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Hope looked up to see Jake Lowell walking toward her. “I might ask you the same thing.”
“Can I tell you a secret?”
Hope nodded.
“I’ve been a teacher for thirty years,” Jake said seriously. “And if I have to listen to one more version of Away in a Manger, I think I might take to drink.”
“Funny,” Hope said. “I was just thinking about drinking myself.”
“Well, we did get some excellent news,” said Jake. “I can’t quite believe it yet, but we live to fight another day and I can’t say that I wasn’t a little teary-eyed when I got the phone call. Of course, a few things are going to have to change around here.”
“Like what?” asked Hope, leaning against the wall with one shoulder.
Jake shrugged. “There’s going to be more kids, for a start. Not a horrific amount, but class sizes are going to go up. On the same note, our budget increases as well. So we’re going to be looking for at least one new teacher, and we’ll be turning the music room back into a classroom, which was what it was originally intended to be, of course. And then—”
Hope’s brain finally caught up with what he was saying. “A new teacher?”
Jake nodded. “I’ll start the interview process next term, try and get someone on board before the summer so that everyone’s around to vet them. I’ll take the rest of the staff’s thoughts into account, don’t worry about that.”
Hope swallowed. “Um, that’s not really what I was worried about. I was just wondering…”
It was the perfect solution, of course it was. It was like an answer was being handed to her on a plate.
“Ah,” said Jake.
“Ah what?”
“I sense that you’re having the same thought as I did.”
“Which is?” Hope asked carefully.
“That Ava Stanford would be perfect for the job.”
“Well, she would be,” Hope said, heart beating hard in her chest. “She’s already a part of the school community, the kids already know her, as do the parents.” She blew out a breath, trying to be fair and just. “She is an American, of course.”
“Psh, that’s nothing nowadays,” Jake said. “With the new QTS rules she wouldn’t even have to re-train. She could work here and just apply for UK qualifications, it’s quite simple really given her vast experience.”
“Well, there really shouldn’t be a problem then,” said Hope, insides on fire now, heart beating hard enough to hear. This could work. Really work.
“Unfortunately,” Jake said. “There is a problem.”
“Which is?”
“I asked her,” Jake said. “And she turned me down.”
It was like the world came crashing down around Hope’s ears. She’d dared to have hope and then it was taken away from her. Ava didn’t want to stay. She could, but she chose not to.
“Which is a shame,” Jake continued. “Since we all wanted her to, not least the kids.” He pulled a wrinkled piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Hope. “Young Alice gave me this right before the concert started.”
Hope looked down at the crumpled sheet of paper. At the top in shaky hand-writing was ‘We want Ms. Stanford to Stay as our teacher.’ The F in Stanford was back to front and capitals were used haphazardly and Hope recognized her daughter’s writing.
Underneath were twelve names, written in crayon and pencil, spelled correctly or crossed out and written again.
“It’s a petition,” Jake said helpfully.
“I can see that,” said Hope. And it broke her heart just a little bit more.
Jake ran his fingers through his hair and shrugged again. “There’s not much I can do if she doesn’t want the job,” he said. “But, well, I was thinking that maybe you could ask her to stay?”
