I smiled, loving hearing that.
Abilene has had a rough time of it lately, and I really hated that she had to suffer at this school at all.
“That’s wonderful,” I said. “Come in. Let me write my number down for you. When you get close, give me a call or shoot me a text and I can get you inside hopefully without being seen.”
The woman followed after me into my office, smiling when she saw my calendar.
“I got one of those,” she paused. “I guess I’ll have to take it down now that Boston is home.”
“Boston is Abilene’s brother?” I guessed.
She smiled and nodded. “He is.”
I quickly wrote my number down on a Post-it note and then handed it to the young woman.
“How long has Boston been gone?” I asked curiously.
“Almost nine months,” she answered. “Abilene and Boston are so close. They’re six years apart, but there’s no separation there that you would think you’d see with that age gap. They’re best friends. Sometimes even I get jealous of them, and I’m Boston’s wife.”
I snickered. “My brother and I have a bit of an age gap, too. But you wouldn’t think it. We’re really great friends. Maybe it’s because they’re brother and sister. If they were sister and sister, it probably wouldn’t be the same.”
She nodded her head in understanding. “I agree. That’s how I feel, too.”
Walking out the door back to the front entrance, I watched her go, so excited that she could barely contain her skips as she hustled back to her car.
When I turned, it was to find Principal Bailey standing there looking at me with narrowed eyes.
“Who was that?” he asked shortly.
I explained who that was, and what was about to happen.
And, since Principal Bailey was showing his true colors lately, he wasn’t nearly as excited as I was.
In fact, he was opposed.
“We can’t have that kind of disruption at the school,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s Friday. There’s a holiday on Monday. Trust me, they’re not going to interrupt anything.”
Principal Bailey, I could tell, wanted to rip me apart with his words. But the school nurse had come out moments after I’d explained and sided with me.
“I think this is so sweet,” Calloway, better known as Nurse Calloway, said. “I just love seeing all the soldiers coming home videos when they come to the schools to surprise their kids. The videos always make me cry.”
Speaking of another person that Bailey didn’t like…
“I don’t think we asked your opinion, Ms. Alvarez.”
My lips twitched as I saw Calloway’s eyes narrow on Principal Bailey.
“Well, you might not have, but I gave it anyway,” Calloway supplied, smiling sweetly.
Principal Bailey went to argue, but Calloway walked back into her office, likely not wanting to get into it with the moron.
Calloway and Bailey fought like cats and dogs.
Mostly because Calloway had gotten the job when Bailey hadn’t wanted her to have it.
Though, that wasn’t something that we ‘officially’ knew. It was something we’d found out when we’d overheard Bailey and our superintendent talking outside of school one day.
Needless to say, after that, Calloway hadn’t even bothered trying to be nice to Bailey.
And Bailey couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
“She’s not messing with my classes,” he growled and walked away.
I acted like I didn’t hear him and planned on doing what I thought was right. Which was letting him come.
I just needed to go talk to Mrs. Teague before it happened.
Five minutes later, after discussing the possibilities with Mrs. Teague, I went back to my office and saw that I had a message.
I frowned when I read it.
Hayes: You done being sassy?
I looked at the text message and considered deleting it altogether.
I was pissed.
At first I thought that maybe what I’d said would sink in, and he’d come to me.
Except, he didn’t.
Not for two whole days. And then he sends me a text like this?
I think not.
But then I remembered that I needed to get him to Dottir Service Dogs after school and I thought better of my refusal to answer.
Ares: No.
And, if I was being one hundred percent honest, I missed him.
I missed him more than I was pissed at him.
Hayes: What if I said that I brought you a cookie?
I scrunched up my nose.
Ares: Need more.
Hayes’ laughter had my head jerking up in surprise.
He was right there, a few feet away from me, leaning against the frame of my door looking at me as if he missed me.
And hell, maybe he did.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m sorry, sir. Can I help you?”
His grin flashed and he walked inside, heading straight for my desk with an armful of stuff.
He’d just sat down the sweet tea in front of me when Calloway came barreling into the office, looking as if she was about to spit nails.
“He called my boss!” she snapped. “Said I was insubordinate! Can you believe him?”