Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
That voice trickled like honey to her heart. Her head veered, her heart, her feet stuttering. “Andy?”
“You know him?” Maisie murmured.
She nodded, still unable to believe her eyes. Why, oh why, in all the name of everything that was holy, had she been placed at the very school Andy Scott was teaching at?
His jaw sagged, his eyes widened. Then he blinked, then blinked again, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, either.
Somehow her voice pushed past the shock. “You work here?”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “Excuse me.”
He swiftly turned and walked away, his rejection as blatant as his ghosting her after their kiss. She wanted to crumple into a ball, yet she was on show. Maisie was watching her, a few of the students too. Even Miles seemed to be looking at her.
“You know him?” Maisie raised her eyebrows.
“I knew him,” she corrected. “As a friend. He, uh, visited the hotel I worked at this past summer.”
“Hmm. That’s not going to be a conflict of interest, is it? Didn’t the guidebook say something about not having relationships with staff?”
“It won’t be a conflict, no,” she admitted. “We’re not even really friends, I suppose.”
That much was obvious by the way he’d practically run away. Her heart ached.
“What are the chances that he’d be working at the very school you’re on placement at?”
“Crazy, right?”
“Crazy” was her for the rest of the day.
It had been hard to pay attention, and any points she might’ve scored with Moira earlier seemed to have floated away.
Far from her quiet confidence of earlier, she’d found herself flummoxed for the remaining periods that day.
It was crazy to think that in all the secondary schools in Ireland, she’d been placed in his.
Except, when she thought about it that night, maybe it wasn’t so crazy.
She had wondered if he lived over this way.
And maybe if she was trusting God with all this, then perhaps this coincidence wasn’t something that took God by surprise at all.
In fact, hadn’t her being sent to this very school been a last-minute placement?
That’s what Patrick had said. Which meant maybe—a secret little part of her heart dared to dream—just maybe this was actually orchestrated by God.
Not that Andy seemed to be on the same page.
“Lord, I really don’t want to let this get in the way of what You want for my life. And if he’s not for me, then please take away any feelings about him.”
She was too exhausted to drive home to Derryloughlin on the weekend, opting instead for a nice sleep-in. It was funny how even though all she’d done was observe teaching yesterday, she still felt tireder than she remembered feeling for a while.
But maybe that was the result of juggling studies and essays with the pressures of school. And this new pressure of wondering what this meant about Andy. Surely if God didn’t want her to have anything more to do with him, then He would’ve ensured she got given a different school?
She tried to explain some of this to her mother when Mam rang. “And now I don’t know what it means.”
“That is interesting, isn’t it? So Andy didn’t say anything?”
“He barely spoke to me at all. He pretty much ran away.” Oh, why did she let him have such a hold on her still? He clearly wasn’t interested.
“You didn’t seek him out?” Mam persisted.
“No. I’m definitely not hanging around the PE staffroom, waiting for him to appear so I can hijack him and make him talk to me.
I figure he’s the one who needs to make some effort if he actually is even interested.
I’m not going to chase a man who can’t be bothered speaking to me or even saying goodbye. ”
“Ah, Aisling, love. It’s hard to know how to proceed. All I can say is that it’s important to keep trusting God, because He’s always working things out for our good.”
She knew that. So much for getting wisdom from her mother.
“Perhaps you should have a chat with Aine. I know she’s been keen to see you, but hasn’t wanted to bother you, seeing you’re so busy and all.”
But on Sunday after church when she had lunch with Aunty Aine, all her aunt could say was that it sounded like she needed to talk to her friend.
“Which friend?” Aisling asked suspiciously.
“The one with the son who is single too.”
No. She did not want to be set up on a date. “Actually, I think I’m going to be too busy to go on any dates.”
“It doesn’t have to mean much. It’s a blind date. You still need to eat, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“If Andy isn’t the one then you should be doing what you can to find your Mr. Right.”
Part of her wanted to protest and say “He is my Mr. Right. It’s just that he doesn’t seem to know it yet!”, but she figured that would make her sound desperate, so she refrained.
“I’m too busy at the moment,” she said instead. “But once things settle down here I’ll let you know, okay?”
“I’ll be waiting for your call.”
Yeah, Aunty Aine would be waiting for a while. Because the way she felt right now, she didn’t want to be going on any dates. Ever.
When she returned to school the following week, and the week after, and had no Andy sightings, she began to wonder if it was a dream.
Maybe that hit on the head all those months ago had damaged part of her brain.
Yet he definitely worked here. She saw his name posted in the daily bulletins, his involvement in various sports endeavours meaning he was often busy at lunchtimes, when she was free.
Which maybe was a good thing, as it meant they were both too busy or had clashing schedules so couldn’t speak to each other even if he wanted to. Which obviously he did not want to.
With the busyness of her day she barely saw Miles either, which was probably just as well.
If she did she might well be tempted to ask about Andy, and there was no way she wanted Miles putting two and two together and getting a big red flag.
She was able to maintain a sense of nonchalance with Maisie, but only just.
