Page 73 of An Adventure For Aster

“Liam is going to be my boyfriend,” Ava said. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”

“No, I’m not,” Liam said. “Girls are gross.”

“My sister said boys say that when they like you,” Ava said, nodding her head.

Raine kept her grin in place and let the kids interact while she walked around the room. “That’s a pretty card,” she said, tapping her finger on the homemade one. She wasn’t sure who made them, but everyone had a handmade one.

“That was me,” Sydney said. “My mom helped me make them. It was fun and we used lots of glitter. Yours has the most.”

She figured as much and would open everything later after the kids were gone. She never wanted to open gifts in front of the rest because not everyone gave her the same and some not much at all.

It was as she told Aster—she didn’t want anyone to ever feel bad that their parents didn’t do something. And when you taught first grade, it was always what the parent decided or could afford.

The child shouldn’t get the raw end of that.

“Thanks for the warning,” she said, winking. “I can’t wait.”

At the end of the day, she was walking her kids out of the room and down for dismissal. Those that went to the after-school program did, the bus students were in another line and that only left four kids that she made sure went with who they were supposed to.

When she got back to her room she wasn’t surprised to see Maxine in there along with Beth and Ellen. Guess word got around fast.

“So fill us in,” Maxine said. “Who is the mystery guy that sent you almost three dozen flowers?”

“There were four dozen,” she said. “The card said to share with the kids so I let them each pick out a flower to bring home.”

“That is the sweetest romantic thing ever,” Ellen said. “Tell us who he is?”

“No one any of you know,” she said. Which was wrong because Maxine and Ellen had met him on the field trip. She wasn’t sure she’d say that part of it. “His name is Aster Allen,” she said. “He works at Blossoms.”

“Which explains the flowers,” Beth said. “Is he a florist?”

“No,” she said. “He’s the Director of Facilities at the plant. He’s recently out of the Army.”

“Oooohhhh,” Maxine said. “Even better. Got a picture? I know you’ve got to have one on your phone. Time to share.”

She laughed and pulled her phone out of her purse and found a selfie of her and Aster and showed them.

“That’s the fireman,” Maxine said, pointing. “The one from the field trip.”

There was some laughter to that and she held her grin in place. “Yes. That is where I first met Aster. Then we ran into each other again in the grocery store. As you know, my future sister-in-law works at Blossoms and they know each other too.”

“How long has this been going on?” Beth asked. “Didn’t you have the field trip in September?”

“We’ve been dating almost four months.”

“And you haven’t said a word!” Maxine said. “How dare you.”

She laughed. “Maybe I wanted to keep it quiet a bit.”

“Why?” Ellen asked. “It appears to be going well if he’s sending you things like this on Valentine’s Day. Got any other plans?”

“It’s not about what he sends or gives me or what we do,” she said.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Ellen said. “I mean the fact he must know you well enough to leave a note for you to share with the kids.”

“Yes,” she said. “He does. He knows me very well.”

“You didn’t tell us what the plans were today or is he surprising you?” Maxine asked.

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