Do teachers really do that? He’d written it in cursive. Do kids read cursive anymore? His throat went dry as the first students started to trickle in. They immediately went about their business. Unpacking their lunch boxes, hanging their backpacks, and taking their seats. They sat quietly and stared at him as though waiting for him to say something.
“Hey, there.” Grant’s voice cracked like it hadn’t since he was thirteen. He cleared it and repeated himself. “Hey, how ya doing?”
“Are you our new teacher?” A boy with spiked hair crinkled his nose at Grant.
“Yes, I am.”
“A boy teacher?”
“Yup.”
The little boy crinkled his face up even more. “I never saw a boy teacher before.”
“Aren’t there any others in this school?”
“No. Just janitors.”
“Well, I’m not a janitor.” Grant walked to the front door and looked out at all the students pouring in through the side door. Down the hallway, he saw Lottie in her room, sitting at her desk and taking a piece of paper from a little girl. She glanced at the paper and hugged the girl. Clearly, she had an ease with the students that he wasn’t sure he’d ever develop. He didn’t know what to say to them. As the girl left her desk, Lottie glanced over and their eyes locked. Instantly embarrassed for staring, again, Grant backed away and nearly knocked over a boy who was entering the room. “Sorry, buddy.” He patted the boy on the head and swiftly scuttled into the seat at his desk. He pulled his briefcase up onto the table and pulled out the lesson plan. He shuffled and fumbled through it until the bell rang. He avoided eye contact with all the children who were watching his every move. They almost appeared suspicious that he could be a good teacher. Could they smell his fear? He pretended to throw an imaginary object into the trash, but it was just a ploy to sniff his armpit. Was he beginning to sweat and stink?
The spiky-haired boy seemed to be smirking at Grant when he looked up from his sniff check. Grant’s cheeks flushed. He rubbed the back of his neck and jumped when the second bell rang. Springing to his feet, he grabbed the dry erase marker and scribbled his name on the board, chuckling nervously and grabbing the eraser after realizing he’d just written it for the second time.
“Just writing it in a more eye-friendly color.” He erased the name previously written in green. “As you probably noticed, I’m Mr. Ryan, and I’ll be your teacher for the rest of the year.”
The boy with the spiked hair raised his hand.
“Yes?”
“Are you sure you’re not a janitor?”
Giggles poorly hushed behind little hands trickled forward. The little boy clearly enjoyed the raucous he’d caused, and it was obvious to Grant that by the look on his face that this was going to be a reoccurring question from this boy in a bid for attention.
“I’m sure I’m not a janitor. But to be honest, this is my first time teaching, so I’m going to need help from all of you.”
“Your first time?” The spiky-haired boy’s eyes grew wide. “But you’re so old.”
“I’m not that old. I’m only thirty-six.”
“Thirty-six! That’s older than my dad. And you have some gray hair.”
“People can get gray hair at any age. I knew a boy that graduated high school with some gray hair. And I don’t have that much.” Grant ran his fingers through the gray hair at his temples. “Anyway, I was a firefighter before this.”
The kids seemed to all lean forward at once, hands shooting into the air. The boy with the spiky hair didn’t even bother raising his hand. “A real firefighter? That’s so cool. Did you ever rescue anyone?”
Grant smiled. The mood in the room seemed to shift. No longer was he suspected of being a janitor but was now a real-life superhero. “Yes, I’ve pulled a number of people from fires.”
“Did you get to drive the firetruck?”
“No, I didn’t drive. I just rode on it. What’s your name?”
“Martin.” The boy with the spiky hair spat out his name, ready to ask another question.
“Martin, why don’t you let some of the others have a chance to ask a question?”
Martin smiled and shook his head, raising his hand in the air, happily doing what the cool, non-janitor asked of him.
