Page 77 of Summer Weddings
Still, Bethany wasn’t confident that she was doing the right thing, especially since Mitch seemed to be avoiding her so diligently.
The little girl was busy with the blackboards, standing on tiptoe to reach as far as she could, when Mitch walked briskly into the classroom. His movements were filled with impatience. His body language said he didn’t appreciate having to come and look for his daughter.
As had happened before, his eyes flew to Bethany’s, and hers to his. Slowly she rose from behind her desk. “Hello, Mitch.”
“Bethany.”
“Hi, Dad! I’m helping Ms. Ross. I’m almost done,” Chrissie said lightheartedly. “All I have to do is go outside and get the chalk out of the erasers. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Mitch opened his mouth as though to protest, but before he could utter a word, Chrissie raced out the door.
Bethany and Mitch were alone.
They couldn’t stop staring at each other. Bethany would’ve paid good money to know what he was thinking. Not that she was all that clear about her own feelings. Their attraction to each othershouldhave been uncomplicated, since neither of them was involved with anyone else.
True, John Henderson, one of the bush pilots employed by Midnight Sons, had asked her to dinner. She’d accepted; there was no point in sitting around waiting for Mitch to ask her out, and John seemed pleasant.
The silence between them grew. Mitch’s face was stern, his features set. Bethany sighed, uncertain how to break the ice.
“I hear you’re going out to dinner with John Henderson this evening,” Mitch surprised her by saying.
“Yes.” She wasn’t going to deny it.
“I think that’s an excellent idea.”
“My having dinner with John?”
“Yes.”
Their eyes remained locked. Finally she swallowed and asked, “Why?”
“John’s a good man.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask the reason Mitch hadn’t asked her out himself. Mitch was attracted to her, and she to him. The force of that attraction was no small thing. Surely it would be better to discuss it openly, even if they didn’t act on their feelings. She longed to bring up the subject and see where it took them. But in the end she said nothing. Neither did Mitch.
Chrissie reentered the classroom, and Bethany slowly moved her gaze from Mitch to his daughter.
“The erasers are clean,” Chrissie announced. Her eyes were huge with expectation.
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
“You’re welcome. Can I clean them again next Friday?”
“That would be very helpful.”
“Have a nice evening,” Mitch said as he walked out the door, his hand on his daughter’s shoulder.
“I will, thank you,” she called after them, but she didn’t think he heard.
The encounter with Mitch left Bethany feeling melancholy. She accompanied Margaret Simpson to her house for a cup of coffee, hoping that a visit with the other teacher would cheer her up; however, she was distracted during their conversation. Once she arrived home, she turned on her CD player and lay down on the living room carpet,listening to Billy Joel—which said a great deal about her state of mind.
Instead of being excited about her dinner date, she was bemoaning the fact that it wasn’t Mitch taking her out. It was time to face reality: he wasn’t interested in seeing her. She told herself it didn’t matter. There were plenty of other fish in the sea. But her little pep talk fell decidedly flat.
Because John was afraid he might get back late from a flight into Fairbanks, he’d asked if they could meet at the Hard Luck Café. Bethany didn’t object. She showered and changed into a knee-length, chocolate-brown skirt, an extra-long, loose-knit beige sweater and calf-length brown leather boots. To dress up the outfit, she wove a silk scarf into her French braid. She looked good and she knew it. Her one regret was that Mitch wouldn’t see her. She’d like him to know what he was missing!
To her astonishment, there were only two other people in the café when she arrived. The men, whom she didn’t recognize, were deeply engrossed in conversation. They sat drinking beer at one of the tables.
“My, my, don’t you look pretty,” Ben hailed her when she took a seat in a booth near the window. Apparently he knew she was meeting John, because he filled two water glasses and tucked a couple of menus under his arm.
