Page 27 of When You Left Me Speechless

“So, if we are friends, you should probably have my number. You know, in case you need anything from your friend.” Students begin to trickle into the room from the hallway.

She laughs, that intoxicating laugh I heard the night at the bar, and shakes her head. “Nice try, Mr. Peterson. We need to get to work before Beth gets back.”

Poppy’s wordsplayed over and over in my head all weekend.Friends. We can only be friends.

It’s Monday, which means I will get to see her today and knowing that makes me smile.

When I walk into the teacher break room, I’m greeted by a group of women wearing matching T-shirts. Once a month, the PTA sponsors breakfast for the staff. This morning, they are handing out coffee andChick-fil-Abiscuits. I jump in the back of the line and am almost to the front when I see Poppy walk in. I wave her over.

“Good morning.”

“Mornin’.” She smiles, and my stomach does a flip. “You know the biscuits are for staff only. Did you accept a job here and not tell me?”

She laughs and rolls her eyes. “For your information, the email specifically invited student teachers, and I fall under that category. I’m also starving because all I had for dinner last night was a bowl of cereal, so here I am.”

I know I’m staring at her, but I’m lost in the freckles that cover her face and ocean blue eyes. We slowly move forward, approaching the table. “Cereal is a snack.”

“Excuse me?”

“Cereal is a snack. It’s not a meal.”

“I know. It’s just with how late I’ve been helping Beth and all my studying. I don’t have time to eat dinner most?—”

“Good morning,” the gray-haired woman behind the table says. She hands me a biscuit, but her smile quickly turns into a frown as she reaches into the cooler. “Oh no, it seems that was the last one.” She looks back and forth from me holding the biscuit, to Poppy. I reach my hand out toward her. “That’s alright, you can have it,” I offer.

“Oh no, I couldn’t.” She shakes her head.

“I insist.” I move my arm up and down and gesture for her to take the food.

“Really, it’s okay. You take it,” she argues.

“Please take the biscuit.”

With a little shrug, she grabs for it, and her hand brushes mine, shooting a shock straight through me. We hesitate longer than we should, letting our fingers barely touch. I instantly imagine what it would be like to push her up against the wall behind us and kiss her.

“Oh, Mr. Peterson, you’re always such a gentleman. Such a good role model for our boys,” the woman says, breaking my train of thought and causing Poppy to grab the biscuit and take a step back.

“Th-thank you,” she stutters.

Am I crazy? Does she feel this, too?

I quickly shake the thought from my head, trying to remind myself we are standing in front of a parent. We are nothing more than temporary coworkers,friends, and anything more is unprofessional and can not happen. I nod, smile, and quickly head toward my classroom.

At nine thirty, Beth and Poppy walk into my classroom to help Freddie. I have been thinking about touching her since I let her have the biscuit and seeing her a few feet away from me is not helping. I stay seated at my desk, looking at nothing in particular on my laptop.Maybe if I can just ignore her, then I’ll stop thinking about her.

I hear footsteps and I look up to see her standing in front of me.I guess ignoring her is out of the question.She is holding her coffee in one hand and a honey bun in the other. She holds the food out towards me. “I found the vending machine and thought I owed you breakfast. Thanks again for giving me the last biscuit.” She offers me a warm smile.

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that. You had a snack for dinner last night. I wanted you to have it.” I chuckle and she rolls her eyes.

“Well, I appreciate it and didn’t want you to go hungry.” She shakes the honey bun in my direction. The plastic packaging crinkles loudly and I reach out to take it from her. Ourfingers barely touch and we both linger there for a few moments. Her eyes find mine and the look on her face tells me she knows we are both playing with fire.Fuck.

My stomach growls, interrupting the moment. “You going to take the breakfast from Poppy, or not?” Beth asks. “It sounds like you could use it.” Both women giggle when my stomach grumbles again.

“Thanks,” I say, snatching it from Poppy’s hand, breaking our touch.

“That’s what friends are for.” She grins and turns to go wait on Freddie to arrive.

Friends. Right. Maybe I’m the only one playing with fire here and I need to stop.

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