Adam’s jaw tightened as he watched the president walk away. She was just another person telling him he didn’t have what it took to make things happen, that he was biting off more than he could chew and should stick to the easy route.
Taking the path of least resistance had done nothing but bring Adam misery in the past. It had been easy to go along with his father’s wishes. The cost of living a life he hadn’t wanted, and giving up the things he actually did want, had been nearly too high a price to pay. He’d lost so much by going along to get along. His freedom, his self-respect, his confidence, it had all been stripped away from him because he’d allowed others to make decisions for him because it was easier. Too bad it had taken Adam too long to realize that easier didn’t mean better for him in the long run.
Adam didn’t come back home for easy. He came home to prove something to himself. That he was just as adept at using his head as he was at using his body on a basketball court.
If the school board wanted him to prove himself, then he would. But first, he’d have to make things right with Janae. Otherwise, everything else was going to blow up in his face.
Chapter 14
Please don’t leave before we can talk. Meet me in my office.
Janae read Adam’s text over and over again for the last ten minutes while she sat in her car stewing.
“Go home, Janae. You don’t need an explanation. You already know he played you. That’s the only important thing right now.”
She leaned forward in her car, pushing the ignition button and then gripping her gearshift knob for dear life. Since she religiously backed into parking spots, all she had to do was step on her brake, shift into drive, press her accelerator, and go.
Yet, the car remained in park, and gas was expensive as hell. She pressed the ignition button again and shut the car off. She wasn’t leaving, not until she told him exactly where he and his so-called friendship could go.
In a blur, she locked up her car, headed straight for the administration building, and was doing her level best to keep her rage under wraps for fear the school safety officer would see her as a threat.
Her professional face must’ve worked because soon the officer said, “Ms. Sanders, he’s ready for you.”
I sincerely doubt that.
Janae kept her face as impassive as possible. She may have been seething inside, but she didn’t need anyone in her business. So she kept a professional smile fixed to her face until she sat down in the chair in front of Adam.
Too angry to speak, she looked down at Adam’s desk upon entering his office for a distraction and found his desk plate engraved with words that felt like a match to gasoline as she read each one.
DR. A. D. HENDERSON, ED.D.
In smaller print, the title written beneath his name burned brighter than anything else on the plaque.
INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
The litany ran across his mind like a ticker reel at the bottom of a newsfeed. He walked around to the opposite side of his desk, flopping down in his chair as he tried to figure out next steps.
“Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”
He watched her sit down across from him, staring at him with hard-set eyes and pursed lips.
“I’m not exactly sure what you want me to say. I didn’t know you were the PTA president, Janae. I know this is a small town, but that doesn’t mean I know every single person in the district.”
She cocked her head to the side as if she were trying to unlock some mystery that he was somehow the key to. It took all of his effort to keep the thrill of her eyes on him from feeding the small spark of desire that, if given the chance, would grow into a full-on blaze in the middle of his office.
He was barely hanging on. He’d gone decades without seeing this woman, yet one night in her presence, one night of just talkingto her, one night learning about her, and he was suddenly unable to think about anything or anyone else.
Get it together, Adam.
“You really expect me to believe you didn’t purposely seek me out?”
“If you’re asking me if I came home with the specific intentions of looking you up, the answer is no. I had no idea anything was going to happen between us when I moved back. Once I ran into you, then yeah, I was interested in seeing where things could go. I like you, Janae. I really do want to get to know you better. But I didn’t do it with any motive other than getting to know a beautiful woman who intrigued me. I didn’t know you were the PTA president.”
Some of the tension in her shoulders began to loosen, just slightly.
“But…”
