“Eggs, bacon, bologna sandwich . . . ” Hunter muttered, counting off the items from memory. “Did I put in the apple slices?”
“Yes!” Melodie popped up behind the taller man, holding the ziplocked bag in a small hand. “Thank you.”
When Melodie spoke, Hunter heard a small lisp. She’d lost a tooth last month, giving her the cutest gap in her smile and a lisp with most words. River had told him after she went to sleep one night that she was insecure about it, so Hunter tried to compliment her on the smile whenever he could.
Hunter slid her a plate and Melodie did her best to chew the bacon with her back teeth.
“Eat quick kiddo,” Hunter said, sipping some coffee. “I don’t want to bring you late. Again.”
The last time he did was over a month ago, but he never forgot how nervous River was to receive the phone call from the school later that afternoon. From what he understood, they could be a lot tougher on single parents, so River constantly had a lot to prove.
Melodie finished her food in record time and they piled into the car. Hunter had gotten used to the routine of taking Melodie to school. These days, he and River rotated the responsibilities. Ever since they became official boyfriends half a year ago, it was easier for Hunter to take charge when it came to Melodie. His condo was barely used these days since he spent most nights at River’s. That way, no matter how long they worked, they could spend some time together. And, Hunter would always be available to take Melodie early in the morning.
Hunter tried to strike the balance between racing her to school and driving like a respectable role-model. The two tasks were in direct opposition this morning.
“Umm . . . “
“What is it?” Hunter asked, sending a glance to the backseat. Melodie was twiddling her thumbs, a complex expression on her young face.
“Do I draw bad?”
Hunter’s eyes flashed up to the rearview, catching the little girl’s anxious stare.
“What? Of course not. I love your drawings.”
She was no professional, but Hunter actually recognized what she was drawing. Compared to what her friends did, it looked like picasso. His answer didn’t seem to satisfy her, and she kept wringing her tiny hands.
“When Ms. Gabby puts our drawings up, everyone says my drawing’s the best. But yesterday, Tommy said it was ugly.”
“That was mean of Tommy.”
“But he’s my friend.”
Hunter bit down a scoff. So what if he was her friend? At 7 years old, friends probably meant that they played tag together and only hit each other sometimes. But babysitting her might not qualify him for moral advice. In the end, Hunter settled on something simple.
“Sometimes, friends are mean too,” he explained. As he switched lanes, Hunter thought of a change in tactics. “Did you think it was a good drawing?”
“Yeah!” she replied, tilting her head like thinking otherwise was out of the question. Hunter fought down a smile.
“Then ignore him. Hang out with your other friends.”
Words he thought would have ended the discussion left River’s daughter with a troubled expression. Ignoring Tommy wasn’t enough of a solution for her. Hunter groaned under his breath. This was definitely above his skill level. Still, sending her off to school looking so dejected was out of the question.
He quickly tried to think from Nia’s perspective. What would Melodie’s mother have done?
“And if he keeps bothering you, tell your teacher.”
Please, dear God, be enough.
Some of the tension from her shoulders fell and the little girl nodded.
Yes!
—————
Two days after Hunter got Melodie to school on time, she got into the back seat with a dark expression. Hunter remembered their previous conversation and his heart dropped. He didn’t start the car. Buckling her up, he saw how she stared at the flower pattern on her skirt and didn’t look at anything else.
“Melodie, what’s wrong?” he asked. She kept her eyes down, two single braids swinging when she shook her head. After a pause of silence, Hunter relented and sat in the front seat. He wanted answers–desperately–but forcing her seemed like the start of a bad habit. No matter how desperate, there were lines he wouldn’t cross.
Less than a minute later, his question was answered.
“Tommy didn’t stop,” she admitted softly.
Hunter nearly swerved off the road. Didn’t stop what? Had things gone past insults?
“He’s been calling me names and pushing me during recess,” she explained. Her sweet voice wobbled as she recalled the treatment. Hunter sucked in a deep breath. He couldn’t kill a 7-year-old child. He had to think calmly.
“Did you tell your teacher?” he asked in a measured tone.
“I did.”
Hunter searched for her in the rearview mirror, finding a guilty child staring back.
“She said not to worry because ‘boys do that when they like you,'” she recited. The words were said robotically, like she’d memorized them. Hunter wondered how long she’d kept that as her only advice. “But it’s mean and I don’t like him, Hunter.”
