Amy felt warm with pride from her sister’s reaction. It wasn’t that Nikki never complimented her. She did. Nikki had always said nice things about Amy. That she was a good sister, smart, pretty even. But never, never had Amy been referred to as hot by her sister. It was high praise and she would take it.
“Thanks.” Amy smiled as Nikki continued moving her and inspecting her outfit from different angles.
“Did you just get back from a date?”
“Yep.”
“Who’s the lucky guy?” Nikki asked, genuinely seeming to be interested in Amy’s answer.
“No one you know.” Which was true. Technically, Nikki didn’t know Matt.
Thinking that caused an unbidden thought to pop in her head that Nikki and Matt would meet and sparks would fly and they would start dating. Really dating. Amy tried to shake off that image.
“Well, was he worth all your super-sexy-hot-mama-ness or did he turn out to be another loser?” Nikki asked, moving to the back door, where Scrappy had heard her voice and was now scratching at like crazy.
“He wasn’t a loser.”
Nikki opened the back door and Scrappy leaped into her arms. “Oh, I missed you, my little guy. Were you a good boy for Auntie Amy?” Nikki made kissy noises at Scrappy as he scrambled around in her arms, excited to see her.
“He was very good, huh, Scooby?” Amy reached down and scratched Scooby behind the ears.
Nikki set her wriggling bundle down on the ground, moved to the fridge, and grabbed two waters, handing one to Amy, then headed back into the front room, plopping down on the couch.
Okay, soooo she’s staying.
All Amy wanted to do was draw a hot bath and commit to memory every single second of her fake date with Matt, but when her sister decided she wanted to hang out…it wasn’t optional. Oh well. Nothing could spoil her good mood from tonight.
“Let me just go throw on some sweats,” Amy called as she made her way down the hall with a perma-grin firmly plastered on her face. She was pretty sure that her cheeks were going to hurt tomorrow from all the grinning, smiling, and laughing she’d done tonight.
Sitting down on the side of her bed, she slipped off her shoes and pointed and flexed her toes, sighing in relief. Although she was glad she’d worn them, she was equally as glad to be taking them off. Slipping off her dress and pulling on sweats, Amy realized that, as much as she’d enjoyed getting this dressed up, she was a lounge wear type of gal. She used to envy Nikki that she was always going to events and galas, being invited by people—men—she met as a first-class flight attendant. Nikki always had excuses to get dolled up, but Amy now knew that once or twice a year would be plenty for her liking. That realization was just another stepping stone to add to her path of self-discovery.
“You got a text, Ames!” her sister yelled.
Panic caused Amy’s feet to start moving as she practically flew back into the front room. She got there just as Nikki was pulling Amy’s phone from her purse. Her little sister had always been nosy. It had never bothered Amy before because her life had basically been an open book. But if the text was—fingers crossed! —from Matt and her sister saw it, she would be all over it like a bloodhound sniffing out the truth.
Pulling the phone from her sister’s hands, Amy cleared the screen.
Nikki’s brow’s furrowed. “You’re not going to check it?”
Amy scrunched her face and shook her head. “I’ll check it later.”
Confusion clouded Nikki’s face. “What if it’s Mom?”
Fine.
Amy glanced down and saw that the text was from Matt. She forced herself not to smile or show any flicker of emotion on her face as she read it.
Had a great time tonight. And by the way…I can’t stop thinking about phase two.
Amy wanted to scream and jump up and down. Inside, she was doing cartwheels and backflips. Outside, she hoped she was pulling off unaffected and casual.
She couldn’t be sure though, since her heart was beating a mile a minute and she was sure that her cheeks were probably beet red. She reminded herself that he was just flirting and it may not mean anything, but then a little voice screamed, But he is definitely flirting!
“Is it Mom?” Nikki asked.
Amy placed the phone in her sweats and sat on the couch as nonchalantly as possible. “Nope. So how was your trip? When did you get in?”
Nikki’s eyes narrowed. For a few nail-biting seconds, Amy thought her sister was going to press the issue, and in all likelihood, Amy would fold like house of cards. But much to Amy’s relief, Nikki just sighed and proceeded to tell Amy all about her travels and various escapades.
Well, Amy thought to herself, I guess that’s one advantage to always being boring—no one suspects that you might be hiding anything.
Chapter Seventeen
Matt stood in front of his second period class of senior AP history students and found, to his surprise, that he was really enjoying the passionate discussion that was going on. Of course, he enjoyed teaching and took his job very seriously, so a certain part of himself—the professional part—had always been engaged in class discussions he had led. But this was the first time that he could remember since Jess's death feeling completely lost in the argument, completely enraptured in what the students were saying, and completely and totally mentally engaged in the debate that was going on between the students in his class.
This realization hit him like a ton of bricks. His love of teaching and the pure joy to be found in it was one of the many things he had lost the horrific day when Jess passed away, and now he was finally getting it back. He hadn't even realized that he was until he’d found himself right in the thick of it, but now that it had returned, it was back in full force.
One of his more gifted students, Jennifer, shot her hand into the air, and Matt called on her right away. She glanced back at the clock and said, “It's ten minutes to the bell, Mr. Kellan. Time for Daily Discussion.”
