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Everly
“So, tell me about yourself, Everly. What college did you go to?”
I sipped my chai tea, trying to settle my nerves. A half-hour ago, I was two heartbeats away from canceling my date with Nelson altogether, but Indie had slapped some lipstick on me and pushed me out the door.
To Quinn’s credit, she hadn’t misrepresented her friend at all. Nelson was quite tall—of course, when you’re five foot four, almost everybody over the age of sixteen fits into that category—broad-shouldered, and had very straight and white teeth. While I couldn’t find anything wrong with him, I couldn’t find anything right about him either. There just wasn’t any “zing.”
“Freeport University.”
“You stayed local.” Nelson smiled and adjusted the cuffs of his neatly pressed button-down shirt. “I went to Berkeley and then got my MBA at a little place called Wharton.”
“Wow, impressive. I’ve never been to Pennsylvania, but I have visited New York. I guess they get a lot of snow there?”
Sheesh, Everly.I did an internal facepalm. Only fifteen minutes in with a perfectly pleasant guy, and I was talking about the weather.
I fidgeted in my seat, wishing I’d changed after work. Nelson sat in front of me wearing a dress shirt and slacks, looking like he’d just got out of an important business meeting. Meanwhile, I was still in braids, a baggy sweater, and a pair of stained jeans, thanks to a disastrous glitter-glue incident.
Oh well, at least I’d applied lipstick.
He leaned back and sprawled his arm along the back of the booth, providing the perfect opportunity to admire his broad shoulders and long arms. “So how do you and Quinn know each other? She and I grew up in the same circles, and I don’t recall ever meeting you. Did you attend Preston Prep with her?”
I shook my head. Preston Prep was a private school in nearby Mermaid Cove. Quinn grew up in a wealthy family, and while my folks were always able to afford the things we needed, I’d not grown up in the lap of luxury.
“I attended Sunnyvale High. I’m public school all the way.”
“Salt of the earth.” Nelson nodded. “I attended the Cage School. Our graduating class was about one hundred.”
Wow. I’d had five hundred students in my senior class alone. “How did you like it?”
Nelson chuckled. “The education was excellent, but it was rather boring. How did you and Quinn meet?”
“My roommate, Indie, and I formed a knitting club.” I relaxed as I began talking about my friends. “Indie knits, and when she saw Quinn knitting at a café one day, she invited her to hang out. That’s how our club officially started. We now have four members.”
“Interesting.” Nelson raised a brow. “I didn’t realize Quinn… knitted.”
“She’s fantastic. She actually made this for me.” I tugged the scarf from my neck and held it out to show him.
Nelson gave it a cursory glance before sipping his espresso. “She does beautiful work. Tell me more about yourself. What do you do for a living?”
I lifted one of my braids and chuckled. “As you might be able to tell from my outfit, I’m a preschool teacher. I run a home-based school out of my backyard. After teaching in the public school system, I decided to mix things up this year and started my own school.” No need to tell him I quit my former job because the paparazzi wouldn’t stop hounding me about Lukas. While I might have been rusty at the dating game, even I knew that one didn’t bring up exes on the first date.
Nelson cleared his throat. “Preschool? Really? You must love children to babysit them as a job.”
Babysitting? Are you kidding me?
Clearly, he had no idea what preschool teachers actually did for a living. “That’s a common misconception. I’m an educator and I hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees like you.”
“Well, our degrees are somewhat different.”
His haughty tone didn’t escape my attention. Sure, Nelson might have an MBA from Wharton, but I too was a professional in my own right. I took a deep breath and silently counted to four, a technique I taught my kids to help them calm down.
“Of course our degrees are different.” I fought to keep my voice steady and my tone light. “There are many types of intelligence in the world. Everyone has something unique to contribute. And I choose to help shape our future generations.”
Nelson adjusted the cuffs of his shirt. “I’m sure it’s a challenging job. It’s just something I can’t imagine myself doing. You’d need endless patience to wrangle young children for hours on end.”
That’s it. I glanced toward the door, itching to leave. He was testing the boundaries of my patience way more than my kids ever did. As far as I was concerned, Nelson was a dud. I couldn’t believe Quinn had set me up with him.
Nelson took a sip of his drink, appearing not to realize I was a volcano, ready to blow. “You seem rather passionate about your work. Do you envision yourself teaching preschoolers in the long term?”
