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“We should be able to put warnings out for people like Casey, but who knows what they’d say as a warning about the people they’ve broken up with.”
A look of sympathetic understanding crossed Janessa’s face, which made Will feel a little sick, and he regretted his words. He didn’t want Janessa to think of all the reasons Daphne might have had for breaking up with him.Hedidn’t want to think of all the reasons Daphne had given for the breakup.
Ducking his head, Will rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I’d better go. I’ve got some papers to finish grading for tomorrow.”
“Have fun,” Janessa said as she opened her car door. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Yep. Thanks again for doing the report.”
“Anytime.” She flashed him a smile, then slid behind the wheel.
Will stepped back as she closed her door, then when she started her car, he headed for his. The handful of papers he still needed to grade hadn’t warranted the ending of his conversation with Janessa, but his discomfort sure had.
He hadn’t spoken at length about his breakup with anyone, not even Jay. Thankfully, Jay had been so distracted by other things going on in his life that he’d readily accepted Will’s excuse that they each had wanted different things from their relationship. On the surface, that was very true.
Once he got home, Will contemplated another cup of coffee, but lately, he had enough trouble falling asleep as it was. Instead, he poured himself a glass of milk and grabbed a gingerbread cookie from the container his mom had sent home with him the previous afternoon.
Frosted gingerbread cookies were his favorite, but usually, he only got them at Christmas, having to make do with gingersnaps the rest of the year. However, since the breakup, his mom had been making him iced gingerbread man cookies on a regular basis. He knew it was because she felt badly about what had happened.
While he hadn’t wanted Janessa’s pity, his mom’s came in the form of gingerbread cookies, so it was more tolerable. If everyone expressed their sympathy about his breakup with his favorite cookies, it would be a lot easier to take. Though he’d probably weigh about five hundred pounds.
Or maybe not. He hadn’t had much of an appetite for actual food. The cookies were about the only thing he ate with any enjoyment.
He sat down at his small dining table, which was next to the window that looked out over the neighborhood. His apartment was on the fourth floor, so he had a decent view. Not quite as good as Jay’s, but Will didn’t really care. He didn’t spend much time staring out the window anyway.
Focusing on the last of the papers he needed to hand back to his students the next day, Will tried to push thoughts of his failed relationship away. Unfortunately, seeing Daphne’s grandmother at the committee meetings didn’t help to keep him from thinking about Daphne.
Thankfully, school provided him with a much-needed distraction, with the added bonus of not having to see any of Daphne’s family. It was the rest of his waking hours that he needed to find ways to fill.
With Jay busy with Peyton and Misha, he couldn’t hang out with him like he used to. Not that he blamed his friend at all. If he had a chance at a relationship like Jay had with Misha, he’d jump at it.
Maybe…
The next night, Will was desperate enough for a distraction and a good night’s sleep, that when he was done preparing for Wednesday’s class, he changed into some workout clothes, then gathered up his barely used runners and headed for the gym. On the rare occasions in the past when he’d gone to the gym, he’s always gone with Jay.
However, that wasn’t an option anymore, so he had no choice but to go on his own.
Since it was close to eight-thirty, the gym wasn’t very full. He switched out his shoes, then went to the mats first, hearing Jay’s voice in his head lecturing him on the importance of stretching. He queued up an audiobook, but before he had a chance to start listening to it, someone approached him.
“Hi, Will.”
From his place on the mat, he looked up to see the older sister of one of his students. She’d been a few years behind him in school and was the oldest of four siblings. She’d left town to go to college and upon her return to Serenity, she’d begun to work in the family business. He wouldn’t know that much about her if he didn’t have her brother in one of his classes. The guy liked to talk about his family.
“Hi, Marissa.” He gave her a small smile. “How are you doing?”
She seemed to take that as an invitation to chat and lowered herself onto the mat beside him. “I’m doing great. How are you?”
“I’m fine.”
“Wonderful! Steven says he’s enjoying your class.”
Will’s brows rose at that. Steven and a couple of his friends were among the most disruptive of his students, so he had no idea what Marissa was going on about. “Uh… Glad to hear that.”
“Math was never my favorite subject in high school, but if you’d been my teacher, I think I probably would have enjoyed it a whole lot more.”
The smile she gave him was definitely flirtatious, and Will didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t in any mood to flirt, but even if he was, he didn’t think flirting with the older sister of a student was a good idea.
It was bad enough when he’d had Cole and Skylar in his classes. But he’d had a conversation with each of them beforehand to let them know he wasn’t going to be treating them any differently than the other kids in his class.
