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The boy closed the door and put his bag on his desk just as Clara Buxton ran in, leaving the door gaping wide behind her. Ava sighed and went to the door, closing it herself.
“Anyone want to tell me why we keep the classroom door closed?”
Alice put her hand up straight away and Ava nodded at her.
“Because we’re sometimes too noisy and the door helps make us sound quieter.”
Ava smiled. “Good. That’s one reason. But also because remember that it costs money to heat classrooms and when the weather is getting colder we need to keep our doors closed so that we’re not heating the outside.”
“But what about the birds, miss?” asked Carter.
“They have feathers,” said Ava, not missing a beat.
“And what about the animals, like foxes and dogs and cats?” asked Daniel.
“They have fur,” Ava said, again, not getting wrong-footed.
Could it be that finally she was getting the hang of this? She wondered sometimes if the children in her care shouldn’t be lawyers they were so good at finding loopholes and applying logic. They kept her on her toes, and she was starting to find that she actually liked it. Better the unarguable logic of a six year old than the puffing sulkiness of a fifteen year old.
“We keep the classroom doors closed,” she said with finality. “Now, let’s talk about our spelling test, shall we?”
Ava managed through pure force of will not to look at Hope for most of the morning. She needed to distance herself, she’d decided. Because like it or not she did think that Hope was attractive, as well as vastly annoying. So keeping out of her way as much as possible seemed like the wisest of plans.
Whatever Quinn might think, there was no way that Ava was ready to be involved with anyone again. Especially not someone like Hope. Someone irritating.
Though there were points in her favor, of course. Like the way she looked wearing yoga pants. Or the fact that any kind of relationship would necessarily come with a time limit, since at some point, Ava would have to leave.
Then came the thoughts of the future, black and empty and terrifying and Ava had to bring herself back to the present. Just in time to see Daniel wiggling in his seat.
“Daniel, toilet please, now.”
“Oh, but miss…”
“No buts, off you go, please.”
He skipped off and Ava got down to testing the list of spelling words the children had taken home the night before.
KEEPING HER DISTANCE was a lot easier when Hope wasn’t actually in the room. For that matter, it was a hell of a lot easier when they weren’t both trying to put materials away in the same storage cupboard.
Even with the door wide open, Ava could smell Hope’s scent, flowery and feminine, and found herself brushing up against Hope’s arm as she put crayons away on the top shelf.
“I can do this,” she said. “You go off to the staff room for a coffee.”
“I’m the assistant, this is part of my job,” Hope said, not turning around.
“Miss, miss, can I stay inside and read my reading book?” came a voice from outside.
Ava poked her head around the door and saw Nathan Jackson. “Absolutely not. It’s good for you to run around in the fresh air. Off you go.” The boy was never still, he needed to work off some energy before he had to sit down again.
She went back into the cupboard, reaching up to get some paper and heard Nathan’s footsteps.
“You should let him read if he wants to,” Hope said.
“You should try not disagreeing with me for once,” Ava said, without really thinking.
“You think I deliberately disagree with you?”
Ava took a breath. “That was uncalled for. I’m sorry.”
