Fuck.
I looked over to Harvey’s shit-eating grin and gray suit and tried not to scowl. My stomach flipped, then froze.
Before I could say anything about yesterday, Harvey said, “You got a message from Evan’s dad again.”
“Evanne,” I corrected without thinking, then frowned. “A message?”
“A phone call, actually,” Harvey said, reaching my desk. “He wanted us to put you on the phone, but we said you were in class so he’d have to wait, as per school policy. Can’t make it too easy on him, am I right?” He winked.
I smiled thinly.
“Anywho,” Harvey went on, “he ended up leaving a message. Just to call him if you can. Here, I wrote down his digits.”
He held out a sticky note. I peeled it from his fingertips, careful not to touch his hand. I didn’t mention that I already had Alec’s phone number.
“Thank you for the message, Mr. Harvey,” I said as professionally as I could.
It was too much to hope that he’d turn around and leave immediately, accepting the fact that I wasn’t interested in him.
“Looks like you’re really going above and beyond for this guy.”
My heart gave a skipping beat. “What do you mean?”
“Saw you talking to him after school yesterday. The email, the meeting, and now the phone call…”
I waited for him to make an accusation. He was taking his time getting to one. I wanted to come up with a good explanation that wouldn’t get me fired, but I was having trouble coming up with something. Being silent seemed like the best idea.
“McCrae is our richest parent,” Harvey reminded me. “And that’s saying something. McKenna’s pleased as punch you’re making a special case for the guy.”
Principal McKenna knew about this?
Harvey’s smirk faded into something ugly. “I’m sure it’s all professional, right? After all, it’s not against any policy to have the private number of a parent on your private phone. Just remember who you work for. Have a nice afternoon, Lumen.”
He turned and strutted out of the room, apparently confident he’d put me in my place. I released my breath even as annoyance crept in. Who did he think he was with all that ‘remember who you work for’ shit? He sounded like he was watching too many mafia movies, giving me some sort of cryptic warning or something like that.
I hoped it was just because he was still trying to get in my pants, but I had to consider the fact that he suspected I’d been doing more than having conferences about Evanne.
While there wasn’t anything specific in the rules about not dating parents of students, I knew in a place like this, it wouldn’t take much for them to find some reason to fire me anyway.
I never should have agreed to dinner with Alec. Not the first time, and definitely not the second. And then to stay for breakfast…
I dropped my face in my hands. I was so stupid.
I looked at the sticky note with Alec’s number on it. He wanted me to call him. The clock said gym class was nearly over, so I didn’t have time for a whole phone conversation. But putting it off wasn’t a good idea either. I decided to send him a text instead.
Hello, this is Ms. Browne. You wanted to speak with me?
It was weird to be so formal with him now, but I didn’t want to risk having anything on my phone that wasn’t one hundred percent professional. I sent the message and put my phone down, trying to steady my breathing as I returned to marking papers, but my phone buzzed seconds later. It was Alec.
Hi. Evanne has karate after school at five o’clock. Can I pick you up after I drop her off? We can talk then.
I’ll be in my classroom until five,I sent back. It was the most professional way I could think to answer his text.
OK see you then
Voice to text, I thought as I read it. That particular program had always driven me crazy how it used all caps for certain things likeOKinstead ofokay.
At least having time after school would give me more room to mark these tests, since I’d barely gotten two of them done since gym started, but that also meant I’d be alone for over an hour with Harvey stalking the hallways. Ugh.
