Page 32 of Thinking It Over

My laugh took me by surprise. “I bet it was.”

“So, Jasper seems like a good guy.”

“He really is.” He’d stood his ground, remained by my side, yet I’d let him drive away. “I should have tried harder to get him to stay.”

“You think?” Billy huffed out a breath. “For a smart guy, you’re a bit slow on the uptake at times, Austin.”

I couldn’t agree more. I now had to make sure Jasper didn’t take on board any of the nonsense Rupert spewed.

“Come on.” Billy tapped my arm, indicating I should follow. “The locksmith should be here soon. Let’s go grab that coffee.”

I trudged after him, bag in hand, and my memories of this weekend already seeming like a distant dream.

Monday was a disaster.An emergency plumbing issue emerged at the end of the day that I could not abandon Larry to manage alone. By the time I got home by ten that night to a needy Penny, who demanded some quality time with a stick in the dark, which of course was impossible, all I was able to do was throw off a quick text to Jasper letting him know what had happened, asking if he was okay, and telling him once again what an incredible weekend I’d had.

While his short response didn’t concern me, it didn’t exactly fill me with ease either.

Come Tuesday, I already had back-to-back meetings organizing the new developments, planning for the next school year, and followed up with a late meeting with the Parents and Friends Association.

After a similar exchange that night, I knew, without a doubt, I had to make time to find Jasper in the flesh and make sure we had a conversation.

That didn’t happen, not until Friday morning when I deliberately got into school early just so I could get on top of my emails, leaving me enough time to head to his classroom before school started.

Not caring at this stage how I looked, I was waiting in his classroom when he entered the room to see me sitting on his chair.

“Morning.” I stood immediately, making my way over to him. It took a moment, but his look of shock finally made way to a small smile.

“Morning.”

We met just before he reached the desk, and I tentatively took his laptop bag off him. He handed it over without hesitation and watched as I placed it on his desk. My attention returned to him. Already having decided to jump right in, not willing to risk misunderstandings or play games, I took his hand in mine and stepped into hisspace. The whole time, I looked for any sign of discomfort, that he didn’t want me here. When all I saw was silent relief and a change in his breathing, my nervous heart fluttered.

My lips brushed against his, just long enough for him to know that I missed him. With the barest of touches of my tongue to his, I tried to let him know that I couldn’t wait to kiss him properly.

After I pulled away, I took a small step back, giving him space and protecting him should someone turn up in his doorway.

“Can we do dinner tonight?”

As he searched my gaze, I was uncertain what he saw. It took him a moment to say, “I’d really like that.”

I exhaled as quietly as possible, hoping he wouldn’t see how concerned I’d been that he’d say no. “Can you come straight after work?” Spending as much time as possible with Jasper was my agenda for the weekend. This week had been a logistical nightmare, and I’d need this weekend to make it up to him, let him know it wasn’t the norm, and finally have the conversation about Rupert.

While I’d thankfully seen no sign of my ex, as much as I’d like to, I couldn’t erase him from my life. What I could do, though, was reassure Jasper that the man wasn’t worth the energy or overthinking.

“I’ll text Mom and let her know not to expect me.”

Relief barreled through me. “Thank you.”

“Is today as chaotic as the rest of the week has been for you?” he asked, stepping around me and starting to set up for the day.

“God, I really hope not.”

He laughed. “Well, ‘the price of greatness is responsibility.’”

My lips quirked high, loving when he did this. “I’m not sure I’m anywhere in the same league as Churchill, but I can attest to responsibility being exhausting.”

One of his brows lifted high. “Not sure there’s anything like that in his words.”

“But if he’d attempted to wrangle hundreds of teenagers who lived by their hormones and taking selfies, I’m sure he would have built that right in there. It would have been a precursor to his speech.”

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