“Whether he likes you or not, that’s not-”
Hunter cut himself off with a sigh. The rising frustration was bleeding into his voice. He was angry at the teacher, not the child telling him what happened.
“Have you told your dad?” he asked instead. But his frustration resurfaced when she shook her head.
“I’m scared,” Melodie whispered in the tiniest breath. Hunter barely heard her over the sound of the road. “I don’t want him to be mad at me.”
He wouldn’t be mad, is what he wished he told her. After knowing him for a year, Hunter knew River wouldn’t be mad at her. At Tommy and at that damn teacher? Absolutely.
But if she didn’t tell her dad, that meant Melodie was telling him this in confidence. Would she ever forget when Hunter went behind her back? Maybe. But Hunter didn’t want to take that risk.
The young CEO was seething mad. He adjusted his hands and indents were left behind on the steering wheel. No matter what, he had to do something. They arrived at the school and instead of joining the drop-off line, he veered off to the left. Hunter spun the car into the parking spot and lept out.
Melodie unbuckled her seatbelt slowly, clearly confused.
“I’m going to talk to your teacher,” he stated, grabbing her bags in a single hand. “Let’s go.”
One stop to show his ID was the only delay in Hunter’s prowl. River put him on the list months ago and he was let right in.
Finding Melodie’s class took a bit longer than Hunter expected. He picked her up a couple times but the kids were always corralled in small groups at the front with their teacher. He’d never been to the classroom before. Melodie directed him to the room with a little smile. It wasn’t on purpose but Hunter was glad he could help cheer her up.
The classroom door was at least a foot shorter than any door Hunter had seen before. He almost slammed his head into the top when Melodie pulled him inside.
“This is my classroom,” she announced. She pointed out the small desks where they worked on math and the blue rug meant for story time. Hunter had to avoid markers and other small children when she led him to the back where the cubbies were. Melodie had his hand in a vice grip and started to name off the kids when a woman joined them.
“Melodie, who is this?”
The woman was older than Hunter expected. She was at least in her forties and likely a mother herself. Dark hair just past her shoulders and a narrow, pleasant smile. She seemed kind and approachable. Not the type of person to invalidate a 7-year-old.
Hunter scowled.
“I’m Hunter Dannings.”
Hunter didn’t put out his hand and after seeing the dark expression on his face, Ms. Gabby didn’t offer.
“Can I speak to you outside?”
Her child-friendly smile dropped, eyes flickering over his expression. She might have been confused as to why a stranger was so immediately hostile. Hunter was also confused why she took an extra 5 seconds to follow him out of the classroom.
She closed the door with a soft click and Hunter crossed his arms over a suit-covered chest.
“Why did you tell Melodie that-“
“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not comfortable discussing Melodie’s time at school without her father here.”
His scowl deepened. She knew damn well that he wouldn’t even be in the building if he wasn’t registered on Melodie’s file. But she was going to make this difficult.
Hunter smiled.
“That’s fine,” he said gently, stepping away as if to leave. “I’m sure you’d like to get the principal involved since you condoned physical and verbal harassment in your classroom.”
He turned around and, as predicted, he heard her begin to sputter from behind him.
“Hold on sir, there’s no need to throw around accusations like that.”
“Then we can talk.”
She nodded frantically and Hunter faced her again. Hunter kept a mental estimate of the time and noticed how they were getting closer to his first meeting of the day. He would skip as many meetings as needed to protect Melodie but he expected that he wouldn’t miss any today. If things went his way, this wouldn’t take long.
“River Conyers and I both will not accept Melodie being bullied or harmed under the guise of affection. We couldn’t care less if that boy plans to marry her one day. The name calling and pushing and whatever else Tommy does has to stop.”
A look of recognition dawned on the older woman’s face. Then came the guilt. Hunter could hardly understand why he had to explain this to her in the first place. Still, he calmed. It was clear that he’d already won.
“I understand,” she sighed, gaze dropping to the floor. “I apologize for misunderstanding the situation. I will talk to Tommy. And his parents, if necessary.”
“Thank you,” he nodded, letting his arms fall back to his sides. “I really hope I hear nothing but great things about you from now on.”
Hunter stepped around the quiet woman, finding Melodie organizing some pencils on the far side of the room. No other kids were around her so he knelt down, making her brown eyes flash up to his face in surprise.
