Page 66 of Look What You Made Me Do

“Oh, I think I do.”

He’d seen the improvements around the school these past couple of months. The way the kids carried themselves – and not just the team. The entire student body was walking a little taller, a little prouder and he was very aware that this had become about more than keeping the school open for Ella.

It had become about restoring their dignity and purpose.

Maybe that’s why Iris’s tarot caveat about things getting worse before they got better, was still playing on his mind. Ella cared a little too much.

“How much stock do you put in Iris’s tarot readings?” he asked, his warm breath fogging into the air. Not that he was feeling the cold. Between the aftereffects of the curry and Ella’s nearness he was burning up.

“I’ve been privy to her accuracy on more than one occasion to not put stock in it. I know as a math nerd I’m supposed to be all logical but, as someone who draws the eight of swords on a freakishly regular basis, I’ve learned that there are some things you just can’t quantify.”

“Are you worried about the worse before better thing?”

“Well.” Her face might have been in shadow but he saw the small smile curving her mouth and hell if it didn’t curl right around his heart. “I prefer to concentrate on the whole cards being favorable bit.” She shrugged. “Why borrow trouble?”

Jake chuckled at her deliberate avoidance as the song ended and the music morphed into ‘Cheek to Cheek’ and for a crazy moment it felt like they might be in heaven smiling at each other despite everything between and ahead of them.

The impulse to pull her into his arms rode him hard and he was offering his hand before he could check it. “Care to dance, Ms. Lucas?”

Because that kept it professional, right?

Jake held his breath as she looked at his hand for a beat, then at him. “Coach,” she murmured and slid her hand into his.

He expected her to maintain a formal waltz position, but she didn’t. She stepped in close, sliding her arm around his waist and pressing her cheek to his chest which stoked the fire a little more. For a moment, he contemplated putting some distance between them, but he was weak where she was concerned and he relaxed, fitting his chin snuggly on top of her head as they swayed from side to side.

Suddenly he was fifteen again at the homecoming dance, his heart thudding, his palms sweaty. Was she feeling it, too?

The song ended and she stilled in his arms, a beat or two passing before she eased away, her face upturned. Their gazes locked and she was smiling wistfully like maybe she had felt it.

And it was just so easy for him to drop his head in that moment and press his mouth to hers as he had back then. Not moving, not deepening, just holding in this one perfect moment on a brisk Inverboro night, far away from Kansas yet wrapped in the tendrils of their past.

Jake wasn’t sure who stepped back first but suddenly there was space and clouds of dragon’s breath between them.

He didn’t know whether to apologize for crossing the line or to just leave it be as it was, existing without comment. He decided on the latter.

“Goodnight, Ms. Lucas,” he murmured, unlatching the gate.

“Night, Coach.”

14

Ella thought of little else all weekend and was still smiling at the memory of the kiss on Monday morning. She literally had a head full of far more X-rated images associated with Jake but, she couldn’t help it. That press of lips, so reminiscent of that other press of lips in Trently, so long ago, had her happy sighing like a goofball.

She should have known it wouldn’t last long.

It took about three minutes sitting at her desk to burst her bubble in the form of another yellow envelope from Donald freaking Wiseman.

Dear Ms. Lucas – blah blah. We note your numbers have dropped by a further six – blah blah. You need to present to the board in two weeks – blah blah. Show cause as to why Deluca shouldn’t be closed at the end of the year.

Blah, blah, blah. Blah.

Ella’s heart sank in her chest. No praise for her vastly improved truancy figures. No mention that the reason her numbers had dropped was that two of her families had parents who were in the armed forces and had moved to another post.

They couldn’t do this. She wouldn’t let them. Not when Deluca had come so far. Not when Iris’s prediction of a favorable outcome hung like a shiny bauble in her mind’s eye.

Before she could fully think it through, Ella lifted the phone. “Bernie, can you find me a number for the Deluca Daily please.”

She’d promised Jake no press but this was just a free suburban paper. Popular with locals but not big enough to make a splash on a wider scale. It was time to tap the fledgling support the Demons had birthed within the school and get the wider community involved.

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