Underneath It All (Storm Series) (19 page)

“How lucky for you.” She shook her head. This world was so different from hers, but
she reminded herself that didn’t mean it was bad.

They had a great meal, but Alaina refused to go inside when she dropped Rob off afterward, despite his pleading and mock-pouting. Time had a way of slipping out of her hands when they were together, and she really needed a solid night of sleep.

Over the next few days
, as time allowed, Alaina worked with her students to make more cards for Rob. They loved impressing him, and based on their response to the cake he’d sent over after he’d received the initial batch, he was making fast friends of them all. The kids were angling for more gifts, asking what else he might like that they could concoct for him.

She’d appreciated
Rob calling her before having a metric ton of sugar delivered to the classroom, but how could she have said no to a treat like that? The cake had been huge—enough that the entire class could bring some home with them, which Alaina was sure had been by design. The frosting had elaborate swirls of color, and the cake itself had tons of little things stuck into the top, like little toy soldiers and plastic rings, which the students had also glommed onto.

S
he didn’t know where he’d managed to procure a cake like that in such a short time. It was not exactly something a person picked up at the supermarket. The kids had been beyond thrilled though and as they got onto the bus, had carefully carried their pieces on the plastic plates he’d also thought to provide.

On Thursday, a
fter getting her little charges on the bus, Alaina opened her compact mirror to investigate the strange feeling on her tooth, only to find a piece of glitter clinging to the enamel. Closing the mirror, she sighed, but then laughed. So far that week, she had found glitter stuck to the bottom of her foot—interesting since she’d worn shoes with socks to school that day—attached to one of her breasts underneath her bra, and some loitering in even less mentionable places. Perhaps she should discourage further glitter use.

She picked
up her bag, dropped the compact inside followed by the envelope of cards, then exited the school. As she walked to her car, she passed Kyle, who was, as expected, one of the playground monitors.

“I wanted to say again how nice it was to meet you, Alaina
,” he said, and she slowed her steps. “And I’m sorry I haven’t been around to help you more. Seriously, I know they assigned me to fourth through sixth, but if you need anything—
anything
at all—ask.”

“Uh, sure.” Though her fellow teachers probably wouldn’t mind if he did a few things for her, she didn’t plan to take up his time. He wasn’t at the school for her. And besides,
aside from the prep work for her crafts, what would she need assistance with? The upper grades, trying to prepare their students for middle school and beyond, were struggling a lot more than she was.

The kid certainly had enthusiasm
. She thought of him as a kid, though Kyle was probably less than five years younger than her if he was completing his master’s degree. Alaina only had a bachelor’s degree; a master’s wasn’t required for teaching kindergarten. And this couldn’t be the first student teaching gig he’d had either. She’d gone to Buffalo State; both the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs required student teaching credits. Still, there was something about him that made her think he was immature.

Cocking her head, she said, “
Where do you go to school?”

“Buff State.”

No surprise.
There were a couple of education programs in local colleges, but Buffalo State College was widely considered to be the best. “I went there too.”

“You couldn’t be very far out of school,” he said, looking her up and down.

A shiver crawled up her spine. Was Rob right, was Kyle interested in her? She started edging away. “I only have a bachelor’s degree.”

“Still…”

Before he could start a discussion, she said, “Well, I need to go. No rest for the weary teacher of little people.”
I have cards to drop off.

“See you tomorrow. I’m looking forward to learning a lot from you.”

She waved behind her. “Uh-huh.” He wasn’t even assigned to her, and aside from that one day he’d helped with the new stuff for the room, she hadn’t dealt with him. Alaina reminded herself what she’d told Rob—Kyle was just eager.

After
that odd exchange, Alaina drove to the arena. Rather than bringing the cards over to his house again, the plan was to leave them for Rob to get the next time he had physical therapy. He probably wasn’t in a great mood when he was rehabbing his shoulder, and hopefully the cards would brighten his day.

She parked
then went in one of the many sets of doors along the front, spying a very bored-looking security guard. The poor man was the only human she could see in the cavernous concourse. Alaina would go nuts with a mostly solitary job like that.

“Hi. I was wondering if I could leave this for Rob D’Amico.” The security guard’s expression was wary and she hurried on
, adding, “I’m his girlfriend.”
Why does that sound so weird?
If she didn’t believe it, would he?

She continued,
“And I’m a teacher too. My students made him cards.” When the young man still appeared unsure, she briefly opened the envelope so he could see inside. “I wanted to surprise him.”

