Chapter 3 #2
“I told you I would be here, sweetie. I just had a little trouble getting out of the house.”
“How come? Did you lock yourself inside?”
Sweet girl. I momentarily debate educating her on how that’s not possible, but I quickly decide this is not the time. “No, Ellis. There was a dog in our yard.”
Her eyes light up. “A dog? Can we keep it?”
“No, sweetie. It actually belongs to our new neighbor.”
“Was it a boy or a girl?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, we need to find out,” she declares as we reach my friends.
“Maybe later,” I tell her before blowing out a breath and locking eyes with my sister. “I didn’t think I was gonna make it.” Setting Ellis down on the ground, I readjust my uniform and belt while still trying to regulate my blood pressure.
“You look like you just ran a marathon,” my sister says to me, eyeing me up and down.
“Actually, I was running after a damn dog.”
“You said a bad word, Daddy,” Ellis scolds.
“Sorry, sweetie.”
“I didn’t know that was in your job description,” Elliot says with a smirk.
“It’s not.” I force a hand through my hair, trying to tame it since I never got to style it. “It’s my new neighbor’s dog, and it happens to be a bit of an escape artist.”
“Wait. You have a new neighbor? Someone is renting that house now?” Laney asks.
“Yeah, and it’s…” My voice trails off as my eyes lock onto the beautiful blonde in a red dress at the front of the cafeteria picking up a microphone before her voice drowns everyone out.
My stomach drops.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
“Good morning, everyone,” Vienna says brightly to the crowd. “If you could all take your seats, please, we will begin Career Day in just a few minutes.”
The teachers guide the students to sit in their class groups.
Others begin to follow, but I’m frozen in place as everything around me grows fuzzy and my pulse roars in my ears.
Henley lays his hand on my shoulder, his brows drawn together. “Dude. You okay?”
“Fuck. My. Life.”
“What’s going on?” Fletcher asks.
“That’s Ms. Lewis!” Ellis shouts, tugging on my hand. “That’s my new teacher, Daddy.”
“She’s—she’s your substitute?” I stutter, blinking myself out of my trance and dropping my eyes to my daughter.
“Yes. She’s so nice and pretty. Isn’t she pretty, Daddy?”
My eyes land back on Vienna as Henley, Elliot, and Fletcher are all staring at me.
Henley clears his throat. “Uh, Rhonan?”
“Go take your seat, Ellis,” I say to my daughter. Luckily, she runs off before I close my eyes, blow out a breath and mutter, “No fucking way.”
“Care to fill us in?” Henley adds.
“That’s the woman I…” I trail off because how do I explain who she is?
She’s not a one-night stand. Hell, we didn’t even kiss. No, she’s just the first woman who’s intrigued me since my wife died, then she ghosted me in a bar.
How the fuck do I explain that without admitting it fucking sucked?
“Wait. She’s the one from The Charming Bull, isn’t she?” Elliot interjects. “Didn’t she go to the bathroom and never come back?”
“Thank you for that,” I grate out, glaring at my friend while cursing my fucking luck.
“Shit. She ghosted you?” Fletcher asks.
Sighing, I nod. “Yeah. And apparently, she also happens to be my new neighbor.”
“Fuuuck,” Fletcher says, shoving his hands in his pockets. “But wait. How is she…”
Gesturing toward the front of the cafeteria, I say, “Well apparently, she’s also Ellis’s teacher for the next three months,” I finish as the events from the past week and this morning all come together, leaving me to wonder how the hell the rest of the school year is going to pan out given that I’ve almost kissed my daughter’s teacher… and she rejected me.
Henley lets out a low whistle. “I’m still trying to process the fact that you almost hooked up with someone.”
I push a hand through my hair again, not even worried about what it looks like anymore, since this entire day just turned into a shit show of epic proportions.
“He was supposed to be there to support me, and then he ends up being the one to hit it off with someone,” Elliot says.
My eyes find his. “Hey, I was there for you. It’s not my fault that your dick is broken and mine’s not. But again… We didn’t even kiss. She left when we almost did.”
“Maybe your breath smelled bad,” Henley offers.
I shove his shoulder. “Fuck you. That wasn’t it.”
But the truth needles at me anyway. Hell, it’s been over a week and I’m still wondering what happened.
I thought we were on the same page. But apparently, I’ve been out of the dating game for so long I can’t even read the signals anymore.
And after I got home, that familiar guilt from wanting someone else crept up like it always does.
Elliot glares at me. “My dick is not broken, and would you mind shutting the fuck up about it?”
Fletcher and Henley look toward one another. “What the hell did we miss?” Fletcher asks.
I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Look, this isn’t the time or the place to have this conversation, so can we all just take a seat and get through this day, please?”
“Fine. But you’re telling us more during blackjack tonight,” Fletcher says, nudging Henley’s arm with his shoulder. “This is what happens now that we’re in relationships. Elliot is having problems with his dick, Rhonan’s actually talking to women, and we know nothing about it.”
“I haven’t had enough coffee or sleep to handle the three of you this morning.” Before they can say anything else, I head toward the row where Laney, Dilynne, and Henley’s girlfriend, Elodie, are seated.
But when I turn to take my seat, I lock eyes with Vienna.
That’s when I see the same stunned disbelief I’ve been dealing with written all over her face. Those green orbs of hers grow so wide, you’d think she just saw a ghost. Her hand lands on the center of her chest and her mouth falls open, but she doesn’t move.
We’re both frozen.
Yeah, sweetheart.
Good luck running away this time.