The Best Is Yet to Come (3)

It didn’t take Hope long to discover the reason Spencer was in her classroom.

Callie Rhodes, another senior, a member of the dance team and senior class royalty. She was far and away out of Spencer’s league.

Hope hated that Spencer was setting himself up for a major disappointment. Every class, the kid gave himself away. Hope was convinced she wasn’t the only one who noticed, either. Spencer seemed unable to take his eyes off Callie.

Hope wondered if he’d heard a single word of anything she’d said the entire class period. His entire focus remained on Callie, and the pretty teenage girl seemed completely oblivious to him.

Callie was popular, pretty, and smart. From what Hope had been able to determine, she was dating Scott Pender, the school’s star athlete and quarterback. She’d heard Scott played key positions on the basketball and baseball teams as well. Compared to Scott, Spencer didn’t stand a chance.

Hope’s last period of the day was AP U.S. History, and both Spencer and Callie were in that class. Oceanside High was a small school with fewer than three hundred students. The size suited Hope. She’d been looking to make a significant change in her life. Living in California, being alone in the world, she’d badly needed to get away, to forget and move forward.

No state income tax was only one of the reasons Washington State appealed to her. It was beautiful and she felt sure she could find a good job there in a charming and friendly community. So she applied for teaching positions in several small towns that dotted the western half of the state. With her two degrees—a master’s in education and another in counseling—she wasn’t surprised to be hired by Oceanside High School. She knew she was a good candidate. In addition to teaching computer science and U.S. history, she also worked as a counselor in the afternoons, which wasn’t an opportunity afforded her at other schools. It made Oceanside an even better fit. Students came to her with a variety of issues. Mostly they needed someone willing to listen.

Moving to Oceanside had been the right move. Living close to the ocean had always been important to her. Any home or rental within ten miles of the Pacific in California was way out of her limited budget. It astonished her that the small rental cottage she found in Oceanside was well within walking distance of the ocean and, best of all, affordable.

Her landlords, Preston and Mellie Young, were great. Preston operated the local animal shelter, and Mellie was a full-time mother to their two toddlers. For the most part they kept to themselves. Hope exchanged pleasantries whenever they met. Mellie stayed indoors a lot, so Hope didn’t see her often, but that was fine.

The cottage was older, probably built sometime in the 1960s or ’70s. Mellie had mentioned that it had once been a summer rental. Only in the last few years had it been rented out full-time. Given how old the house was, it was only natural that it needed a few minor repairs. The kitchen could use a new paint job. One of the faucet handles was loose in the bathroom; the railing on the step was held together by a single nail. All minor details that would be easy fixes. Hope wasn’t complaining, though, seeing how reasonable her rent was. Determined to be a good tenant, Hope would gladly fix whatever needed to be done herself. No need to give her landlords a reason to raise the rent.

Oceanside was the perfect place for her to escape, put down roots, and get a fresh start at life. Her desire was to let go of the pains of the past and move forward, breathing in the new and exhaling the past.

Following the last class of the day, Hope left the classroom and headed toward the office where she had been assigned a small space. Glancing out the window, she saw the football team was on the practice field. She noticed Callie on the sidelines with a few of her friends from the dance team watching the boys do their drills on the grassy field.

Spencer sat on the bleachers with an open book in his lap, surreptitiously watching Callie. The poor kid was setting himself up for nothing but heartache. Hope hated to have to witness what was sure to follow. She knew there was nothing more she could do unless Spencer sought out her advice.

After an hour of meeting and talking with a number of students, Hope left for the day. The football team was still on the field. One thing Hope had learned early on was the pride the entire community took in the success of the high school football team.

One advantage of renting the cottage from Preston and Mellie was that the school was a close walk from home. Because she had errands to run, Hope had driven that morning. These errands were admittedly a delay tactic for what awaited her at the cottage.

After stopping off at the grocery store and the cleaner, she headed back. The two-bedroom house had come furnished but was small. Still, it had far more space than the studio apartment she’d rented in Los Angeles. Although the functional furniture was outdated, for the most part, it wasn’t an eyesore. Whoever had lived here previously had taken good care of the property. With a few minor changes, she could make the cottage homey and comfortable. However, that meant unpacking the boxes that remained behind the closed door of the small guest bedroom.

The room she’d avoided opening from the day she’d moved to Oceanside.

Hope didn’t need anyone to tell her why she kept those boxes safely tucked away and out of sight. Seeing how much she’d lost, it made perfect sense. Those packing boxes contained the reminders of all the pain and heartache she’d suffered.

Determined to move forward no matter how difficult, she delayed just long enough to put the milk and cottage cheese in the refrigerator and stack the frozen entrées in the freezer.