Page 37 of Wanting You

She nodded. “Nothing wrong with that. My first year, I probably read that binder front to back about a hundred times because I was so afraid of missing anything. Then I realized I just had way too much free time on my hands.” Laughing softly, she added, “Although now I practically have it all memorized, so…there’s that.”

That didn’t surprise him. “Hopefully you’ll be patient with me. That’s why I brought the binder in here. I was hoping I wouldn’t sound unprepared when we met for coffee.”

Her shoulders sagged. “Tanner, I really hope you don’t think I’m some sort of judgy person. That’s the last thing I want to be.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to remind her of her initial opinion of him, but he had a feeling that would only make him look bad.

Again.

Shifting a bit in his seat, Tanner tried to choose the right way to respond. “You have to see it from my point of view,” he began. “You’ve been here much longer than I have, and you’ve been Teacher of the Year twice.”

Rather than smile, she frowned—which seemed like an odd reaction.

“Okay,” she said quietly, leaning in a little closer as if sharing a secret. “Here’s the thing, while it was an incredible honor to be…you know…Teacher of the Year, they’ve only been doing it for those two years.” Shrugging, she continued, “And they only did it to boost morale because we were one of the poorest districts in the state. I got a certificate and a $25 gift card to an online store. It’s really nothing compared to winning a skiing competition.”

That put some things into perspective, but…

“Still, Chloe, even if the prize wasn’t great, they obviously chose you for a reason.”

Another shrug. “I was the newest teacher, the youngest teacher, and the most excited about pretty much everything. I seriously think they did it to reward my enthusiasm so I didn’t get jaded.”

“Damn.”

“I know.” She sighed. “That makes me sound ungrateful. I’m sorry, I’m really not. I never should have said anything. I just didn’t want you thinking that I did anything so spectacular to deserve the award.”

If he were being honest, he’d admit that he really thought there was more to it.

“I appreciate you sharing that with me, and yeah, it does take a little of the pressure off.”

A grateful smile was her only response, and it was damn near dazzling. Did she have any idea how pretty she was?

And to stop himself from asking that question out loud, he picked up the binder and smiled back at her. “So…the fall unit. What do we do?”

“It’s a lot of fun,” she told him. “We talk about the weather and we go out and pick up leaves and make some cute art projects for them to give to their parents. Last year, I got a batch of tiny pumpkins that they painted and we had a scarecrow in the classroom where I would put our sight word of the day on.”

“O-kay…”

“You don’t have to do any of that,” she quickly interjected. “I just thought it was fun to have the room decorated for the season. But I’m open to suggestions.”

He was about to open the binder when the alarm sounded on his phone that it was almost time to get his class. Chloe’s chimed right after his and they both laughed softly.

“I guess we’ll talk about it more over coffee,” he said with a lopsided grin.

Chloe nodded and began collecting her things. “Does 4:30 work for you, or will you need more time?”

“That will work.”

“See you then!” And with a little wave, she left the lounge.

Tanner stared at the door for several moments and questioned what was going on with him. Why was he suddenly so drawn to her? The first time he saw her, he didn’t think there was anything particularly appealing about her. If memory served, she sort of blended into her surroundings. But now he realized just how wrong he was and couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her.

That’s when it hit him: he hadn’t been involved in a relationship or even out on a date in several months. So it wasn’t that Chloe was anything special, he was just…lonely? In a rut? Horny?

“Ugh…no. Just…no,” he murmured before picking up the binder and heading out of the lounge.

As he made his way back to his classroom to drop the binder off, he thought about all the people he’d met so far in Sweetbriar. Of course, there were all the Donovans—including the one who helped him with his home rental—and every time he’d gone into Books & Beans, Jade and Billie introduced him to pretty much everyone who was in there. He’d grabbed a beer with Will from the automotive repair place and played poker with him and his boss, Devin. Ashlynn’s fiancé Reid had been there, along with a couple of other guys from the firehouse, and it was nice to have a new group of friends.

And they’d all offered to introduce him to some of the single women around town, but because he really needed to focus on his job, he’d turned them down.

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