Virtuous(44)

With the kids occupied with an assignment, I reach for my phone to text Flynn.

You can breathe now. I got Monday off.

He writes right back. Thank goodness. I was starting to get light-headed. Pick you up from school today? 3:30?

I think about it for exactly one second before I write back. 4 would be better. As much as I want to see him again, I have to get some work done.

4 it is. See you then. Can’t wait.

I read those last words over and over again. Flynn Godfrey can’t wait to see me. I think about my sisters and how excited they would be to know I’m seeing Flynn, a movie star they both admire, and I’m filled with sadness for all I’ve lost. Maybe they’ll see a photo from the Golden Globes in one of the celebrity magazines they love to devour. I dismiss that thought the minute I have it. I look so different now, they probably wouldn’t recognize me as their long-lost sister. Or maybe they never think of me at all anymore and won’t care who I’m dating.

The notion of them forgetting about me depresses me profoundly, so I try to stay focused on all the things that are going right in my life now, including a budding romance with a man who can’t wait to see me.

I did what I had to do for myself and for my sisters. Maybe someday they’ll realize that. In the meantime, I have an afternoon to get through with a room full of third-graders who are hopped up on sugar thanks to the cupcakes Micha’s mom brought in after lunch to celebrate his birthday. As much as I dislike what the sugar does to my plans for the afternoon, I’m thankful that the parents participate the way they do.

Micha’s mom stays for the afternoon to help out with a science project, and we end the day with her reading them a book. Her cheerful presence helps the day go by faster than it would have normally, especially when I know I’ll be seeing Flynn.

After the kids leave, I make quick work of cleaning up my room and correcting the papers I never got around to doing last night as well as today’s classwork. The whole time, I’m watching the clock creep closer to four. At ten till, Leah ducks her head into my room.

“Working all night, loser?” she asks with a teasing smile.

“Nope. Just for ten more minutes.”

She looks at me suspiciously. “And then what?”

“A little of this, a little of that…”

“You have a date with the movie star!”

“Shush, will you?”

She comes into the room, letting the door slam behind her. “Where’s he taking you?”

“I don’t know. We’ll probably hang out at his place. It’s easier for him than going out.”

“This whole thing is so f*cking cool, Nat.”

“Don’t say f*ck at school.”

“Why not? There’re no little ears around to hear it.”

“Mrs. Heffernan is always listening with her big elephant ears.”

Leah snorts with laughter. “She’s probably got every room bugged.”

“Which is why you shouldn’t swear at school.”

“So I heard something I thought would interest you.”

“What’s that?”

“Someone made an anonymous donation to Aileen’s fund—a big donation. Like half a million bucks big.”

I stare at her, trying to process what she’s told me. “Half a million dollars?”

“That’s what Sue said.” Leah is friends with the woman who runs the main office and gets all the best gossip from her. “Who else could it be but your friend Flynn?”

“God… I can’t believe he did that. He said he wanted to help them and asked if there’s a fund or something. But I never imagined…” Tears fill my eyes when I imagine Aileen’s reaction to receiving that kind of money.

“It’s good of him,” Leah says.

“It’s amazing.” I’m stunned and overwhelmed and more eager to see him than I was before.

“Pull yourself together. You’ve got a hot date with a hot man in five minutes.”

Still reeling from Flynn’s incredible gesture, I force myself to calm down and try to relax. “What’re you up to tonight?”

“I picked up a shift at the bar. Still trying to pay off Christmas.”

“Which means you’ll be a wreck tomorrow.”

“It’ll be worth it to pay off that beast of a credit card. No tutoring today?”