Page 9 of Take the Bait

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“Ms. Taylor, can I paint your face?”

Hanna turned around to see Bradley—a fifth grader she typically tried to avoid. She’d never had him in her class, but it was a small school. All the teachers knew most of the kids, and Bradley was a hard one to miss. He was an instigator, a troublemaker, and a class clown.

But as a kindergarten teacher, Hanna believed all kids deserved second and third and fourth chances.

And even though this was more like Bradley’s eighty-ninth chance, she nodded.

“Sure, Bradley. Just give me a second to wrap up with Asia.”

The Fall Festival was a Seaside Elementary tradition. The PTA planned it as a fundraiser for the school, and it was an unspoken rule that all the teachers would volunteer in some way. Hanna always felt the safest place for her was face painting. It was where she got to interact most with the kids, and usually she got to see all of her favorite kindergartners.

The student whose face she was currently painting, Asia, wanted to look like a cat. Hanna wasn’t much of an artist, but usually it was easy enough to meet the students’ requests. Asshe put the finishing touches on Asia’s whiskers, she pulled up a mirror and showed her.

“What do you think?” Hanna asked.

“Meow!” Asia responded with a giggle.

“I’ll take that as a win. Have fun, sweetie!”

Asia ran off toward the bounce house, and Hanna turned toward Bradley.

“All right, Bradley. Ready to paint my face?”

“Yes!” He grinned at her, and it made her nervous.

“Did you have something in mind?” She asked.

His smile grew. “It’s a surprise.”

Hanna halted for a moment. “You sure you don’t want to just paint cat whiskers on me like I did for Asia?”

“Nope,” Bradley said.

“How about butterflies?”

“Nope, it’s a surprise.”

Hanna took a deep breath. How bad could it be? Worst case scenario, she could find a bathroom and wipe off her face. She might as well let Bradley run free with it.

“Alright, but make sure it’s nice.”

He grabbed a paint brush. “I will.”

Hanna took a deep breath as he started painting something on her cheeks. She went to pick up a mirror so she could watch his progress, but he grabbed it from her.

“No, Ms. Taylor. It’s a surprise. Please.”

She heaved a sigh. Well, at least he said please.

The weather was perfect, so she let herself just look around at kids and families at the festival. It really was fun to watch all the families at Seaside Elementary come together every year, but her heart clenched. No matter how hard she tried in the two years since she’d moved here, Orange Beach still didn’t feel like home. The teachers already had their set friend groups, so makingfriends had been more challenging than she expected. She didn’t even know where to begin when it came to making friends.

Of course, it wasn’t nearly as horrifying as her attempts at dating.

She cringed.

Hanna couldn’t believe she had run into that chef at the coffee shop in the middle of yet another extremely embarrassing moment. The shame was unbearable, especially when she remembered how sweet and handsome he was.

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