Page 68 of Sunsets & Slow Dances

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NADIA

“How are you feeling?”Amos asked as I joined him at the corner table in the teachers’ lounge. He was looking particularly dashing in his Monday sweater vest, which was red.

“Good, yeah, fine, good.” I’d been out the entire last week due to my Phlegm Diaries, and today was my first day back.

I set my tote bag on an empty seat, pulled out my travel mug, and lowered down in the seat across from my work hubby. Even though I knew he was none the wiser about my sleepover on Saturday night, I sort of felt like a teenager who had snuck out and gotten away with it.

The last thing I needed was for everyone in town to know that I’d slept with Callum again, especially since I was pretty sure it didn’t mean anything. He was gone when I got up yesterday morning. He could have left because he was being considerate since he knew I had to go into the city for the day for a conference, and he didn’t want to make me late, or he wanted to avoid some sort of awkward morning-after talk. I wasn’t sure if he left for either of those reasons since I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him.

I took a sip of my matcha and could feel his stare boring into me. All I needed to do was act totally natural, as if nothing had happened. I did my best to ignore it, but it just became impossible.

“What?” I asked, suddenly feeling exposed beneath his scrutiny.

“You look different,” he observed.

I reached up and touched my hair, even though I knew I hadn’t done a single thing different with it.

“How did it go at the conference?” The question itself might sound innocent, but I knew Amos too well. He was going on a fishing expedition to see if he could figure out what might have happened to make me appear different.

Yesterday was an all-day early childhood education conference on the use of AI in the classroom and its effects on emotional intelligence in children. I’d done my best to entice Amos to join me, even resorting to bribery in the form of tickets to Wicked, but he was two years out from retirement, and the last thing he wanted to do was, and I quote,waste a Sunday in a hotel ballroom learning about how computers were going to take over the world, end quote.

“Fine, yeah, fine, good.” I took another sip of my matcha.

“I’ve counted three fines and three goods since you came in.” Amos tilted his head to the side. “Did you break one of your resolutions? Specifically, thethirdresolution.”

“What?” I scrunched my face as if I had no idea what he could be talking about. “Why would you…that’s so…what?”

“Mmm, hmm.” He nodded as his eyes narrowed in a knowing glint. “You’re glowing. You got that dicked-down glow.”

The door opened, and several other teachers walked in, saving me from either admitting my transgression, lying, or pleading the fifth, which was basically the same as an admission of guilt.

There was no reason for me not to tell Amos about my night with Callum.

He was always privy to my dating exploits. I’d never been one of those people who didn’t kiss and tell; I proudly dicked and divulged. But, for some reason, I didn’t wantanyoneto know about my night with Callum. Not only because I didn’t know what it was or meant. That might be part of it, but it wasn’t the only reason. It was also because it was special.

Being with Callum wasn’t just a hookup. All the feelings that had been lying dormant, just below the surface for years, were alive again. It was like no time had passed at all. We’d fallen right back in step with one another, not just physically, although that was even better than I remembered it being. Emotionally, it was like we were us again. I couldn’t explain it. All the years we’d been apart just disappeared, and we were us. Everything was perfect…until it wasn’t.

I fell asleep in his arms, but when I woke up, he was gone, and I hadn’t had a chance to speak to him since. I overslept yesterday morning since I was up half the night with Callum, which was totally worth it. It was a four-hour drive both ways and an eight-hour conference. By the time I got home last night, it was after ten. I had a few missed calls from him, but when I tried to call him back, he didn’t answer. I assumed he was already asleep since I knew he got up at five to go to work. But whatever the reasons were, the fact remained; I hadn’t spoken to him, and it was making me feel…unsettled.

The bell rang, and Amos and I stood from our chairs. I grabbed my tote and my travel mug.

“I know there’s something you’re not telling me,” Amos whispered as we made our way out of the teachers’ lounge. “When you’re ready to spill, I want all the details.”

I smiled, neither confirming nor denying his suspicions.

As I walked down the hall, logically, I knew nothing had fundamentally changed since the last time I’d walked this hallway, but I felt different on a cellular level. Maybe I was, and that’s what Amos had picked up on.

Yesterday, it was so difficult to concentrate on the speakers at the conference. My mind constantly wandered back to being with Callum. It was surreal. Being with him was familiar yet unknown at the same time. We were discovering each other for the first time but also coming home again. I didn’t know how to explain it. All I knew was that it felt right.

After dropping off my tote at my desk and setting up the kids’ tables, I stood at the door, greeting each kiddo as they came inside the room with either a high-five, fist bump, dance, handshake, wave, or hug, depending on which they chose.

“Morning, Miss Nadia.” Kenny Robles smiled as he elbowed the fist bump laminated sign. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Morning, Kenny.” I tapped my knuckles against his. “Thanks.”

“Morning, Miss Nadia.” T.J. Rhodes slapped the laminated high-five. “I missed you last week.”

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