Until May (Until Her/Him #11)(17)



While it brews, I wander to the entry table to get the stuff I placed there and take it to the kitchen. After tucking the cards away in a box in my office, I pour myself a cup of coffee, then put the flowers I was given in a vase with some water on my island, hoping to bring them back from the brink of death, then grab my cell from my purse.

As soon as I click the screen on, I see a text from my mom asking when I plan on getting to her and Dad’s place, and another two from Aiden. My stomach flip-flops just from the sight of his name, which I know is a ridiculous reaction to a few letters that make up a word.

Do I like him?

Yes.

Does he give me butterflies every time I look at him?

Also yes.

But should I like him? That, I don’t know.

Aiden: Hey, doll. Let me know when you’ve gotten home.

Aiden: I miss looking at you.

I bite my bottom lip as I read his messages, and my fingers hover over the keypad on my cell as I try to come up with something witty to say. But after a minute, I sigh at how dumb I’m being and type out a quick reply.

Me: Home! Thank you again for the ride this morning. I hope you get some sleep.

With no going back and changing my message to him now, I send a text to my mom, letting her know I’m going to get some stuff done around the house, head to the grocery store to stock up for the week, and make sure all my stuff is ready for school tomorrow before I’ll be over around dinner. After I send that, I take my cup of coffee with me to my office and flip on my computer.

Over winter break, I received a few emails from teachers about their third-semester reading list. A couple of emails are from the principal about the schedule for the new year, along with some things she wants to implement in the library for students. And there’s more than one letter from the board about books that were being brought up for approval.

When I applied to be the librarian for the high school, I honestly had no idea the amount of work the job would entail. I figured I would be checking out books to students all day and maybe making recommendations here and there, but I was very wrong. I’m responsible for ordering all books for the school, making sure each teacher has enough material for their students, and that everything is board approved.

Plus, at the beginning of the year, each kid is assigned a laptop, and it’s my responsibility to help them with any issue they might have. Most of the time, it’s an easy enough fix—a new update or a password change—but from time to time, something big happens, which means I have to call in the IT department to fix things. That is one job I’m glad I do not have, because William, who runs that department for the school, is constantly running from one place to another, trying to repair things. And even if he doesn’t say it, I can tell it stresses him out. Plus, it probably doesn’t help that he looks like your typical computer nerd, so no one takes him seriously, and some are not very nice to him, even though he’s super sweet and always willing to help out.

After I’ve written out a long list of things I will need to do tomorrow when I get into my office at the school, I shut down my computer, finish off my coffee, and dump my cup in the dishwasher. Glancing at the time on the microwave, I wonder where the time went and inwardly groan, because it’s later than I thought it was. Living where I do, the grocery store isn’t far, but it’s also not close at twenty minutes away with traffic, and I know that by the time I get back home and unpack everything, another two hours will have gone by.

Wanting to get my next task complete so I can go see my babies, I grab a pair of sneakers from my hall closet along with my puffy winter coat and purse, then stop to check my phone to see if my mom has messaged back. But along with a text from her and another from Aiden, I find a message that causes the coffee I drank earlier to churn in my stomach, making me nauseous.

Mike: I’ve missed you. Please talk to me.

I stare at the message, not sure what to think or do. I thought changing my cell phone number would cut off all communication with him, but apparently it didn’t.

I want to write him back, and tell him that he’s not forgiven, and then ask him how he got my number when I never gave it to him, but I don’t want to feed into whatever game it is he’s playing. And it’s obvious he’s playing some kind of game.

With my hands shaking, I drop my cell phone into my bag and grab my keys before I leave my house and head for my car. On the way to the store, I try not to think about the message, or the fact that—until today—I haven’t heard from Mike, or that just this morning, standing outside of Aiden’s car at the airport, I gave him my new number.





Chapter 6


May

WITH A SMILE on my face, I watch my best friend, Toya, stomp toward where I’m seated in the auditorium at the school and smile at the irritated look on her pretty face. Even annoyed, my friend is gorgeous. Then again, that’s something I’ve heard her husband, Tony, tell her more than once.

“I swear on all that’s holy that I don’t get paid enough to keep these damn kids from ending up teen parents.” She flops down in the seat next to me, and her hair, which is out in a wild mass of dark curls, bounces around her slim shoulders.

“Are they still hiding behind the curtains and making out when they aren’t on stage?”

“You know they are.” She takes the bag of popcorn I was eating while watching her students practice Romeo and Juliet, the play they will be performing this spring. “Or any dark corner they can find to hide in.” She rolls her eyes as she places her hand in the bag.

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