“How would you know?” I asked, forgetting that I shouldn’t be talking sex with a much younger teacher I fantasized about. Especially in school.
“I have a lot of friends who are girls,” he said. “Without benefits, hence their need for a dildo. Though most of them prefer a vibrator.”
We all gaped at him, and yet, I realized that maybe I’d been wrong about the flirting. If he was a man with lots of female friends, flirting probably didn’t mean anything to him.
“You’re the mayor’s wife’s friend, right?” Becky asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, Brooke and I were friends in college and stayed friends. She’s the one that told me about this job.” He turned to look at me. “I’m glad she did. I’m really liking it here.”
Again, if I were younger and didn’t think he was just good with women, I might have read something into his saying that while looking at me.
“Oh crap, I’ve got to get to class,” Becky said with a glance at her watch.
“Me too,” Karen rose and the two of them tossed their lunch trash and were gone before I could realize that I was now alone with Tucker.
“I should get back,” I said, standing and balling up my lunch trash.
He stood with me. “Will you have dinner with me?”
I stilled and slowly looked at him. “What?” He couldn’t really be asking me on a date, could he?
“Your help over the summer to prepare me to teach here was invaluable. I’d love to be able to get more tips about settling in here. The school and town.”
I did a mental facepalm. Of course, he wasn’t asking me on a date. He just wanted a tour guide. Normally, I’d agree. Salvation had a lot to offer and even many locals didn’t really know about all that the town offered. But since my feelings were all jumbled around him, I knew I needed to stay away.
“I’m sorry. I have a meeting with a possible donor for the library fundraiser.” That wasn’t a lie, although I hoped I’d be done with my appointment before dinner.
His expression showed disappointment, and I felt bad. “I know Brooke can help you get around town.”
He nodded. “Thanks anyway.”
I blew out a breath as he headed to his class and I went to mine, trying to put the perfection of Tucker Marshall out of my head.
After school, I drove out to Meredith Reynold’s home. Many families in Salvation had roots here back many generations. The Reynolds’ were no different. But where many families, such as the Jones, the Valentines, and Campbells, started here in the 1800s as farmers, the Reynolds made their fortune in industry and real estate. Today, the Reynold’s family, which in Salvation, was just Meredith, lived off Jamison Reynold’s, her deceased husband’s investments.
The house could better be described as a mansion, I thought that if any place in Salvation had ghosts, this place was it. As the housekeeper let me in, it appeared the house was still decorated as it was when old man Silas Reynolds had built it nearly two hundred years ago. I half expected oil lamps.
“If you could wait here, Mrs. Reynolds will be right with you,” the housekeeper, Mary Lively, whose daughter I’d gone to school with, said.
“Thank you.” The room was bright and clean, but made me think of a museum.
“Ms. St. James, how are you?”
I turned to see Meredith enter the room. She had to be in her eighties, but appeared quite spry. Watching her move through the parlor, she was the definition of regal. The queen of her realm. She had a reputation for being brusk and intimidating, which I’d seen first-hand often while growing up in Salvation. But she was also a supporter of the arts and other programs, and I was sure she’d donate to the library project.
“Please sit,” she motioned to a settee that I hoped wouldn’t break when I sat on it.
“Thank you so much for seeing me,” I said as I tentatively sat on the edge.
“Of course. I always have time for the teachers of Salvation. How are the children this year?” She sat in a Victorian looking chair across from me.
I smiled, ready to make small talk. “They’re great. I’m teaching fifth grade this year. Last year I taught fourth.”
“Do you have your same class?”
“I have a few of the same students.”
“How wonderful for them.”