Love From the Ashes by Cheryl Persons Page B

“Are you making fun of me?”
    He quickly shook his head.  “Not at all.  I find it refreshing.”
    “You do?”
    He laughed.  “You find that strange?”
    He noticed that she suddenly looked nervous.  “I don’t know; I guess sometimes it comes across as being too opinionated.”
    “It’s not too opinionated in my book.  I wouldn’t want to come across as the parent that would forget about their children.  My mind was a bit preoccupied, because today I bought a house.”
    “You did?  That’s great news.  Where’s it located?”
    “It’s in the Castleton neighborhood.”  She started to chuckle.  “What?”
    “I live in that same neighborhood.”
    “Is that so?  Is it a nice neighborhood?”
    “Yeah; I’ve been there for several years.”  She looked around, her nervousness appearing once again.  “I probably should be going.  It was good talking to you.”  She opened the car door and slid into the front seat.”  He kept the door opened and she cocked her head.  “Was there something else?”
    “Cassie’s right.”
    “Okay; what about?”
    “She said that I need to be giving you a proper thank you; I agree.”
    “You’ve thanked me plenty.  Like I said: I like your kids.  Let’s just leave it at that.”
    “Have coffee with me.”
    “What?”  She smirked.  “You are insane.”
    “I’m not insane; I’m just trying to repay your inconvenience.”
    “I wasn’t inconvenienced.  I swear to you.”
    He didn’t know why he was pressing the issue, but he wouldn’t accept defeat.  “You said it was on your way; that’s not really the truth, because I now happen to know where you live.  So, you did go out of your way and I won’t take no for an answer.”
    After awhile, he knew he had finally gotten to her.  “I suppose coffee would be okay.  Just two people getting acquainted, but that’s it.”  He nodded, that’s all he would ever want anyway.  “We’ll discuss the details later?”  She handed him a card.  “Here’s my number.”
    He put it into his pocket.  “I’ll see you later.”
    He watched as she drove away.  There was a connection he felt when talking to her; he was sure it was just because she was so friendly to his kids.  He liked talking to her and he hoped that they could just have a nice adult conversation, outside of the house.  He walked back into Cassie’s house where they were all watching him.  “So?”  Cassie asked; an expectant grin on her face.
    “I figure you were right.  She deserves to be repaid.  I’ll take her out for coffee, as a friendly gesture.”
    “Sure; I’ll buy that.”
    “What?”
    “Never mind.”  He didn’t feel like Cassie believed anything he was saying anyway.  “So, do you have some news you need to tell everyone?”  She pointed to the kids and he knew what she meant.
    “I almost forgot.  Guess what?”  They all shook their heads, none of them wanting to venture a guess.  “You’re no fun;” he laughed.  “I bought us a house today.”
    Bethany looked at him; excitement on her face.  “You did?”  She ran to him and gave him a hug.
    “There’s more!  Each one of you will get your own room, but that also means we’re going to have plenty of things to do to fix it up.  Are you guys in?”
    “Dad that’s awesome.”  Kari ran to him and the rest followed.  He kissed the tops of their heads and smiled at Cassie.  “Let’s go get ice cream to celebrate.”  They all cheered as Cassie laughed.  “Thanks Cassie!”
    She shrugged.  “Anytime.”  Then the Campbell bunch ran out to the car and Thomas realized just how blessed he truly was.
    ____________________
    He was glad to finally sit down and learn how their first day of school went.  As they ate their ice cream he spoke up.  So, how was everyone’s first day?”
    “Me first; me first.”  Frankie piped in and he was pleased to see how excited she was.  My teacher is so nice.  She let us finger paint