by Erin Wright
She groaned again.
“What if I get all gussied up,” she whispered, “but he’s really coming over to tell me that he doesn’t want to kiss me anymore?” She was only willing to say the nightmare scenario out loud because she was discussing the topic with Amelia. If it’d been any other teacher, she never, ever would’ve had the guts to say it. “I’ll look like an idiot, expecting something that he’s not actually wanting to give.”
Amelia opened her mouth to tell Hannah that she was a few bricks shy of a full load, Hannah was just sure of it, when she paused and thought a while instead.
Finally, she said slowly, “Normally, I’d say you’re talking crazy for saying something like that – that Elijah Morland has the hots for you, and there’s no way he’d just walk away – but he did do this once before, sooo…”
She tapped her front teeth with her fingernail, her brow creased as she thought it all through. As Hannah watched and waited, she realized that she wasn’t even sure if she knew what she was hoping her aide would tell her, only that she needed to have someone else’s take on the situation because she just went around and around and around in her head when she tried to puzzle it all out.
“I get the worry,” Amelia said after a long silence, looking her straight in the eye. “Truly, I do – I’m not just saying that. But Hannah, you’ve got to be willing to give it a try. If you always expect the men in the world to disappoint you, you’re always going to be disappointed. Damn, girl, this is a guy who’s willing to walk across broken glass for his daughter; any woman he loves, he’ll love her just as deeply. And yeah, maybe he’s not in love with you yet, but after seeing you two kiss…I promise you, he’s quickly getting there.” She picked Hannah’s purse up from the floor and shoved it into her hands. “Now, go get yourself gussied up. He’s gonna be worth it, I promise.”
Hannah swallowed hard, a ball of panic roiling around in her stomach, and then nodded. Clutching her purse against her chest, she dashed for the classroom door.
She had until five o’clock to make herself look so good, Elijah could never bear to walk away.
Only 96 minutes to make a miracle happen.
Chapter 24
Elijah
Clutching the coloring pad to his chest, Elijah cursed his stupidity under his breath. Boy howdy, he’d done some awfully stupid things in his time, but honestly, who gave a coloring book to a woman as a present? What were they – ten?
Sure, Hannah liked to color, and sure, she liked to put the finished pictures up all over her classroom which he’d admired plenty of times, but still, shouldn’t he be bringing her chocolates or some more flowers?
It was Carla who’d told him no. “You bought her purple-and-white daisies already,” she’d told him when he’d stopped by Happy Petals for another bouquet. “You’re not going to be able to top that. You can’t do better than her all-time favorite flowers, right? So, pick something else. What else does Hannah absolutely love?”
“Children, her horses, and her father,” Elijah had said, rattling them off without batting an eyelash.
Carla had stared at him for a moment.
“Huh. Well, that’s true,” she’d allowed, “but since you can’t give her children – at least, I hope you’re not planning on that right now – and she sure doesn’t need another horse or another father, what else can you give her that she enjoys doing to relax?”
“Coloring!” he’d exclaimed, like he’d just figured out how to solve world hunger.
“Oh, perfect!” she’d praised him. “There are some fun coloring books over in Franklin. You should go on down to Once Upon a Trinket and check them out.”
Huh. It weren’t until just now, rememberin’ back on how all that went down, that he realized that Carla may’ve known that answer from the get-go, and had just been leadin’ him along, tryin’ to get him to come up with the idea all on his own so he could feel like he’d really accomplished something special.
Damn, she’s good…
Sneaky as hell, but good.
He realized with a start that he was about to strangle the coloring book into a big wad o’ shit, and forced himself to stop trying to roll it up like a paper towel tube.
Breathe. You’re gonna be fine. She was kissin’ you real nice earlier today, so she ain’t gonna slam the door in your face now—
“That’s it, I can’t stand it anymore,” Hannah announced, yanking the door open just as he raised his hand to knock.
Elijah’s mouth gaped open as he stared at her. He had no idea she could be so forceful. Or that she’d been standing on the other side of the door, watching him debate whether he was messing this all up.
