No matter how tempting the thought might be…
…
The snow that had pounded the Salt Lake Valley the previous evening had melted into a slushy mess around her ankles by the time Allie reached the school the next morning. She trudged through the muck, grateful for her spot at the front of the faculty parking lot that had taken seven years of teaching at St. Andrew’s Academy to earn.
Excitement blossomed in her chest when she saw the small construction contingent parked on the north side of the school. Hopefully, the storm wouldn’t delay the first day of construction on the school’s new peace garden, scheduled to start today. She probably should be grateful yesterday’s snowstorm had held off until after the morning’s ground breaking ceremony.
She stepped into the school’s foyer and was assailed by the aroma of today’s lunch, Chicken Parmesan, already wafting from the cafeteria—along with wet socks and someone’s generous application of baby powder perfume. After taking a moment to wipe her boots, she swept into the hallway and proceeded to the faculty lounge for another dose of morning caffeine.
The hallway teemed with kids amped up on Red Bull, hormones, and spring fever—despite the abysmal weather. Returning from a week-long spring break, they were livelier than usual for a Monday morning, which only made it more difficult to push through. She evaded a near collision with a freshman flipping a soccer ball into the air, giving him a stern look, but was too tired to follow up with more.
The raucousness of the hallway lowered to a dull roar when she crossed the threshold into the faculty lounge. She took a deep breath. Peace and quiet—relatively anyway. Now for more coffee.
With time to spare before her first class, she refilled her travel mug and stopped at the fridge to pour in her favorite creamer—salted caramel mocha—before finding a seat. As if on repeat, her mind played back the events of last night—and Sam Fratto’s unexpected and brief cameo.
Could he have been any more of a jerk? And why, after so many years, was her body’s first reaction to him so…immediate? So visceral? One glance at the man still sent her heart thumping madly, just as it had when she was a painfully shy, overweight sophomore nursing a gripping crush on the handsome senior.
She would have recognized him anywhere.
His face had never been pretty-boy handsome like many of the popular heartthrobs back in high school, but it had been rugged. Strong. With a jaw that would set in a stubborn line when he didn’t like what he’d heard, which, frankly, had been much of the time. He’d never been one to throw away his smiles—no matter how sexy she thought them—but it was when he turned those light hazel eyes in her direction that she would hold her breath. And melt just a little.
“Have you heard the news?” her friend Janine squealed, and slid into the seat next to her. Janine’s hands thrummed with excitement as they tapped the surface of the table. A drama teacher at the academy, her flair for drama was innate. Her burgundy colored, choppy, mid-length haircut was no exception. Allie smiled, took a sip of her coffee, and waited.
“Jeremy may have found a replacement for Carter. They’re in Jeremy’s office as we speak, discussing the details.”
“Thank God.” This was better news than Allie could have hoped for. Hastened by the heart attack he’d suffered over the Christmas holiday, Robert Carter had announced his early retirement from the St. Andrew’s English department at the first of the year. Effective immediately. A substitute had picked up most of his classes, but there were a couple that Allie’d had the bad luck of being assigned until they hired his replacement.
“And that’s not even the best part. I haven’t seen him, but from what Marie says, he’s pretty hot,” Janine gushed.
“
Which is not the best thing to have in a high school teacher, if you ask me,” the algebra and calculus teacher, Claire, added in her no-nonsense tone and took a seat with them, a steaming mug of tea in her hands. As always, Claire looked fairly bright-eyed and chipper, despite the early hour. She’d also been at the academy for seven years and was turning twenty-nine next month—but tended to have the stodginess of a seventy-year old. She was also Allie’s best friend at St. Andrew’s. “The last thing we need is dozens of impressionable girls flocking to his classroom. Mark my words. Trouble.”
“He could be Brad Pitt for all I care,” Allie said. “So long as he takes Carter’s Advanced Media and Graphic Design class from me. When your students know more than you about a subject, that’s trouble. Last quarter was a nightmare.”
“Which is probably why Marie was here looking for you earlier,” Claire said, and tucked a strand of her long, shiny, chestnut hair behind an ear. “She mentioned Jeremy was hoping you had time to swing by his office before your first class.”
Allie glanced at the clock. She had about ten minutes. She rose reluctantly and sighed. “Thanks. I’d better go drop off my stuff and get out of these boots first.”
“When you meet him, scope out his finger for a ring,” Janine called to Allie’s back. “If Tim doesn’t get his crap together and propose soon, I might have to start broadening the field. Or at the least, get Tim to think I’m broadening it.”
Allie passed the table where Señoras Pena and Sanchez, the school’s Spanish teachers, were perched. She offered them a quick smile. The two women gave significant glances to each other before returning mild, sedate smiles. Allie was left with the distinct impression they’d been talking about her. Hailed as the queens of gossip at St. Andrew’s, the two still managed to keep private anything related to their own lives. Probably due to the fact they conversed in rapid Spanish, so not many could follow.
A few minutes later, her bags deposited in her room on the second floor and her boots exchanged for comfortable clogs, Allie headed down to the principal’s office. This was going to be fantastic. A new teacher to help pick up some of the classes that had been foisted on her last quarter.
Maria, Jeremy’s secretary, was nowhere in sight when Allie arrived, but she could hear voices coming from his office. The door was partially open. After hesitating for a moment, she went over. The least she could do was let them know she was here.
She raised her hand, ready to knock, when she heard her name mentioned inside. “Allie should be here anytime. She was a student here close to the time you were, if I’m not mistaken. Allison McBride?”
“The name rings a bell.” That voice was vaguely familiar…
“Hey, Allie,” Marie practically yelled from behind her. Allie squelched down a scream of surprise. Somehow Marie had returned without her hearing—which said a lot, considering the height of those heels. “I don’t know if Jeremy’s back or not, have you tried the door?”
She had no doubt that Marie’s boisterous greeting had reached the men inside the office. Warmth suffused her face. “I was about to try,” she managed, hoping not to sound guilty. She took a deep breath and knocked.
“Come in.”
She pushed open the door, and Jeremy rose from behind the desk.