He cringed. “My brother is on my shit list right now.”
“Oh no,” I giggled. “What did he do?”
Ian looked very uncomfortable, and I realized I had asked a personal question. I started to tell him not to answer, but he shook his head.
“He set me up,” he mumbled.
“Set you up?” I asked, thinking along the lines of a set up in terms of a scheme gone bad.
“With a woman from his work,” he said, clearly irritated.
I jerked back. “Oh.”
I was a little jealous, but I had no right or reason to be. Ian wasn’t mine. His brother was trying to set him up with a woman to help him get over his dead wife. It was expected. Ian needed to start dating. I knew that, but it still stung.
He rolled his eyes. “It was awful. I was a complete moron. Don’t worry; it didn’t go anywhere. I don’t even remember her name.”
I looked at him with a mixture of emotions. He told me not to worry as if I had a right to. Deep down, that made me giddy.
As if he realized what he’d said, he looked up at me with a look of horror and embarrassment. “I didn’t mean it like that. You didn’t need to worry, regardless.”
“I knew what you meant. It’s okay,” I assured him. I quickly changed topics to one that was a little safer. “How have the last two days gone? With classes,” I clarified.
He seemed relieved to be talking about something else. “Good, actually. We had some challenges, and I forgot the teaching material here on Monday, but we muddled through. The students seem a little more eager to learn now than they have been the past month.”
I laughed. “Of course. Getting outside and playing in the water is always better than sitting in a stuffy classroom. I know I’m excited to get out of here.”
“I’m sure they will all be thrilled to have you back. I know I am,” he said, in a voice that caused a shiver to run down my spine. “Uh, you really bring an extra something to the class.” He said it as an afterthought, as if to explain or justify what he’d said before.
“I’m glad to be back. I’ll be working around the clock to catch up on everything I missed the past couple of days, but I know I’m going to really like getting off campus and in the water.”
The first student showed up at the door but hesitated. It was then I realized the lights were still off. I walked around Ian, flipped the switch, and invited the young woman in. Looking back at Ian, I could feel his sadness over our time together being interrupted. We had only a few, brief, precious minutes alone together.
I loved talking to him. I didn’t even know why. I talked to people all day, but talking with him was different. He was attentive and seemed to really get me. I know that sounds horribly cliché and like a schoolgirl crush, but it was all very real.
I headed to my desk, and our shoulders brushed as I walked by. I paused, looked at him and smiled. “Until next time,” I whispered.
He smiled, another one of those truly genuine smiles that made me feel like the most important girl in the world. That smile is going to carry me through the whole day. I know it will be a busy one and not doubt stressful, but all I will need to do is think back on that smile.
“Okay, guys, who’s ready to get out of here and get wet?” he was saying from the front of the classroom. “We aren’t going to even bother getting comfortable in here. I want to get out there and get every minute we can in the water.”
I could feel the excitement in the room. Jeff noticed me and waved. “Glad you’re back, Miss Teacher,” he said, with a wink.
“Glad to be back,” I said with a saucy grin.
Jeff clutched his heart and waggled his brows.
I laughed but stopped suddenly when I felt the glare. Ian was looking at me in a way that was very different from earlier. Oops. He clearly didn’t appreciate the flirting between Jeff and me. While I would like to think it was because he was jealous, in reality, I’m sure it is more about his own moral standards. Apparently, only teachers are allowed to flirt with the students, I mused.
Chapter Nineteen
Ian
I felt an energy buzzing through me and it’s something I haven’t felt in years. I remembered back to my first teaching job; it had been good, but not this good. This energy was electrifying, and I found myself wanting to smile. I even wanted to walk a little faster, and I found myself wanting to wave at complete strangers. I felt as if I were a young man in my early twenties again, with my entire life ahead of me.
It’s Tessa. I know it. She has a way of making me feel alive, really alive. It’s odd though, it’s not like she is a perky ray of sunshine—far from it—but there is this weird vibe between us. Maybe it’s the ‘two negatives make a positive’ thing.
When we first met, we were both pretty down. She was fresh off her sister’s death, and I was, well, me. I had been stuck in a perpetual gloom for years, but the moment I saw her, it was as if a pinprick of hope popped my bubble of doom and gloom. The more I saw her and the more we talked, that hole enlarged, and it wasn’t long before the dark cloud disappeared altogether.