“Well, are you just going to hang around on my front porch like you have nothing else to do, or are you coming in?” she demanded, her hands on her slim hips.
He couldn’t help the huge smile that spread over his face. He may not know who this Hannah Lambert was, but he was likin’ her anyway.
“Coming in right now,” he said smartly as he sidled past her and into the warmth of her family’s home. “I…uh…brought a present for you.” He held the coloring book out to her, hopin’ she didn’t notice that it were all curled up on the edges.
Her eyes lit up and she sent him a huge smile as she reached for it, their fingertips brushing for just a split second as she took it from him.
“I can’t believe you,” she murmured, all sweet and quiet again. She thumbed through the pages of central Idaho drawings, ready to be brought to life. He’d bought it ‘cause it were a colorin’ book done up by a local gal by the name of Ivy Bishop – she used to be a McLain. She’d graduated three years ahead of him in school but even back then, everyone had known she was real good with a pencil and paintbrush and now she was using that talent to make the prettiest drawings he’d ever seen.
“I’m…I’m sorry about that,” Hannah murmured, her cheeks turning red as she jerked her head towards the front door, keepin’ her eyes glued on the drawings in the book. “I don’t normally spy on people who are standing on my front porch, I promise.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t normally stand on a front porch for ten minutes, neither,” he mumbled, feelin’ his own face turn red. She probably thought he was one dumb idiot for that stunt but honestly, that’s ‘cause he was an idiot when it came to Hannah Lambert.
Maybe Aaron was good at schmoozin’ the ladies, but whatever talent he got from their parents, Elijah didn’t have one little bit of it.
Apparently, all of the courage that she’d screwed up in order to confront him on the front porch had disappeared, ‘cause she’d set the colorin’ book down and was back to twisting her hands together, looking him over awkwardly as he did the same to her.
It weren’t until then that he realized what an amazing top she had on.
Amazing, as in sexy as hell.
Wowee!
He’d known she had a nice set of tits on her, but it’d always been a theoretical knowledge, much like he knew that his parents had sex on a regular basis. That didn’t mean that he’d ever seen it firsthand.
Unlike his parents having sex, though, he most definitely wanted to see proof of Hannah’s tits.
“You…uhhh…look good. Real nice.”
If he swallowed his own tongue, he couldn’t be less suave than he was just then.
At his pathetic excuse of a compliment, her smile got all weird and he could read her clear as day – she wanted to know where things stood between them.
You and me both.
He took a deep breath. “Hannah, I like you,” he said bluntly. “I ain’t one to beat around the bush, so I’ll just ask you straight out – will you be my girlfriend?”
She let out the tiniest of gasps and then said, “I would love to,” all prim and proper-like, but her eyes – big and blue and gorgeous – was all lit up like the 4th of July fireworks.
She liked him – she really liked him. She weren’t no good at hiding her feelings, thank God, and her thoughts were w
ritten clear as day all over her face.
The knot of worry and fear in his chest relaxed, and he realized with a start that he could breathe a little easier.
The silence between them, though, stretched out as they stared at each other. “Ummm…I don’t rightly know what to do right now,” he finally admitted. “I ain’t done this before.”
She let out a little laugh – a giggle, really – that made him feel a whole lot better just for hearin’ it. He could listen to that sound all day long. “I haven’t done this before, either. I haven’t had…I haven’t had a lot of boyfriends in my life.” A dark cloud passed over her face as she said it, making him wonder if she had secrets that she weren’t sharin’, at least not yet.
Well, that was okay. He had secrets, too. Everyone did, he figured.
“With Brooksy and Sarah and all, I think we oughta take it slow. Between us. Like, we shouldn’t go jumpin’ into bed together or somethin’.”
He bumbled to a stop then because honestly, it weren’t possible to shove his booted foot any deeper down his throat – what on God’s green earth made him bring up sex with her?! – but Hannah was just noddin’ along seriously. She should probably be slappin’ him but she weren’t, and weren’t that just lucky.