Matt glanced up at the clock. Wow. So it was. He had been so involved in the well-reasoned and in-depth arguments that the students were making that he hadn't even kept track of the time. Of course, he thought with a smile to himself, the students would never let him forget Daily Discussion. This was the time in the class—the last ten minutes of every class, to be exact—that Matt set aside for the students to bring up any topic they wish for discussion. It could have to do with current events, something that was going on in school, something that was happening in class, or something that was happening in their lives. The only rule was that they had to put it out in front of the rest of the class for input, and all of the people involved in the discussion had to respect one another's point of view and opinions.
It was by far his favorite part of class, and it seemed to be his students' favorite as well.
“Yes it is.” Matt transitioned smoothly. “Who has something that they would like to put on the table for today?”
Jennifer's hand immediately shot in the air again, equally as passionately as it had before. Matt smiled.
“Okay, Jennifer. I see that you had a motive for making sure the Daily Discussion happened on time that goes beyond a mere interest for accurate timekeeping. All right, the floor is yours. What's the topic?”
“What's going on between you and Ms. Maguire?”
Matt should be surprised but he wasn’t. These students were bright, and even though he had no idea what was going on between him and Amy, he knew something was and he certainly wasn’t shocked they’d picked up on their chemistry.
“Ms. Maguire and I are colleagues and friends,” Matt answered honestly. “Next topic.” He looked around the room.
Rachel’s hand shot up.
“Rachel.”
“Do you like her?”
“Yes, she is very nice,” Matt nodded.
Jennifer’s hand once again flew up. “We mean do you like her like her?”
Matt lowered his head and squeezed the bridge of his nose. He was seriousl
y regretting ever implementing Daily Discussion. He’d wanted the students to have a safe place to discuss issues they were dealing with, not a free-for-all to talk about his personal life.
“She’s really pretty and cool. We think you guys would make the cutest couple,” Jennifer continued.
“Moving on.” Matt lifted his head, being sure to keep his tone upbeat. “Next topic.”
Kylie’s eyes narrowed as her hand shot up in the air. She was normally a very quiet girl, and Matt was a little surprised that she had decided to weigh in on this.
“Kylie,” he called on her. He was actually fairly curious to see what she would have to add.
“Are you married?” Her eyebrows raised as she lowered her arms and crossed them defensively, glaring at him.
He waited for the words she’d asked to hit him like a punch in the gut. To cause him to feel as if the wind had been knocked out of him. Matt’s hand immediately flew to his ring finger out of habit, not because he needed to feel its smooth surface still attached to his finger to calm down.
Matt had known that this subject was bound to come up with his students. In fact, it had surprised him that more people hadn’t known about his situation. If they did, they hadn’t brought it up to him. With Hope Falls being such a small town, he would have figured that news would have spread quickly.
He looked up and cleared his throat. “I was married. I lost my wife in a car accident about five years ago.”
There were several moments of silence before Kylie quietly said, “I’m so sorry, Mr. Kellan.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.” It was his standard answer.
Several other students offered their condolences before the bell rang, dismissing the class. As the room emptied, Matt sat down in his chair. The first thought he had was that he was almost relieved that was over. Now that this class knew, it was only a matter of time until the whole school knew. It was always difficult to tell people what had happened, and now everyone would know.
Amy’s face flashed in his head. She had been one of the few, if not the only person, who it hadn’t been difficult to share his tragic loss with. Usually it was awkward for both him and the person hearing the news. Then he’d found that people normally treated him differently, at least for a few weeks, while they adjusted to just seeing him as Matt again and not Matt the Widow.
But that hadn’t happened with Amy. She just treated him like Matt. Even when, over the weeks they’d been spending time together and the subject of Jess had come up, she’d always just listened supportively as he told her stories about her or about them as a couple.
And instead of looking at him with pity or feeling sorry for him, she’d laughed right along with him when he’d relayed some of the funnier things he and Jess had been through. Like when they’d gotten food poisoning on their honeymoon. Or the time he and Jess had locked themselves out of the house in the rainstorm and the neighbors had called the police when they saw him climbing back in the house, thinking he was breaking in. Or on their first wedding anniversary when they’d gone horseback riding on the beach and fallen asleep on a blanket under the stars only to be woken up by a search party of ten people that had been looking for them for hours when the horses had returned and they hadn’t.
In fact, now that he thought about it, Matt couldn’t believe just how much he’d shared with Amy about Jess. He remembered his lunch with his uncle and how hard it had been to force himself to open up a little bit. It hadn’t been like that with Amy. When they talked and he’d told her stories about Jess, it had felt natural. Easy. Right.
She had really become, in the short time he’d known her, one of his best friends. A ridiculously hot and sexy best friend he wanted to strip naked and lick every inch of, but a best friend all the same.
--- ~ ---
Amy loved her job. Loved her classes. Loved her students…most days. Today, however, was not one of those days.
