Page 23 of A Forgotten Heart
She’d forgotten what it was like to have Nick on her side. The Nick who believed in her when no one else did. “Her father is on the school board, and he told me that picking on the students will not help me retain my position.”
Nick tensed. “Why didn’t you set him straight?”
“I need this teaching post.”
Nick inhaled to speak, so Elsie hurried on before he could. “Then I have another student who isn’t grasping geometry. I gave him a triangle equation on his slate and asked him to findx. He actually circled the letterx.”
Nick laughed, quickly followed by a grimace. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”
Elsie smiled. She couldn’t help it, even if seeing pieces of the old Nick made her want to cry.
“You’re a fantastic teacher, El. He’ll get it.”
Her ribcage squeezed tight. She’d missed this. Missed him.
They’d reached the pallet she’d made in the back room. She tried to lower him down instead of dropping him like he’d burned her.
The lines around his mouth deepened as he leaned back, his complexion gray.
She started to pull away, but he grappled until he caught her arm. “Stay with me.”
An ache swelled deep within her as she pulled away. “I need to get the rest of the blankets.”
Once in the exam room, she leaned against the wall, waiting for her breath to stabilize. Only after she could be near him again without falling apart did she return, blankets in hand.
She tried to keep her distance as she spread the blankets over him.
“Thank you,” he said. “For taking care of me.”
She may be taking care of him, but not with her heart fully intact.
“She is well to look to, thrifty beyond her age. Remember?” His lips tilted in a lopsided smile.
Oh, she knew the reference. Tennyson. But she couldn’t let her heart return there. She focused on tucking the corners of the blankets around him. “Not now, Nick.”
He shifted restlessly. “What else is there to do?”
Nothing. They were trapped here. But she couldn’t play their game, invented when she’d been worried over midterm grades. Couldn’t pretend everything between them was good.
“El, you’re shivering.”
Was she?
He lifted the corner of the blanket, as if he expected her to curl into his warmth. “Come here.”
Panic shot through her. “I don’t think so.”
“Then take one of these blankets. What good is it if you freeze?”
Her breath came in gasps. “I’m not going to take your blankets. You’re the injured one.”
“Then here.” He lifted the corner of the blanket higher.
When she still refused, he said, “If you don’t come and lie down next to me or take one of these blankets, I’m going to cast them aside and freeze along with you.”
Her eyes widened. He wouldn’t do that.
But his raised eyebrows said that maybe he would.