“I agree,” she told him. “With my dad, and then being Brooklyn’s teacher and of course, you’re my coworker…I think the slower, the better.”
“So, girlfriend,” he said, testing the title out on his tongue and finding that he was likin’ it a whole lot, “you wanna color in your new book with me? I ain’t gonna promise I’m any good, but…” He trailed off, shrugging.
“You’d color in a coloring book with me?” she asked, shocked as hell at the suggestion.
“Sure, why not,” he said. “I’ve done plenty of colorin’ with Brooksy, so I ain’t totally outta practice.” And, as he figured it, if they was gonna move slow, there weren’t nothin’ slower than colorin’ together. That was just one tiny step up from them both takin’ a vow of chastity and enterin’ a monastery by the end of the night.
She shot him an excited grin. “Let me go get my coloring pencils. I’ll be right back.”
She hurried out of the room and down the hallway, leavin’ Elijah by himself to look around. He probably shouldn’t be spyin’ on her but…well, she did leave him in the room by himself. A look at the pictures on the wall wouldn’t be pryin’, right?
It weren’t a real big house, but she were a good housekeeper and kept it nice. There was a gas fireplace with flames a-dancin’ in it, and big bookshelves linin’ two of the walls. Lots of pictures of Hannah as a little girl was everywhere, some with her mom and dad, but most were just by herself. They all looked real happy together, and Elijah’s heart ached a little.
First, she lost her mom to cancer when she was just little, if he remembered right, and now she’d all but lost her dad to dementia. Hell, he might as well be gone.
He stopped in front of her high school graduation picture, proudly holding a sparkly “2002" on her lap ‘cause that’s the year she graduated. Her small, cute little teeth; her dark red hair; her big blue eyes – they was all the same.
He stopped, somethin’ niggling at the back of his mind. There was somethin’ different here – somethin’ wrong. He looked over the picture again real carefully, but the school colors, the tassel, that stupid hat they was all forced to wear…just like it were supposed to be. He scanned her face again, and then it hit him – what wasn’t there. Those damn thick glasses she used to wear – she weren’t wearin’ ‘em here.
He heard her soft footsteps comin’ down the hallway and called out, “When did you start wearin’ those thick glasses?”
“What?!”
He looked over his shoulder at her, a little bit confused as to why she sounded like he’d just propositioned her momma. “Those glasses you were wearing at the beginnin’ of the school year. In your high school graduation picture, you ain’t wearin’ any glasses. I was just wonderin’ when you started needing ‘em.”
She were as stiff as a piece of plywood. “I don’t see why that is any of your business,” she said flatly.
He pulled back, feelin’ like he’d just done a dance on razor-thin ice, but not knowin’ why. He held his hands up. “I was just wonderin’, is all. I didn’t mean no harm.”
She nodded just once and then said stiffly, “I wore contacts when I was in high school. I’ve needed contacts or glasses since I was in second grade.”
Elijah nodded, still not really understandin’ why she was so pissed, but wantin’ to move onto somethin’ else before she got all bristly on him again. He pointed at another picture, this one of the garage only half built, her dad with a big ol’ grin on his face and little Hannah next to him, red hair in braids, holding a hammer ‘bout as big as she were. “You’re helpin’ your daddy here?”
Her whole body relaxed just a little and she smiled sadly. “My dad wanted a real garage more than anything. My parents weren’t real rich, of course, and had to work hard and scrimp on everything to pay the mortgage off for this house. But my dad…he wanted a garage where he could work and stay out of the wind and rain and snow…he could do anything with his hands. I used to think he could build me a castle if I’d just asked, and I was probably right. He had this tiny cramped shed where he’d set up a project but he was always cursing the leaking roof and the lack of space…Finally building the garage was a dream come true for him.”
“Pullin’ up here, I honestly didn’t know that it was an addition to the house,” Elijah told her seriously. “He did a real good job of matchin’ the roofline and sidin’ and such.”
“He was a perfectionist, through and through.”
