23. Becca
23
BECCA
B ecca was just grabbing her tote of holiday card supplies to pass it out to the kids when her classroom phone buzzed on the wall.
“Just a moment, children,” she said, walking across the room, and feeling grateful that the class was worn out from a good gym class and happy from finishing their work early. She was proud that they were able to stay quiet while she took the call from the office.
A little worry tugged at her heart. She couldn’t think of a good reason for the office to be calling now. The school day was almost over. It must be something important. She hoped none of the children had an emergency at home.
Grabbing the receiver, she took a deep breath hoped for the best before answering.
“Miss Hawthorne, you have a guest,” Miss Wiggins said in her wavery voice.
“Goodness,” Becca replied. She certainly wasn’t expecting anyone. She hardly even knew anyone in Sugarville Grove.
“Principal Chittenden says he can come up,” Miss Wiggins added, ending the call before Becca could even ask who it was.
She turned back to the class, who were eying her expectantly.
“It sounds like someone needs to see me,” she told them carefully. “Can you all work on your cards quietly for a few minutes?”
“ Yes, Miss Hawthorne ,” they all said politely.
Her eyes went automatically to the Lawrence twins who were sitting next to each other in the front row once again. The two were smiling up at her, looking like everything was right again in their world.
And in a sense, it would be more right than ever soon. Nick told her proudly this morning that he was getting his new glasses after school today.
But before she could even open the tote where the cards were stored, there was a light knock against the doorjamb. She turned to see Zane Lawrence standing there, a small case in his hand, and a wary look on his face.
“Mr. Lawrence,” she said, remembering to greet him formally.
“I hope it’s okay that I stopped by,” he said, holding up his hand so she could see what was in it. “Doc Robertson said these were ready, and I didn’t want Nick to wait another minute for them.”
“Dad,” Nick and Cal yelled, leaping out of their seats to greet him.
“Hey, boys,” Zane said, turning to them with a warm smile.
“Are those my glasses?” Nick asked, his eyes on the case in his father’s hand.
“They sure are,” Zane told him. “You can wait until we get home if you w?—”
“I’ll try them now,” Nick said excitedly.
Zane handed him the box and Becca noticed that Nick brought it over to his desk very carefully and unpacked the glasses from a little pouch that was inside the case. He held them up to his face and slid them on, then turned to look toward the back of the room.
“Oh,” he said, his face soft with wonder. “ Oh, wow. I can read the posters now. Cal, could you always read those posters from here?”
“Yeah,” Cal said. “I could see them.”
“You look really cool,” Tucker Martin told him, nodding his head up and down.
The kids suddenly broke into applause and Nick smiled so brightly that it looked like he might just float away.
The sight of it put a lump in Becca’s throat, and she found herself quickly wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, so the students wouldn’t see.
“I can show you how to clean them,” little Anna Filbert told him, with a big smile. Anna had a very cute pair of glasses herself.
“Thank you, Anna,” Nick said politely. “Hey, guys, let’s try ‘em out.”
He darted between the desks to the very back of the room.
Understanding immediately what he wanted to do, a few other kids dashed to the board and began gleefully writing things on it.
Cal was the first to finish. He stood back from the board.
“ Merry Christmas,” Nick read triumphantly.
“ Yes,” Cal said, jumping up and down a little.
“ I want a puppy,” Nick read, when Aubrey Jensen gestured at what she had written.
“ Why did the chicken cross the road?” Nick read next, to the delight of his classmates, who all began giggling.
They all waited for Alex Gutierrez to finish writing the answer.
“To get to the other side,” Nick yelled.
Everyone laughed, and more kids scrambled up to the board with ideas.
There was another tap on the doorframe, and Becca turned to see Mrs. Staley standing there.
“I’m sorry we’re making so much noise—” Becca began, bracing herself for the woman to scold her.
“I can’t believe you figured this out,” Mrs. Staley said with a big smile. “Go ahead and celebrate. I just wanted to pop in and tell you great job.”
“Thank you so much,” Becca said, amazed. “Thank you.”
The other teacher nodded, and ducked back out to get back to her own class.
Becca glanced at her watch and realized the kids only had a few more minutes to enjoy themselves before they needed to get packed up.
“Becca,” Zane said suddenly, reminding her that he was still there, leaning against the classroom wall. “I’m so sorry.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised.
“I’m sorry for the way I treated you in the meeting the other day,” he went on. “I haven’t known you long, but I know you well enough to know that you have the boys’ best interests at heart. And that you’re a really great teacher. I was out of line saying you were inexperienced. Obviously, you were able to see what none of the rest of us could see.”
“Especially Nick,” Cal pointed out helpfully. “Until he got his new glasses.”
She realized belatedly that the kids had gone quiet when Zane began apologizing. They were obviously listening to every word.
“Maybe we can talk about this another time,” she said, feeling her cheeks heat.
“I’d like that,” he told her. “Because the apology I just gave you doesn’t even begin to cover it. If you ever decide to forgive me, I talked to Allie, and there’s no rule against us dating.”
She blinked at him, stunned.
“Can I take you to dinner tonight to apologize some more?” he asked with a wicked smile she had never seen on his face before.
“ Oooooohhhh,” the kids began to coo.
It felt so good to stand here, with a class full of wonderful children, with the respect of her coworkers, and with the man she had been dreaming about, the one who had made her feel awful in that meeting, apologizing and asking her out to dinner.
But a tiny voice in the back of her head whispered to her, reminding her of the words he had spat out in their meeting, words that still hurt every time she thought about them.
You’re a brand-new teacher. I want to put the boys back in separate classes.
This was a mistake…
He might like her, and he might regret his behavior. But when push came to shove, he hadn’t believed in her when she’d needed him to.
She was happy to hear his apology, but he was going to have to do a lot better if he wanted to convince her that he would have her back the next time things got heated.
“I accept your apology,” she told him. “But I’m not so sure about dating.”
The room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. It suddenly hit her that all the kids were still there, just watching and listening to this drama roll out.
“Go on and get your things, kids,” she said. “The bell will ring in a minute.”
They all scrambled to obey.
She figured that Zane would be resentful now. A lot of guys wouldn’t take a public rejection well. But when she glanced back at him, she saw that he was looking down at the floor.
“I understand why you wouldn’t want to date me,” he said softly. “I really, really messed up.”
“You sure did,” she told him, trying her best not to break immediately.
But seeing the big man willingly humiliate himself in front of a room of seven-year-olds was impressive. She felt her heart softening just a little bit already.
She turned her attention to her students, making sure everyone had taken their things from their cubbies, and that no one had left any gloves or scarves behind.
When the kids were all lined up with their coats on and bags in hand, she turned back to Zane, who was standing in line by his boys.
“Mr. Lawrence,” she said.
He turned to her.
“I would be happy to go to dinner with you so that we can talk more,” she said primly. “But it’s not a date.”
“Great,” he said, his face breaking into a big smile.
Becca was pretty sure that Zane Lawrence didn’t make a habit of wearing his feelings on his face. But he was so handsome like this, smiling as happily as his boys were, that it almost hurt to look at them.
As the kids cheered, and Cal and Nick hugged their dad around his waist, she smiled back at him. She felt a bit like a lovelorn fool, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.
Zane was setting a good example, and she found it was actually quite nice to let go a little, and maybe leave some space for life to be about more than just work for a change.