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She stood and they hugged. “Good luck finding your child.”
“Thank you,” he said and walked down the sidewalk.
Behind him, he heard the front door open and her mother hiss. “What is he doing here? What does he want?”
Ashley laughed. “To tell me about an old high school friend who is searching for someone.”
Thank goodness she’d had the presence of mind not to tell her mother the truth. Otherwise, the news of his search would be racing across town faster than he could.
Two hours later, he sat outside the elementary school where Sarah Martinez taught first grade.
Once the children had emptied the school, he walked inside and a teacher showed him to her classroom.
She was sitting behind her desk when he walked in. This setup fit her. She’d wanted to be a teacher when they were dating.
She glanced up, her dark hair falling forward.
“Blake,” she said, standing and coming around the desk. “Good to see you. Do you have children here?”
She’d given him the perfect opening.
“I don’t know,” he said.
For the next few minutes, he filled her in on what the letter said. She smiled at him before she stepped back around her desk and sat.
“You have nothing to worry about. It wasn’t me.”
Funny, but he kind of hoped it was her. Of all the women he’d dated, she was the one with a level head on her shoulders, and she knew what she wanted and was determined to reach her goals. In school, she’d been focused on getting her degree, and he’d been a distraction that she’d kicked to the curb.
They only had sex once, and afterward, she’d sent him packing, saying he could not keep her from getting her degree.
“You would be so good with children. You’re a teacher,” he said wistfully.
Shaking her head, she gazed up at him her dark brown eyes filled with compassion. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you want to find this child or even find out if it’s someone’s idea of a joke.”
“Yes,” he said sighing. “My parents are long gone, and well, I don’t want a child of mine to grow up without knowing anything about me. I want to be involved in their life.”
She nodded. “I understand, but we only had sex the one time and I didn’t get pregnant.”
He nodded. “I guess you graduated college.”
“Yes, and now I’m working on my master’s,” she said. “I’d like to be the principal someday or even a school counselor.”
She’d always been ambitious and it was one of the things he admired.
“You’re not married?”
“No,” she said with a sigh. “No time for men. I’ve got a degree I’m chasing.”
That had been her chief complaint about the two of them. He’d wanted to spend more time with her and she wanted to study. If he remembered correctly, her family was poor and she wanted to help them get out of poverty. That was one of the things he’d liked about her – her determination to succeed.
“Maybe once I get my master’s which should be next year,” she said.
The woman was beautiful and dedicated.
“I’m sorry you weren’t the one. I always thought of you as the one that got away,” he said.
She laughed. “Blake, you’re a good man. But you were always distant and I had a hard time feeling close to you. No matter how hard I tried, I never knew or understood what you were thinking and you were not one for telling me how you felt.”
