by Nella Tyler
Hearing that was like a punch to the gut. I’d known it already, of course, but Brian saying it just brought it all the way home. I couldn’t deny how right my relationship with Abigail felt. I liked her more every time I saw her. She loved Sophia, and Sophia loved her back. She seemed as into me as I was into her. We could have fun together and the few times we’d had sex had shaken me to my core. I couldn’t expel her from my thoughts no matter what I did. I wanted to keep going, even if it opened myself to potential emotional trauma in the future if things didn’t go quite as planned.
“I think I’m falling in love with her,” I said in a whisper, though it was only the two of us in the office.
Brian grinned, his eyes sparkling with teasing good humor. “No shit. I could’ve told you that weeks ago.”
I smiled, too. Was it really that obvious? I wondered. Right now, I didn’t care. I just knew I wanted to be with Abigail as much as possible.
“What do you think I should do about all of this?” I asked.
He dropped the smartass expression in exchange for a more thoughtful one. “See where this relationship leads. You like her, and she likes you back. Soph is on board, too, which is important. And I’m here to support you and that little girl in whatever way you need. You know that.”
I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed before dropping my arm to my side again. “Thanks, Brian. For everything.”
“You’re my best friend, Drew, and I love Sophia like she was my own.”
We stood staring at each other for a little while longer, the atmosphere going from heartwarming to uncomfortable in a matter of seconds. I forced out a laugh, dispelling some of the discomfort with the sheer force of my will.
“We’ve got work to do,” I said, cutting my eyes away from Brian’s.
“Yep,” he agreed.
We each took our coffee back to our desks and dove in.
Chapter 28
Abigail
Tuesday
Drew hadn’t left my place the night before until after midnight. After our steamy, passionate lovemaking, my muscles felt like jelly and I was sure I’d be able to fall right asleep, but, instead, I’d stayed up for several more hours, daydreaming about how good it felt to have Drew inside of me. I wanted him again, but didn’t dare message him. He was probably asleep. I’d finally fallen asleep myself, only to dream about him. I woke up wanting him even more than I had the night before, like he’d put a spell on me before leaving me alone in my room the night before.
I somehow managed to get to school at the usual time of an hour before the bell rang in the morning, kicking off another day of instruction. It felt like I was sleepwalking. I’d run out of time preparing for the day and had to leave without making my normal pot of coffee. Thank God for the teacher’s lounge. I swung by there after leaving my bag of supplies in my classroom and filled up my thirty two ounce travel mug with fresh coffee and a few dollops of French vanilla creamer.
I returned to my classroom and sat at my desk, taking large swallows of the coffee and letting it work its magic on my exhausted mind and body. By the time I got to the dregs of the mug, I felt better. I laid out my worksheets for the day and was on track when the students began to trickle into my classroom in groups of twos and threes before the bell rang.
Sophia was one of the first kids to come into the room, and she smiled at me as she approached my desk.
“Hi, Miss East,” she said, her expression getting even sunnier when I gave her an encouraging pat on the back. She was dressed in blue from head to toe, including her unzipped jacket and knit cap. “Did you and my daddy have fun at the restaurant?”
My cheeks reddened just a little, and I looked around to see who might have heard her ask that question. I didn’t know how to react to Sophia’s questions about her father and me. It was better that we not discuss it at all during the school day, but how would I tell her that without making it sound like what I was doing with her father was wrong? And, anyway, it was dangerous to encourage children to keep secrets from other adults. It opened them up to abusers who might do terrible things to them and then swear them to secrecy.
“Yes, we had a very nice dinner.”
Her smile deepened. When she smiled this wide, you could see her light dimples. She was a beautiful child. I’d seen pictures of her mother the last time I was at the Reid household, and I could plainly see that Sophia had gotten the best attributes from each of her parents.
“Daddy was sleepy this morning. He had lots of coffee.”
I dropped down to one knee. I didn’t want to discourage her from speaking, but I also didn’t want anyone else in class to hear what we were talking about. This kind of thing would spread like wildfire through the children.
I needed to have a conversation with Drew about the best way to handle this situation. I didn’t want everyone at school finding out about us, especially after the brief conversation I’d had with the principal. We only had to keep things quiet until the end of the academic year. At that point, he would no longer be a father to one of my students, and we’d be free to do whatever we wanted without worrying about the appearance of impropriety.
“I’m sleepy every morning,” I said. The great thing about kids this age was you could easily shift the subject and move them onto another, less troublesome topic. “I have to take a shower and have breakfast to wake up.”
“Daddy, too,” she said with a sweet smile. Her cheeks were the kind that you just wanted to pinch. “He had lots of coffee this morning.”
I smiled at that, picturing him dragging his fine ass out of bed and forcing himself into the shower to get all wet and soapy. I shut that thought down before it could go much further. The temperature in the room would start rising if I didn’t.
“I think Daddy likes you more than Brian,” she said.
