From Fake to Forever by Jennifer Shirk

ex-husband still thinks this school is a dumb idea.”
    “Dumb?” Ben already hated the ex-husband. He could imagine many people thinking what he did for a living was dumb, but never something as good-hearted as teaching small children. “Your ex thinks what you want to do in life is dumb? He sounds like a real piece of work.”
    She picked up a pencil and began doodling. “Yeah, well, he had his moments. But it’s not only him. I doubt myself, too, sometimes. I just want this to work out so much…”
    Her voice sounded far away even though he was mere inches from her. He nonchalantly glanced down at what she was drawing—just a bunch of triangles and squares. Besides being as fascinated as he was, Ben wondered what Dr. Freud would have thought about her behavior. Miss Sandra was proving to be more and more of an enigma, and he liked her even more because of it.
    After several seconds, she set down her pencil and looked up. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Come on. I have an idea of what we can do for the children.”
    His brows shot up. “You mean it? I’m actually forgiven?”
    “Yes,” she said, standing, her lips twitching. “But you’re going to have to figure out how to honor the deceased on your own.”
    “Great. I can— Wait. The deceased ?” Then it dawned on him. “Oh, no. You mean I have to memorialize a spider?”
    This time she didn’t bother holding back her smile. “Think of it as honing your ad-libbing skills as well. It’s really the least you could do after all the trouble you’ve caused. So what do you think? Are you up for the job?”
    He grinned back, enjoying the challenge of her words as much as the feeling that there was finally a camaraderie growing between them. He couldn’t resist touching her again, so he reached out and laid a hand on her arm and added, “I’m up for anything you have to offer.”
    He saw the mistake he and his big mouth made instantly. Her face sobered, the camaraderie disappeared, and the ice shield went back in place. “A spider eulogy is all I’m offering,” she told him, shaking off his hand.
    Her tone left little argument, so he bowed his head in understanding and held open the door. With half fascination, half annoyance, he watched her march right past him without so much as a glance back.
    Jeez, one tiny little flirtatious remark and the ice princess was back. She wanted to keep things strictly professional. He’d have to be both blind and deaf not to receive that message. Even though she blushed every time he touched her, the woman clearly was not interested in him. He snorted.
    Yeah. Right.
    And he liked spiders.

Chapter Four
    If Sandra wasn’t seeing it with her own eyes, she would have never believed it. Ben Capshaw was actually enjoying himself.
    She frowned, not because she was unhappy, but because she was surprised. She hadn’t taken him seriously when he’d said he was up for eulogizing a spider. But standing there in front of the class, he looked like he was having fun. He was doing pretty well, too, laying it on a bit thick for her taste in some parts, but keeping the speech light enough for the children. A very good performance, all in all.
    Who knew a man like that would have it in him to be so… sweet with children?
    Ben seemed serious about the character preparation. Maybe she didn’t have to be so hard on him after all. It didn’t mean she wanted him touching her or flirting with her anymore—but maybe he did have a nonselfish bone somewhere in that hard, muscular body of his.
    Oh, dear. There she went again. Why did she have to think about his body so often?
    She supposed one more peek wouldn’t hurt, so she allowed her eyes to travel over those wide defensive-end shoulders again, across his chest, and down to his—
    Ugh. She needed to get out more.
    After Ben talked about the good times they had all shared with the spider—that did nothing more than hang out in a terrarium in the back of the room until he got