Page 47 of The Reading

“Donnie-”

“But you guys have to go out on a date now,” he said, talking right over Chanel. “That way, you can hurry and get married and have those kids that we can play with.”

Chanel started choking, and Michael Stanley, the firefighter, quickly walked over to slap her on the back. Chanel and I had gone to school with all the men in the room, so this craziness wasn’t going to end when the school day ended. This shit was going to be all over town once the guys went home and told their wives what happened.

The bell rung, and Chanel was finally able to get ahold of herself. “Uhm…okay, that’s it for now. Thank these kind men for taking time out of their day to visit us on career day.”

There was a chorus of thank yous and a thunderous applaud from a bunch of seven-year-olds, and it was sweet how so many of them were sharing who was going to be a cop for Halloween this weekend, or a firefighter, etc.

With everyone saying their goodbyes, I walked out of Chanel’s classroom with the rest of the guests, and Jeremy Rhodes, the veterinarian, only made it five steps before he started laughing. “Damn, Valinsky, and here I thought professional athletes led charmed lives.”

“Thanks, Rhodes,” I deadpanned.

“It could have been worse,” Michael offered. “She could have shut you down immediately.”

“There is that,” I muttered.

“Unless she’s waiting to do it in private,” he added, making me flip him off.

Chapter 2

Wyatt~

Iwaited twenty minutes before I saw Chanel walking towards the parking lot. The woman’s feet tripped up a bit when she saw me leaning next to my truck, but she put on a brave face, then kept walking.

When she stopped in front of me, I automatically reached out and took her bag from her. It looked heavy, plus I was a tad chauvinistic. Dad had raised both me and Kaleb to view women as the more delicate sex, even though everyone knew that they weren’t. At any rate, I opened doors, pulled out chairs, carried the heavy stuff, killed the spiders, etc., and it worked just fine for me.

“Oh, no, I can-”

“What in the hell do you have in here?” I asked as I grabbed the bag. “Your entire lesson plan for the rest of the year?”

Chanel’s lips twitched. “I like to be prepared.”

“For the end of days? The apocalypse?”

“What are you still doing here, Wyatt?” she asked, her lips still twitching.

“I didn’t get your number, and I wanted to confirm our dinner plans,” I answered, and the look on her face was not promising.

“Uh…what?”

“Dinner. Our date,” I reminded her.

“Uh...I don’t recall agreeing to go out with you,” she drawled out carefully. “In fact, I’m pretty-”

“Do you have a boyfriend?” I asked, interrupting her obvious attempts at getting out of going on a date with me. “I mean, I know that you’re not married, but what about a boyfriend?”

“Well, no,” she answered honestly. “I don’t have a boyfriend, but-”

“Good. Glad to hear it. Then we’re all set for tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah, tonight.” I started digging into her bag, invading her privacycompletely. “Where’s your phone? We need to exchange numbers.”

“Wyatt, I-”

“It’s in your purse, isn’t it?” While I had relieved her of her book bag, Chanel still had her purse on her. “That’s okay. Just let me grab my phone.”

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