Page 77 of Trust Me Always

He blinks at me and I laugh.

“Did you even read over the instructions?”

Alister smiles. “I just figured I’d let you lead.”

I scoff. “You sound like Brady.”

Alister stares into my eyes. “What can I say? The man clearly has good taste.”

Not suretasteis the right word here, but this doesn’t feel like the time for a vocabulary correction, so I pretend neither of us said a word. “So basically we are creating a yearlong lesson plan for preschool and transitional kindergarten. Last week’s assignment was to complete the introductory phase.”

“So going over the basics?” he guesses.

“Not really ‘basics’ because that can be subjective. Some kidswill come into preschool with zero knowledge as far as academics go. They might not even recognize shapes fully yet or colors outside the primary ones. Tons of kids are still learning to speak confidently or at all at ages three and four. Our job is to create a lesson plan for all types of learners. It’s like creating a foundation to build on.”

“So kind of testing the waters, seeing where everyone is and what needs to be done to get them to the next phase?”

I nod with a smile. “Exactly. So you just have to go through that and add any ideas you might have, and this week we have to work onexplore and engage. Which one do you want?”

Alister shrugs, a cute little crease forming along his brow as he reads over the instruction sheet. “Can we just do them together?”

My pen freezes over the diagram, and I look over at him, slowly rolling the pen between my fingers. “I don’t think we’ll get much of anything done today. There’s only twenty minutes left.”

Alister’s eyes glitter as he watches me. “You afraid to see me outside class all of a sudden, Cox?”

I pin him with a playful glare. “You wish, Howl.”

“I really, really do.”

My mouth opens but nothing comes out, and then I’m chuckling. “Okay, fair. I fell right into that one.”

Alister grins, taking his own pen in his hands, and starts making little notes in the column of the document. He’s just finishing when class ends, and when I go to take the papers, he tugs them back. “Just send me the file, and I’ll add this all in tonight after practice.”

“No, it’s fine. I can’t really move on to the next part until I know this one is all tightened up anyway.”

“But you’re not going to work on the next one because we’re going to do it together.”

Right. Partners.

I squash my lips to the side. “Are you sure? I can have it donebefore you’re even out of practice. I have nothing else today after this.”

Alister considers my words, a mischievous grin growing. “How about this? You come and watch practice today. No studying. Just watch and I’ll get this doneandset us up for the next section.” When I hesitate, he adds, “You can even just add me to the document instead of sending it to me. That way you can see in real time if I’m getting it all done, which I promise I will.”

I chew on my lip. “If I come to practice and watch?”

“Yes.” He smiles.

Ha. He has no idea he just got suckered because I was already planning to go to practice, and despite my studying in the bleachers, I always do a little watching.

Alister has been kind of hard not to watch this past week.

My best friend calls me out on this very fact not two hours later when we’re sitting in our usual spots, blankets folded over our laps.

“I’m not staring at him,” I defend. “I’m staring at the team.”

“Right.”

I frown at my friend, but Ari only laughs, a gentle expression on her face.

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