Elijah couldn’t help but notice that she was referring to her dad in the past tense, like he’d already up and died on her. In all the important ways, Elijah guessed he had.
“So, you have the house now?” he asked, not sure if he were pryin’ where he weren’t wanted, but curious anyhow.
“Mom died when I was only six, Dad’s in the nursing home up on the hill, and I’m an only child, so…yeah, it’s mine now. Paid off in full, so I only have to pay the taxes every year.” She sent him a painful smile. “Honestly, I couldn’t be a teacher otherwise. Teachers make so little money and are expected to buy supplies for their classroom on top of it…there’s no other profession out there that asks so much and gives so little. And then people wonder why there’s a teacher shortage.” Hannah laughed bitterly. “I love my job, I do.” She turned her huge blue eyes up at him, beggin’ him to understand. “I hate to whine and complain, because it’s my dream job and I’m lucky enough to be living it. I just wish that society appreciated us teachers more, and not just in ‘I’m going to have my child bring an apple to school’ way, but in real, honest-to-God ways that let us teachers not only teach children, but thrive as human beings.”
And then, just like before, the curtain dropped and Hannah disappeared from view.
Oh, she were still standin’ right in front of him, but she damn well might as well not have been. And then she was murmuring somethin’ under her breath as she hurried over to a huge wooden table with her colorin’ pencils in hand, the table all carved and fancy, and pulled two chairs out for them to sit in. She weren’t meetin’ his eye but instead was starin’ at the floor ‘bout a foot in front of him like it were the most fascinatin’ piece of carpet she’d ever seen.
“Hannah Lambert,” he said harshly as he strode over to stand in front of her. Startled by his tone, her deep blue eyes rose to meet his. “You’re doin’ it again. Talkin’ and everything is great and then…bam! You’re gone. Shush right up like you’ve sworn to never talk again. Why?” he demanded.
This time, he weren’t gonna let her sidetrack him. He were gonna get an answer outta her if it took all night.
Her pale cheeks went a bright red and her golden lashes started flutterin’ up a storm as she looked this way and that, not meetin’ his gaze as she – tran
sparent as a clean sheet of glass – tried to think of some good lie to tell him.
“You said months ago that fifth graders ain’t good at lyin’,” Elijah said bluntly. “Well, I’m thinkin’ fifth grade teachers ain’t good either. I can see it all over your face – you’re tryin’ to think of a story to tell me. I suggest pickin’ a real one.”
That did it. Like lettin’ off a swarm of bees up her skirt, Hannah got royally pissed. “How dare you say I was going to lie to you! What, are you a mind reader now? You can’t—”
“I don’t hafta read minds to know what you’re thinkin’,” he interrupted her. “Your face says it all. You get this little dip right here,” he traced a calloused finger between her eyebrows, “when you’re thinkin’ of a lie to tell.”
She glared at him with everything in her body; hell, her toenails were probably glaring at him right then. “I don’t tell lies. Ever. So you can just stop saying that this instant. As for shutting down, well, it’s just that I realize that I’m talking way too much and I have to be boring you to death so it’s best if I shut my mouth and stop putting you to sleep. Nobody wants to hear me talk about my father’s obsession with a garage, for heaven’s sakes. Or how teachers need to be paid what they’re worth. They were a ridiculous thing to talk about and I don’t know why I was saying those things to you.” She drew in a deep breath, and then continued on, real quiet this time. “I say a lot of things to you that I don’t say to other people and that scares me because…I shouldn’t.”
He cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand and turned her face to look up at him. “Why not?” he whispered, matchin’ her volume. “I wanna hear every thought you have in your head. You’re the most interestin’ person I’ve ever met. I wanna hear it all.”
“You’re just saying that to be kind,” she protested, lookin’ back down at the floor. “I’m not that interesting, I promise. I—”
“Well, I promise you are. So, what’re ya gonna say to that?” he challenged her. “It’s up to me to say whether you’re interestin’ to me or not, and I say you is. Are you callin’ me a liar?”