But when the fourth week passed with no further sighting, she began to reconsider her aunt’s offer.
Maybe the fact she was working at Andy’s school was a test from God about trusting Him and not letting Andy become more important than he should.
If he did like her, then surely he would’ve said something by now. And the fact he hadn’t still stung.
So it couldn’t hurt to try to deal with that rejection by finding someone else to spend time with, could it? Which was why she finally agreed to her aunt contacting her friend about a blind date.
* * *
October’s rain was cold, sheeting down. Andy hurried from his car to the pub, looked around for Grady, then when he didn’t see him, slid into a booth and nodded to the waitress.
“What may I get ya?”
“A pint of the black stuff.”
She nodded, and finally relaxed for what felt like the first time in weeks.
Ever since that disconcerting moment at school. No, longer than that. Ever since that kiss in the pub at Derryloughlin.
He plunged his head in his hands and closed his eyes, and thought back all those months.
He had handled that so badly. He should’ve explained properly about his no dating plan.
He shouldn’t have placed himself and her in a situation where feelings had been stirred.
It was his fault. He was older, he should’ve known better, he was the one with the personal issues.
He was the one who’d vowed to God to not date for five years! He groaned.
“Everything okay?” the waitress asked, placing his drink beside him.
“Yeah.” He tapped his card, and tried to not look like the crazy man she obviously thought he was.
But he did feel like he was verging on desperation, unable to sleep, second-guessing everything.
Had he been wrong to make that vow to God?
Last week’s sermon had suggested he was, talking about some of the foolish vows people made based more on pride than actual God leading.
Is that what he’d been about? In ignoring Aisling—or trying to—had he missed what God had for him because it didn’t fit Andy’s planned timeline?
He felt like an idiot. It wasn’t any wonder she hadn’t sought him out this past month. It would be so easy to talk to her, except any time he scrounged up enough courage it was to find that she was busy, or was with her friend or Moira.
And now he’d created a whole lot of other issues because he still hadn’t dealt with that properly.
Like how to keep pretending she didn’t bother him when every time he glimpsed her at school, his heart started to throb, and he did his best to move away out of her line of sight.
He wondered if Miles had noticed. The kid might be arrogant, but he did notice random stuff, and had a way with connecting with some of the kids so they responded well to him.
Patrick had talked with him and the other mentor teachers about how the mentoring was going, and it was all that Andy could do to not lose himself in whatever Moira was saying. He couldn’t afford to act so interested in her words, in her student. Even if it was true.
He didn’t understand. Why would God bring Aisling here of all places?
It was almost like a divine set up had been arranged to test him.
It felt like the height of irony to have the woman he’d refused to say goodbye to show up at his school.
And the fact she hadn’t sought him out meant she probably had found this as challenging as he did.
Which led to him sitting here, in an attempt to clear his head and heart of someone who simply refused to leave.
“Andy?”
He glanced up. His heart stuttered. “What are you doing here?”
Greta smiled. “It’s been a while.”
Queasiness rolled across his stomach. Not long enough. He narrowed his gaze. “What do you want?”
“I wanted to see how you are.”
“How did you know I was here?”
She waved a hand. “Oh, someone told me you were here. I forget who.”
He shook his head. “I’m meeting someone, so I need you to leave.”
“But I thought you might want to, I don’t know, see if we could fix things up.”
“Why would you think that?” He frowned. “What happened to Jonny? Remember, that man you dumped me for?”
“Oh, it hasn’t been working for a while.”
Sounds like a you problem, he thought but didn’t say. “There is nothing to fix,” he said instead. “You made it clear you didn’t want me, and that helped me see just what kind of person you are. And the fact that we’d never suit. So, goodbye.”
“But Andy—”
“No. We’re finished. We were finished a long time ago. And I’m not going to try to reheat somebody else’s leftovers. I’m moving on.” That last might’ve sounded harsher than he wanted but she’d been cruel in how she’d treated him.
“I can’t believe you’re being so harsh.”
He shrugged. “Excuse me.”
He drained his drink then went to the men’s bathroom. She wouldn’t follow him in here.
After waiting a few moments he went back outside, saw Greta had moved from his table. Good. He returned, put his elbows on the table and concentrated on breathing. Around him the noise of the pub continued but he barely paid it mind. He needed to get his heart recalibrated.
God, I don’t know what that was about, but it seems strange it came when I was supposed to meet Grady.
Speaking of, where was Grady? He glanced at his phone. Nope. No messages from him.
He sighed, and prayed that Greta would have enough sense to stay away. He really didn’t want to get caught in her sticky web again.
“Lord, I don’t want distractions. I only want what you have for me.”
“Something to eat?” the waitress from before asked him.
“I’m kind of waiting for someone.” When was Grady getting here?
He sent him a text. No response.
He drummed his fingers on the wooden table, the nicks and grooves feeling a little like his heart. Weathered, worn, stained, sticky. Yet still strong.
A shadow blocked the light, and he glanced up. His heart tensed. “You.”