Everywhere, All At Once

Chapter 3 - Best Thing I Never Had

Ringing the doorbell to Mr. Reed's home, Kenna fought down the nerves that were threatening to make her hurl right there on their doorstep. Seconds later the door popped open and a pretty, redheaded, preteen girl stood on the other side beaming at Kenna.

"Miss Mackenzie!" Fiona shrieked, and flung herself into Kenna's arms.

Laughing, Kenna hugged her back. "Fiona, hi! You've gotten so big since I last saw you."

Fiona untangled herself from Kenna and, grabbing her hand, hauled her through the front door.

"Daddy!" Fiona shouted. "Miss Mackenzie is here!"

Mr. Reed came from the next room with a frazzled look on his face. His eyes met hers and his mouth turned up in a smile.

"Mackenzie." He put down the plates and utensils in his hands and opened his arms to her. 

Kenna felt her stomach tighten as his arms pulled her body against his for a split second. She counted out in her head the times he'd ever hugged her, trying to distract herself from the delicious hardness of his chest against hers. Once on her sixteenth birthday. Once on the day she'd graduated high school. And twice at the reunion a few weeks before, if the second one could be counted as him hugging her. And now.

"Here, let me take your bag," he said, reaching for the tote on her shoulder.

"Oh," Kenna said, handing it over, "thanks. I brought lots for us to do tonight," she told Fiona with a smile, gesturing to the tote.

At that, Mr. Reed lifted an eyebrow, but didn't comment. He placed her bag beside the couch and turned back to her.

"I'm really glad you came, Mackenzie," he told her, and he seemed to really mean it.

"Well, thank you for asking me to, Mr. Reed."

He cringed, clasping his hands together beneath his chin. "Really, please, please - I beg you. Call me Aaron."

"Sorry," Kenna said, going red. "I keep forgetting."

It would take some getting used to, calling him by his first name after over a decade of calling him by his last. Also, calling him Mr. Reed still served to remind her why she shouldn't be salivating over his smiles and fantasizing about him every time they made physical contact.

"I brought gifts, too!" Kenna announced. Brayden came running from another room at the sound of the word "gifts".

"Oh, boy," Mr. Reed said, and watched with mild amusement as his children opened the small packages Kenna had brought with her. After many thanks and hugs, Mr. Reed sent the kids back into their playroom.

And then she was in the room alone with Mr. Reed - Aaron. No, she definitely couldn't let herself think of him as Aaron. Aaron sounded sexy. Aaron sounded not like a teacher at all. And not like the parent of her young charges. Where the hell was his wife? That would douse the fire pretty quickly.

"So..." Kenna began.

"I hope this isn't weird," he said with a small smile, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"Ha, no, it's fine. It's really lucky I accosted you with my phone number, huh? Lucky for you, I mean," she added when his face went red. "Because you called and asked me to... Nevermind." Kenna took a bolstering breath, clapped her hands together. "So where's Laura?" She asked as she walked past him toward the room the kids were in.

"Laura?" He asked, and when Kenna stopped walking and turned back to face him, his eyebrows were furrowed.

Kenna, confused, looked around the room, at a loss. You know, your wife? She wanted to say, but that would sound rude. "Are you meeting her out, then?"