Chapter 8
This had to be a joke, right? Some funny little trick by the universe to make me feel like I was going crazy?
There was no way that the daughter of my high school crush was going to be in my class.
That would mean that I’d have to see him.
Like, regularly. Parent-Teacher conference.
School recitals. I bet he was the kind of dad to drop her off himself in the mornings.
Hell, he would probably volunteer to chaperone field trips.
Like it wasn’t bad enough that I’d have to think about him every time I went to see my brother at work. Now I was going to be thinking about him when I was at work too.
How was that fair?
Then I realized that the little girl was looking between the two of us, and her wide eyes appeared confused. Confused, and maybe a little nervous. I immediately bent forward so I was more on her level, and held out my hand. “Hi! I’m Miss K, What’s your name?”
“Josie Marie O’Conner,” she whispered and I knew right away that I hadn’t imagined her nerves. The kid had just moved across the country. She was in a new place where she didn’t know anyone. And that was something I could relate to.
“Josie Marie is a beautiful name,” I told her, dropping her hand so I could squeeze her shoulders instead.
“I’m so excited to get to know you! I think we’re going to have a wonderful school year.
” She still looked a little nervous but the tight set of her shoulders relaxed.
I glanced behind her, eyes scanning the students milling around the room, until I found who I was looking for. “Hey, Gabby. Will you come over here?”
Gabby Conner was the sweetest little girl. Her older brother, Marcus, had been in my room last year and the whole family was just awesome. The little beads in Gabby’s braided hair jingled as she skipped over. “Hey, Miss K,” she drawled.
“Hey, sweetie. This is my new friend Josie. And you guys have almost the same last name!”
Josie gave Gabby a shy smile and the other girl grinned right back, showing off her missing front tooth. Man, she was cute. “That’s cool!” Gabby said.
“Josie is new to our school, so I was wondering if you might want to show her around the room a little bit. You remember where the fish tank and the reading nook are from visiting last year, right?”
“Sure,” Gabby said, immediately taking Josie’s hand and pulling her away.
I stood, watching them go. “You made that look easy,” Liam said from behind me.
I took a deep breath, trying to steel myself. This was silly. It was a dumb little school girl crush. And it was twelve years ago. I could talk to this man like an adult.
I turned, pasting a smile on my face, and tried not to think about how gorgeous those blue eyes of his were. Or how he was standing close enough that I could feel his body heat.
“I know Gabby’s family, they’re awesome. I knew she’d be the perfect person to make Josie feel welcome.”
His eyes tracked his daughter around the room, his forehead creasing in concern. “It’s been a tough few months,” he muttered.
“I can imagine. I remember how hard it was, moving to a new place. I’m sure it’s a hundred times harder for a kid.”
His eyes came back to my face. “She was upset about leaving her friends and our apartment. And her mom stayed in New York, so that’s been tough on her too.”
My heart squeezed for the girl. The sympathy that flooded my system left no room for the little twinge I wanted to feel when he mentioned Chloe.
“Thank you for letting me know,” I said, keeping this professional, when what I really wanted to do was drill him for information about his marriage and why it hadn’t worked out. None of your business, Grace. “It’s always good to be aware of disruptions the kids might be dealing with.”
“Chloe’s parents live here now,” Liam said, and I couldn’t hide my surprise.
“They do?”
“Peter got transferred to Houston when we were in college. He retired last October and they moved out to a lake house in Austin.”
“That was lucky for you.”
He shook his head. “You have no idea. I can’t begin to tell you how much easier it’s going to be when I’m on the road.” His eyes sparkled as he grinned at me. “Guess I really owe Andy one, huh?”
I wondered if Andy knew about the Taylors relocating here. I honestly wouldn’t put it past him. He made it his business to know everything he possibly could about his employees, and I was sure that was going to carry over to the hockey team as well.
“So, you’re teaching, huh?” Liam slipped his hands into his pockets, eyes scanning the room.
“You sound surprised.”
“I don’t know. I guess I always imagined you getting into politics or something. You were always so good at that Model UN thing you did.”
I snorted. “I would have been a terrible politician. I’m incapable of lying with a straight face.”