“You are one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met,” Hunter told her, the whispered words delivered passionately. “You deserve the world. So, when someone loves you, that’s what they’ll try to give you. Not insults or pushes. Love. Do you understand?”
She nodded, a pleased little smile emerging on her face.
“Good,” he smiled back, leaning forward to drop a kiss on her head. “Have a good day.”
Ms. Gabby watched him exit the classroom and it took every fiber in his being not to ask her to point out who Tommy is. Hunter did what he needed to do. Now, he would go to work and pray that he didn’t overstep the bounds of being in River’s life.
—————
Stepping through the door, Hunter was bombarded. Instead of having a child as tall as his ribs hug him, River was hugging him instead. The man buried his face in Hunter’s neck, breathing in the taller man’s scent deeply. Without thinking, Hunter dropped the bags in his hands and hugged him back.
“Are you okay?” he asked into River’s soft hair. He’d let it grow out in the past few months, strands long enough to tie at the back of his head. River nodded then sighed into Hunter skin.
“Thank you for protecting her.”
At the mention of the child, Hunter looked up and found her watching them from the hallway. She didn’t look scared or betrayed, just happy to watch them hug without her. Since she didn’t want to tell River this morning, Hunter wondered if the school called about Hunter entering without River being there.
“She told me on the way back from daycare,” River whispered, chuckling after a heady sigh. “Talking to Ms. Gabby was . . . ”
He didn’t need to explain. Hunter could see how thankful River was. Melodie went out of sight, scampering back to her room. As if he heard her retreat, River sunk deeper into Hunter’s hold.
“I try to tell her every day that she can tell me things but she still holds stuff in,” he admitted, rubbing his face into the stiff fabric of Hunter’s vest. “It terrifies me to think that she might have never told me. So, thank you for being there.”
“Always.”
The word came naturally because Hunter meant it. River created a gap between their bodies and Hunter drove back in, taking his lips in a short but passion-filled kiss. Hunter punctuated it with two more kisses before pulling away with a grin.
“Are you guys still hungry? I’m making Fettuccine with that ‘weird green sauce’ you like.”
River of course approved and they got Melodie to agree to eating a green colored food that wasn’t broccoli. Hunter swiftly got to work making dinner but the feeling of eyes on his body never left. It wasn’t Melodie who had a new distraction stealing all of her attention. It was her father.
River just sat there, watching him. He was entertained by Hunter snapping the pasta before boiling it so Melodie could handle the noodles. He marveled at the man who wore a puppy-covered apron over an expensive suit and still looked handsome. He was amused when Hunter meticulously read the instructions over and over again to make sure the food was just right.
River reeled over how well he fit in. In no time at all, Hunter’s life had changed. But he took it in stride, protecting River’s daughter without a second thought. And after all that, he still came over to make them dinner.
Hunter served the pasta in well balanced swirls. Melodie giggled in delight at the presentation and River couldn’t stop staring. Melodie stuck to Hunter’s side as she ate. She was perfectly capable of washing dishes at this point but had him feed her every other bite. Hunter took a break from feeding her to glance River’s way. He rolled his eyes playfully at her clinginess so the other man could see and River finally looked away.
River loved this man. He loved him with every fiber of his being.
Dinner was over way too soon. River counted the seconds until bedtime came. He needed to get Hunter alone.
Melodie was the first to notice when it was time for bed. It was less of her due diligence and more of her noting how much she was yawning. After washing her dish, she hugged Hunter. Wet hands wrapped around his back, seeping through his layers.
“I love you.” she whispered, the most precious secret. Hunter swallowed down his surprise. He’d been around for months. Countless playdates and sleepovers and dinners. But she’d never said the words. Hunter didn’t realize how much he wanted to hear them.
“I love you too.”
She gave him one more squeeze and Hunter squeezed back. River watched the interaction with a quivering hand over his mouth. Then, his hand stilled. He never thought this day would come.
That’s when the doorbell rang. No one knew who it could be.
Hunter heard the door open but nothing was said. He glanced over his shoulder to see if it was a package but froze. His blood ran cold.
“Why are you here?”
The dark-skinned woman smiled wider at River’s question. Sleek black hair. Large brown eyes. And Melodie’s radiant smile.
“What? I can’t come see my daughter?”
———————————
The infamous mother has finally returned.
How do you think she’ll shake up Hunter and River’s dynamic?
How will Melodie react to seeing her?
Anywhy,
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