“Okay, I’ll call Karen. She’ll know what to do.
Your name?”

“Alaina.”

As she waited for the call to this Karen person to be completed, she wandered around. A team store occupied one end of the street-level concourse and had a few customers and two staff members milling about.
A-ha! More humans!
The box office was at the other end and only one worker sat behind the window, typing away on a computer. It was sort of eerie to be here when the place was deserted. There hadn’t been many people at the practice either, but at least the team itself and its associated staff were present. It appeared almost no one was in the building right now.

A couple of minutes later
, Alaina heard the clack-clack-clack of a pair of heels approaching and turned.

“
Are you Alaina?” At Alaina’s nod the woman held out her hand. “Karen. My title is Assistant to the GM, but really I’m a Jill of All Trades. I hear your class did up some cards for Rob? That was so sweet! I can take the envelope, if you don’t mind, and make sure he gets the cards the next time he’s here.”

The woman’s expression was warm and open, and i
f a more trustworthy person existed in the world, Alaina would’ve been surprised. Karen radiated a benevolent, matronly vibe. Alaina handed over the envelope without even a hint of trepidation. “Thank you so much. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“
A welcome one, I’m sure.” Karen cocked her head to the side. “Are you one of the teachers in the reading program?”

She blushed under the woman’s scrutiny.
“Yes, that’s how Rob and I met.”

“I assigned the players to the schools. You teach kindergarten, if I recall? I
figured Rob would be a hit with them.”

“Y
es, I do. And you picked well. The kids adore him.”

“Based on the heft of this
envelope,” Karen said weighing it, “that much is obvious.”

Alaina chuckled.
“That’s probably the weight of the glitter. Kindergarteners tend to be…aggressive with the shiny stuff.”

“Oh, I remember those days.
” Karen smiled.

S
he would be the perfect grandmother for somebody.
If she has any, they’re lucky kids.
Alaina could practically smell the cookies Karen would no doubt ply her grandchildren with.

“
Anyway,” the friendly woman said. “I’m sure you have better things to do than stand around gabbing with me. I promise Rob will get these as soon as possible.”

“Thank you so much.” With an added bounce in her step
at the idea of Rob opening the cards, Alaina returned to her car and went home.

~ * ~

ELEVEN

When Rob
arrived at the Barn on Friday, he found an envelope in his mailbox. Each player had one for fan mail and team announcements. There were no markings other than his name, but someone in the front office checked their mail before handing it out to the players, so he wasn’t worried about the lack of identifiable information on the envelope.

He opened the envelope on the couch in the players’ lounge and
, since he only had one good hand, upended the contents into his lap. A mess of cards slid out and Rob watched in horror as enough glitter to outfit a troupe of showgirls for a year came with them, coating his workout shorts, bare legs, and the leather of the couch. “Shit!”

“What’s the matter, bud?” Jordan raced over and stopped on a dime, raising his hand in an obvious attempt to cover the huge grin plastered on his face. “What the hell
happened?”

Rob picked up the card on the top of the stack like
the thing was a live grenade, one that was covered in glitter, then opened it. He smiled. “They’re cards from Alaina’s students. She gave me some from them this past weekend too. Not sure why she sent these here.”

Jordan shook with laughter.
“Students who apparently have a thing for glitter.”

“They don’t have much
, and glitter is a cheap art supply.” He chuckled as he considered how strange it was he even had a clue glitter was cheap.

He thought about telling Jordan about starting the foundation, but wanted to play things c
lose to the vest until he got further along in the process. His lawyer hadn’t called this week, and Rob planned on shooting him an e-mail after leaving the Barn. It was common knowledge he had the patience of a four-year-old, and he hated wading through all this red tape when he could be helping kids get the supplies they needed.

Jordan nodded slowly. “
Okay, if you say so. Do you want me to grab a facilities person? Or a shovel? A Shop-Vac?” He snapped his fingers. “Or should we just burn down the whole lounge?”

Before Rob could answer, Rick walked into the room,
went to sit on the couch then sprang back up when he noticed the cushions were glitter-covered, though not soon enough to save his shorts. “What the hell? Did the Smurfs explode?”

Jordan laughed. “Good one, man.” They exchanged high
fives, and Rob, still covered in the stuff, sighed.

“Alaina’s class made me get-well cards.”

“Wasn’t that sweet?” Jordan addressed Rick, and Rob seriously contemplated using his good hand to smack the man upside the head, as if he could reach the guy’s head from his current position. Jordan was smart enough to remain standing and out of striking distance.

