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“Even though it’s the first day of the semester?”
“Yeah.”
“She doesn’t want to be there with him?”
“She’s got a last-minute breakfast meeting, which is more important.”
I hear a huff and have to smile. “What time do you need me to come in?” she asks.
“If you could open up at eight-thirty, that would be great. I don’t want to cut and run on Nash’s first day.”
“That’s no problem.”
“I should be back before nine.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
With that weight off of my mind, we end our call and I get dressed in jeans and a white button-down shirt before making the bed and going downstairs to fix myself a coffee, keeping an eye on the time, so I won’t be late for Nash.
Chapter Five
Zara
I look up from my folder to see that the teachers’ lounge has filled considerably while I’ve been concentrating on other things. It seems wise to put the file away and at least look sociable and interested in my colleagues, and I’m just getting up to do that when the door opens and Russ Whitehead comes in. This is the man I was telling my mom about, and looking at him again, I can definitely confirm he’s not my type. Sure, he’s handsome enough, and I’ll admit I feel kinda sorry for him, being surrounded by so many women, but there’s no way I’d want any kind of romantic involvement with him.
At the thought of romance, my heart does a little dance and my mind instantly switches to Tanner, and I smile, timing it badly as Russ picks that moment to approach and obviously assumes I’m smiling at him.
“Hi,” he says, grinning and flopping down in the chair beside mine, even though I was about to get up. It would be rude to do so now, so I lean back in the seat again. “How are you?”
“Nervous,” I say, and he nods his head.
“Me, too.”
It’s his first job, just like it’s mine, and I wonder if that’s why I’m not attracted to him. He’s too young. I’ve never been interested in boys or men of my own age, and my mind is once again drawn to Tanner, and those lines around his eyes that spoke of years of wisdom and experience.
“Do you think it’s silly of us?” I say, remembering to make conversation, even if I’d prefer to think about Tanner.
“No. The prospect of having to control a classroom of children is daunting.”
“I suppose I have the slight advantage that for most of my students, today is gonna be their first experience of education.”
He frowns. “Is there no nursery school here?”
“No.” I lean a little closer to him. “I was kinda surprised by that when Miss Montgomery told me, but evidently most of the working parents who live here either rely on family to look after their young children, or use a child-minding service, or drive to Willmont Vale, where there’s a pre-school nursery.”
“I didn’t realize,” he says, shaking his head.
“Neither did I, but from what I can gather, at least half of the kids walking through my door today won’t have set foot in a classroom before.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
I nod my head. “So long as I can get them to sit down long enough to learn something, I’ll have done my job.”
He chuckles, just as the door opens, and the room falls into silence. Miss Montgomery has that effect, and while she dressed a little more casually during the workshop last week, today she’s in full Principal mode, wearing a buttoned up navy blue jacket and matching skirt.
She glances around the room, nodding her head occasionally at some of the older teachers, although she ignores Russ and me completely and steps over to the window, clearing her throat.
“Now that everyone is here, I just wanted to say a few words.” She pauses for dramatic effect. “It’s a new semester,” she says, with a slight smile and as she continues to talk, I glance around the room myself, my stomach churning when I realize that, regardless of Miss Montgomery’s opening line, Margot Ashton isn’t here. She’s my teaching assistant and a veteran of ten years’ service at the school and, frankly, I know I’ll be lost without her.
