come on in.” Leah stepped aside leaving Abby standing there gawking at him. He walked in and passed by them, looking for a place to put all the food. As usual, he smelled so delicious. His own masculine scent tickled her nose as well as the yummy food he was carrying.

Behind his back, Leah gave Abby an
oh-my-gosh
look and Abby mouthed “I
know
.”

Caleb turned to them, eyeing each suspiciously. “Did I miss something?”

“Nope.” Abby giggled as she did every time she saw him, then she looked at Leah as if she knew she had just committed a massive no no in the big girl’s guide to getting a grown man.

“Abby, I know you are a vegetarian.” He turned to Leah. “I assumed since you eat with her all of the time that you don’t mind that kind of food either so I got Chinese.”

It took a moment, but Leah finally spoke up. “We both love vegetarian Chinese food. This was very nice of you, wasn’t it Abby?” Leah threw the ball back into Abby’s court.

“Yes, very nice. Thank you.” Staring at the bags of food, she reddened.
Freaking A, again?

“So I know I’m kind of crashing your party here, but I also wanted to offer my help. My feelings won’t be hurt if you just want it to be the two of you but if you can use my...”

Leah answered before he even had a chance to finish offering. “Oh you can stay. Not a problem. We have a ton of work ahead of us and can use all of the help we can get, especially to move the heavier arrangements.”

“Do you mind if we eat first? I was hoping I would be staying and didn’t eat dinner yet.”

“Grab a seat and let’s dig in.”

The conversation was easy and comfortable during the meal, and while they put the flower arrangements together. Leah was extremely particular about how she wanted everything to look, and he was happy to oblige. Caleb thought he was doing a fine job especially since it was his first time arranging flowers.

Initially he wondered if this was stepping over some kind of line when he first thought about bringing dinner, but he was tired of playing things safe. Something was stirring between Abby and him. He hadn’t had any type of romantic feelings for another woman since Rene died but with his mother-in-law’s suggestion, he decided to throw caution to the wind for a bit and see what happened. Caleb also knew how close Abby was to her best friend and thought this would be the most comfortable situation for them to get to know each other a little better.

Enjoying himself, he thought about how much fun Leah was. He understood why the women got along so well. They had all indulged in a couple of bottles of wine by the time they were finished and joked that the flower arrangements might appear to be a little crooked the next day.

As they cleaned up, Leah asked the magic question, “So Caleb, do you own a suit?” and then eyed Abby who looked horrified.

“Why yes I do Leah; why do you ask?” He had a feeling he already knew.

“Well you see, if you are free, we’d love for you to join us at the wedding tomorrow. You can see the fruits of your labor
and
save my friend here from the humiliation of my cousin Manuel trying once again to get her to go out with him. You can be her date.” Leah bounced a little on the balls of her feet. Caleb didn’t know which idea terrified Abby more, the prospect of the cousin or the suggestion Leah just made.

“I would love to join you guys if you would like me to Abby. I’d hate to leave you in an awkward situation with Cousin Manuel.”
Uh oh.
He recognized that look on Abby’s face. She really was mortified. Did she not want him to go or was she just embarrassed because her friend put it out there? It looked like tears started to well up in her eyes. “I don’t have to go if you would rather I don’t. I know it might be odd because you are my child’s teacher, but I’d enjoy being friends as well.”

Abby shyly muttered, “Actually, it would be nice if you went. It may be awkward for you since you only know Leah and me, but it would give us a chance to get to know each other better. As friends.”

“Can I walk you ladies to your cars?”

“Leah lives upstairs, and I’m just going to stay with her tonight, so we are fine.”

“What time should I meet you tomorrow?”

“The wedding is at 4:00.” Abby started then Leah interrupted, “Which is Salvadorian for 6:00.” She giggled, a little tipsy.

“We need to get there early to set up so we should leave here by 12:00.”

“Can I get your number in case I need to call you?” Hopeful but again, not wanting to cross any lines, he waited for her answer.