He didn’t appear like a man who had almost kissed me. He seemedashamed. His face paled, and he scrubbed a hand over his face before he leveled his gaze with me. He started the car and turned the air on, but rested his hands on his thighs as he swallowed hard a few times. His jaw was so tight, it looked painful, and his eyes looked tortured when he glanced at me and said, “All those months ago, I thought you stole from me. I thought you had conned me. My dad…he trusted the wrong people. Kayla’s college fund is gone, and my parents won’t be able to retire for another two decades because of a con. I had worked formonthsto save money to help my parents out, and it went missing after that night with you.”
“Christopher…” I trailed off as it felt like someone fisted my heart and squeezed it. “I didn’t…I didn’t take your money.”
“I know. Iknowyou didn’t. Money is a really sore subject for me.” He blew out a breath and looked so sad, so apologetic, I just listened. My lips still tingled from the lack of a kiss, but that didn’t matter.
“I admire you, Gilly, how you spend your teacher’s paycheck on your students. I misread you. This has been weighing on me for a while, and I’m glad I can finally say it. I know we don’t see things the same way when it comes to teaching, but I understand you weren’t using materialistic things as a crutch. You’re a phenomenal teacher.”
Oh God.His words were like a hug and a fire that couldn’t be put out. Hearing this from him meant so damn much even though his evaluation was partly a lie. I pressed my lips together before I said something stupid. I took a few seconds to digest his words and knew I had to tell him. Even if it sucked.
“Look—”
“That buddy that I brought to that event Monday? His ex-wife already had a ton of money from her inheritance, and she still dragged him through court and took every penny he had.” He hissed and clenched a fist at his thigh. “Entitled people with so much money they don’t know what to do with it…” He shook his head. “I just would hate to go through what my dad did, what my buddy did, where money destroyed their shot at happiness. I know you can’t always protect the people you love, but knowing money had something to do with it makes me bitter.”
The truth was right there, but then he reached over and squeezed my hand. “With both of us being teachers, I feel like I’m on level ground with you.”
No.I couldn’t tell him, not yet. Not at the way he looked at me and said those words. My response evaporated, and I nodded, unable to look him in the eye.
He tilted my chin up and spoke softly. “I’m sorry for misjudging you.”
“I understand why you would.” I gave him a small smile, my lie making me feel all sorts of awful.
“All right, let’s head out. Want to stop for a quick burger on the way?”
“Yeah, sure.”
He flashed a grin, this one not holding the lingering hesitation he often threw my way. It felt like an elephant sat on my chest the longer I remained quiet about my truth, my background, but things were finally better between us. A selfish part of me wanted it to last.
Chapter Fourteen
LyingtojustFritz was hard to live with, but keeping the truth from Christopher now that we weren’t enemies anymore made my stomach twist with guilt to the point I gave into it. I’d talk to Grace. She’d tell me it wasn’t the worst thing in the world and help me figure out how to get my life back together. We’d been each other’s rocks far too many times for it to be weird, so I called her after work on Thursday as I sat in my classroom after everyone else had left. Two days since the almost kiss and Christopher’s confession.
“Hey, Gil, what’s up?” she answered, her cheery voice making me almost change my mind. She would not agree with it. I knew it in my bones, but I needed to tell someone before I burst.
“Can we grab a drink or something tonight?”
“Yeah, for sure. Brock has to be at the stadium late. Wanna come over and we can make margaritas and binge-watch reality TV?”
“Yes.” I sighed and cracked my neck to each side to relieve some tension. “What time are you off?”
“Five. I have my assistant working the sophomore game tonight, thank God.” She said something over the phone, and hearing her boss teenagers around made me smile. “Sorry about that. Yeah, head over there soon. I’ll be there in an hour.”
“Well, could you do me a favor? I might need a ride. I’m still at school,” I said, chewing my hangnail off my thumb. “Don’t have my car.”
“Oh, is it in the shop?”
“Something like that.”
“Hm, okay. Yeah, I can get you. You better tell me what’s going on. I don’t like the weirdness in your voice.”
“I will, G.” My voice almost trembled, a dead giveaway that I was struggling. “Let me know when you’re here.”
She hung up, leaving me an hour to kill, and I busied myself cleaning the room three times and reorganizing everything. It didn’t help the tension growing at the base of my stomach, and by the time Grace arrived and let me know with a text, I hurried out and got into her passenger side door and blurted it out. “I paid Samantha ten thousand dollars to leave Fritz.”
She blinked, gripped the wheel for a second, then put the car in park, and faced me. “What?”
“I caught Samantha talking to some dude at a bar. She was kissing him, all over him, and when I got up the courage to confront her for cheating, I overheard them. She was waiting until Fritz proposed so she could get joint checking accounts. She checked his search history, knew it was coming, and that once she had access, she’d take everything, and she and this guy would leave.”
Grace made a raspberry with her lips and ran a hand over her forehead. “Jesus.”