Before I could respond to that loaded comment — it made my heart flutter because I liked Drew so much, too — the bell rang. The noise in the room increased as the kids ran to their seats.
“Go to your desk, honey,” I told Sophia. As she ran to obey, I rose from my knees, still a little troubled by the conversation we’d just had. I needed to be careful, but I’d never done this before — dated one of my kid’s parents — and I wasn’t sure exactly what to do going forward. One thing was abundantly clear: I really needed to have a discussion about all of this with Drew.
“Good morning, class!” I exclaimed, my elevated voice drawing the children’s attention.
They sang their responses back to me, their little voices soaring and lifting my troubled heart. “Good morning, Miss East!”
“Let’s start our day!”
I collected their homework folders, and we jumped into the math block of our busy morning. The kids were honing their subtraction skills and doing really well. I’d lucked onto a method online in one of my teachers’ forums that found a way to make practicing this skill fun. I was pleased as punch to find that all twenty of my kids responded extremely well to this method. Even Sophia was getting into it, grinning and raising her hand when she knew the answers, which was just about every time. She was one sharp cookie.
Once the kids completed two math worksheets, we moved on to our science lesson. We’d been working on an experiment for the last two weeks that would be wrapping up shortly. This was the first time I’d done anything like this with the kids, and I was excited to see the results. We worked diligently through until just before the time we would need to report to the cafeteria for the children’s lunch period.
“Clean up your science stations, children,” I instructed and watched as they did so, moving around the classroom to look for signs that someone needed help or was moving off task. “Once you’ve cleaned up, those of you who packed your lunch today, please retrieve it from your cubbies.” That only accounted for a handful of students. Most of them bought lunch from the cafeteria. The next step would be to tell the children to line up, but before I could issue the order, there was a knock on the classroo
m door and Ms. Marconi came inside.
“Good afternoon, Miss East,” she said, smiling at me. “I’ve come to lead the children to lunch while you go to the front office.”
I lifted my eyebrows to top of a surprised expression at the unexpected intrusion.
“Mr. Clarkson would like to have a word with you. It shouldn’t take long. I’ll sit with your class until you return.”
I looked down at my watch. Lunch was due to start in less than five minutes. I clapped to regain the attention of my students.
“Line up for lunch, ladies and gentlemen. Ms. Marconi will take you to the cafeteria. Behave for her the same way you would for me. I’ll see you at our table.”
I met Ms. Marconi’s eyes before walking past her and out to the hallway. I couldn’t tell by the look on her face what this was about, but I had a sneaking suspicion. I walked down the corridor in the direction of the front office with my heart racing. It felt like it was slowly lifting into my throat. I did my best to swallow it down, but my stomach felt full of nerves.
I entered the office and walked back to Terry’s office. His door was closed. I smiled nervously at his secretary, who smiled warmly back. She was a nice woman who had been working at the school since I’d been attending elementary school myself.
“I’ll let him know you’re here,” she said. She picked up the phone, punched a few numbers, and said, “Miss East is here for you. Yes, Sir.” She placed the headset back onto the cradle and smiled at me again. “You can go right in.”
“Thanks,” I said, the words tight. I knocked on Terry’s closed door and opened it before he had a chance to invite me in. “You needed me?” I had to work at sounding casual and unaffected. There was a chance that this conversation would have nothing to do with Drew, though the sick feeling boiling in the pit of my stomach told me otherwise. Why else would I be called out of my classroom in the middle of the day?
Terry was seated behind his desk, reading over what looked like a student’s permanent file. He set it aside as soon as I entered and motioned to one of the two seats set up in front of his desk.
“Please sit, Abigail.”
I swallowed hard — the sound incredibly loud in my ears — and moved to take the seat on the left. I had to physically squeeze my fingers together to keep from twisting my hands in my lap. I tried on a nervous smile that fell flat when met with Terry’s level gaze. This was serious.
“What’s going on, Terry?”
He sighed and removed his glasses, leaving his face looking naked. He rubbed at his eyes and then put his glasses back on. “I’m not going to ask you if you’re dating one of the fathers of your students, Abigail, because I don’t want to get into that conversation.”
My heart sank into my stomach, and I couldn’t help the spasm that went through my hands, my fingers squeezing together even harder. I swallowed again, but didn’t speak. I wasn’t even sure if I could right now.
“I’m just going to say that there have been concerns about inappropriate behavior,” he continued, seemingly oblivious to my emotional distress a mere three feet away. “It’s important to remember that you are representing the school in everything that you do. If you act inappropriately, that reflects badly on this institution. I can’t have that, for obvious reasons.”
I dipped my head into a nod to show my understanding, but remained mute. I needed to see exactly where this was headed before I responded. There was no way of knowing how much he knew. I hadn’t acted inappropriately here at school, but Drew and I had been all over town together. Anyone could have seen us, including Terry himself.
“The last thing I want is for this school to be embroiled in a scandal. The end of the academic year is in sight. Once you aren’t teaching this man’s child, there is no problem.” He stared hard at me, waiting for a response that I wasn’t prepared to give. “I need you to put an end to whatever is going on.”