“It
was
sweet,” he grumbled. But what had possessed Alaina to allow the kids to go nuts with the glitter and
then
to leave the cards here without so much as a warning to open the silly things over a sink or in private?

Standing, he began to brush himself off with his free hand, and Rick did the same, though with both hands and very exaggerated motions
, despite the fact he had about a quarter of the stuff attached to him compared to Rob.

Sebastian walked in, looked between the t
hree men then asked, “Do I want to know?”

“Alaina’s kids
overdid the glitter on their cards for me.”
And now my hand is bedazzled.

“
What a sweet thing to do. They must really like you. That’s pretty cool, man.”

Rob smiled. He wasn’t surprised Sebastian had completely ignored the mess and gotten to the heart of things. Last year he’d told Sarah
that Sebastian had the purest heart of anyone he’d known, and his belief hadn’t changed. “I hope so. I like them too.”

Sebastian jerked his chin toward Rob’s shoulder. “How is it?”

“Surprisingly good, considering I’m only a week post-surgery.”

“That’s
great. You wanna grab lunch?”

His stomach growled. Rehab was no picnic.
“Sure. Sarah coming too?”

His friend shrugged. “Up to you.”

“I’d actually like to talk to you guys about that idea we’d batted around for getting a suite. Karen said a few were still available when I talked to her a couple of days ago.”

“Okay. I’ll go get her.” Sebastian smirked. “You might want to find a mirror so you can get the glitter off your face.” Without another word, Sebastian turned on his heel.

“A hacksaw might work too,” Jordan offered.

Ignoring Jordan, he was no help,
Rob looked at Rick. “My face?”

“Yep.”

“Shit.” The bathroom for the locker room was only a short distance away, and once there, Rob took the opportunity to examine himself for stray bits of glitter. By the time Sebastian tracked him down again, he’d about finished the arduous task.

“You ready?”

Rob nodded. “I drove today though.”

“I’ll
take your car, and we’ll leave it at your place. That way you don’t have to do more driving than necessary.”

“Works for me.”

Soon they’d dropped Rob’s truck off and were seated at a popular, downtown sandwich place loved by all types of people, probably because the eatery used healthy ingredients and the food still tasted fabulous. Each ordered a sandwich and Rob sat back in his chair. “I’d like to get this box thing going. Karen said we could still have a box for about half of the games. What do you think?”

“We’re in,” Sebastian replied. “Let me know how much
, and I’ll write a check.”

“Will do. I think the kids are going to be really excited about this.”

Sarah smiled. “I hope so. Be sure you stipulate the child needs to be accompanied by an adult and plan accordingly to make sure you have seats for everyone.”

“True.” R
ob made a mental note.

After taking a drink from the glass of water in front of her, Sarah asked, “How’s the foundation setup going?”

“Good. I need to call the lawyer. He said he thought he’d have clearance for everything within the next few weeks. I can’t believe how quickly stuff like this can be done when someone knows his way around the IRS.” He smirked. “And is motivated by the ridiculous amount of money I threw at him.”

Sarah rolled her eyes.
“I bet.”

“So what are you doing now?” Sebastian asked. “
Waiting?”

“Yeah,
but we need a name. Alaina and I had a list. I should ask her to e-mail the ones we thought up. I wonder if she’s out of school.” Pulling his cell from his pocket, he checked the time. “The kids should be gone by now.” He dialed Alaina’s cell.

She picked up after several rings
, sounding winded, and his eyebrows drew down. “Hi, Rob.”

“Hi, baby. You okay?”

“Yeah, trying to get the room back into some semblance of order after the tornado that is my students blew through here. Remind me to never let these children do a craft with tissue paper again.” It was said with amusement, and even if she hadn’t told him herself, it was obvious how much Alaina loved her job.

“Okayyyyy.
Hey, would you be able to send the list of names for the foundation that we brainstormed the other day? The lawyer says we need to pick one.”

“Oh, sure. I need to transcribe it out of my notebook. Do you want a text or an e
-mail?”

“E
-mail would probably be easier. And when you send the list, mark your favorites. I’m out with Sebastian and Sarah, and I’ll get their opinions too.”

“
Sounds good. I’ll take a break and do that now. Maybe by the time I’m done, the magic cleaning fairies will have come.”

