“Oh, that’s not necessary. I have just a few things to finish up before I head home for the weekend. The last thing I want to have to do is come back from spring break with work waiting for me,” she said, laughing lightly.
“Wanna know what we’re doing this weekend?” Jaxy asked her.
“What?”
“We’re going to Disney World!”
“No, way,” she exclaimed, matching his enthusiasm. “I’ve always wanted to go there.”
“You haven’t gone? Why not? It’s only, like, an hour from here.”
She shrugged. “Disney isn’t really a place you go alone. I’ll go someday.”
“You could come with us! Auntie Evie and Uncle Nate are coming. Daddy too. You wouldn’t be by yourself if you came with us.”
She laughed. “That’s really sweet, Jax, but you don’t need your teacher coming with you to Disney.”
“Dad? Can’t she come with us?”
I shrugged. “Sure.” I smiled at her, knowing I wasn’t making it easy for her to refuse. But the truth was, I didn’t want her to refuse. For a variety of reasons. The idea of spending an entire day with Evie and Nate was a little overwhelming; I wasn’t particularly looking forward to being the third wheel all day. But also, even more so, I wanted to spend time with Grace. More than I’d wanted to spend time with any other woman since Olivia. I wasn’t 100 percent sure of how I felt about Grace, but it wasn’t just friendly and it wasn’t the way I’d felt about his first grade teacher, Mrs. Walden.
I liked Grace. I liked the way she looked, the way she moved, and I liked the way she smiled at my son under the shade of a tree. She was good. I could feel it.
“Devon,” she whispered, shooting me an annoyed yet amused look. I shrugged again.
“Come to Disney with us. It’ll be fun.” She looked completely conflicted, which made me happy. She wanted to come with us, but obviously didn’t think it was appropriate. I selfishly didn’t care whether or not it was appropriate. I just wanted to spend more time with her. “If it makes you feel better, you can drive yourself, pay for your own ticket, and just happen to run into us at the entrance at 9:00 a.m.”
Her eyes were locked on mine, a smile playing on her lips, and she finally said, “I’ll see you at nine.”
“Yay! Miss Richards is coming to Disney!”
We both laughed at his excitement.
“You’ll be okay here by yourself?” I asked her, catching her gaze again.
“Yeah,” she answered softly. I wanted to press the issue, but I decided to let it go and trust she’d be all right.
“Okay. We’ll see you in the morning.”
“See you then.” She gave a little wave. “See you later, Jax. Thanks for keeping me company today.”
“It was fun,” he said, then ran out of the room as he waved.
“Bye,” I said, giving her a nod.
“Bye,” she said, smiling.
I turned and walked out of her classroom, thinking how glad I was that bus broke down.
Chapter Five
Grace
I was used to walking through the school building with only the evening lights. I wasn’t always the last person to leave, but I’d spent more late nights at school than I cared to admit. It was easy to get lost in lesson planning and grading when there was nothing to go home to. I wasn’t afraid to walk to my car alone, but I was more than happy to accept the phone call from my best friend just as I left my classroom.
“Do you know what it reminds me of when you call me just as I’m about to walk through a dark parking lot by myself?” I use as my greeting, knowing Shelby was on the other end of my call. She responds with a laugh. “It reminds me of all the times in college I stupidly walked home from a party by myself and would call you to keep me company.”
“Right.” Shelby laughed again. “As if being on the phone with someone would stop a murderer from attacking. We were pretty dumb.”
“Hey, speak for yourself. I made it through college just fine.”
“Why are you walking through a dark parking lot alone? Late night?”
“Yeah. This time it wasn’t all my fault though.”
“Oh, no?”
“No. A student in my TAG program was stranded here, so I stayed with him until his father came to pick him up.”
“You have more patience than me. Hanging out with rug rats isn’t my bag.”
“That’s why your job is so perfect for you. You sit people in chairs and tell them to close their mouths and their eyes while you do their makeup. Then you just get to talk at them while you make them beautiful.”
She laughed again, just like I knew she would. Shelby had been my best friend since eighth grade. At eighteen we went to different colleges, but we stayed close even with the distance between us. She’d been there for me through everything and I wasn’t sure what I’d ever do without her.
“So, got any plans for the weekend? Isn’t it spring break for you now?”
“Yes, spring break officially starts now.”