Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,36
a list of the tools Aidan would need. “I’ll get these sorted for you.”
“I appreciate it.” Aidan checked his watch, and realized he was running behind. “I have to get going,” he explained, apologetic. “I need to beat the morning traffic into Boston.”
Jackson didn’t seem surprised. “See, I knew we couldn’t keep you from your big-shot meetings for long.”
Aidan paused. “Well, actually…” He explained about chaperoning the school trip. There was silence for a moment, then Jackson hooted with laughter so loudly, they could probably hear him all the way down the Eastern seaboard.
“You’re chaperoning?” his brother asked, still chuckling. “In what universe?”
“In this one,” Aidan replied, feeling self-conscious. “Stella said they needed some extra help, so…”
“Oh, Stella.” Jackson said, amusement clear. “Well, that explains everything.”
“Don’t.” Aidan sighed, hoping he could avoid the usual Kinsella teasing, but sure enough, Jackson wasn’t about to let it drop.
“Aidan’s got a girlfriend,” he said, sing-song, as if they were still kids.
Aidan rolled his eyes. “I’d expect this from Cassie, not you.”
“Oh, believe me, Cassie’s going to have a few things to say about this one, too.” Jackson said, looking cheerful. He headed back to the truck. “In fact, I’m going to call and let her know the big news right now.”
Jackson sped off before Aidan could say another word. Great. That meant his whole family would know…
What exactly?
Aidan wasn’t sure, he just knew that kissing Stella had made the world stop in its tracks. And he wanted more…
Even if this date today wasn’t really a date: no candlelight or wine, just a juice box, if he was lucky.
Maybe a smarter man would have given up by now, the way she’d been running hot and cold on him. But clearly, Aidan had left all reason and judgment back in the city, because there he was, about to drive two hours to go mooch around a museum with a bunch of kids, simply because Stella was going to be there, too.
And somehow, that seemed a good reason enough to him.
Aidan made the drive in good time, and found Stella and the other chaperones in the lobby of the museum, watching from a safe distance as the teachers tried to corral forty rowdy teenagers into some semblance of order. With Halloween just days away, they were clearly in the celebrating mood, and Aidan saw a host of superhero masks, and witches’ hats in the crowd.
“I have a new sympathy for all the staff we terrorized, back in the day,” he said, as a teacher tried in vain to get them in line.
Stella turned, and broke into a smile that brightened his whole day. And just like that, two hours on the highway stuck behind semis and station wagons was worth it.
Damn, could this woman smile.
“Speak for yourself,” she said, playful. “I was the model of polite behavior in school.”
Aidan lifted an eyebrow, and she laughed. “OK, I was a handful, too. Me and my friends would have probably already found a way to ditch, or be cloistered in a corner, ignoring the exhibits to gossip about guys.”
“I guess some things never change.” Aidan nodded to where a group of guys were jostling and joking, trying to impress the girls who were huddled around their phones nearby.
“It was much easier when they were younger,” Stella said, almost wistful. “We would dress them up in matching ball-caps, and make them hold hands in a crocodile. Now, they won’t touch each other. And if they do… Well, that’s why we’re here,” she added wryly.
Stella led him over to the other parents. “Here, you should meet the other ritual sacrifices—I mean, volunteers.”
She introduced him around the group, who sized him up with interest—and sympathy. Stella was by far the youngest parent among them, and in her navy duffel coat and a yellow knit cap barely containing her flyaway curls, she could have passed for one of the students herself. The other women seemed far more polished, dressed in almost identical belted coats and suspicious expressions. “Kinsella…” one of the them said, looking him up and down. “Are you related to Cassie?”
“That depends,” Aidan cracked a smile. “How do you know her?”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “She kidnapped my dog.”
Aidan could feel Stella stifling a laugh beside him. “My apologies,” he said smoothly, trying not to chuckle himself. That sounded like Cassie, alright. “But, uh, nice to meet you!”
He moved off with Stella, as the woman glared after him. “And that is…?”
“Mindy McDonnegal,” Stella replied, smirking. “Reigning queen of the PTA.”