“I was reading the chapter last night about King Charles I being beheaded-“
“That wasn’t the assignment. We’re not talking about the 1600’s. We’re in the 1800’s. And since none of you seem to know the answer, I’ll tell you. The answer is Queen Victoria.”
“Who’s she?” one kid asked.
“The queen that was sitting on the British throne during three of the four cholera outbreaks!”
The bell rang and all the students got up, shoving their books in their bags before I could even finish telling them anything. As they all filed out, I shouted to them, “Read Chapter thirty-two tonight and answer the questions at the end of the lesson!”
The door slammed shut behind them and I sighed, packing up my own stuff at the front of the classroom and bringing it over to my desk. Sometimes I felt teaching was the wrong way to go. I loved history and most of the time I loved teaching, but when I had a class like that, I really considered packing up all my stuff and retiring.
My door opened and my friend, and fellow teacher, Paul, walked into the classroom, a grin on his face. “How was class?”
“I swear to God, if that class is our future, we’re all screwed.”
He barked out a laugh. “Be happy you’re not teaching PE.”
“I would be better at PE,” I grumbled. “At least I can teach sports.”
“I have one group that would drive you insane. Half of them refuse to do something as simple as stretching, and the other half couldn’t throw a ball if their lives depended on it.”
“Do you ever wonder if you went into the wrong field?”
“Are you kidding?” he laughed. “Summers off in exchange for dealing with lazy students? Every damn day.”
“You want to go somewhere? Grab a beer?”
He winced. “I would, but I promised Julie I’d be home to make dinner tonight.”
“She can’t make it?” I asked.
“She makes dinner every night. She wants me to make it tonight. She has the whole thing ready and waiting for me at home.”
I rolled my eyes as I packed up my shit. “Pussy-whipped, that’s what you are.”
“Shh,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. “You’re gonna get us in trouble.”
“School’s over. The kids are out of here. And frankly, they say worse shit than I ever could.”
“That doesn’t mean that some punk kid won’t overhear you saying that shit and rat you out.”
“I need a drink,” I grumbled, ignoring him.
“So, speaking of going out, I have a huge favor to ask.”
“Shoot.”
“Can you take Adam tomorrow for me?”
I barked out a laugh, shaking my head at his ridiculous request. “You want me to do what?”
“Look, just for the afternoon. And the night.”
“You want me to watch him overnight?”
“Please,” he begged, his face all creased and pathetic. “I haven’t gone out with my wife since the kid was born ten years ago. I need this.”
“I don’t know anything about watching a ten year old. Hell, I wouldn’t know what to do with him for even an hour.”
“I have it all worked out,” he said, his face lighting up with excitement. “He really wants to go ice skating, and I know you love skating.”
“I love hockey. There’s a difference.”
“Doesn’t matter. There’ll be a ton of kids down at the pond this weekend. All you have to do is take him there, and then just sit back and watch him.”
The pond was a large pond that everyone had been skating on since I was a kid. It was a well-known hangout on the weekends in the winter. “It sounds like I won’t actually be doing anything but sitting on my ass.”
“Which is perfect,” he said. “Easy work for you. And then, when he’s done hanging out with his friends, you just take him back to your place and watch movies or something.”
I groaned, throwing my head back. This sounded like the least fun I would ever have. It was definitely not how I wanted to spend my weekend.
“Come on,” he begged. “You know I would never ask you for anything like this, but I really need this. Things are getting a little stale at home, if you know what I mean.” He glanced over his shoulder at the door and then looked back to me, lowering his voice. “The last time we had sex was over two months ago. She said she was just going to lay there because she was too tired.” His eyes widened comically. “I can’t go another month with no sex. This is why I need so much time. I need to really get her in the mood first, if you know what I mean.”
“Why do you keep saying that? Of course, I know what you mean. I don’t need a road map.”
“Please,” he pouted, shoving out his lower lip. I rolled my eyes again and sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it this one time, but you owe me big time.”
“Anything you want.”
“And I’m not watching movies with him. He can come with me to poker night.”
“You can’t take him to poker night! Julie will kill me.”
“Hey, it’s either that or you don’t get your date night.”
He sighed and rubbed his hand over his head. “Fine, but watch your language. Julie will kill me if he learns any more curse words.”
“I’m pretty sure he already knows them, but sure,” I grinned. “I’ll watch my mouth.”
* * *
I knocked on Paul’s door and waited in the cold for someone to answer. It was freezing out today, and going ice skating was the last thing I wanted to do. I could be watching the game with a cold beer right now, but instead, I was gonna freeze my ass off all so my best friend could get laid. I deserved a fucking medal for this.
“Hey,” Paul grinned as he opened the door. “Sorry about that. I was a little tangled up with Julie.”
“I don’t need to hear that.”
“Thanks again for doing this. You have no idea how grateful I am for this.”
I stepped inside and wiped my shoes on the mat, looking around at the chaotic house. “Just remember when I have kids, I’ll be calling in a huge favor.”
“I bet. Adam will be down in just a minute.”