The rest of the morning slid by quickly for Grant, and it wasn’t long until it was time to send the kids to lunch and recess. Grant checked his schedule. This quarter was not his to monitor the lunchroom. The class’s former teacher, Melissa, had done that chore. “Thank you, Melissa.” Grant pulled his lunch out of his briefcase and sighed. Though the morning had quickly improved from the way it had started, he was glad to have a break. His lunch was packed in a brown paper sack with his name scratched shakily across the front. Nana had packed his lunch the night before and put it in his briefcase early that morning. The night before, she had asked him what he’d like in his lunch, and while he told her he would pack it himself, she insisted that she needed to do something to feel useful now that she was no longer cooking for Papa Joe.
Looking at his name lovingly scribbled across the bag, he smiled and rose, walking over to the door. He peeked down the hall to Lottie’s room, wondering if she was there. He spied her at her desk, opening a container and getting ready to eat. He returned to his desk, grabbing his lunch sack, and headed across the hall. He was worried he’d be invading her space. She’d rushed off so suddenly that morning, but she seemed to be enjoying herself before then. Maybe she had forgotten something suddenly? His pit check earlier told him that it couldn’t have been his smell that offended her.
Grant softly tapped on the doorframe. Lottie looked up and smiled. His body flooded with warmth, and he smiled back. “Hey, Lottie. You mind if I join you?” He held up his sack.
Lottie nodded. Grant walked over and pulled a student chair over to her desk and sat down, placing his sack on the desk. Lottie giggled and rose. She walked into the small broom closet and rolled out another large swivel chair. “You might be more comfortable in this.”
Grant grinned. Quickly sliding the student seat back, he turned. “Thanks. I felt like a bit of an ass in that tiny seat.”
“I hate sitting in them. I always feel like they’re going to break.”
“I didn’t even consider that.” Grant opened his lunch and pulled out a sandwich followed by a note.
Have a good first day at school. I love you, Nana.
Grant folded the note and tucked it in his pocket.
His cheeks flushed. He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling like a little boy again. The way Lottie was smiling, he knew she’d seen the note. “So? My nana loves me.”
“I think it’s super sweet.” Lottie smiled. “I wish I still had my grandma around. She died when we were stationed at McChord.”
We? Grant’s eyes shot to her left hand. There was no ring on her finger. He forced his eyes to return to hers.
“Where’s McChord?”
“It’s near Seattle.”
“Is that where you’re from originally?”
“No, I grew up in Michigan. I was in Seattle on vacation visiting a friend of mine when I met David.” Lottie’s eyes dropped.
Grant almost didn’t want to ask the next question, but he knew he had to. He could tell from the way Lottie shifted in her chair that she knew the question was coming.
“Who’s David?”
Lottie took a bite of her salad and chewed, smiling and swallowing hard before picking up her water. “My husband.” She took a drink.
Grant’s eyes drifted back down to her bare finger. “Oh.” He unwrapped his peanut butter and jelly sandwich—with the crust cut off—and took a bite. His stomach suddenly felt too full of his dropped heart to allow the bite of sandwich; he forced it down anyway.
“We’re not together anymore.” Lottie tucked her hair behind her ear and put another bite of salad in her mouth. “He’s living in Hawaii now.”
“I see.” A mix of emotions flooded through him. R
elief that she was not married and guilt for being grateful for that. “Do you have any kids?”
Lottie shoved another bite of salad in her mouth. She shook her head.
“Do you?” Lottie asked once she’d finished chewing.
“No. No kids. Never been married.”
Lottie smiled at him. Their conversation stalled, and Grant could hear nothing but the sound of his chewing. Was it extra loud? He swallowed. It seemed so loud that he looked at her to see if she’d noticed or been grossed out. He wondered if her ex-husband had been an obnoxious chewer. He had so many questions about this man who had a girl like Lottie and lost her. It was clear from the awkward way Lottie’s body had shifted and the way she now suddenly became focused on her lunch that she didn’t want to talk about it, so he wasn’t going to ask. His mind searched for a subject to switch to that would lighten the mood.
“So, you grew up in Michigan?”
