Holly frowned. “What do you mean?”
Chellie grinned. “The library just got a delivery notice. Apparently, they’re getting two 3D printers and a bunch of state of the art virtual reality learning gear. The nurse had to come in because all the librarians were hyperventilating they were so excited.”
Holly’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“It’s a donation from Paradigm Te
chnologies. But, given the size of those flowers, I’m guessing that’s where ‘N’ works,” Chellie said with a knowing smile.
Holly didn’t know what to say to that.
“You must have made an impression. I hope you got his number. He sounds like a keeper.”
Chellie gave Holly a friendly pat on the back before returning to the front office. Students would be arriving soon. Holly stood staring at the flowers, trying to figure out why Nathan would send such an amazing gift.
It was meant for her. She knew it. Even though it was addressed to the school, it was a gift to her. She was a teacher and he sent her something she could only dream of to help her teach. He’d picked the perfect gift. The flowers were nice, but her students and school were the way to her heart.
“What is he doing?” Holly said aloud to the empty classroom. Probably just being nice. It cost his company very little to send this kind of thing and they would get a great tax deduction for it.
She barely had enough time to send him a thank you text before her students came running in. Everyone was red nosed and had snow on their boots, but they were all happy to see her.
“Ms. Jones! Ms. Jones!” they all called. “We had a snow-day yesterday!”
Holly laughed, greeting them and getting everyone settled at their desks. The mornings were always high energy, and today was no different. With the snow-day on Monday, there was only three days of school this week. Friday was the town holiday parade and celebration, so the school year ended on Thursday.
The classroom buzzed with energy. The kids were still amped up from their day off and the rumors of cool things happening in the library. They kept wanting to smell Holly’s flowers and asked her a million questions as to where she got them, who sent them, what she was going to do with them, and if there were bees inside of them.
Holly took it all in stride. She loved being a teacher and this was part of it. It took a while, but she managed to settle them at their desks and to look over their writing assignments. It was easy to get them to work on making paper snowflakes. She handed out paper and scissors and let the kids follow their imaginations.
The snowflakes were a cleverly disguised learning opportunity. They’d already talked about the science of freezing water, but cutting the flakes let Holly introduce some geometry and math concepts.
When everyone had a snowflake they were proud of, they quietly worked on transferring their corrected holiday wishes onto their snowflake.
When lunch came around, Holly hung the snowflakes on the walls. She walked around, reading each child’s wish. Many asked that their parents didn’t need to move. Others asked for toys, puppies, and various dreams. Holly wished she could grant every single one of these wishes.
For the millionth time that day, she thought of Nathan. Was he looking into the business relocation? What was he doing now? Was he back in California thinking of her?
She checked her phone for a reply to her thank you, but there was none. She tried not to pout as she slid the phone back into her desk. He was a busy business owner. She sighed and went back to work.
The children rushed out the door as soon as the bell rang. Coats and scarves flew in the wind and several gloves scattered the hallways. A lone snow-boot waited by the door. Holly dutifully went around and picked up the various items, knowing that tomorrow children would look for them in the lost and found.
She cleaned up the classroom and finished grading the math worksheet. With the end of the year so close, the kids were having a hard time concentrating on anything that didn’t mention Santa or was made of candy.
Holly left the school, giving a wave to Chellie in the office, and headed to her father’s bookstore. She parked on a side street and walked down Main Street to the large, red brick building.
The bookstore was an old building on the corner of Main Street and Oak Lane in the heart of downtown Devonsville. A family-owned Italian restaurant sat to the right, and a ice cream shoppe to the left. Everything was decorated for the holidays. Christmas-tree lights sparkled in the windows over carefully arranged books and gift ideas.
The door chimed softly as she walked inside. The soft scent of paper and books mingled with fresh coffee and right out of the oven chocolate chip cookies. It was the smell of home. She took a deep breath in and smiled, feeling content.
“Anything interesting happen today?” her father asked from his perch at the checkout lane.
Mark Jones was a man in his early sixties. He wore dark rimmed glasses over green eyes that matched Holly’s and the two also shared a nose. His hair was gray now but cut short to hide just how gray.
“Two dragons and a flock of flying bananas,” she replied, coming over and kissing his cheek. Mark smiled and laughed. It was a game they’d played ever since she was a little girl. He would ask if anything happened at school, and she would make up fantastical stories. “How’s business?”
“Fine,” he replied. There were only a couple of customers browsing the books, but the coffee shop was comfortably busy. “Let me get someone over here and we can go to the back to work on things.”
Mark motioned to a teen-aged girl to come take his place at the cash register. Holly smiled her. The job at the bookstore was a coveted position around town. Mark always hired the local teens, but he made them submit real resumes and held interviews. Even if it was just for a entry-level, part-time position, he wanted them to be prepared for the real world.