Page 37 of Teaching Tanner

She nods her head, and I can’t help focusing on her sparkling eyes and rose-pink lips, and how much I want to kiss them.

Stop it, you idiot. This is no place for thoughts like that. Save them for later…

“I’ll see you tonight,” I whisper, leaning down so she’ll hear me.

“Yes… and I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Dad?” I look down to find Nash standing beside me, his head tilted to one side. “Where’s Mom?”

“She’s at home. I offered to come get you.”

He nods his head and puts his hand in mine.

“Am I coming back to your place?” he asks.

“No. I’m taking you back to your mom’s.”

“Okay,” he says, and I smile at the disappointment in his voice. I might be scoring points, but I feel like I’m owed a few.

I glance down at Zara, who’s still beside us. “I guess we’d better get going.”

She nods her head, although neither of us says a word… not in front of Nash.

He pulls me away, toward the school gate, and although I notice we’re not the last to leave, there are only a couple of other parents left, most of them with older kids, who are playing in the schoolyard, while their moms talk… or probably gossip.

Our walk home is brief and silent. I’ve got a lot on my mind and it seems Nash has, too. He’s clearly preoccupied, and I have to stop him from walking into the street without checking for traffic first. I don’t make a big deal of it, and smile down at him, taking him around behind the bookstore and opening my car. Nash climbs in the back, and I close his door before getting in myself.

Before we set off, I pull out my phone and tap out a quick message to Zara…

— Can’t wait to see you tonight. T

At least she’s got my number now, if she needs it, although I wonder if I should have put my name in full and quickly type out a second message.

— This is Tanner, by the way. I thought I should make that clear, in case you know a lot of people with the initial ‘T’. And I still can’t wait to see you. T

I smile to myself and put my phone on the passenger seat as we set off.

“How was your day?” I ask, looking at Nash in the rear-view mirror.

He’s gazing out the window, with a dreamy look on his face.

“It was great,” he says.

“Really? It went better than you thought?”

He nods his head, although he still doesn’t look at me… not even at the back of my head.

“Yeah. It went so much better than I thought.”

There’s something about the tone of his voice and the look on his face that makes me wonder what I’m missing, but to be honest, I’m having a pretty good day myself, and I have to smile as I pull out onto Main Street… because I’m taking Miss Howell to dinner tonight.

And like I just said to her, I can’t wait.

Chapter Nine

Zara

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