Page 35 of Wanting You

Ash: Love you!

Chloe: Love you too, even though you’re a brat!

And with that, she tossed her phone back into her purse and took a huge bite of her muffin.

It was going to be a long day.

It was a good thing Chloe hadn’t accepted his invitation to coffee or dinner, because Tanner had never been more exhausted in his life.

How was it possible that a class of eighteen 5-year-olds could sap so much of his energy?

“It’s because they never stopped,” he murmured as he wandered around his classroom like a zombie. The last student had just been picked up and he relished the silence. “And this was only the first day.”

Shit.

It didn’t matter how prepared he thought he was; clearly, he wasn’t prepared at all. His confidence—or arrogance—made him believe there wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. Who knew it was a room full of kindergarteners that was going to bring him down?

Hard.

Still, he forced himself to walk around and straighten everything up before grabbing his own satchel and shutting off the lights. When he stepped out into the hall, he looked toward Chloe’s room and saw that the light was still on. He considered going over and asking how her day went, but…he didn’t. She had effectively cut him down this morning, and it bothered him way more than it should have.

In his years of competitive skiing, he’d had his fair share of women chasing after him, and he’d done more than his fair share of kissing them. But it stung having Chloe kiss him and then run off. And then having her essentially treating him like it never happened stung even more.

“I’m pathetic,” he mumbled and headed down the hall toward the exit. All he wanted was to go home, crash on the sofa, and maybe order a pizza. “I’ll probably be asleep by 8:00 too.”

And yeah, that made him feel even worse.

But as he climbed into his car and made his way home, Tanner reasoned that he was only feeling like this because it was the first day. Tomorrow would be easier. And the day after that, it would be even easier. By the end of the week, he would start to settle into this new norm and everything would be alright.

There hadn’t been another challenge in his life that broke him, and teaching kindergarten wasn’t going to either.

“I refuse to let this be the thing that breaks me.”

Tomorrow, he was going to go into that school with his usual confidence and he was going to be the best damn teacher Sweetbriar Elementary had ever seen. He was going to kill it at his first year of teaching, of that he was certain. And even though he didn’t regret helping Chloe and her family, since she wasn’t interested in him—even though her kiss said otherwise—he now had zero conflict with beating her for the Teacher of the Year title.

And it wasn’t about being spiteful; it was about doing what he always did—striving to be number one.

Even if it meant isolating himself and maybe having a smaller circle of friends.

“Doesn’t matter. I’ve got all the friends I need.”

But…did he?

Pushing the thought aside and attributing it to exhaustion, he turned on the radio and spent the rest of the drive letting his mind go a little blank. At home, he kicked off his shoes, went to the kitchen and grabbed himself something to drink before going to the living room and collapsing on the couch.

The glass barely made it to the end table before Tanner closed his eyes and fell asleep.

As expected, the rest of the first week went well.

The second week went even better.

And week three went great.

Tanner was totally hitting his stride and people were noticing.

Including Chloe Donovan.

It was Friday afternoon and he knew her students were in art class when she came to a stop in his classroom doorway. He gave her a polite smile and a small nod, but noticed she didn’t seem in a hurry to leave. His class was finishing the counting sheets they’d been working on, and as he walked to the door, he called out, “When you’re done with your work, turn it over and take your spot in our reading forest!”

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