Finding Our Forever (Silver Springs #1)(11)

“You’re a brand-new teacher?”

“Relatively new,” she admitted. “I’ve been subbing for six years.”

“Do you have any idea how difficult some of the boys who come here can be?”

Aiyana hadn’t given the bad behavior Cora was likely to encounter much emphasis. But Cora had known from the beginning that this school wasn’t for the well-adjusted. “I understand that most of the boys come from a very difficult background,” she replied. “But it shouldn’t be too much of a change. You should see how some regular students treat substitutes,” she joked.

The man laughed but quickly sobered. “Subbing isn’t easy. Kids will get away with whatever they can. Still, for an attractive young woman of your age—”

“I’m nearly thirty,” she broke in, but she had to wonder—in her hurry to get close to Aiyana, had she given what she might face here enough weight?

“Still,” the man said. “It won’t be easy. I hope you haven’t gotten in over your head.”

When Cora glanced up, she happened to catch Elijah watching her. He didn’t look away, as she expected him to; he continued to measure her with those enigmatic eyes. Was he experiencing any doubts about having hired her?

Possibly. Probably. She hated to even consider that. But if she had to fight to find her place in the world, she’d do it. She supposed, in that respect, she wasn’t much different from Elijah or the other boys who’d come through here, or were still attending.

“I’ll be fine,” she said—and hoped it was true.

*

“I see you met Sean Travers.”

Cora recognized Elijah’s voice even before she turned to see him standing at her elbow. Why he’d put her through the discomfort approaching her was bound to cause, however, she couldn’t say.

“The guy who was sitting next to me?” she asked.

“Yes. Our science teacher—or ranch pessimist, depending on how well you know him.”

She nibbled at the cookie she’d just snagged from the refreshment table. “He doesn’t think I’m capable of teaching here. I guess I look too young and delicate to handle the boys who act out.”

“Does that shake your confidence?”

“I admit I’m a little worried. Everyone seems to believe the job should’ve gone to a man named Gary...”

“Seton,” he filled in as he handed her a cup of punch. “Because he’s local—they know him.”

“But...”

“It wasn’t their decision,” he said simply.

She couldn’t help envying him his long, dark eyelashes. She knew she had pretty eyes—guys told her that all the time—but she felt his were prettier. “No. It was yours. So...can you tell me why?”

“Why I chose you?”

“I know it isn’t what they all seem to think. You made that clear earlier.”

He took a sip of his own punch. “As far as I’m concerned, your competition has no...vision.”

“Am I supposed to understand what that means?”

His massive shoulders lifted in a shrug. “I wasn’t impressed with his work.”

“You were impressed with mine?”

“You’re talented,” he said evenly. “Perhaps more than you know.”

“I’m teaching art, not selling it. I’m guessing he was at least proficient.”

Elijah finally shifted that unnerving gaze away from her. “You have to understand certain concepts to be able to teach them.”

“What concepts are you specifically referring to?” she asked, but someone else approached him at that moment, interrupting, and he turned away without answering.

Since Eli fell deep into conversation with a woman who looked sixty or so and was concerned about a particular student Cora had no way of knowing, she felt awkward standing there waiting for the chance to speak to him again. So she gave them some privacy by carrying her punch over to the corner. She was looking for an unobtrusive vantage point from which to observe her birth mother. Aiyana was mingling with the staff. But then Cora saw the science teacher who’d sat next to her approach Aiyana and knew, when they both glanced in her direction, that they were talking about her. Sean Travers was expressing his reservations.

Disgruntled that this man she’d barely met would jump to conclusions based on her age and gender, and start to advocate against her, Cora finished her punch, dropped the paper cup in the wastebasket and left the library. Her phone kept vibrating in her pocket anyway, making her feel as if someone really needed to reach her.

When she got outside and felt she could check, caller ID indicated it was her father.

Gazing up at more stars than she’d ever seen in the sky before, she wandered around the campus as she spoke to him. Most of the students were away, at home if they had a home to go to, for a quick holiday before classes started in earnest, so the campus was quiet, especially this far from the outdoor basketball courts and the dorms.

“So are you going to like it there?” her father asked.

She tried to let the energy in his voice help lift the depression that had set in. “It’s definitely going to be a change.”

“A positive one, though, right?”

“Sure,” she said, kicking a small pebble across the sidewalk.