Page 29 of Make it Real
“Then I’d better pencil you in on the calendar and prepare myself to be wowed.”
He glanced at me while we slowly drove through town. “You miss it during the summer, or are you glad for the break?”
“Both, really. The end of the school year is always hard. Exciting to be done, but emotional to see my students go. I miss them like crazy for the first few weeks, but right about now, I’m getting ready to fall in love with my next class, wondering what they’ll be like, what the mix of kids will be. Everybody says it, but it really is such a fun age.”
He had the air conditioning up, and I stretched my arms in front of me, trying to ease a smidge of the humidity from my skin even though the effect wouldn’t last.
“The kindergarten rooms are getting painted and re-carpeted right now, so everything’s a mess. I’ll have a lot to do to put it back together in a week or two. I can’t wait to go see how it looks, but it’s always weird to be in an empty classroom. I like it in the craziness with the kids, when it’s a little bit wild. When there’s some life to it. But when there’s nobody in it, it’s not my favorite. It’s too silent.”
“I’d think silence wouldn’t really be a problem with you around.”
I dropped my hands into my lap, embarrassment churning through my stomach at a hundred and fifty miles an hour.“Do you have something to say, or do you just like to hear yourself talk?”How much had I prattled on tonight? How often had I taken over without realizing it? Jed had obviously noticed my tendency to run my mouth. Impossible not to, really.
“I’m sorry.” I tried to laugh, but the sound I made wouldn’t have fooled anyone. “I was babbling.”
“Callie—”
“It’s okay. I know I talk a lot.”
Would not tell him just how many times it’d been brought to my attention. My father, my gran and her friends, my ex-boyfriend, girlfriends, well-meaning coworkers—everybody noticed. Even my sweet, innocent students had occasionally mentioned it.Miss Callie is chatty.From the mouths of babes, right?
“That was a dick thing for me to say. I shouldn’t have said it even as a joke, and I hate that I made you feel bad. I apologize.”
His easy-going attitude had been replaced by concern, and I didn’t love the change. This kind of sincerity from a guy who usually found the humor in everything only made the whole thing that much more embarrassing. I should have just laughed it off and moved on.
“You don’t have to do that. I’m working on it, but sometimes, I forget.”
He reached across the console and covered my clasped hands with his strong one. “You don’t have to work on anything. That was rude of me, and I’m sorry I said it. Can you forgive me?”
The last guy who’d apologized to me had been a student saying sorry for calling me Mommy, so Jed’s apology struck me as kind of a big deal. I appreciated it, even if I wasn’t sure I deserved it. Ididtalk a lot. I couldn’t count the times I’d been told it veered over into annoying. He was well within his rights to think the same thing.
“You didn’t have to apologize, but I forgive you.”
“Thank you.”
His hand over mine squeezed once, his warmth seeping through me like a physical confirmation of his apology. Like he needed to know I was okay. Embarrassing…and extremely comforting. He let go to put his hand back on the wheel, but mine went right on tingling the whole rest of the drive to my house.
When he pulled up, all of that good sensation disappeared.
“Cars are still here.” He sounded like he’d just heard the long-awaited punchline to a well-worn joke.
I should have expected it, but hadn’t thought through this possibility. I hadn’t thought through very much of this fake dating scenario, now that it came to it. “They’re waiting for us to get back.”
“I’d better walk you to the porch, then.”
He got out of the truck, and before I could do it myself, he’d opened my door. Jumping out of this thing had been a whole lot easier with the curb in town giving me a shorter drop. Add it to my list of disadvantages to being fun-sized, right below reaching things off the top shelf at the grocery store—getting out of monster trucks with grace.
Holding out a hand, Jed grinned like he’d heard all the thoughts in my head. Keeping every last sassy remark to myself, I slipped my hand into his and hopped down to the street. Like a lady. I would just ignore the little chuckle in the back of his throat that said this whole production amused him more than he thought proper to say.
We walked up the path through the yard, his hand firmly holding mine. Which honestly, I liked more thanIthought proper to say.
“Now, these ladies would never make good stalkers.” Hetuttedunder his breath. “No stealth at all.”
I looked up, and my mouth dropped right open. All four women stood in our front window, poised just right to peer through the blinds at us. They’d turned out the light in the front room so they probably thought they’d become invisible, but the dining room light illuminated them from behind. They might as well have had their noses pressed to the glass and passed bowls of popcorn between them.
How nice would it be for the earth to swallow me up whole right about now. Would have been a good reprieve from the mortification they seemed determined to shower on me.
“They’re not always this bad. They’re just excited about you.”