He grinned. “That’s right. Your cheeks would get redder than your hair even before you opened your mouth.”
My stomach flipped a little, watching him grin like that. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him remembering these little details. I’d always assumed he’d forgotten all about me.
“I guess it makes sense,” he continued. “You teaching, I mean.” He seemed to be inching closer to me, and the breath caught in my chest. “You were always real good at teaching me.”
God I could stare at those eyes all day. His voice was still so familiar to me, after all this time. Warm and raspy, the way it always sounded when he’d lean over his book to tease me about something.
A small hand tugged at my skirt and I snapped out of my little trip down memory lane real quick. What in the hell was I doing? We were standing way too close, and he was practically whispering to me while I stared up at him. In my classroom. Which was full of students and their parents.
I looked down at the kid who was still tugging my skirt—a little boy named Logan.
He was the youngest brother of one of my students, and I’d had the two older brothers, as well.
That was one of the things that I loved about teaching in this neighborhood.
There were a ton of young families and a lot of them stuck around.
This year I had no fewer than five kids with siblings I had taught before.
“Hey Logan,” I said, prying his chubby hand from the flowery cotton. “What do you need?”
“Can I see the robot?” he asked.
“Not right now, buddy, I’m sorry.” I only let the kids play with the robot under direct supervision. And Logan was probably too young anyhow. “But you can go see the fish. I have a new striped one, why don’t you try and find him?”
He ran off towards the back and I used the interruption as an excuse to step back several paces from Liam.
“Robot, huh?” he asked, rocking back on his heels. “Let me guess—you’re the cool teacher, aren’t you?”
I laughed, pushing a wayward curl back behind my ear.
“I do my best. The high school robotics team helped us make a basic robot last fall. The kids are crazy about it.” I gestured around the room.
“Why don’t you go take a look at the classroom?
In a couple minutes I’m going to give a little presentation and then you can ask any questions you might have. ”
He seemed reluctant to walk away from me, but when a new family appeared in the door, I had the perfect escape. “Excuse me,” I said, moving around him. “Duty calls.”
For the next ten minutes I welcomed parents and their kids and did my best not to watch Liam across the room.
Epic fail. It was just so hard to keep my eyes off him, the graceful way he moved, just like he did on the ice, the way his broad back muscles stretched under the tight blue shirt when he bent down to look at the fish tank with Josie.
The easy way he chatted with the other parents, smiling and laughing like he was making new friends already.
Same old Liam. Always the life of the party. Everyone’s best friend.
Luckily, I had a presentation to give, and it was good to have something else to focus on.
I called the parents and their kids to take seats around the room while I stood, leaning against my desk.
I quickly went over my policies on homework and class participation then talked about the various curriculum highlights we’d be touching on.
“The most important thing I want you all to know, is that my door is always open, for children and parents. If you ever have any questions or need assistance with anything, please give me a call. Or better yet, stop in! We love to have parent visitors. And if you show up here in class, I can promise you we’ll have you in a pair of goggles doing science experiments right along with us. ”
There were some friendly chuckles at that, I couldn’t keep from glancing over to Liam, who was watching me with far greater focus than anyone else in the room.
Would he come visit the class? The thought of trying to teach with his impossible-to-miss hockey player frame and piercing blue eyes made my knees feel weak.
Hockey players are busy, right? I thought to myself as I wrapped up the event. Maybe he wouldn’t have time to be here much at all.
“Hey,” he said, sliding up next to me while I placed some folders into my bag. “You need any help closing up tonight?”
I gave him my most professional teacher’s smile. “Nope, we should be all set. I’ll be back here tomorrow doing some last-minute set-up anyhow.”
“You’re dedicated,” he murmured and I avoided his eyes.
“I love my job,” I said simply.
“I can tell.”
God, was he moving closer? Why was he moving closer? A quick glance around the room showed it emptying out. The Conners were still in the back, talking to Miguel Lopez’s parents while the kids played with my model of the solar system.
“You know, you should take Josie around the school,” I said, desperate for him to not be the last one in here. There was no telling what my traitorous heart might do if that happened. My body seemed to be revolting against me already—I had stepped closer to him without even realizing it.