Page 41 of Wanting You

She giggled. “I can’t read, Mr. Westyn!” Then she giggled some more. “But Mom said she’ll read it to me tonight before I go to bed!”

That’s when Evie’s mom came over to gush at how much her daughter loved school and how she talked about Tanner all the time. Chloe smiled as she listened, and she truly was happy that he was connecting with his students. It was a far cry from how she thought things would go, so this was a pleasant surprise.

“Have a good weekend, Mr. Westyn!” Evie said as she and her mom walked away.

And then two more students came over to talk to them—both of them from Tanner’s class—and after that, one of Chloe’s former students came over to do the same. By the time they were done talking to everyone, her tea was lukewarm and it was getting dark out. She pulled out her phone and gasped.

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s almost six o’clock!” Sighing, she shook her head. “So much for planning next week’s unit.”

Tanner took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. “That’s cold.” Pushing the cup to the side, he frowned. “Next time, we’ll stay at the school and maybe order takeout.”

That was all fine and well, but it didn’t help them right now.

“Would you like to join me for dinner?” she blurted out.

His eyes went a little wide and it was kind of adorable. “You mean…now?”

She nodded. “I’m making some chicken enchiladas and fresh guacamole. It’s nothing special, but if you give me an hour, you can come over and I can guarantee no one’s going to interrupt us.”

At least…she hoped they wouldn’t—not after she just finished talking to her entire family.

“That sounds great! Can I bring anything?”

“Um…maybe some wine?”

Ugh…did I make this sound like a date by saying that?

“Perfect! I just need your address and let’s say 7:00? Will that be enough time?”

Another nod. “Absolutely.” She gave him her address and collected her things, eager to get home and have some time to get ready. It would be nice to change into comfy clothes and just embrace the silence for a little while, but…she’d have to see how that went.

They walked out to their cars together, and Tanner seemed genuinely excited about the invitation. He drove away first, and as soon as his car was out of sight, Chloe pulled out her phone and called Ash.

“Well, well, well…this isn’t tomorrow,” she said coyly.

“Oh, hush! Put your brownies and sex aside; I have a crisis here!”

Fortunately, Ash didn’t make a joke or do anything like she normally did. “Alright, talk to me.”

“I invited Tanner to my house for dinner! I did it because no one left us alone at the coffee shop and we didn’t get to do any of our work stuff. So I asked him to dinner and told him to bring wine!” She groaned. “I made it a date, didn’t I?” It wasn’t a question.

“Okay, first, relax. Nothing wrong with asking him to bring wine, just like there’s nothing wrong if this is kind of a date. Are there rules against dating a fellow teacher?”

“No.”

Ash snickered. “You answered rather quickly. I’m guessing you looked into this already.”

“Maybe.”

“Fine. So…no rule against it. You have to think positive. People date one another all the time and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, it might be awkward for a little while, but ultimately, it’s not a big deal. You’re not prone to drama, so…be positive. This could be a good thing!”

“I don’t know…”

“Way to be positive,” Ash murmured.

“Could you please…?”

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