Page 8 of Just a Heartbeat Away

She looked across the room and there was Mr. Dorner—Sebastian—giving her a half smile and a wave. Right. He’d said he was on staff, but it was still a surprise to see him at the staff meeting.

Via felt herself light up like a birthday candle as she waved back. It was really nice to see a familiar face. Even if his face wasn’tsofamiliar to her. He looked very different from when she’d had Matty in her pre-K class. His hair, somewhere between brown and gold, was shorter and trimmed, long on the top, tight on the sides. He had more of a beard now, but it was neat and intentional. Not the five-day-old scruff he’d sported for most of that entire year. And he wore a casual button-down and dark jeans. It definitely had a different effect than the rumpled suit he’d worn every day for most of Matty’s pre-K year.

Sebastian turned back to the front of the room, but Via surreptitiously studied his face for just a moment longer. He’d looked like some of the other dads at the farmers market, maybe a little taller and fitter, but he’d looked like he belonged there. But in this elementary school library surrounded by women in colorful dresses and alphabet earrings? It made his blunt features somehow blunter. His shoulders wider. It was like spotting a lion among a flock of flamingos.

A lion who was chatting easily with a few of those flamingos, chuckling and sharing gum.

Hmm.

“All right, you brilliant people!” Principal Grim stood up, her dyed black hair almost maroon under the fluorescent lights. “It’s time. You know what time. Get those hands up.”

Via looked around in confusion and saw that almost the entire staff already had their hands in the air.

“Let’s get those spirit fingers working and give it up for another fantastic school year!” All the teachers shook and waved their fingers furiously. Smiling to herself at the absurdity, Via did the same.

AKNOCKONthe frame of her office door had Via glancing up. “Sebastian!”

“Hi.” He practically filled the doorway shoulder to shoulder. “How was the big first day?”

She took a deep breath and finished slipping some files into her shoulder bag for the walk home. “Hungry. I didn’t bring enough snacks.”

He chuckled. “Well, you can always come down to the cafeteria at lunchtime. I’ve got the hookup on all the extra carrot sticks and tahini dip you could ever want.”

She laughed. “That’s really what they’re serving in the cafeteria?”

He nodded, scraping a wide paw over his beard. The scratching sound carried across her small office. “Oh yeah. Principal Grim got us onto this healthy eating pilot program through the city. We’re getting Whole Foods’s day-old goods or something like that.”

“You’re kidding.”

He shrugged, a little half smile on his face, and Via couldn’t tell if hewaskidding.

“So, what’d you think of the first staff meeting?”

Via blinked at him. She made a point to always tell the truth. But it was her first day here and she had no idea who might be passing by in the hallway. She went with the most evasive version of the truth her conscience would allow her to tell. “I, uh, wasn’t expecting quite that much dancing.”

Sebastian outright laughed. At one point, Principal Grim had had the entire staff in a circle with their hands waving and their hips circling. “Yeah, she has sort of a freewheeling leadership style. And she believes wholeheartedly in the body’s expression of the inner mind.” He looked down, apparently saw his sleeves were different lengths and started peeling one of them back to even them. “It didn’t scare you off, did it?”

Via shook her head, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “No way. My best friend is basically a psychic, so the more mystic juju there is, the more comfortable I am.”

“Like, a crystal ball type of psychic?” He looked intrigued, finishing his sleeve.

Via shook her head. “She’s never practiced with a crystal ball before. At least not with her clients. But she does use other kinds of crystal.” She pointed to the ones dancing lightly in the breeze at the window.

“And that, too?” He nodded toward the pendant at her chest.

“Oh. Yup. She gave this to me this morning. For luck.” She automatically started playing with it.

“Well.” Sebastian squinted at the clock on the wall. “I think I’ve given Matty enough time to scream his brains out on the playground. I should probably get going.”

“He’s in the after-school program?”

“Only when we have a staff meeting. I swear it’s his favorite day of the week, though. A real hit to the ego that he’d rather play on the same jungle gym he did at recess than go to the library with his old dad.”

She laughed again. “Well, you gotta keep it fresh. It’s like a long-term relationship. You can’t just go to dinner and a movie on every date.”

He blinked at her, scraping that same paw over that stubble again. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

“See you tomorrow?”

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