I looked around at the mess of having a family and cringed. Did I really want this someday? I thought back to my place, how clean and organized it all was. And then I imagined having a kid, with diapers all over the place and toys cluttering every room. God, it was awful to think about.
Adam came running down the stairs making so much noise that I immediately thought of a dinosaur running through the house. Christ, it was noisy as hell. How did anyone stand to live like this?
“Will!” Adam shouted, running up to me. He held out his hand for a high five and I gave in, instead holding out my fist for a fist bump. He frowned and did it, but he didn’t look happy about it.
“Hey, kid. You ready to go have some fun?”
“I’ve got my skates ready. Tommy and Aaron said they would be there today. Only Amanda can’t make it. She’s got a sleepover or something to go to.”
The kid kept rattling on about shit that I didn’t care about and never would. I nodded along, pretending like I was listening, but hell, I wasn’t used to having to converse with kids on such a personal level. There was a reason I taught high school history. Those kids didn’t usually want to converse with the teacher. We weren’t cool enough, and I was perfectly okay with that.
“Adam, take a breath,” Paul said, interrupting his rant. “Go get your bag so you can get going.”
Adam ran off excitedly, leaving me second-guessing my willingness to help Paul out. He scratched his head, like he was trying to find a way to tell me something.
“He’s talkative,” Paul said reluctantly.
“I can see that.”
Paul nodded. “You know, he’ll eventually run out of things to say.”
“When?”
“Okay, I know he’s a little much, but I promise, he’ll cool down after he spends some time with you. He’s just excited.”<
br />
“It’s fine,” I assured him. “I’m sure once he sees a hot girl, I won’t even be a thought in his head. Well, except when he asks me for advice,” I grinned, turning for the door.
“Wait!”
I turned back to my friend, knowing exactly what he was going to say.
“Don’t worry, I know he’s only ten. I’ll stick to dating advice.”
“No sex,” he said, pointing his finger at me.
“Hell no. I’ll save that for you.”
I opened the door just as Adam came rambling down the stairs, bag in tow. He wasn’t paying attention and his bag slammed into me, knocking me into the door. I swear to God, it was like he had bricks stored in there.
“See you later, Dad!” He shouted as he shoved the bag into my arms and bolted out the door.
I huffed as the wind was knocked out of me and grimaced. This was gonna suck. “I changed my mind. As payback, I’m telling your kid everything about sex.”
He shouted at me as I walked out the door and slammed it behind me. The kid’s bag weighed a ton. I wasn’t sure what he brought along that he thought he would need for one night, but this was ridiculous. I tossed it in the back of my pickup and got in behind the wheel, already exhausted and ready to return the kid.
He yapped the entire way to the pond, never letting up for even a second. Where did the kid get all the air to talk this much? There should be an off button on kids. I pulled into the parking lot and put the truck in park. I didn’t even have to say anything before he jumped out of the truck and grabbed his skates out of the back. He took off running across the snow and quickly slipped his skates on. I followed him down to the pond and took a seat on the bench. It was fucking freezing.
I brought my hands to my face and blew into them, trying to warm them up. I hadn’t brought gloves with me, because I was an idiot and now I was going to freeze. I watched as he joined his friends, completely ignoring me.
“Well, I guess that’s that,” I said to myself.
“They forget you pretty quickly,” a female voice said as a woman sat beside me.
I glanced over and had to take a second look. It was the doctor from the hospital. I turned to face her, a huge grin on my face. I couldn’t believe it. How was I that lucky?
“I’m sorry, I don’t know if you remember me, but I saw you at the hospital about two weeks ago.”
She turned to look at me, trying to remember my face. Obviously, I was not as memorable to her as she was to me. “You look familiar, but I’m sorry, I can’t quite place you.”
I cleared my throat, not sure how to bring it up. It wasn’t like that was a fun first meeting. “Um…I was there with my brothers and a friend, Jack. He lost his wife…”
Her face fell and she looked back out over the pond. “I remember. How is your friend doing?”
“Honestly, he’s not really speaking to any of us.”
“What happened?” she asked curiously. “I know a beam fell on her, but how did it happen?”
I blew out a breath and watched Adam on the ice as I told her the short version of it. “One of my brothers is with this woman and her ex came into the picture. He lost it when he found out that she wouldn’t be going back to him. He kidnapped Natalie, Jack’s wife, and took her out to an old barn on the property to draw Carly out. Honestly, the damn thing should have been torn down years ago, but…well, it’s too late now.”
I could tell that this was bringing the whole mood down, and probably reminding her of shit she didn’t want to remember. I looked over at her and smiled. “So, what brings you out here on this very cold day?”
“Oh, you know, I just like to sit in the cold whenever I get the chance,” she grinned. “Nothing like cold weather to make you feel alive.”
I barked out a laugh, shaking my head. “I’d rather be anywhere else. My couch is looking pretty good right about now.”
“Here you go,” a man said, walking up to her with two cups of hot chocolate from a stand that was set up across the pond.
“Thanks, Nathan. Um, this is…” Her brows furrowed and she laughed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Will,” I said, holding out my hand to the man, even though I wanted to throat punch him for being with her.
