Halfway to my car, a voice to my left says, “Brie Casey, is that you?”
I stop, turn, and take in the short, stout woman before me. She has a few more grays and a couple extra worry lines, but her eyes are still as sharp as a hawk’s, and her lips just as permanently pursed as they were when she was terrorizing my class with irregular Spanish verbs.
“Señora Martinez?”
“No, it’s Eva Longoria. Come here.”
I’m a head taller than her, but before I can even process that she tells jokes now, my face is pressed tight against her chest.
Señora Martinez was one of the only adults who treated all her students the same, regardless of who our parents were or what neighborhood we lived in.
“I work in the front office now. I heard you’re our new substitute.” Her voice is laced with excitement, belying the stern expression she’s always worn.
Delicately, I extricate myself from her arms.
“Yeah, that’s me,” I say, pulling my coat tighter around me.
She takes me by the shoulders and holds me out for inspection, like a piece of fruit at the grocery store. “You’re thin.”
I flutter my eyelashes. “Thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment. You look bad.” She cups my chin, angling my head this way and that. “And you look like you didn’t sleep last night.” She doesn’t give me the chance to tell her it’s because I didn’t. “No matter, I’m so glad you’ve come home.”Not home.“And lucky for us because we need you. Is it true you can stay all semester?”
“Um . . .”
I don’t know how to answer this question. I wouldn’t have come down here without that assurance. But Sawyer didn’t say anything about it, and I assume it’s technically up to him, even if the district is who called me.
For the hundredth time, I think,I need this job.
Señora Martinez seems to have retained the ability to read people’s minds because she leans forward and whispers, “That’s ayes.”
Despite the cold, warmth blooms in my chest. “Yes.”
“Good. Now get going, it’s cold out here. See youtomorrow.” She winks before turning toward a luxury SUV and hoisting herself into the drivers seat.
I give her a wave as I head toward my car, a little surprised by the smile forming on my face.
As I reach for the door handle, lost in thought, a deep voice cuts through the chill.
“Brie!”
There goes that smile.
Sawyer hurries toward me, tie gone and the collar of his shirt open beneath his jacket, even though it’s in the thirties.
I pause.He’s going to fire me. Tell me he’d rather be a teacher short than have me here.
Give me self-esteem issues again.
Folding my arms over my chest, I wait for him to approach, my stomach knotting.
His long legs cross the distance in no time. As he stalks closer, I notice how brooding he looks, scowling down at me.
And it clicks something into place.
No, it pisses me the fuck off.
Yeah, I need this job. Yeah, Sawyer’s my new boss. Yeah, I fled from one scandal right back to the hometown I swore up and down I’d never return to.
