Page 56 of Wanting You

Probably not the time to mention that…

“Hey,” he said, sounding way too breathless for a guy standing still. “You never responded to my last text, and I can’t shake the feeling that you’re mad at me. There was no way I was going to sleep without trying to make things right.” That was the fastest he’d ever spoken, and he felt mildly foolish, but this was just too important to wait.

Leaning against the front door, she bit her bottom lip. “I thought we would just talk tomorrow…”

“Then there is something wrong,” he concluded, his shoulders sagging.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.” Taking a step toward her, he fought the urge to reach out and touch her. “Chloe, we spend hours every day talking to each other, and I don’t want that to stop now. If there’s something I’ve done…”

“Tomorrow would really be…”

“I know that I come across as this confident guy with a colossal ego,” he quickly interrupted. “You’ve told me that yourself. You gave me the chance to prove that I’m not really that guy and I’d like to think that I’ve showed you the true person I am. But that doesn’t mean I’m perfect or won’t screw up.” Raking a hand through his hair, he let out his breath. “Sometimes I get so caught up in myself that I might not pay attention to things other people might find important, so if I did that, I’m sorry. Is this because I’m not contributing anything to the lesson plans? Because I have some ideas, but it seemed like you had everything down to a science and I didn’t want to step on your toes.”

That had her standing up a little straighter, and he knew he’d touched a nerve.

“Is it that you didn’t want to step on my toes, or do you just have a secret plan that you don’t want to share so you can be the superstar at Sweetbriar Elementary?” she demanded, stepping out onto the porch. “Because it seems to me like you’ve got all kinds of super cute, super fun projects and activities going on in your classroom that have all the parents going gaga over you, and you never once mentioned any of them to me!” Her eyes went wide and she went to turn and go back into the house. “Just…go home, Tanner. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Oh, hell no,” he murmured, slapping his hand on the door before she could shut it in his face. “Are you seriously telling me you’re upset because I didn’t share my lesson plans with you?”

All she did was glare at him.

With his free hand, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Chloe, can we please go inside and talk about this? I’m honestly confused as hell right now.”

“Fine,” she mumbled, stomping away from the door.

Tanner followed her to the kitchen, where she sat down with a mug that looked like it had hot tea in it, but she didn’t offer him any.

Fine. Whatever.

Taking a seat, he asked, “Can you please explain this to me? I don’t see what I did wrong.”

“Figures.”

And yeah, the sarcasm was a bit heavy before she seemed to just…deflate.

“Oh God, I’m sorry,” she said, her voice trembling. “It’s not you. It’s me. All I’ve been hearing this week is about how awesome you are and all these great things you’re doing with the students, and I don’t understand why you don’t tell me about any of it. All the times I go on about ideas for you, I realize now I was just making an idiot of myself!”

Ah…okay. Now he got it.

“Now I feel like I owe you an apology,” he began carefully. “You’ve always offered to help and give me advice since the day we met and…it’s kind of a weird thing for me. And not just with you. I was the same when I was skiing. It didn’t matter how much more experience the other guys had; I didn’t really listen.” He shrugged and gave her a small smile. “Looking back, some of it I should have, but I was stubborn. Apparently, I still am.”

“Oh.”

He took a moment to think about what he was about to say. “When my brother died, my parents got a little…overbearing. With good reason,” he quickly amended, “but there was a lot of comparing things my brother did with the things I was doing. After getting checked out by dozens of doctors and confirming that I was healthy, I resented the comparisons or the suggestions that were based on what my brother did or didn’t do. That’s where it all started and believe me, it makes me feel like a major jerk that I react that way.”

Beside him, Chloe sighed softly. “One of the things I love about teaching is it’s something my siblings have no part of. For once in my life, no one was comparing me to my confident and outgoing twin, or my super smart older sister, or athletic and popular older brother. This was my space, and I excelled at it. And it felt good.”

Until he showed up.

Dammit.

“Okay, but…we all have our things, Chloe. And I’m sorry if my teaching style is upsetting to you, but…it’s not fair of you to ask me to change it,” he said carefully. “At the end of the day, this is my job and my reputation too, and I don’t think I could teach the same way that you do, because it wouldn’t feel natural. Just like you couldn’t do it the way I am because that’s not how you are.”

She nodded. “I know, and believe me, I’m not proud of this. That’s why I went to Ash’s tonight. I needed to sit and talk this out because it was making me crazy.” Then she glanced over at him. “And that’s why I didn’t want to talk until tomorrow, because I was still trying to work it all out.”

Now it was his turn to nod. “So…what happens now?”

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