“Well, if I can make school worthwhile for one student, then I think I had a successful career,” I said.
“I always felt the same with being a doctor. I wanted to save just one life in my career. Just one,” Trevor said.
I grinned. “I can tell you for a fact you’ve done that. But I’m sure you’ve saved many more lives than just my mom’s. You’re a really good doctor, Trevor. I hope you know that.”
Although I wasn’t entirely sure, it seemed to me that he blushed when he turned and looked away from me. It was shocking to me to think that I could make someone as amazing as Trevor Hall blush, and I smiled at the thought. I felt myself falling for him more and more each time I saw him, and I hoped he wasn’t too scarred over the way the afternoon had gone.
I sat back at my desk to grab my things when Samantha reappeared. I smiled at her, but she had come back to see Trevor, not me. She made that clear with the way she pointed right at him.
“I have something I have to say to you,” she said, her small voice stern with how serious she was.
“You do?” Trevor asked, his eyes wide. I smiled. Samantha had her little fists on her hips as she walked back toward my desk, her gaze never once wavering from Trevor.
“What can I do for you, missy?” Trevor asked Samantha when she stopped right in front of him.
“I just came in here to tell you that you better treat Miss Dennis like a princess, or you’ll have to answer to me for it!” she announced. She pointed directly at him as she spoke, then back to herself as she stomped one small foot on the ground.
Trevor clearly didn’t know how to respond. I wanted to laugh out loud with the way he looked at me first, then back at Samantha.
“I’m telling you, there’s no coming between a child and their teacher,” I said. “I get close to all my kids, and they don’t mess around when it comes to someone being in my life.”
“I can see that,” Trevor said. “Well, missy, I’ll tell you what. You work hard when you are at school here and get good grades so Miss Dennis is happy, and I’ll work hard when I’m with Miss Dennis when she’s not here with you to make sure she’s still happy, okay?”
“Deal!” Samantha said.
She remained as serious as ever as she reached out and shook his hand.
“Now don’t you forget. You promised,” she said. “And I don’t take promises lightly.”
“Neither do I,” Trevor told her, “And you better believe I’m going to ask Miss Dennis if you have good grades, and I hope she tells me at the end of the year that you do.”
“She will, because I do!” Samantha announced. “See you tomorrow, Miss Dennis!”
“Goodnight, Samantha,” I said with a grin. She was one of my favorites. We weren’t supposed to choose favorites in the class, but it was just impossible at times not to.
Not with kids like Samantha in my class. There’s no way I could meet her and not have her as a favorite. I could tell with the way Trevor so solemnly shook her hand and sealed his own promise with her that he also was really taken with her.
It made me think for a brief moment of what it would be like if he and I were to have a child together. Could this be a moment that I would get to enjoy with both my man and my daughter someday? The thought of it was enough to make my heart melt, and I hoped that Trevor had his mind on similar things even if he didn’t say it out loud.
I wasn’t going to bring up anything like that. Not with how good things were going with him. I didn’t want to add too much pressure to anything and make him feel like I wanted to move faster. Things were going so well with him, I wanted to really see how this was all going to come together for us in the long term.
It was hard not to get overly excited and start talking about the future, but I refused to give into the temptation. Just seeing the way he interacted with Samantha in my classroom was enough to make my heart swell with happiness, and I was content to leave thoughts about us having our own family one day to myself.
After Samantha ran back out, I smiled at Trevor.
“Thanks a bunch for coming in like that. You really helped me out today,” I said.
“Did I? I feel like I made more work for you since showing up here and having you corral the way I was trying to traumatize the kids.”
“Oh, you weren’t traumatizing them.” I laughed. “You were just using some words that are a little more than what they are used to, and I was hoping to help you out by offering some advice on how to be a little more age appropriate.”
“I work with adults, I have adult friends, and I tend to spend my time in adult places. I can’t say I really thought about the difference between adults and kids in that regard. Always figured if I wasn’t swearing or talking about sex, I was fine,” he said.
I nodded. “That’s how a lot of people are, but you really do need to be careful with how to present things to kids. Even things like talking about cancer and illness that you can’t see can be both educational and scary to kids if you don’t talk about it in the right way. We don’t want to send any of the kids home with the worry that they are going to get cancer or someone they love will.”
“Exactly. Anyway, I’m glad I was able to help out, if it was, in fact, helping out. I’ll take your word for it on that because it’s not at all what I would consider helping out,” he told me.
“You’re fine,” I said with a smile.