Love From the Ashes by Cheryl Persons Page A

I probably should leave.”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “What?  Why not?”
    “You are going to stay here and get a proper thank you.”  Rebecca didn’t know what Cassie meant by that, but she really didn’t want to make him feel obligated to be nice to her.  She got the impression the night of the party that he felt like he was being forced to be there.  In fact, she was sure of it.
    “I really don’t need to.”  She argued, but Cassie brushed it off.
    “Let’s go join the kids for peanut butter sandwiches.”
    Rebecca reluctantly followed her; she didn’t know why she didn’t dart out of there as fast as she could.  Something was inside her head telling her to stay, but the other part was telling her that she didn’t belong there.  When she saw the kids, with their milk mustaches and sticky grins, she felt that maybe she was wrong.  Maybe that was exactly where she needed to be.

Chapter 5
     
    Thomas rushed into the kitchen; he saw the kids eating and talking happily, like nothing had even fazed them.  “I’m sorry you guys.”
    They all turned to him and he worried that he was going to get yelled at, but then Bethany smiled.  “It’s about time dad;” she then laughed, causing the rest of the room to join in.
    “I’m assuming your day at school went alright?”  He looked between them and then glanced briefly at Rebecca.  “Remember our deal; there’s ice cream involved.”
    Kari stood up and pointed to Bethany and Frankie.  “Don’t say a word to mess this up.”
    He smirked and then turned his attention to Rebecca.  “I guess I owe you a thanks.”  He almost felt like a school boy, being shy around the popular girl.
    “You owe her a lot more than that.”  Cassie piped up and then turned around and pretended like she was focused on wiping Savannah’s face.
    He stared at her and then turned back to Rebecca.  “Don’t worry about it; it was on my way.”  Cassie laughed, but when he caught her looking at him she turned away.  “I have to get going, but I’ll see you tomorrow Kari.”
    As she was about to reach the door he noticed that Cassie wasn’t looking too pleased with him.  “What?”
    “You’re just going to let her leave, without at least walking her to her car.”
    He looked away and shook his head.  “Fine!”  He hurried after her and caught her before she reached the door.  “I’ll walk you to your car.”
    “You don’t have to do that.”  She replied, but didn’t look at him as they walked down the driveway.  When they reached her car she turned to him.  “Thank you, but it wasn’t necessary.”
    “I know it wasn’t, but I wanted to.”
    She laughed and he noticed a gleam in her eye.  “Are you sure it wasn’t Cassie pressuring you?”
    He shrugged.  “Only a little.”
    “I thought so.”  She turned back to her car and opened the door.  “I hope that today isn’t going to be a regular occurrence.”  She laughed and he saw that she was only teasing.  “I’m just kidding; I actually enjoy spending time with them, what little we did.”
    “I won’t plan on today happening again, but it’s a lot harder being a single father than I thought it would be.  I’ve been doing this for two years and it doesn’t seem to be getting much easier.”
    “Thomas, may I be honest?”
    “Of course.”  He didn’t know if he was going to like what she had to say, but he was intrigued.
    “I think you’re being a bit hard on yourself.  I mean, I might not be a parent, but I have pretty good insight.  I know that you didn’t deliberately leave your children at school.  Accidents happen and even though I don’t know why you weren’t there, I know that you probably had a good reason.”  He fixed his eyes on her and when she looked at him, she blushed.  “What?”
    “Nothing; it’s just we don’t even know each other, so I find it interesting that you are so insightful.”
    Her expression fell and then she looked at him.