She’d heard from over a dozen students during the day that this morning in Matt’s second period class not only had her name been brought up but a few students had basically grilled him about how he felt about her. So much so that he’d been forced to tell them that he was a widow and his wife had died a car accident. Probably just to make them leave the subject alone.
Her head was spinning. What if he thought that she’d put the kids up to it? What if he thought she’d encouraged that behavior? What if he thought she’d been talking about him, telling people they’d gone out?
Amy wanted to throw up.
After spending the entire weekend walking around on cloud nine, the fall back down to reality was hitting her pretty hard. Of course she knew that Friday night had been just one night and more than likely was not going to lead to anything. She wasn’t living in some kind of delusional fantasy that she and Matt were going to live happily ever after. He’d made it more than clear during the time they’d gotten to know each other that he never planned on being in a relationship again. And she couldn’t blame him. She had no idea how she would deal with the kind of devastating loss he had experienced.
But she did wish that they could at least remain as close as they’d become over the past month. Now she wasn’t so sure that was going to happen. He’d already texted her and asked if she could meet him in the green house for lunch so they could ‘talk.’ She hadn’t been able to because she’d already promised Mrs. Coolidge that she would go pick up a prescription for her since she was holding make-up testing during her lunch period.
Her stomach turned as she sat watching the seconds tick by, each one bringing her closer and closer to her prep period, when Matt would be walking in. They would be alone and more than likely would have the ‘talk.’ She’d been imagining that it would probably start with him telling her that he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea, he liked her as a friend, it’s not her, it’s him or some variation of the classic ‘brush off’ speech. She would have to awkwardly assure him that she knew they were just friends—which was true—and that was all she wanted too—which was a lie!
Good times.
She just wanted to get it over with, like ripping off a Band-Aid. Just do it quickly and as painlessly as possible. Her heart sank, wishing that she could have just had a few more weeks with him where no one was paying attention to them and they were just in their bubble. Because when they were together, that was exactly what it felt like—like they were in their own little bubble.
The bell rang and students started exiting the class. She did note that they were gathering their things quite a bit slower than normal. Busying herself at her desk, she didn’t see the moment that Matt walked in, but she did hear several students greet him.
She was looking down at her desk and did not raise her head. Sure, it might make her a chicken, but she didn’t want to face him. So she just stared at her papers. Yep, big ol’ chicken. Cluck, cluck, cluck.
Hearing the door shut, she forced her chicken self to peek up and see if there were any students left in the room. There weren’t. It was just her and Matt. Alone.
“Hey,” she said casually as he made his way down the rows of desks.
Today he wore a black V-neck sweater that hugged his muscular chest. His sleeves were rolled up—of course—displaying his perfectly chiseled forearms. His charcoal gray slacks somehow showcased the length and strength in his legs. She tried not to stare, but honestly, she was only human.
“So have your ears been burning today?” he asked with a charming smile as he sat down with more confidence and ease than she had probably ever experienced in her life.
She turned to face both him and the situation head-on. Taking a deep, fortifying breath, she just opened her mouth and started talking. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t meet you for lunch. I had to run an errand for Mrs. Coolidge and I didn’t want to flake on her. But I heard what the kids did and I want you to know I had nothing to do with it. I am so sorry for their behavior. It was inappropriate. I have no idea where they got the idea that we were…or that you w
ould… I haven’t said anythi—”
Matt interrupted her ramblings. “Amy.” She looked in his eyes for the first time since he’d come into the room and they didn’t look like the eyes of someone who was upset. If anything, she would classify his gaze as amused.
She waited, not really sure why he’d interrupted her to then just sit there silently. But Amy figured that, considering he was the wronged party, it was his show. So she sat still as patiently as she possibly could.
After what felt like at least an hour but was more likely a minute or two, Matt leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, bringing his large hands up to his head and raking his fingers through his hair.
Amy waited.
Finally, he looked up at her. “How do you decide who goes on to phase two?”
Wha, wha, what!? Amy felt like one of those cartoon characters that shakes its heads back and forth and its face leaves blurry lines.
“Matt, I don’t know what the kids said bu—”
“Amy.” He reached out and placed his hand on her knee.
Oh boy. She didn’t just feel his touch in the oh-so-innocent area he had placed it. Nope. She felt tingles all the way up her thigh to the apex between her legs.
His deep voice lowered as he scooted his chair closer to her. “I’m not talking about the kids,” Sadly he did remove his hand now that he was right in front of her, but his legs were on either side of hers and her knees were touching his inner thigh. She was like the cream in an Oreo and his legs were the cookies. She glanced at the door and realized that if anyone walked in it would just look like they were seated facing one another. The desk blocked the view of their legs locked together like a puzzle.
She looked down at her lap and tried to keep her composure. Tried not to let his nearness, his smell, his voice, his forearms affect her, but she was not being too successful.
“Amy.” She loved hearing him say her name. Growing up, she’d always thought it sounded common and plain. But when it came out of Matt’s mouth, it sounded, well…sexy.
Looking up and seeing the sexy half grin he wore, which caused a shiver to dance down her spine, she licked her lips, probably out of nerves, and noticed that his eyes watched her movement with appreciation.
Snow Days (The Hope Falls Series) Page 13