“Charlie,” she smiled. “I work with Nathan at the hospital.”
So, not a boyfriend? She would have introduced him that way otherwise, right?
“You have a kid out there?” Nathan asked.
“God no,” I laughed. “Kids…eesh. No, well, I’m watching a friend’s kid for the night. I brought him here to hang out with his friends.”
“So, not a fan of kids?” Charlie asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, I mean, it’s not like I’m against them. I’m a teacher. I see them all day, so on the weekends, this isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.”
She nodded, a slight smile on her face. “My son is eight. He’s the one over there in the purple coat.” I followed her gaze and almost cringed at what I saw. The poor kid was dressed more like a girl than anything. He had on a purple coat and a salmon colored hat. His snow pants were the same color as his hat. What was she thinking sending her kid into public in that shit?
“Uh…cute kid,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
“His father picked that stuff out, my ex-husband.”
“So… you didn’t…”
“Pick out purple and pink for him? No, I would have gone with blue or black, but I didn’t get to take him shopping this year for his snow gear.”
I watched her and Nathan sitting together, wondering what this whole dynamic was. She was being way too friendly for someone that was seeing another man, especially when the guy was sitting right next to her. But I wasn’t an asshole. I wasn’t going to ask for her number when another guy was sitting there.
“Where do you teach?” she asked.
“Manteno,” I answered. “High school history.”
“Do you like it?”
I shrugged. “It’s not bad. It’s not what I wanted to do, but life doesn’t always work out the way you plan.”
“What did you want to do?” she asked.
“I wanted to play professional baseball.”
“You and every other kid out there,” she laughed.
I smiled at her. “I know, it sounds like a pipe dream. I was actually pretty good. I played in college and even got drafted to the Cubs.”
“Really?” she asked, surprised.
I grinned at her. “Yeah, I was pretty good, but I blew my arm out. I had to have surgery on my UCL, but I was never going to play professionally after that.”
“You say you were drafted?” Nathan asked. “What’s your last name?”
“Cortell.”
His eyes widened and he came and sat down between Charlie and I, something I wasn’t too happy about. “Oh my gosh, are you serious?”
“Uh… I think?”
“Oh my gosh, Charlie, this guy was set to become one of the greatest pitchers. I remember, everyone was talking about you. You were supposed to lead the Cubs to the next World Series.”
I laughed slightly at that. “Well, I don’t know about that. I was pretty good, but who knows what would have happened.”
Charlie
I watched as Nathan hijacked my date. Well, it wasn’t a date. I just happened to see him sitting there and wanted to talk to him. He was cute, and Nathan and I had a rule that if one of us found someone to date, the other would step aside, no questions asked. Which was why Nathan was so cool being out here with me and Oliver, and not caring at all that I was talking to another man.
However, the moment he heard baseball, I no longer existed. Nathan was a huge sports fan, especially baseball. So meeting an actual player must have been a thrill for him. I watched him gush over Will, talking baseball with him like he was actually playing for the Cubs now.
While they were talking, I took the opportunity to check out Will a little more closely. He had light
brown hair and sharp, blue eyes that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. He was handsome, with a gorgeous smile that showed off his perfectly white teeth. I could tell through his fitted coat that he was muscular, and I wanted to see what those muscles looked like up close. His eyes flicked to mine and smiled at me almost teasingly. I smiled back knowingly. He was stuck now. I wouldn’t be able to get a word in edgewise until Nathan decided to stop talking.
I shifted my attention back to Oliver and immediately frowned. There were some kids gathered around him, pulling at him, and one kid pushed him. His skates shifted out from under him and he fell back on the ice. I didn’t even get a chance to stand up before Will was on his feet and heading in that direction. I followed, because I couldn’t be sure that he was actually going to stand up for my kid.
“Hey!” Will shouted. “What the hell is your problem?”
The kids turned to him and laughed. “Ooh, I’m so scared. His daddy’s coming to rescue him,” one of the boys taunted.
“I’m not his dad, but I am about to kick your ass if you don’t knock it off.”
I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand. Had he really just threatened to beat up little kids?
“Hey,” one of the mother’s shouted. “Don’t talk to my kid like that.”
“Then get your kid under control,” Will snapped. “He’s being a bully.”
“He’s just playing,” the mother responded.
“By pushing another kid down on the ice?” he asked. “He could have cracked his skull open.”
The mother looked irritated, so I stepped in, needing to diffuse the situation. “Look, maybe you could just talk with your son and explain to him that pushing and shoving on the ice is dangerous. I’m a doctor. Believe me, I’ve seen plenty of injuries.”
“And while you’re at it,” Will continued, “tell your kid to pick on someone his own size.”
The mother pursed her lips and turned to her son. “Come on, Marty. Let’s go.”
Will shook his head as the kid passed, growling under his breath at him. The kid looked up at Will with wide eyes and then scurried past him to his mother. I walked over to Oliver on the ice and bent down beside him.
Textbook Approach: A Small Town Romance Page 3