“Right. The festival is on the fifteenth. It’s on campus, and we’ll be setting up early in the morning. We would need you to be here at seven and stay until everyone is done cleaning up, likely six. It’s a long day, and we’ll need to make sure no one comes in that shouldn’t. We’ll have someone running the ticket booth, and there shouldn’t be any strangers since Emerald Bay is safe, but you can never be too careful. The high school is also involved and sometimes teens like to get into trouble.” She’s talking fast yet her face is impassive.
“I agree.”
She nods, dropping her arms and taking a step back, placing her hand on the edge of her desk.
I’m not sure what else to say. She pretty much summed up everything I needed to know in a minute, but I was hoping we’d have to talk longer.
“Walker is doing okay?” I tilt my head in his direction.
“He’s doing great.”
“Good, good. I’ll make sure to tell Brooke.” I look around the class, trying to come up with anything else to talk about, but the silence stretches beyond the point of making conversation.
It shouldn’t bother me that she’s not giving me much attention. I’ve already decided it’s for the best to keep my distance, but she does something to me. Like opens a piece of me that’s been locked up. A part that’s always made me feel inferior to the rest of the world.
“I’m hungry,” Walker announces, and I turn to look at him.
“We’ll go home now.” I look at Lizzy again, staring into her eyes trying to read whatever she’s not saying, but she’s fenced in and keeping me shut out.
I deserve it, but it doesn’t mean I like it. This is complicated, though. I don’t even know if the school has a no fraternization rule, but regardless, I don’t like to shit where I eat. History has proven that it’s a terrible idea to get involved with someone you work with. Even though this position could be temporary depending on what the county decides, for the next few months, Lizzy and I are essentially co-workers.
But she’s tempting enough to make me want to test that theory to see if it’d be different for us.
“Are y’all gonna kiss?” Walker’s voice sounds disgusted, and I snap out of the trance not realizing I’m standing close to Lizzy.
“What?” I spin around to glare at him.
“Of course not!” Lizzy says tightly and glares at me.
“It looked like it.” He shrugs, putting the book back on the shelf and grabbing his backpack. “I wanna leave. Bye, Ms. A.”
I groan and look over at her.
A small smirk ghosts on her lips, and I’m tempted to kiss her and prove Walker right.
“See you tomorrow, Ms. Andrews.” I place my hand on Walker’s shoulder and guide him out of the school.
“You sure you weren’t gonna kiss her?” He looks up at me with furrowed eyebrows.
“Positive,” I deadpan.
“Ookay.” He shrugs. “Can we get ice cream?” His smile beams.
“Maybe on Friday, kiddo.” I squeeze his shoulder and open the car door for him as he frowns.
“Friday’s too far away.”
“It’s in two days. I’m sure you can hold out ’til then.” I hand him the seatbelt and make sure he buckles it before closing the door.
My mind wanders as I get into my own seat and turn the ignition. I’m distracted as I drive thinking about Lizzy and her blue eyes and the way it felt to hold her for a little while as we danced.
Ignoring the way she makes me feel is going to be more difficult than I thought, but I need to be sure to keep a straight line dividing my professional and personal life. It seems as if that’s an impossible task in a small town.
Chapter 12
Lizzy
I’mwalkingdownthehallway after using the restroom, glad I have a short break while my students are in Spanish class. It’s been a long week, and I’m ready for the weekend. At least it’s already Friday and my afternoon will be pretty easy.