Page 49 of The Teacher
“Grading midterms.”
He tugs the stack of papers out of my hands. “Feel like taking a break?”
“What?”
I genuinely don’t know what he’s talking about until I see the look on his face. He tosses my exam papers onthe coffee table and grabs me, pushing me down onto the sofa. His lips descend on mine, and he kisses me roughly.
“Whoa!” I struggle to get out from under him. “Nate, I’m in the middle of something!”
“So what?” He silences my protest with another kiss. “You can do that later.”
This is so wild. Usually, we have sex, like, a dozen times the entire year, and now suddenly he wants me two days in a row. And his behavior seems strange. It almost feels like he’shungryfor me, like he’s ready to rip my clothing off, which is unusual for him. I haven’t seen this kind of passion from him in so many years.
I don’t know what’s going on. Does he have a brain tumor? Because that’s the only thing I can think of to explain this.
I would probably go to the bedroom with him if I didn’t have plans for tonight. But the truth is, I’m looking forward to seeing Jay. I don’t want to cancel, although I’ve never had a dilemma like this before.
“Nate.” I forcibly push him off me. “Maybe…could we do this another time? I want to get through these papers before I go out…”
“Seriously?”
“Yes!”
Nate looks at me in disbelief as he allows me to disentangle myself from his embrace. “I don’t get you, Eve. You are always whining that we don’t have sex enough, and now I want to do it, and you’re pushing me off you.”
“Nate…”
“No, forget it.” He climbs off me, a scowl on his lips. “I’ll take care of it myself then.”
I jump off the couch, calling his name as he storms off. The bedroom door slams upstairs, and now I’m the one staring in disbelief.
What on earth was that all about?
Chapter Forty
ADDIE
The meetingsofReflectionsused to be the best part of my day, but now all I want is for it to be over so that I can sneak off with Nathaniel to the darkroom.
“This whole poem,” Lotus says to me, “it’s too…sappy.”
“Sappy?” I repeat. The poem she’s looking at is one that I wrote while thinking about Nathaniel. It’s a love poem, but I didn’t think it was sappy.
Your eyes are brown
like freshly fallen
autumn leaves
I crave your embrace
in the misty night
I see you every day
But when I can’t be with you
I long to be in your arms