He leaned onto the desk, forming a steeple with his fingers that he rested against his chin. I could see by the look on his face that he was enjoying this conversation about as much as I was. “You are a brilliant teacher, Abigail. Your students love you, and you love them back. I’ve never had a complaint about your professional conduct, which is why this matter is such a concern. If you want to continue here at Blaine Elementary, whatever might be going on between you and one of the parents needs to end.”
I swallowed again and sat as still as I could.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” he asked when I didn’t respond.
“Yes.” My voice sounded normal somehow, though my insides were topsy-turvy with nerves. I felt nauseous. I wanted to scream. But what I actually did was sit with my mouth clamped shut until I was free to go.
“Good. I don’t want to have this conversation again. Really think hard about what we talked about today.” His magnified brown eyes hadn’t moved from my face since I sat down. I just wanted to get out of here and would agree to just about anything he said if it led to being able to leave.
“I will.”
“Okay, go on back to your students.”
I stood and walked out of the room on trembling legs, my stomach pitching so hard, I thought I might vomit right then and there. I made it out of the office and into the hall before I stopped and pressed my back against the cool wall, just needing a moment to collect my bearings before I jumped back into the day with my students.
My stomach sank even more when I thought about Sophia. This meant I couldn’t go with her and Drew to the Valentine’s Day lunch. She was going to be crushed. But what choice did I have? I had to make a living, and being let go from one school because of a scandal would make it impossible to find another job, especially since this was the first teaching position I’d held after earning my degree. I was stuck.
After several deep breaths, I dislodged myself from the wall and started down the corridor in the direction of my classroom. The children would be out at recess by now, but I didn’t have the energy to face them. Ms. Marconi could handle things while I took care of something important.
I walked into my empty classroom and sat down at my desk. I had just twenty short minutes before the kids would be back. That was enough time to write down everything I needed to say to Drew. My heart was heavy as I pulled a blank sheet of paper from my drawer and picked up a pen. After a few moments of focused thinking, the words began to come. By the time I finished, I’d written several paragraphs. I read them over, blinking back the tears that were threatening to come. I signed the letter, folded it, and put it inside an envelope. I sealed the envelope and printed a large D on the front. That would just have to do.
I could hear the kids in the hallway. I tore the letter into dozens of pieces and swept them into the trash. I owed him an in person conversation after all we’d been through. I’d just have to figure out what to say…but right now I needed to focus on my kids.
I wiped my wet eyes, put on a smile, and rose from the desk to greet my returning students.
Chapter 29
Drew
Friday
I was ready for the weekend to begin the minute my eyes opened in the morning, but I had plenty of things to do before then. The easy part was getting Sophia up and ready for school. She’d been in a great mood for weeks. The more serious things became between Abigail and me, the happier my daughter became. I couldn’t overlook the obvious correlation, and, really, what was wrong with that? The three of us got along well and seemed excited to be in each other’s company. It was really a dream come true.
I hadn’t actually talked to Abigail much this week, but I’d been really busy at work. So much so that I’d brought hours of work home with me every night this week, toiling into the late hours after Sophia was in bed for the night.
I sorely needed a break, which was another reason to look forward to the weekend. I just wanted to carve out some time on Saturday for Abigail and me to reconnect after the hectic week. We could take Sophia with us. Brian loved watching her, but he�
��d been working insane amounts of overtime, too, and I didn’t want to put any additional demands on his free time.
Between the two of us, we had managed to keep everything under control. If we had another week like this, I’d think seriously about hiring someone at least part time to help us out at the office. We’d managed for years the way we were, with Karen coming in a few days a week, but the business was growing, and that meant we had to consistently struggle to keep up with the demand. It was a good problem to have, I reminded myself.
I dropped Sophia off at school, hoping for a glimpse of my beautiful girlfriend — we hadn’t actually discussed labels, but we were definitely dating — but she wasn’t outside. I drove on to work and buried myself headlong in a stack of new reports, needing to get through them before the foremen on three of our biggest projects came by for series of meetings in the afternoon. Brian and I had a number of site visits the following week that we were gearing up for.
Karen was in all day, too, which was great. She handled the correspondence and logistics of the travel we’d be doing, as well as making sure we had fresh copies of our reports and knew who the hell was working on which projects. I really needed to talk to her about coming on full time. She was an asset to the company, even if she did tend to talk about her personal life more than was absolutely necessary in an office setting. Although, I guessed that was a bit of the pot calling the kettle black considering how much Brian and I had discussed the situation with Abigail during work hours.
“You have plans for the weekend, Bri?” I asked. We’d just finished our last meeting of the day with the foremen. I was packing up a load of files to take home to work on over the weekend before I left to pick up Sophia from school.
Brian looked up from whatever he was doing on his computer screen. He grinned. “Why? Do you need a babysitter?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and I shook my head, chuckling a little, the noise staying trapped in my throat.
