Page 25 of Taking The Shot

“I’m finishing my lunch and giving my notice,” she said calmly, ignoring the shocked looks around her as a ripple of disbelief rocked the teacher’s lounge at her blunt announcement said for his benefit alone. “Don’t let me down, Keith.”

“I swear I won’t.”

The relief in his voice was palpable. They were taking this crazy chance together, hoping to mend two broken lives in one felled swoop.

“I believe you.”

“Then believe me when I say that you will never want foranythingin your life for giving me this chance, Constance. I owe you everything – and I mean it.”

“Let’s start with working on our friendship.”

“You got it.”

“Nine in the morning sound pretty good to you?” she volunteered, trying to sound chipper, but her hands were trembling at the realization that she was actually getting married tomorrow and leaving the school district. Just like that, Keith was laying out the red carpet, giving her everything, and she was greedily choosing herself and her children this time around, giving this new opportunity her ‘all.’

“The courthouse opens at eight,” he chuckled thickly.

“Let’s compromise so I can get the kids off to school and daycare – how about eight-thirty?”

“Sounds like a date. I’ll pick you up.”

“See you soon.”

The moment she hung up, she was inundated by a barrage of questions and shocked expressions, and Constance just smiled, nodded, and kept her mouth shut. The more people in their business, the more doubts could sneak into her mind, and she didn’t need any help from anyone else.

She had enough doubt as it was.

7

CONSTANCE

This is crazy…

This is crazy…

This is crazy…

That single sentencekept playing in her mind as she stood there at the apartment waiting for Keith. Things had not gone well at the school – at all – especially when she required a substitute for today on top of giving her notice. She gave as much time as possible for them to find another teacher, but it didn’t matter. Her family would come first, and if that made her a terrible person, then so be it.

And after today – Keith would be part of her family.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts, and she yanked it open a moment later, seeing him standing there on the landing in a suit. A very expensive, tailored suit, and she was wearing a dress for church. The only thing that she had remotely ‘wedding-ish’ was her veil from her first marriage that she’d kept. Everything else was sold to help pay for Robert’s funeral, and she wouldn’t have felt right about reusing her dress anyhow. It had been intended to be preserved someday, but they neverhad the money, and time just seemed to slip away until now. This morning was the slowest that time had ever passedin the universe.

“Wow…” Keith said openly, his eyes raking over her. “You look… man, words are failing me, Constance.”

“You clean up pretty nicely yourself,” she replied, smiling for a moment before it faded. “Is this weird? Crazy? Are we doing the right thing?”

“It’s not too late to back out,” he said quietly. “You can still change your mind, and I want you to know that.”

“No. I’m just really nervous.”

“I haven’t eaten since noon yesterday,” he chuckled and tugged at his suit coat. “It was already baggy before, but now?”

“Let’s get moving,” she urged, nodding. “I need some bit of stress off my shoulders.”

“You can feel the romance in the air, can’t you?” he joked as they started down the stairs – and she paused, turning to look at him on the steps.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

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