“I don’t have drool caked to my chin!”
“Do too,” she argued, giggling now. She pointed at her face. “Right here. It’s so gross. And you get these weird eye boogers too?—”
Her voice cut off when we rounded the corner and came face-to-face with a little girl about her age standing outside room 17 with her parents. Josie snapped her mouth closed, clearly not eager to talk about my eye boogers in front of a classmate.
The girl shot her a shy smile then followed her parents through the door. Josie stood frozen at my side, staring at the classroom.
“You okay, Josie girl?” When she didn’t respond, I pulled her over to the wall and crouched down in front of her. “Everything is going to be just fine. You’re a smart, funny, kind girl with a huge heart. You’ll make friends here just like you did in New York, okay?”
“You promise?” she whispered, the waver in her voice breaking my heart.
I knew she wouldn’t want me to hug her in front of any of her new classmates, so I satisfied myself with a shoulder squeeze. “A kid would have to be crazy not to want to hang out with you. You’re one of the best people I know.”
She grimaced, turning her face down to the floor. “I’ve been kind of mean to you,” she whispered.
My heart clenched but I tried to keep the mood light. “What, ’cause you were teasing me about my drool? Don’t worry aboutit. You could have teased me about my morning breath, that would have been really mean.”
She looked like she was fighting back a smile. “No, Dad. I mean…you know. About moving.”
I squeezed her shoulder tighter, wishing I could pull her into my arms and hug the snot out of her. “This has been a tough couple months, Josie girl. You don’t have to apologize for anything. I love you no matter what.”
She blew out a deep breath, her shoulders straightening. “We should probably go in.”
I grinned at her. “There’s my brave girl.” I held out a fist for her to bump. “Let’s do it.”
I let Josie lead the way into the classroom, wanting her to feel in control of the situation. A wave of pride rushed through me when she raised her chin a little as she stepped through the door. That was my girl, facing her fears with her head held high.
I was so busy watching my daughter that it took me a minute to see the woman standing at the front of the room, staring at me with wide eyes.
For the third time in a week, I felt her presence like a punch to the gut. Gracie Knight, in the flesh.
“Hey,” I said, my mouth suddenly dry. “I mean, hi. How are you?”
“I’m good.” Her eyes bounced from me down to Josie then back.
“Are you…” I looked around, feeling confused and more than a little overwhelmed by her mere presence. “Do you have a kid in this class?”
She shook her head, red curls bouncing. “Um, no. No kids. This is actually my classroom.”
I must have stared at her for a full twenty seconds, waiting for the sentence to make sense. Josie looked up at me, probablyconfused why I was staring at this woman with my mouth hanging open.
And then it clicked into place.
Her classroom. Miss K.
Holy shit.
Gracie Knight was my daughter’s teacher.
CHAPTER 8
This had to be a joke, right? Some funny little trick by the universe to make me feel like I was going crazy? There was no way that the daughter of my high school crush was going to be in my class. That would mean that I’d have to see him. Like, regularly. Parent-Teacher conference. School recitals. I bet he was the kind of dad to drop her off himself in the mornings. Hell, he would probably volunteer to chaperone field trips.
Like it wasn’t bad enough that I’d have to think about him every time I went to see my brother at work. Now I was going to be thinking about him whenIwas at work too.
How was that fair?
Then I realized that the little girl was looking between the two of us, and her wide eyes appeared confused. Confused, and maybe a little nervous. I immediately bent forward so I was more on her level, and held out my hand. “Hi! I’m Miss K, What’s your name?”
