Page 113 of Our Bender

Silence filled his end of the call. And then, “Canyon? CanyonScott? Son of Jules and Grey Scott? TheteenagerCanyon Scott?”

I laughed. “Yupp, looks like your daughter has a thing for older men.”

“Shit,” he bit out.

“I mean, not bad taste. His dad is quite the looker,” I said charismatically. “All those tattoos. Hot damn.”

“No, no, no,” he said firmly.

“What?” I laughed.

“You know I can’t get tats, Josie. I can’t do needles,” he complained. “And you can’t be crushing on other guys. I feel like you’re not grasping the plot here,” he joked, reminding me of his words in the hospital when he was trying to win me over.

I bit my lip and smiled. “Oh? There’s more to this story?”

“Much more. I promise,” he said in a husky voice.

I smiled, wishing I could kiss him, wishing I could pry into what that meant, but for now, it had to be good enough. The man just pushed my ex through glass for crying out loud.

“Goodnight Josie,” he said warmly.

“G’night Tyler.”

43. Josie

The first Monday back at school, while messing with my classroom key trying to get my stupid door open, I unfortunately dropped my coffee and splattered it all over the newly washed floor. I knew right then, staring at the sad puddle that was supposed to be my source of motivation, that it was going to be a rough day… and I wasn’t wrong.

About halfway through my morning, I started feeling nauseous, which was always the first sign. I should’ve remembered, but with everything going on to get ready for my first day back, I forgot I was also supposed to start my period.

The bell for my next class was already ringing, and I was supposed to be observed by an admin this hour, so I was really worried about being caught on my phone, but I quickly shot off a text to my teacher friend, Trish, because I knew it was her prep period. I punched out a jumbled text asking her if she had any extra tampons, tylenol, and if the break room had any coffee because I was dying.

Thankfully, my hour went alright, and I was able to keep it together through my observation. My kids were shockingly amazing whenever an admin team member was present in my classroom because they apparently really didn’t want me to get fired– they actually said this to me back in the fall.

At the start of the next hour, I still hadn’t heard from Trisha, which was slightly weird, but I figured I’d be able to make it to lunch without any major problems, so I shrugged it off.

But while running through attendance for my fourth hour, there was a knock at the door.

“Talk to the person seated next to you. Ask them how their break was,” I told my class while I shuffled to the door.

As soon as I cracked it open, my heart practically stopped.

Because standing there, holding a little brown paper bag, the kind he used to pack Stevie’s lunch in, was Tyler.

“Uh… hello?” I scanned the hallway wondering why the hell he was here.

He stepped forward kinda awkwardly and peeked into my classroom over my head. He was so close that my personal air was filled with the scent of his masculine cologne. My classroom was suddenly silent, and I could practically feel all my kids’ eyes glued to my back.

He pushed the bag forward to me. “Brought the stuff.” His eyebrows raised when he said ‘stuff.’

“Stuff?” I snatched the bag and peeked in to see an assortment of pads, tampons, chocolate, and a bottle of tylenol. Then he brought forward a hot coffee he was holding behind his back, looking mighty proud of himself.

I searched his face. “How did you…? I texted Trish…”

His face split into a goofy grin. “No, you texted me.”

My face burned as I mentally tried to recall what I’d typed.

Stevie suddenly appeared by his legs and started wedging her way into my classroom. “Heya guys, what’s goin on?”

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