by Nicole Ellis
7
A couple of weeks into the school year, Patrick called to invite her for coffee, to discuss how they were implementing what they’d learned about drama in their classrooms. Several of the kids in her class had a flair for the dramatic, so she had no doubt they’d love it if she came up with additional ideas to incorporate theater into their studies.
“Over here,” he called out when Sarah arrived at the coffee shop in Haven Shores. He was sitting in a dark wooden chair at a table for two in the corner of the shop and she hadn’t seen him at first. She waved to him and cut through the throngs of people waiting to order, to get to where he was sitting.
“Hey,” she said as she took off her coat. “I’m going to order a latte. Do you want anything?” She motioned to the crumb-filled paper napkin in front of him. He appeared to have been sitting there for quite some time already, although she was sure she wasn’t late.
“No.” He smiled that dimpled grin at her and her heart almost melted before she steeled herself against it. “I got here early and was working on some of my lesson plans, so I thought I’d grab a snack.” He nodded behind her at the line. “You’d better get over there if you want to get your order sometime this year.”
She groaned inwardly when she saw the line of people, which had doubled in the last few minutes and was now snaking across the coffee shop, almost to the door. She quickly took her place and, after taking a couple of minutes to decide what she wanted to order, she allowed her mind to wander.
Although her date with Derek had been a disaster, he’d called her afterward and invited her on a second date. She’d politely declined. What would Patrick think though? Would Derek have told him she’d turned down a second date? Patrick had seemed sincere in setting them up and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so if Derek hadn’t said anything to him, she wasn’t going to either. Her vision drifted over to Patrick.
His head was bent over a notebook and she let her gaze linger on him. He scratched something on the paper with his ballpoint pen and absentmindedly took a sip out of his venti-sized coffee without looking up. Why was it that when she’d finally found a man that checked off all the boxes, he was engaged? What were the odds that she would find another kind man, who loved kids, made her laugh, and was easy to talk to? That was a tall order.
“Miss?” Someone broke into her reverie and she looked up to see the drawn face of an exhausted barista. He looked as though he needed a few shots of his own wares. Somehow she’d made it to the front of the line, mindlessly following the person in front of her without even noticing.
She shook her head. “Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought.” She stared at the menu. All memories of what she’d planned to order had flown from her head when it filled with thoughts of the perfect man.
“What would you like?” the man asked, impatience seeping through every word. Someone behind her bumped her and she had to lean against the counter to catch her balance. The movement jolted her enough to remember what she wanted to drink.
“Uh, let’s go with a grande pumpkin-spiced latte.”
He hovered the tip of a black permanent marker over the white cup he was holding up. “Name?”
“Sarah.” She swiped her credit card and stepped aside to wait at the other end of the bar for her drink. She glanced back at Patrick, but he was still working on his lesson plans.
The air in the coffee shop smelled heavenly: a blend of coffee, spices, and sugary treats. A female barista, who judging by her perkiness must have been at the beginning of her shift, pushed Sarah’s drink order over the counter to her. With the warm cup in hand, she walked back to Patrick’s table and slid into the chair she’d hung her jacket on.
Patrick looked up and smiled. “That didn’t take too long.”
“It felt like a long time,” she said, although in all honesty, the time had flown by because she’d been daydreaming for most of it. All around them, people were chattering, and she had to lean in close to hear him. “It looked like you were working on something over here.”
“I was.” He flipped a couple pages back in his notebook. “I’m glad we had a chance to meet up today. I wanted to run some of my plans by you for incorporating drama into my classroom this year.”
“Sure.” She took a sip of her drink, promptly burning her tongue. To cool the coffee down, she removed the lid and set it on a brown paper napkin on the table. “What do you have planned? I’ve been working on some ideas for my class too.”
“Well,” he said. “I’m thinking of having my class vote on a book to read and then have them dissect it. Once they’ve identified all of the important elements of the story, I’ll have them create a simple play, using a three-act structure.”
She stared at him. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “That’s a fantastic idea. I think they’ll love it.”
He flushed. “Thanks. I’m sure it will be a lot of work, but I’m feeling like my lesson plans have become stagnant over the years.”
She nodded. “I know what you mean. I’ve only been at Candle Beach Elementary for a few years, but I don’t want to do the same thing every year. I’d like to shake up my lesson plans a little.”
“What did you have in mind?” he asked, taking a slug of what must now be lukewarm coffee.
“My kids are a little younger than yours, so I think I’m going to have them create their own play and perform it, rather than base it off a book. I think they’ll like it.” She stopped, thinking about her class. There were a few shyer kids in the class and she didn’t know how they’d react to performing in front of their classmates, but she figured she’d help them through it. Maybe some of them would even discover a love for theater. She hadn’t attended a theatrical play until high school and she’d often wished she’d been introduced to theater at a younger age.
“Sounds good.” He jotted a few things down in his notebook. “I found a good guidebook for drama in the classroom. I can’t remember it right now, but I’ll send you the name of it.”