Rob laughed. “I doubt that, but you can always hope. Thanks. One more thing
—speaking of magic fairies—someone sent a whole bunch of cards to the Barn. Any ideas on that?”

“It’s possible I know the culprit.”

“I bet you do. You’ll be pleased to hear that not only did you get me with the glitter, but you covered Rick too. He asked if the Smurfs exploded.”

“Oh no! I’m so sorry. The stuff must not’ve been glued on well.”

“No biggie.”

“You wouldn’t believe the places I’ve found glitter in the past week.”

“Hmmmm. That sounds like a challenge. I might have to make a thorough examination.” Both Sarah and Sebastian raised eyebrows, and he grinned back at them.
Serves you right.
“When can I see you?”

“Tonight’s not
good. I’m having dinner with Becca. How about tomorrow?”

“Let me check my social calendar…
. Oh, look at that. I’m free.”

“Goofball. I’ll text you tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan. Later, babe.” He pocketed his phone and told Sarah and Sebastian, “She’s gonna send over the list.”

His friends filled him in on some of the team’s latest happenings and things going on around the league
, since Rob had been both too tired and too depressed to keep up with everything. Their lunches were served, but still no list from Alaina. Rob was ravenous and polished off his sandwich within minutes. Just when he was giving up on getting the list while he was still with Sarah and Sebastian, his e-mail pinged.

“Is that
the names?” Sarah asked around a mouthful of turkey and sage cheddar sandwich.

Rob took out his phone and opened
the e-mail app. “Yeah. I’ll read them all off. Then you guys can tell me which you like best. I’ll also tell you what Alaina’s top choices were and which one is catching my eye; but only after you tell which you like, so you aren’t biased.” He began to read them off and both of his friends listened attentively.

“That’s the entire list?” Sarah asked once he’d finished talking
, her tone incredulous.

Good to know I’m not the only one overwhelmed.
“Yeah.”

“Let me think for a minute.”

Sebastian spoke up. “I like ‘Supplies for Schools.’ It’s simple but says exactly what the foundation does.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Rob replied. He looked at Sarah. “What about you?”

“I like ‘Reach for the Stars,’ but I guess that one is not quite right since it doesn’t clearly articulate the foundation’s purpose.”

“Alain
a likes ‘Reach for the Stars’ too,” Rob said.

Sarah made a face. “I’m so bad at this. I can’t think of any way to change
‘Reach for the Stars’ to better fit the organization, but I do like the slogan. That probably doesn’t make sense.”

“It does,” he argued.
Better than anything I could think of.

“
’Supplies for Schools’ is a good name,” she said. “And truthfully, ‘Reach for the Stars’ isn’t real original.”

“I have no idea if
‘Supplies for Schools’ is either. I figured I’d give the lawyer the name and let him figure everything out.”

“Might as well, if you’re paying him
as much as you say you are.”

They finished their lunch and took Rob home shortly after. He sat on the couch and pulled his laptop closer, sending off a
laborious e-mail to the lawyer—he only had one hand to type with. After hitting Send, he set aside the laptop. Then sleep took over yet again.

Mid-November snuck up on Rob, and he asked Alaina to go to Scott’s annual Thanksgiving dinner.

She readily agreed…
until she found out formal wear was expected. “Rob, I don’t have anything like that. Not much call for floor-length gowns in kindergarten.”

“So go buy something. I’ll give you money. I think Sarah’s planning to hit the mall after practice tomorrow. You can go with her.”

Alaina gave him a hard look. “I am not taking money from you to buy a dress.”

He sighed. “We’ve been over this, hon. I want you with me. If you don’t have something to wear, I’ll pay for whatever you want. After all, I was the one who invited you.”

“Nice try.” Her lips pursed, and he knew she wasn’t happy with him. He hadn’t seen that look since the first day they’d met.

“Why won’t you take the money?
” Rob was trying to be patient with her. He guessed her pride was the major thing preventing her from letting him pay, but she needed to get over that.

“Because.” She threw up her hands, pushing away from the counter, where they’d been eating a late lunch after Alaina’s school day was over. “If I let you do this, I’m losing a part of myself
—my independence. Next you’ll be offering to pay my rent or buy me a new car.”

Setting down his fork, Rob rubbed his forehead with his good hand. “
The way you’re talking implies I want to control you. Make you a kept woman.”

“Well, don’t you?”

His mouth fell open. “Seriously? That’s what you think?”

“I don’t know what to think. Just because I can’t afford to go to some fancy party doesn’t mean you can tell me what to say or do.”