Life was nearly perfect. My class size was manageable. The resources I had to teach were acceptable. Certainly more than I’d had in Chicago. The school and town were welcoming to me. The only downside was Holly St. James.
As the week progressed, she didn’t seem to be hiding in her classroom anymore, but neither was she as open to me as she’d been when we texted. It was making me crazy. Every time I saw her, I had an urge to wrap her up and kiss her, which was the same urge I had when she texted me that coy photo of her.
She was always polite, but held her distance. Sure, she was older than I’d initially thought, but so what? The mayor was nearly twenty years older than Brooke, and look at them. There was no doubt they were perfect for each other, now that he got out of his head that the age difference was a problem.
Did Holly think our age difference was a problem? I hadn’t considered that. What I needed to do was to show her that I was into her, regardless of our ages.
It was Friday afternoon, and school had just let out. I’d stopped by the office to make a quick call to a parent to let her know about something awesome her kid had done to help another student in class. I didn’t have a problem calling parents to report problems, but if I was going to that, I felt compelled to call over good news too.
As I headed back to class, I saw Holly in her classroom. She was at her desk looking over papers, with her pen in her teeth.
“You don’t worry that the ink will come out and you’ll have red teeth?” I asked, taking a chance and entering her classroom.
She smiled, but it never seemed to quite reach her eyes with me. Not like it had in that photo.
“I hadn’t thought of it,” she said, setting the pen down.
“You do know it’s Friday, right? School’s out. You can quit until Monday.”
She arched a brow. “Are you saying you never grade papers over the weekend.”
“I try not to. I don’t assign home over the weekend either. When the kids are home, they should be with their parents, not doing school work.”
“You’re quite enlightened.”
“I have a shrink for a mother. She taught me all I needed to know to understand kids and family. Or I should say, she raised me to understand kids and family.” I sat on the desk in front of hers.
“She seems to have done a good job.”
“She thinks so. Well, except that I’ve moved to Nebraska. She’s not thrilled with that. But that’s the mother part of her. The shrink part would say she had to let me live my life. What are you doing this weekend?”
She jerked slightly at my abrupt change of subject. But I figured if I didn’t give her too much time to think, I could get her to go to dinner with me.
“Nothing.” She stacked her papers and set them aside.
“I want to hear all about doing nothing. How about over dinner?”
She shook her head, but I saw the slight upward twitch of her lips. “I appreciate the offer, but coworkers shouldn’t see each other outside of work.”
I shrugged. “It can’t be inappropriate for me to ask advice from a more experienced colleague.”
Her small smile faltered and I panicked a little. Did I offend her by calling her experienced?
“If you’re worried about being seen, I can cook dinner for you. I’m good at it,” I said.
“Is there anything you aren’t good at?” Her blue eyes looked a bit annoyed.
“I don’t seem to be very good at asking you out.”
She stood, and grabbed her bag. “I’ll see you Monday.”
I sighed. Another battle lost. But I was still in the war to win her over. I watched as she left her class. I followed her out, heading in the opposite direction to my classroom. As I packed my bag, I heard my phone notify me of a text. For a moment, I had the hope that it was Holly, and she changed her mind.
Nope. It was from Brooke.
Deputy Mayor Jones is having a kickoff party at the Salvation Station tonight. Be there or be square. 7 pm.
I had nothing else to do, since I’d once again been shot down by Holly.