“Thanks. I’d like that.” She sipped her coffee, which thankfully now was cool enough to drink without pain. The pumpkin-spiced latte tasted like fall and she made sure to get at least one every year, although she preferred her beloved eggnog latte that reminded her of Christmas. “How’s the house remodel going?”
“Slow.” He laughed. “With school starting, I’ve been focused on that and the renovations have been placed on the back burner. Now that I’m more in the swing of things, I’m going to get back to it.” He cocked his head to the side. “Did I ever tell you that Parker Gray has a buyer interested in the property?”
She scrunched up her face in thought. “No, I don’t think so. I didn’t even know you knew Parker. I’m friends with his sister. Actually, she lives above the bookstore where I work.”
“He mentioned that when I asked him about you.” He clamped his mouth shut, but not before causing her to wonder.
“You asked him about me?”
“Oh, I just mentioned to him that I knew a teacher up in Candle Beach and he said he knew you.”
“Ah.” She didn’t push it any further. “Do you have any plans for Halloween?”
He laughed. “I’m not that into Halloween, but I’ll probably dress up as a vampire again this year. My students get a kick out of seeing me in costume.”
She grinned. “I bet. I usually play it safe with a witch costume, but I’m more of a Christmas person.”
“Not into skeletons and pumpkins?”
“Nah. Although I do enjoy the Fall Harvest Festival at the high school.”
“I’ve never been.”
“It’s fun. There’s bobbing for apples, costume contests, games for the little kids, and other stuff.” She shrugged. “I’ve been going since I was a small child, and now that I teach here, I like seeing the kids in my class participate.”
“I’ll have to add it to my schedule.” He smiled warmly at her, making her core temperature rise.
“Your fiancée must get tired
of going to all the school events.” Sarah paused. “Or do you not make her go to them? They must get boring after a while.”
“My fiancée?” He gave her a puzzled look. “Nina’s been gone since last spring.”
“Gone?” Her heart beat faster. Did he mean what she thought he meant? Was he single?
He sighed. “Yeah. We parted ways. She needed to find herself or something.”
“Oh.” A mixture of emotions swirled up inside of her. His fiancée’s departure must have been traumatic for him. “I’m sorry. I know the two of you were together for a long time.”
“Yeah. We were.” Pain crossed his face, but he forced a smile. “It’s okay. I’m pretty much over it now.”
She scanned his face. It obviously hurt to talk about Nina. But was he ready to date again? A sickening feeling hit her. If his fiancée was gone and he was over her, when he’d offered to fix Sarah up with Derek, he’d subtly told her that he had no interest in her as a woman. So that left them right back where she’d thought, squarely in the friend zone, although now it hurt even worse because she knew he wasn’t interested in her in the slightest.
She blinked back tears, then pushed her chair back and stood. “I’d probably better get going. I’ve got some papers to grade before tomorrow.”
“Oh,” he said with surprise. “I thought we’d talk a little longer.” He chuckled self-consciously. “I don’t get much adult conversation time.”
“I know the feeling,” she said, without thinking. Part of her wanted to stay, to spend more time with Patrick, but the other part of her wanted to get as far away from him as possible so she could deal with the news that he was no longer engaged. How was she going to get over these feelings now?
Inspiration struck. “You know, a friend of mine was just saying she could use more adult conversation. She’s a guidance counselor at the middle school and, while she loves her job, she gets tired of the angsty teenagers.”
“Are you trying to do some matchmaking?” He laughed. “I guess I deserve that after I fixed you up with my friend. By the way, how did that go?”
She took a deep breath and pasted a smile on her face. “It went well. Derek’s a great guy.” She hated lying to him, but she needed the protection it gave her.
“Great, great.” She felt his eyes search her face and fought the urge to be honest with him. “I guess I could go out on a blind date.”
“Fantastic,” she said brightly. “I’ll let Maura know that you’re up for it and give her your phone number.”
“I look forward to hearing from her,” he said.
She eyed him. “This is kind of fun, right? Fixing each other up with friends?”
“We should call this our matchmaking pact,” he quipped.
“Yes. Maybe we should write a song about it and perform it for our classes.” She felt her spirits rise as they bantered back and forth. Even if there was no chance of a romantic relationship with him, she was happy to call him a friend.
His eyes danced. “I can see it now. Although our school principals might not be so fond of the concept.”
“Maybe not.” She couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of the stodgy assistant principal’s face if he knew what they were joking about. Hopefully their arrangement wouldn’t land them in hot water. She stood there awkwardly for a moment, then said, “Well, I’d better go. Good luck with Maura.”
“You too.”
She turned and left, pushing the door open and walking out into the cold October afternoon. When she’d agreed to meet with Patrick for coffee, she’d resolved not to waste any energy being attracted to him because he was involved with someone else. Now that she knew he wasn’t, there was a glimmer of hope that she couldn’t quite stamp out, even though she knew it wasn’t realistic. Fixing him up with Maura had been a stroke of genius though, and if they hit it off, surely this feeling would go away.
