Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Elle
ELLE
You are never going to believe what Molly's experiment was today.
When Rhett didn't immediately answer, I put my phone away in my desk at school and started the tedious process of cleaning up my classroom. It was worse today because of the mess Molly caused.
"Yikes!" Molly said as soon as she walked into my room. "I see the glitter fairy visited you as well."
"This is your fault." I pointed the top of the broom handle at her.
My friend held up her hands. "In my defense, I didn't think the kids would steal the glitter bottle and bring it to your room."
I gave her an incredulous look like I couldn't believe she just said that. "Okay, so maybe I should've expected it," she finally said after several moments of a standoff.
"What the hell was that experiment called anyway?"
The kids had raved about it, and I knew without even getting the chance to talk to Molly about it she would be adding it to the list of successful projects.
"Fireworks Rainbow Sugar Explosion. I pinned it to my board for future use."
I called it.
"And what was the topic of this so-called explosion."
I swept the glitter into a pile before heading over to the small closet and grabbing the small vacuum I had purchased for my classroom because believe it or not, this wasn't the first mess of Molly's I had to clean up.
"Chemical reactions but I also tied in an ELA lesson by having them discuss cause and effect."
Of course she did. Making it the perfect lesson for the kiddos. Why did the messy ones always have to be so damn perfect?
"Well, I'm glad they had fun. Once again, you're the cool teacher, and I just teach boring old math and social studies."
We both knew it wasn't true, but I liked to joke because she did all the fun experiments, that she was the cool teacher all the kids liked to have.
"One of us has to have all the fun." Molly flipped her hair, and we both laughed at the ridiculousness of it. "I better get back to my room and clean up before Trish wants to strangle me."
Trish was the nighttime custodian, and there was a good chance the older woman actually would strangle us for the glitter. If there was one thing Trish hated to clean––it was glitter.
Once I was sure the room was as clean as I could make it, I went back to my desk and pulled my phone out of the drawer and found a message from Rhett.
RHETT
Was it something that goes boom? Those are my kind of science experiments.
I chuckled at his response because of course that would be what he liked to do. What kind of man would he be if he didn't like to see things get blown up.
ELLE
Something like that. Except the kid version.
RHETT
Now I'm intrigued. Tell me about this project.
My fingers flew across the screen as I described what the kids told me.
ELLE
Molly called it Fireworks Rainbow Sugar Explosion. Apparently you take a pan of sugar and add some food coloring to get the rainbow effect. Then baking soda and vinegar and voila you have fireworks without the actual noise.
It actually sounded really cool, and not that I would tell Molly, but I wanted to give it a try to see what actually happened.
RHETT
Sounds like something I need to try for myself.
ELLE
Right?! I was just thinking the same.
Bubbles appeared and then disappeared three times before an answer came through.
RHETT
Maybe we could do it together.
Why did that have to sound so much like a date?
Probably because that was what I wanted it to be. Even though a large part of me knew it was a bad idea, my heart didn't care.
ELLE
Sounds like a plan. How was your day?
RHETT
It was good. Preparing for an assignment we are leaving on tonight.
My heart picked up its pace at the thought of him possibly being in danger again.
ELLE
Where to this time?
I waited with bated breath for him to answer, and it took several moments before the text came through.
RHETT
I can't say yet, but I promise to tell you all about it when I get back.
I wasn't sure if that made things better or worse for me.
Actually yes, I did. It made them worse. Much worse. I hated not knowing.
ELLE
Do you know how long you will be gone?
RHETT
This should be a quick in-and-out assignment, but that's what Black said last time and we see how that turned out.
I didn't have the slightest idea who Black was, but he sounded important. I also didn't want to think about his last assignment, considering that was the one where he’d gotten shot.
ELLE
Oh.
I didn't get the chance to lock my phone before it was ringing in my hand with an incoming video call from Rhett.
"Hello?"
With a serious expression on his face, Rhett was quick to reassure me. "I'll be safe, I promise. And I'll call you as soon as I'm back in the States."
"Okay," was all I could manage to croak out, since it would seem the rest of my words were lodged somewhere in my throat.
"I have to go though. I have a call with my parents, and then I need to get ready."
"Be safe and I'll talk to you soon." Oh good. I no longer sounded like a wordless idiot.
"Bye, beautiful."
Rhett hung up before I could say anything else.
In a bit of a daze, I packed my bag and slowly made my way out to the parking lot. It wasn't until I pulled onto my street that I realized I had driven home purely on muscle memory and barely remembered the drive. Not a smart idea if I was being honest with myself.
I knew there was only one thing that would keep me busy enough not to think about what Rhett was about to do.
As soon as I walked into my house, I immediately went to the kitchen and fed my starter. Baking always relaxed me, so for tonight, I was going to use my discard and see what kind of baked goods I could make.
With a plan in place, I instantly felt better.
Too bad it wouldn't stay that way.