“I think we’re all hoping it works,” I mumbled to myself as she trudged away.
I was shuffling through the various papers that had been stuffed in my box when Eli sidled up next to me. Our mailboxes were close together on the same column. Only Kara’s and Mrs. Chan’s separated us alphabetically.
When Nick and I married, my last name changed from Simmons to Carter. I got to upgrade from the end of the mailbox line next to Kara. It had been a great day for both of us. But especially for me. Every once in a while she showed up with Starbucks and a muffin. It was obvious why we were so inseparable.
The best kind of friendships were born and bonded over Starbucks. It happened every day.
“Morning, Ms. Carter,” he said slyly.
I loved the deepness of his voice, the leftover scratchiness of the early morning and the rumble that seemed to hit me in the gut every time he spoke.
“Morning, Mr. Cohen.”
I felt his sideways glance as he took in my appearance. “You lied to me last night.”
His comment caught me so off guard I dropped some of my papers. I swooped down to scoop them up and he followed, squatting just a foot away from me.
“When?” I asked. Fear hit first. What had I said in my drunken stupor? Then disbelief. I didn’t remember lying. I would remember if I lied to him, even if I was drunk.
Right?
“You told me you weren’t going to be pretty this morning.” He handed me some papers he picked up. “That was clearly a lie.”
A blush crept up my neck at the same time my unhappy stomach turned unpleasantly. I didn’t know whether to be flattered or call him out for being cheesy. I settled for wrinkling my nose at him.
His eyes twinkled with humor and he read my mind. “That was lame, huh?”
“It was sweet,” I assured him. “Especially since I don’t feel pretty.”
We stood up and Eli looked around the quiet office. There were teachers near the coffee pot and slumped over in chairs, waiting for the morning to begin, but nobody was really interacting with anybody else. “At least you’re not alone,” he grinned.
“Whose idea was that anyway?”
Eli leaned in conspiratorially, “Tim.”
“Mr. Bunch?” I laughed.
“He suggested it during the fire drill.”
Well, I didn’t blame him there. Fire drills were always a nightmare to survive. Keeping a tab on all of our kids was nearly impossible. Hamilton was built right on a busy street in a hub of business activity. Our protocol was to line up on the sidewalk as far from the building as we could, which usually turned into a giant exodus of students as they abandoned the day altogether. And there weren’t enough of us teachers to keep everyone in line.
Shouting, “Make good choices!” while they walked away with their middle fingers waving proudly, never seemed to make much of an impact.
“I can see why there was such a great turnout then.” I hugged my papers to my chest and looked around the room. “Do you think today will be any easier?”
Eli pursed his lips and shook his head. “I wish I could say yes.”
“I wish you could too.”
He turned to me so quickly I took a step back out of surprise. “Hey, can I bring you lunch today?”
Nerves fluttered through me and I hesitated. On one hand, whatever Eli brought me would be better than the granola bar and banana I packed for myself. On the other hand, I was so not feeling up to eating anything other than soda crackers. But maybe by lunch…?
“I promise it will be good,” he coaxed after my hesitation turned into awkward silence. “I owe you one anyway. For Garmans that one time.”
“Oh yeah,” I smiled. “I forgot about that.”
“I’ll bring you something,” he declared. “You’ll love it.”
“Thank you.” I looked up and met his chocolate eyes, letting real gratitude shine through me. “Seriously, thank you. You might just save the day.”