Page 47 of Reluctant Chemistry

Luka fought to keep his external reaction professional while his heart hammered in his chest. “I understand.”

Carole stood. Her disappointed expression needed no further verbal attachment, but she added one anyway: “I expected more from you, young man.”

He picked up his jacket and shrugged it on. “I expected more from myself.”

As Luka left the office, the knowledge that CeCe’s friend Anna was dead hit him head-on. CeCe hadn’t wanted to share stories with him about her friends and family. She’d wanted to separate her time with Luka from reality. To live in their bubble between the beach and his bed.

23

Blue Butterfly

CeCe was in bed when her father knocked on her open door. Her heart lurched when she caught his expression, and she lowered thebook she’d been reading. “Hey.”

“Have you got a minute?”

Pulling the duvet up under her chin, CeCe wished she could hide beneath it until her world made sense again. “I was just about to turn out the light.”

“It won’t take long.”

He sat on the chair beside the bed, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. It was something her mother had taught him, so he didn’t overreact. He inhaled and exhaled with purpose. If she hadn’t been so unnerved, she’d have smiled at the dramatics of it.

“Were you going to tell me…about you and O’Leary? Because if you’re waiting for me to find out from someone else, that day has come.”

CeCe sat up and rested back against the headboard. Head down, she worried the butterfly around her neck, but that feeling of strength didn’t eventuate. She looked up at him. Sighed. “What do you want me to say? You’ve obviously heard the gossip.”

“Maybe, but I want to hear it from you. Is he the guy you’ve been seeing? Is that why we’ve never met him? Because he’s your teacher?”

She nodded. There seemed little point in denying it. Both her parents could sniff out an untruth from a mile away. “I never knew about the teacher thing until you told me.”

Her father frowned at her. “And he never mentioned it? Don’t you find that strange?”

“He didn’t know about the job when we started—”

“Started what? How serious was it? Is it?”

CeCe closed her eyes for a moment. “It was over before it began. Lost in the details.”

“But sexual?”

“Dad!We don’t need to have this conversation. It’s over. What more can I say?” CeCe flung back the covers and dashed into the bathroom for a box of tissues.

When she returned, he watched her cross the room. “I want you to say that you understand why this has to stop immediately.”

“It’s already stopped. I told you.”

“But that’s not strictly true, is it? He gave you a ride home from the beach last weekend, and now there’s been a complaint to the school board about you both.”

Box of tissues in hand, she sat back on the bed, mumbling ashitunder her breath as her stomach churned.

“What were you thinking? You could have called Molly or any number of people, but…” Frank held her gaze. “Did he come inside?”

She looked away. Her dad obviously knew Luka had been in the house, so what could she say? That he’d stayed the night? That they’d clung on tight to their final stolen moment?

“CeCe. You’re better than that.”

“Am I?” Tears welled, and she swiped them away. “Because right now, I don’t care if he is my teacher. I don’t care if he doesn’t want me or what people think, and I’m sorry if that offends you, but my thought processes are a little skewed these days.”

“So that’s why you didn’t want to return to school? Because you were sleeping with him? You should have told me. Maybe I could have helped.”

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