8
Patrick drove slowly through the streets of Candle Beach, looking for the address he’d written on a yellow Post-It note. In the middle of October, the skies were dark at this time of night and the streetlights barely provided enough light to see the house numbers.
Finally, he found the right place. It was a small blue Cape Cod style home with red trim and window boxes that held the remains of summer flowers. The yard was neatly manicured and the house itself appeared to have been recently painted. At least in the dark, it was a beautiful specimen of early 1920s architecture. He’d be proud to own a house as nicely maintained as this one.
A few days after they met for coffee, Sarah had come through on her promise to give her friend Maura his phone number. Maura had called him, and they’d arranged for him to pick her up at her house for a dinner date. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about going out on a blind date, but he had to get back into the dating world – Nina had been gone for over six months. It could be worse – at least this was a friend of a friend and not some woman he’d met at a bar and knew nothing about. Sarah had vouched for Maura, so she couldn’t be that bad.
He’d seen the look of surprise on Sarah’s face when he told her that he and Nina had broken up. How had she not known that already? Thinking back though, they hadn’t seen each other since last summer, and when they met at the class this past summer, telling her about Nina leaving may not have been at the forefront of his mind since the breakup was months in the past.
He’d like to think that his engagement was the reason Sarah hadn’t expressed any interest in him, but even after she knew that Nina had left, she’d still offered to fix him up with her friend. And she and Derek must have hit it off if she was still dating him weeks after their first date, so he’d missed any chance he had with her.
He pushed those thoughts out of his head and, with his palms sweating, rapped sharply on the front door of Maura’s house. He’d made reservations for dinner at the Seaside Grille on Main Street. When he and Parker had gone out for beer and wings at the local pub, Parker had mentioned that it was the fanciest restaurant in town and how much Gretchen loved it. He hoped the date would go well, because he didn’t know if he could take any more rejection.
A woman answered the door wearing a sleeveless blue dress that showed off her long, shapely legs. Glossy dark hair swung around her shoulders, catching the light streaming from inside the house. Sarah hadn’t been talking her up untruthfully. This woman was gorgeous.
She beamed at him. “Patrick?”
He nodded. He liked the way she smiled. But her smile didn’t light up her face the way Sarah’s did when she was happy about something. Get it together, Patrick. Sarah isn’t interested in you.
He held out his hand. “Hi. Nice to meet you.”
“Hi. I’m Maura. But of course, you know that since you came to my house.” She laughed. “It’s nice to meet you too, but this is really awkward.”
“No kidding.” The ice had been broken between them and something about her made him feel comfortable anyway. “I guess this is how Sarah must have felt when I fixed her up with my friend. That seems to have worked out though, so maybe we’ll have the same luck.” He instantly regretted what he’d said. She must think he sounded like an idiot.
She looked at him sharply, but didn’t comment. Instead, she jutted her thumb backward toward the living room. “Let me grab my purse and I’ll be all ready to go.” She disappeared for a moment, then reappeared with a small black leather purse hanging over her shoulder. She grabbed her coat off of a hook by the door. “How do you feel about walking to town? It’s such a nice day.”
“Sure,” Patrick said. “I wouldn’t mind a walk.”
She locked the door of her cottage behind them and they walked together down the porch steps to the sidewalk. She breathed deeply. “I love the smell of the sea here.”
“Me too.” He grinned. This was actually going quite well, or at least as well as possible with thoughts of Sarah lingering in his mind. “Are you not from this area either?”
“No, I’m a transplant from Califo
rnia. I have a cousin who lives in town and I came up to visit her one time and decided to never leave. Luckily, a job at the middle school had just come open, so it was perfect timing. You?” She turned her head up to him.
“I’m from Kansas, but this is where I found a job after college.” He gazed down the street toward the restaurant. “I always wonder what it’s like to be like Sarah and live in your hometown. She seems to love living here and being near her family. I envy that. Even if I was back in Kansas, I don’t know that I’d want to live in the town where I grew up.” His parents still lived in the sleepy farming town where he’d attended high school, but it had always felt too confining and landlocked to him.
“I’ve always wondered too.” He felt her eyes on him. “Do you know Sarah well?”
Well? He wouldn’t say that, but he’d like to know everything about her. He halted in the middle of the sidewalk and Maura bumped into him. Where had that thought come from? He was on a date with someone else. He needed to focus on his date and not be thinking about another woman.
“Sorry, what did you say?” he asked.
She shot him an odd look. “I was asking how well you know Sarah. She didn’t say how long you’d known each other.”
“We met last year at a summer continuing education class.” Images of them laughing together during and after class spread through his mind. Seriously, he needed to get her out of his head. He walked faster, desperate to have the physical activity distract him.
“Hey,” Maura said as she ran up to him, puffing slightly in the frigid air. “I thought you said we were having dinner at the Seaside Grille.”
He stopped. “We are, why?”
She pointed up the hill. “Because you passed it half a block ago. You’re acting like you’re in a speed-walking competition instead of trying to find it.”