We worked our way through the basic offering of wines recommended for an event, and she smiled after taking her last sip. “Would you still like to see the school? I’d love to show you around.”
“Lead the way,” I said before swigging the rest of my drink and getting up.
Since I’d already paid for the tasting when we arrived, we headed straight out of the winery and drove together to her preschool. There was plenty of garden space out front and brightly colored playsets.
The inside was just as impressive, and I was amazed by how well it all suited her. From the way she’d opened up the rooms in the old building to the way she’d decorated the inside, it was bright and light. A space so filled with love and laughter that I could feel the warmth even though there were no children here on a Sunday afternoon.
I could imagine her teaching a bunch of unruly kids there, and strangely, it made me smile. Emma had obviously carved out a life here for herself that she loved, and I was happy about that. She deserved the best, even if I had never been that for her and I’d always known it.
6
EMMA
Having Colt in my space felt good, and that was dangerous. We still got along so well that I felt a chemistry with him I’d never felt with anyone before or since. Maybe that was why I was having such a hard time getting over him.
I knew it was long past time to extinguish the stupid flame in my heart I’d kept lit for him, but somehow, I just couldn’t manage to do it. Although we’d been in high school when we’d had our summer fling, I’d never managed to meet anyone else who made me feel the way he did.
For a long time, I’d been thinking that I must’ve imagined it. As I’d gone on disappointing date after disappointing date, I’d even managed to convince myself that it had to have been a trick of the memory since it couldn’t have been real, but here he was.
And it was real. Very, very real.
Just looking at him in his jeans, white button-down shirt, and casual tan jacket with his dark hair brushed back out of his face was enough to make my heart race. The fact that I could see warm fondness—if nothing else—in his dark eyes, just made it so much worse.
As I showed him around the classrooms, I grinned like a crazy person and bragged about the work my students had done. Colt was looking right over my shoulder, so close that it was making my heart pound in my chest.
“This is by little Eli,” I was saying when I glanced at him, trying to ignore the intoxicating, albeit faint, scent of his cologne that seemed to be enveloping me. “He’s four, but his drawing age is somewhere around six. Isn’t it amazing?”
Colt chuckled, and the deep sound rumbled out of him only to burrow its way into my chest, filling it with warmth. “I don’t know much about kids, but that does sound amazing. You must have some pretty cool children around here. I can practically feel how much they love coming here.”
Really? Because all I can feel is the wild desire to kiss you. I shut that thought down fast, escaping by taking a few steps forward before I could do something foolish. Sparks seemed to be flying between us, and that wasn’t good. Even with my back turned, I could feel him staring at me. Felt his eyes caressing my body with the same heat as if they were his hands. I also felt the way my own body responded.
I turned toward him when I reached the cubbies and set the picture down again, choosing to keep my distance by showing him around the break area out back instead. Maybe if we were outside, the sparks wouldn’t have quite as much of an effect on me.
“So I realize the kids you teach are a lot younger, but I’m wondering about your teaching style,” he said jokingly with an air of reminiscence creeping into his tone. “If we were to compare you to some of the teachers from high school, are you more like Ms. Taylor, the flighty art teacher who was allergic to soap and always wore baggy peasant shirts? Or are you more like Mr. Adams, who taught shop but was always chewing on an unlit cigar and told kids horrible stories from his military days in Iraq?”
“She really was allergic to soap.” I laughed, my nose scrunching up at the mere thought of walking into her class. “As for Mr. Adams, I think I need to wait until the kids are a bit older before I break out the cigar and the torture stories.”
He laughed, and it reminded me how much I’d always loved his laugh. Needing to not bask in the sound like it was a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, I focused on his question instead. “I have my own style. I like to think of myself as a mix between Mrs. Fletcher and Mrs. Browning. Do you remember them? They were both here when we were in this preschool. Mrs. Fletcher was strict but fair and Mrs. Browning was kind and fun but a bit of an airhead.”
His eyes narrowed briefly as he thought. Then he snapped his fingers and grinned. “Yeah, I think I do remember them. You said you bought this place from Mrs. Fletcher, right? Is she still around?”
“On occasion. She comes and helps out sometimes on a substitute basis when one of my other teachers is out sick. Would you believe that she looks exactly the same?”
He pretended to shudder. “I would, actually. I always thought she might be part vampire.”
I reached out to smack his shoulder and was met with solid rock under his jacket. I nearly winced, but he didn’t even seem to feel it. “She is not. Mrs. Fletcher is the nicest lady in town, and that means something here.”
As I drew my hand back, I caught sight of my watch and my eyes bulged. “Is that the time? Crap. If we don’t hightail it to that bridal party meeting, we’re going to be late.”
Colt raised his arm and shook it a little, dislodging a fancy watch and making it drop to the bottom of his thick wrist. The thing looked like one of those mechanical works of art with lots of different dials and hands in it, but he obviously knew which hand on the black and silver face to look at because he nodded.
“Yep, that’s the time. You’re right. We need to get going. The meeting is still at our house, right? I haven’t missed a change of venue?”
“It’s still there,” I confirmed and hurried to lock everything back up before we made our way to the parking lot.
By the time we got to Teddy’s house, everyone else was already there. Thankfully, there were only a handful of bridesmaids and groomsmen to make things difficult because, as it was, Colt and Reece were oil and water and they were already making everyone tense. There was one other girl present who I hadn’t met before, but I was assuming she was Reece’s fiancée since she was sitting next to him and had a big diamond on her finger.
Once we were all seated in their dining room, Teddy smiled and cleared her throat. “Thank you, guys, for coming. We know that you’re all eager to get back to your Sunday afternoon, so we’re going to try to make this quick. The reason we’ve asked you to come is to go over what still has to be done before the wedding and to assign tasks.”