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“I cannot wait to kiss you, Merry. It’s about time, don’t you think?”
She knew it wouldn’t happen with Jace around. They’d had a long talk on Sunday about how they needed to proceed with discretion until he was ready for Jace to know. Merry understood, since this was Clark’s first real attempt at dating anyone since Jace’s mom. She could empathize with Clark’s hesitancy, especially because Jace was so attached to her parents, but she’d made a promise. If their relationship ended, the fallout wouldn’t bleed over to affect Jace’s home or Clark’s job and she meant it with every fiber of her being.
She logged into her computer and searched Jace’s name. Tapping the extension on her phone, she waited for his teacher to answer.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is Miss Winters in the office. Can you let Jace Griffin know to come down here when school is over? He’s going home with me.”
“No problem, I’ll let him know.”
“Thank you.” Merry ended the call and went about her end of day duties. There was only a half hour left in the school day, and it went by in a blur of phone calls, last-minute paperwork, and a quick run to the restroom.
The bell rang and children filled the halls, bursting out the front doors past her office. Jace came around the corner and pushed through the door of her office at a snail’s pace, his back pack dragging across the floor.
“Hi,” he said.
A paper pilgrim’s hat covered Jace’s sandy hair, his cheeks flushed. He set his backpack on the bench against the rear of her office and sat down next to it. He made a noise and rubbed at his neck, frowning.
“Hey, you okay?”
Jace shrugged. “My throat hurts.”
“Oh, are you thirsty? Hang on.” Merry grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge under the counter and opened it for him. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” He didn’t take a drink, just stared down at his shoes.
Merry ducked her head, trying to catch his eye, and he looked up at her. “If you’re upset about something, sometimes it helps to talk about it.”
His forehead knitted in a scowl. “Harvey Trent said that Spider-Man was stupid.”
Merry almost laughed, thinking about Clark’s outrage over her not watching Game of Thrones. “Oh man. Who does Harvey like?”
“Batman,” Jace said, rolling his eyes.
Merry held her amusement in check. She knew enough from her brother and watching superhero films that there were two kinds of fans and it was obvious what comic book camp Jace came from.
“But…Marvel is better than DC.”
Jace’s head jerked up, his whole countenance perking at her statement. “I know! I said that and he told me I was stupid too.”
Irritation lit through Merry like a surge of electricity. “What did you do?”
“I told him that’s not a nice word, and he laughed at me.”
Merry put a hand on his shoulder, hating the hurt in his small, soft voice. “While I don’t think that Harvey should be name calling, his opinion on Spider-Man is just that: his opinion. Everyone has one, and sometimes it’s just better to ignore them. But if he keeps calling you names, you should tell Mrs. Hill, all right?” Jace nodded. “Now, I need to wait here for a little bit until all the kids get picked up. Do you want to color? Or watch a movie on my phone?”
Jace beamed at that. “Phone, please.”
She pulled out her phone, tapped on the streaming app. “Here. This is the kids’ section, so just scroll through and pick whatever you want.”
“Thanks.”
Merry didn’t have time to say anything else before several kids came up to her office window, asking to call their parents. By the time the last child left, it was almost three-forty-five.
“All right, ready to go, Jace?”
Merry noticed he was lying down on the bench now, his arm dangling over the side and his pilgrim hat on the floor along with her phone. Merry picked up both and slipped the phone into her purse, smiling at the flushed little face. His lips were puckered into adorable fish lips and she ran a hand over his forehead.
