Page 51 of Class Act

“Miss Hailey!” Hillary called. “You look better today.”

I grinned. “I hope so. Thanks for taking good care of me Sunday. What brings you guys here?"

“We’re here for our conferences,” Hillary said. “Daddy said since we were all done, we could stop and say hi to you before we leave.”

“Oh.” I raised my eyebrows at Ford. “That was nice of you.”

Ford’s eyes crinkled, but it was Henry who spoke. “It was Hillary’s idea; she wanted to make sure you weren’t dead.”

“Henry,” Ford said firmly, covering up a laugh. “Be polite.”

“I see. I hope I look alive enough today.” I laid it on thick, spinning in a circle and looking myself over.

“Daddy said you were probably fine, but I wanted to see myself.” Hillary shot her brother a dark look.

“Fine is what I am.” I smiled, my dimples flashing.

“What did you do to your computer?” Ford asked, gesturing to where Wesley was sitting totally focused on my monitor.

“Why do you assume anything is wrong? This is my good friend Wesley, and he comes in here all the time to share funny jokes and things with me. That’s what we were doing when you came in,” I said. At that Wesley’s head popped around the screen and then darted back, but his expression said I was lying. I continued. “Didn’t you hear me laughing?”

“I did,” Hillary said while nodding.

“That’s because Wes is such a crack-up.” Yes, I shortened his name to make it seem like we were buddies. Maybe he hated being called Wes; I didn’t know. I was so asking for bad karma from this. “How were your conferences?”

“Good,” Henry answered and then went to check out the aquarium of tadpoles I’d recently brought in. “Cool,” he said as he walked toward them.

“I’m doing okay,” Hillary said a tad mournfully. “Mrs. Slater is hard.”

“School gets harder every year; that’s part of growing up,” Ford said in response.

Her eyes grew uncertain, and I hurried to alleviate her worries. “It’s still early in the year, and sometimes it takes a little bit to adjust to a new grade and new teacher. You’re such a smart girl and I’m sure you’ll have it all figured out soon.”

“Hill, come see these tadpoles,” Henry called, waving her over.

“You don’t have to coddle my kids,” Ford stated when they were out of hearing.

I warred within myself over what to say and ended up engaged in my first-ever stare down. I had no siblings, I’d lived at home during college, I’d lived alone after college, I’d only ever dated soft-spoken and sweet men, and I rarely felt enough emotion to have a confrontation. My heart rate increased as though I was about to plunge down the first hill of a roller coaster ride. Ford’s eyes drew me in, and all thought drained away as I watched him for any hint of what he was thinking. Did he feel this too? This push and pull, wonder and worry? Was his heart pounding as hard as mine? I could feel it in my fingertips and the backs of my knees.

I began to feel fidgety, so I blurted out what had been on the tip of my tongue. “You don’t have to scare them out of wanting to grow up and attend school. A little empathy goes a long way.”

He took a step closer to me, his voice dropping to a near whisper. “You have a lot of opinions,” he muttered.

My head jerked back, and I blinked rapidly. A sarcastic burst of laughter tried to escape. The fact was that most people wondered if I had opinions. If my family and friends could see me now, they’d be buying bags of popcorn to eat with the show. Ford’s eyes were coasting over my face, watching the shifting of my expressions as I tried to decide what to say next.

“Ask anyone, I’m the most agreeable person they know,” I finally sputtered out, my own voice as low and intimate as his.

One side of his mouth tugged up slightly, as though he were already amused by the words he was about to say. “When is the last time someone kissed you?”

My jaw fell slack, and I swallowed hard. “What?”

“Just curious,” he said. Then he took a step back and glanced around me to Wesley. “Is it true that Hailey is agreeable most of the time?”

Wesley leaned over again to look at Ford past the monitor. “I’m not really sure. She seems nice. I’m only here to fix her computer.”

Ford’s expression was smug when he looked back to me. “Really? So not sharing jokes then. What did you do to your computer?”

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. “I told it you were coming, and it died on the spot.”

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