Lottie nodded. A smile flitted across her lips, clear she was happy with the subject change. She took a drink of water.
“I always wanted to live someplace with snow when I was growing up. It only snowed a couple times, and when it did, the snow didn’t last the day. Do you miss winter?”
“No. I prefer the heat.”
“Well, you get plenty of that here.”
“The summer heat doesn’t really bother me. The only thing that I don’t like is the threat of tornados. I mean, there’re no basements, and I don’t have a storm shelter. I’d have to run over to my neighbor’s house.”
“Eh, don’t worry about that. The white buffalo protects us here.”
“If you believe in that sort of thing.” Lottie shook her head.
“I do. I grew up here, and I believed it all my life. I mean, we still got in the storm shelter when a warning went off, but nothing major has ever happened, and that’s saying something for tornado alley.”
“I guess, but I have bad luck. I probably brought it with me.”
“I don’t believe for a second that you’re bad luck.” Grant smiled.
Lottie tucked her hair behind her ear, smiled, her cheeks flushed pink. “So, how’s your first day going?”
“Pretty good. It started out a little rough. One kid kept insisting I was really a janitor. Once I told them that I was a firefighter, things turned around pretty quick.”
“I’ll bet. Kids love firefighters. Smart of you to bring that up.”
“It wasn’t any strategy on my part. I was just deflecting their insults. First, I was a janitor. Then I was too old to be a new teacher. Those kids were ruthless. It didn’t help that I wrote my name on the board twice, and I think one kid saw me sniffing my armpit.”
“Sniffing your armpit?” Lottie giggled. “What were you doing that for, weirdo?”
“I was so nervous, I was afraid I stunk. I thought I was being sly about it, but when I looked up, a kid was staring right at me.”
“They notice everything at this age. They’re so funny. You’re lucky you impressed them with your firefighter hero-ness or you’d end up with a nickname all year. Like Mr. Pitsniffer.”
“Oh, yeah? Did they ever give you a nickname?”
“No, but I’m a perfect teacher.” Lottie raised her chin and straighten her back.
“Well, I can believe that.” Grant took a bite of his sandwich and spied another smile pulling up the corners of Lottie’s lips as she took bite of her salad. He liked seeing her smile. She had a beautiful smile. “I haven’t actually done any teaching yet today.”
“You’ll get around to it. It’s good to take the time to get to know the kids and let them get to know you too. I’d do the same thing. There’ll be plenty of time to get caught up on the lesson later.”
“I guess I’m better at this than I thought.” Grant straightened in his chair.
“You’re going to be great.” Lottie winked at him.
“How long have you been teaching?” He leaned his head on his hand and turned his attention to her completely.
“Six years. This is my third year here. The first couple years I worked as a sub. It was easier to find work when I graduated, and it was hard to get hired when I was going to be moving in a few years, so I didn’t really try once I moved to Seattle. I was lucky to get a position when we moved here. Teachers leave often, as you know, and so there are vacancies opening, and the base school is more open to hiring teachers who may not be around for their entire careers. Welp, the bell is about to ring.” Lottie began packing up her lunch.
Grant did the same. It was obvious that Lottie was uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation again. Grant returned his chair to the broom closet.
“Would you like to have lunch with me again tomorrow?” He picked up his brown paper sack and rubbed the back of his neck.
Lottie looked up from their desk and smiled. “I’d like that.”
“Same place?”
“I’ll be here.”
“Great.” A shiver of excitement slid up Grant’s spine. He couldn’t wait to get home and tell Nana about his day.
“Great.” Lottie smiled and waved.
Grant turned and headed back to his class. Once inside, he threw his paper sack in the trash and sat at his desk. The image of her tucking her wavy, blonde hair behind her ear and that smile sliding across her lips entered his mind. David had to be the world’s biggest idiot, but he was grateful that he was. He couldn’t imagine meeting someone as sweet and beautiful as Lottie only to find out she wasn’t available.
