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“How was your vacation with the girls?” he asked, as if trying to get a grip.
“We went to Six Flags and the science museum. Half the time, they just wanted my phone to watch cat videos, toys unboxing, and doll houses on YouTube.”
“And, how’s Hannah doing in Debra’s class?”
“It’s been only a few days, but it seems to be going well. She did say she liked you better as her English teacher.” Hope smiled and lowered her voice at the second part, though the lounge was half-deserted by now.
“A clever student like her would do great everywhere. I know who she took thatfrom.”
“Who or whom?” she quipped at his comment. They had been bantering like that since working together during summer school. It was collegial banter, though her instincts about these things were not to be trusted.
“Pretty sure it’s who,but I’ll have to check my notes,” Chris said almost right into her ear. It sent a nice, little shiver down her body. It had been ages since a man had gotten this close to her. Okay, maybe it wasn’t only collegial.
“I have to go. Naomi brought a lemon volcano experiment to class, and I want to peek when she presents it.” Naomi’s science class was under a fellow teacher.
“Have fun!” He touched her arm before she turned and left.
Was she spreading pheromones around for the first time since her divorce? She was pretty sure that Blake, from her pottery class that had resumed the evening before, after the summer hiatus, showed interest in her, too. She and Blake had exchanged looks before, but he had never made a move. She hadn’t been interested in a move, anyway, until recently.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Good girl! Finally! A date!” Roni said when the three of them met the following Monday.
“He just said coffee, so …”
“We’re the only ones you’ve been having coffee with, so don’t underestimate it,” Libby chimed in with a pat on the back of her hand. They were just finishing the little quiches and pastries that Libby had brought from her mother’s bakery, making use of the fact that Luke was on a shift at the San Francisco airport.
“Second piece of great news I’ve heard tonight,” Roni said, raising her half-empty sparkling wine glass.
“It’s just coffee. We didn’t get engaged.” Hope smiled at Libby, who was beaming two feet from her on the couch. “I still can’t get over the fact that you and Luke are engaged! You’ll be Libby Latimer-Delaney.” Was it bad that the second thought that came to her mind after Libby’s revelation earlier that evening was that Libby would now be Jordan’s sister-in-law?
“Me, neither,” Libby replied. “It was spur of the moment, but feels so right.”
“So, after pottery class this week?” Roni splayed her long body across Libby’s armchair, her knees cradling one armrest, her feet dangling toward the floor.
“Yes. It was cute that he found my number through the class participants list, right?”
“Very cute.” Libby gave her a lopsided smile.
“You know what just occurred to me?” Roni muttered, throwing her head back against the backrest and closing her eyes. “That scene in Ghost. Maybe you two will stay after class and make a vase together or something, sink your palms in the wet clay, then rub it all over each other.”
“Are you sure we’re still talking about me, Roni?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maybe her car breaking down the morning of the class should have been warning enough, or maybe Blake showing up in old-fashioned mandals should have done the trick. But she had ignored both signs and now she was sitting across the table from him and repressing an overpowering need to yawn.
“So, I beat him again in the numbers game, and that’s the only game that counts, especially in a supermarket chain. Next time a regional position opens up, guess who’s gonna be spearheading that line?”
Though she was slowly dying inside, Hope stretched her smile as far as she could, mainly because she empathized with him. Maybe, like her, he couldn’t stop talking about a subject that he was passionate about when he was embarrassed or nervous. She was nervous, too. This was her first date in nearly fifteen years.
“And, what do you like to do after work? Pottery, I know, but what else?” She tried yet again.
“I used to like hiking. Do you hike?”
“Sometimes with my daughters. Do you have a favorite place?”
“Oh, right. You have kids. I forgot.”
