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CLARK
I leftHunter and Toby after a rushed meeting to set a schedule for tutoring once Toby agreed to it, then walked through empty halls, heart thundering. My school in Omaha had a strict policy against parent-teacher relationships, and while the handbook for Granville schools hadn’t explicitly spelled it out, I assumed Principal Simmons would still advise me against it.
Even though Hunter had been kidding, mostly, it made me nervous to think about what she might have overheard—or misunderstood—in those few minutes in the hall.
It’s fine. You’ll set the record straight. You’re not dating Hunter Rhodes…
That he’d asked, even as a joke, was a shock. But my attraction to the man, the tiny part of me that wanted to date him, gave me a guilty conscience, even if I’d done nothing wrong.
School hours were over and the front receptionist had left for the day, so I walked through the darkened office and rapped on my boss’s open door. Light spilled from the doorway, a bright beacon in the otherwise darkened school building.
Principal Simmons waved me in. “Sit down, Mr. Fletcher. I’ve got to finish writing this email before I lose my train of thought…”
For the next minute, the clacking of her computer keys filled the room, enhanced by the carefully manicured nails clicking against them.
“There. Done.” She looked up with a smile. “So, how are you doing then? Anything new going on with you?”
I took a nervous breath. Principal Simmons opened every meeting with a bit of small talk. She valued personal connection. But today I wasn’t sure if it was merely small talk or a prelude to discussing what she’d overheard in the hall.
“Not really, no.”
“That was Hunter Rhodes you were speaking with in the hall, wasn’t it? I remember him from my school days.” She sighed dreamily. “Did I hear him call you two a couple?”
“Oh, no! No, he said if we were a couple, then we wouldn’t get so much pressure to date,” I hurried to explain. “It was just a spur-of-the-moment idea. He thought it might be a good way to get people to lay off. I said no, of course, but it wouldn’t have been real.”
“Ahhh, I see. Well, he’s not wrong. It would be a good way to shut down the matchmaking nonsense. I know how you’ve felt about your nana’s setups. And sweetie, you know I don’t listen to gossip, but talk about your date with Percy Helix is all over. Did he really throw a drink in your face?”
“What?” I said aghast. “Of course not.”
She tapped her lips. “Hmm. So the story about Hunter catching you in his arms is probably an exaggeration too.”
“Uh…no, that was true.” I fidgeted, a little uncomfortable to be discussing my personal life with my boss. “But I had to say no to his idea, even if it would get Nana off my back, right? Hunter’s a parent. My last school had a policy against teacher-parent relationships.”
“Granville is much too small to enforce a policy like that,” she said to my surprise. “It can be tricky to navigate, but if you’re careful, I don’t see why it has to be a deal-breaker.”
“Oh.” I felt thrown. “Well, it was just a joke anyway…”
She chuckled. “Too bad. I’d almost pay money to see some of the ladies in this town lose their ever-loving minds that Hunter Rhodes escaped their clutches.” Her phone beeped. “Ah, shoot. Sorry to rush this along, but my meeting is about to start. Can you send me your presentation on GrasshopPeers? I know you did a lot of research before it launched. I’d like to present it at the next focus group with the city officials working on this Shrinkage plan. I’ve been appointed the school liaison. Not that I don’t have enough duties already.”
I blinked in surprise. “But why are you including my program? I thought you believed in measurable results.”
“Well, I do. You need some data to validate where students stand, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think your program has value. Of course it does. And the memo I got from the city staff, which includes Hunter Rhodes, by the way, was that they want examples of innovation for a grant proposal they’re writing. If they win the funding, it benefits us all.”
“True.”
“And if Hunter’s son is benefiting from your program, he’s bound to be in favor of it, hm?” She winked. “I’ll take any advantage I can get if it means more community support for the schools. We’ve been under too much pressure lately.”
I left the office and headed back to my classroom to email my slideshow to Simmons, along with the few statistical results I could show since it started. It wasn’t much, since the program was young, but there was a discernible positive trend in behavior and academic performance for the few students who’d been in the program last spring.
Once done, I packed up and headed out to my car, still shell-shocked by the conversation with Simmons.
None of it had gone as I’d expected.
The school where I’d taught in Omaha had strictly enforced their policy against fraternizing with parents. My best friend, Alexa, had fallen for the father of one of her students. At first, I’d agreed with her that the rule was overreaching. Teachers met a lot of parents, and it didn’t seem fair they had to automatically be off-limits. We were ethical enough not to abuse our position, after all.
Then, she got caught covering up a student’s cheating, the daughter of the man she was dating. It had blown up into an ugly scandal that had sucked me in as well and tainted our friendship forever. That was when I understood. By dating a father, she’d put herself into a position to be manipulated into doing the wrong thing. Alexa was a good person and a good teacher, but that one choice had set her on a path to ruin.
That’s also when I decided I’d never get involved with a parent, no matter how much of a DILF he was.