Chapter Eight
Lottie
Once Grant was out of the room, Lottie let out a breath she felt she’d been holding since the moment he walked in and asked to join her. Her mind raced through the conversation. Had she told him she was still officially married? She had been so concerned with avoiding the subject of David that she wasn’t exactly sure what she revealed. She glanced at her bare finger. Maybe she should’ve worn her ring and avoided all the awkward silences. A smiled tugged at the corner of her mouth. Part of her was tickled that she hadn’t worn it. David was happy with someone else. Why should she be branded and marked by him?
A tickle in her stomach re-swirled and gave her a shiver. Grant did like her. Didn’t he? It was obvious. Wasn’t it? Not just wishful thinking on her part? Of course, it’d been so long since she’d been interested in any other man’s attention that it was very possible she was misreading things. Where else was he supposed to have lunch? Maybe he’s just lonely and looking to make friends. She was the only other third-grade teacher, after all. Her mind skipped to thoughts of Grant in a firefighter’s uniform, and her face instantly flushed with heat and her pelvis began to throb. Picking up a stack of quizzes on her desk, she fanned herself. She had to get her thoughts under control before the children started filtering back in. The last thing she needed was to be all hot and bothered when they returned. Kids that age did notice everything, and she didn’t need them asking why her head was all red.
For the rest of the afternoon, Lottie found herself drifting over to the classroom door as she taught, peering at Grant’s classroom, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. She never did. Laughter trickled down the hall on more than one occasion, though. He certainly was doing a good job of winning them over. She was curious what he was doing to get them laughing so hard and so often. Hopefully, they were laughing with him and not at him. But he had such an easy way about him, she was sure it was the former and not the latter.
When the bell rang at the end of the day, Lottie packed up quickly and lingered by the doorway in hopes of running into Grant. Not seeing him emerge after waiting for what felt like an awkward eternity, she closed her classroom and locked the door. She jumped when she turned around. Beth was standing right behind her.
“You scared the shit out of me!”
“Language! There are still children present.” Beth clutched her chest with wide eyes.
“Oh, shut up! The kids are all gone, and you have the worst potty mouth of anyone I’ve ever met.
”
Beth tilted her head and smiled, pulling both hands to her chest. “Really? Ever? I’m so honored. You like me. You really like me!”
“God, you’re an obnoxious nerd. You know that?” Lottie rolled her eyes and slung her bag over her shoulder. She glanced at Grant’s door.
“Whatcha looking at?” Beth turned to look at the door.
Lottie shook her head and smiled. “Shut up.”
“Let’s go see how Mr. Ryan’s first day went, shall we?” Beth twirled and walked toward his classroom.
Lottie grabbed her hand. “Don’t! I don’t wanna bother him.”
“How is asking how his first day went ‘bothering’ him?” Beth marched into the classroom. “Well, hey there, Grant. How was your first day?”
Lottie lingered outside the classroom, shook her head, and peeked in. Beth was sitting on the corner of his desk. Spying Lottie, she waved her in. Lottie drug her feet and stood next to Beth. She smiled at Grant, gave a quick wave, and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Hey Lottie.” Grant smiled.
She chewed her lip when his eyes met hers. Her legs felt like spaghetti. She casually stepped back and took a seat on the edge of one of the student’s desks.
“I had a great day. As I told Lottie at lunch, it started off a little rough, but it wasn’t long before we were all havin’ a pretty good time in here. I guess tomorrow I’ll have to do some teaching. I didn’t accomplish much.”
“Getting comfortable with the kids is accomplishing a lot.” Lottie smiled. “You don’t want them to think of you as a substitute, and treat you like one, all year.”
“Or like a janitor.” Grant chuckled.
Lottie giggled. Beth raised an eyebrow at Lottie. Uh-oh, she could tell that Beth was going to grill her to find out what all that was about.
“So, Grant, do you have any big plans for the weekend?” Beth kept her eyes on Lottie before turning back to him.
Easy Love Page 6