Page 67 of When Love Takes Root

I laughed before I could stop myself. Josiah wasn’t staring, just watching as if my joy had caught his attention more than anything else in the room.

Our eyes met. I looked away first.

“Homework,” I said, clapping once.

I checked homework one paper at a time and told Skye her S looked like a snake with anxiety. Josiah worked near the back, but every so often, I felt his eyes lift.

Once, I caught him tightening something near the open wall. He looked up before I could turn away. His eyes held mine through the mirror for one stolen second, and heat touched my face like I’d stepped too close to a stove.

By the time Onyx gathered everybody near the door, he looked between Josiah and me with a smirk, and I wanted to chunk my rattail comb at his head.

While bouncing Jamilah on his hip, he called out, “Avengers, assemble.”

The kids poured out laughing, waving, fussing, and calling goodbye over one another. Kayden stopped last, gave Josiah one more look, then kissed my cheek.

“Mama, please text me when you’re leaving,” he said.

“I will.”

“I mean it.”

“I know, baby.”

When the door closed behind them, Josiah stood near the back, watching the empty doorway before he looked at me. “You have a beautiful family.”

My throat tightened. “Thank you.”

“You do really well with them.”

I smiled. “I try my best under the circumstances.”

“I can tell.”

The way he said it made me look at him. He wasn’t flattering me. He wasn’t reaching. He was simply telling me what he saw.

I gathered stray pencils from the table. Josiah reached for one at the same time, and our fingers brushed. A tiny touch. Still, my breath caught.

His hand stilled before he pulled back, careful enough not to make me regret it.

“Sorry,” he said.

“You’re fine,” I answered too quickly.

His eyes warmed. “Am I?”

I looked at him, and Lord, forgive me, I smiled. “Don’t start, Mr. Brooks.”

“I haven’t started anything, Ms. Coleman.”

“No?”

He picked up the pencil and set it beside my notebook. “No, ma’am. I’m still checking the wiring.”

I turned away before he saw too much on my face. “Good, because that’s what I’m paying you for.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When I glanced over my shoulder, he was smiling. Something grief had buried deep shifted beneath the soil, trying to remember how to grow.