Page 22 of Sunsets & Slow Dances

“When?”

“During his tour of the school, right before he went to see you.”

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” He wagged his brows. “But seriously, you would have just freaked out more.”

He had a point. I’d nearly had a panic attack when I found out that his son was in my class. I don’t know why I hadn’t considered the possibility that either Callum or Matty’s mom, Felicity, would have accompanied Matty to the classroom. That just showed how much of a basket case I’d been since hearing Callum was back in town.

“It was better this way,” Amos continued. “So, what happened when you two saw each other? Were there fireworks? Grenades? Rocket launchers? Did you need a fire extinguisher to put out the flames?”

Before teaching at Firefly Elementary, Amos taught at the high school, and he had a front-row seat to several of our fights. I call them ‘fights’; it was really just me getting upset and breaking up with Callum and him calmly not reacting. Looking back, I don’t know how he put up with me.

“No, nothing like that. We didn’t even talk, really. He just dropped off Matty and left.”

“Oh.” I could see the disappointment in his eyes.

He wasn’t the only one feeling deflated by the reunion after all these years. I’d definitely built up something cinematic-worthy in my head, and it hadn’t lived up to my expectations. I would have loved a Richard GereOfficer and a Gentlemanmoment. Callum comes into the classroom, picks me up, and carries me out. AJerry MaguireYou-had-me-at-hello moment, where he declares he’s always loved me and never gotten over me. Or even a Zach Braff not getting on the airplane at the end ofGarden State.

Any of those would have been amazing, but instead, it was just a polite, slightly awkward exchange ofhi.

The next ten minutes at pick-up went by in a blur. Every car that I didn’t recognize that pulled up had me holding my breath. Each time a new bumper came into view, my heart skipped a beat. The anticipation was building like helium filling a balloon. It was getting bigger and bigger, stretching to its limit. I knew any second it was going to pop.

“Bye Miss Nadia!” Kevin Hayes waved as he walked through the gate and climbed into his mom’s silver minivan.

“Bye.” I waved.

As it pulled away, a black Ford F150 pulled up, and I instantly recognized the rose tattooed on the back of the hand on the steering wheel. I’d been with Callum the day he got that tattoo. It was on his twenty-first birthday. I was visiting him in Phoenix, and we drove to Tucson so he could get inked by an up-and-coming tattoo artist who ended up competing and winning Ink Master named Anthony Michaels.

My stomach was doing more flips than Simone Biles on her floor routine at the Paris Olympics. The truck came to a stop, and I glanced down at the kids all lined up in a row, avoiding Callum’s gaze. His eyes were too potent. It was like staring at the sun. Every time I looked directly at him, his image was seared into my brain.

I inhaled a shaky breath as I called out, “Matty, your dad’s here.”

Luna, Heather, and Bryce all said goodbye to their new friend as Matty headed out through the gate.

“See you tomorrow,” I called out.

Matty turned around and waved. “Bye, Miss Nadia.”

I smiled and glanced up just as Callum was leaning across the console to open the passenger door. Our eyes met. The second I gazed into his endless whiskey pools, a tingle of awarenessskittered down my spine and spread through my limbs. It consumed me from the inside out, starting at my core and spreading throughout my entire body.

Once again, not knowing what else to do, I lifted my hand and grinned. “Hi.”

He stared at me, and although I couldn’t hear him, I saw his lips move, “Hi.”

A loud honk sounded, and Callum blinked as if he’d been snapped out of a spell. He looked forward, breaking our eye contact. I exhaled and saw stars flashing.

Matty climbed up into the truck, and within a few seconds, he and his dad were pulling away from the curb. As they did, Callum’s head turned in my direction one last time.

This time when our eyes met, I watched as Callum’s perfect lips pulled at the edges into his Callum-Knight-bad-boy-half-grin™. It wasn’t actually trademarked, but it should be. I’d forgotten just how potent Callum’s smile could be. Some people might think it was a cocky smirk, but it wasn’t. It was born out of confidence, not conceit, which were two very different things. It was a smile that made ninety percent of the female population’s hearts explode and ovaries ache, myself included.

The next car pulled up, and I called Ingrid Reyes to come to the gate. As she walked through, I glanced over at Amos, who was looking me up and down. “What?”

“I was just checking for bite marks because that man just devoured you with his eyes.”

“No, he didn’t.”

“That boy’s eyes were hungrier than a Hasbro hippo.”

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