Yours Seductively

Chapter 2.5

She was busy thinking about bursting into a song-and-tap-dance number—just to keep from disappointing him—when Debbie Hamilton's familiar voice came from behind her. "There you are, Tom! Why did you run off from me like... Oh, hello Jane."

Feeling much the way the teenagers who'd greeted her earlier had probably felt, Jane responded politely to her former teacher. "Hello, Mrs. Hamilton."

Debbie shook a finger at her. "I've told you to call me Debbie. We're colleagues now. And I still owe you a big debt of gratitude for rescuing my grandson."

Since Debbie had already telephoned Jane to express her thanks, Jane saw no need to go over it all again now. To change the subject, she smiled at the rosy-cheeked toddler in the seat of Debbie's shopping art. "Hi, Amy. How are you today?"

"Moo," the tot replied clearly.

"We've been playing the animal-sounds game." Debbie explained . "Amy just told you what a cow says."

"Of course she did. That's very good, Amy."

The little girl laughed and clapped her hands. Her more serious-natured brother tugged again at Jane's shorts. "I got a new book," he said when he had her attention.

"Did you? What is it?"

Tom reached into his grandmother's cart. "This one."

"Bernstein Bears." Jane nodded approval. "I've always enjoyed their stories. This looks like a good one."

"It's about Brother Bear and Sister Bear spending the night at their grandmother's house," Tom volunteered.

"Yes, I see. I'm sure you'll like it." She gave the book back to him. "Do you like to read, Tom?"

Debbie, who want known to be quiet for long, answered for her grandson. "Tom's always got a book in his hands—just like his daddy when he was a boy."

"All that reading certainly paid off for Tyler ," she murmured. Jane has once considered Tyler Hamilton the smartest boy at Honoria High. She'd also thought of him the most attractive guy in Honoria. Remembering the way he'd looked the other night, with his neatly brushed dark blonde hair, his serious blue eyes, his clean-shaven, strongly chiseled chin and cheekbones, she reminded herself that she hadn't changed her opinion about either of those things.

Debbie abruptly changed the subject. "I'd like to have you to dinner. Our way of thanking you again for coming to Tom's rescue."

"That's very kind of you, but it isn't—"

"Are you free tomorrow evening? Seven o'clock?"

"Well, I—"

"Good. Well look forward to seeing you then. Come along, Tom. We have to be going."

Tom was still gazing up at Jane. "You're coming to dinner at Grandma's house?"

Jane couldn't help wondering if anyone had ever successfully turned Debbie down. "It seems that I am."

"Will you sit by me?"

"I would be delighted," she assured him.

Debbie looked from her grandson to Jane. "He certainly seems taken with you. He's usually shy with strangers."

"Tom and I are pals, aren't we, Tom?"

He nodded and Jane was pleased to see a shy smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Maybe she would even hear him laugh before the dinner party ended.

"Moo!" Amy shouted gleefully, unwilling to be ignored for long.

Pushing the cart, Debbie instructed Tom to follow her to the checkouts. He did, but he looked over his shoulder at Jane until he was out of sight.

"Odd child," she murmured, shaking her head in bemusement. She supposed he came by it honestly. The Hamiltons were a notorious offbeat family, though Debbie and her husband Colton seemed to be the least scandal-prone of the bunch.