Never Lily.
When would she stop surprising Eva? When would Lily react like everyone else did? When would Eva push her so far she’d never come back?
It was a miracle Eva hadn’t already.
Eva thought of Lily’s warm blue eyes, the softness of her voice in the car, and swallowed down the flame that flickered to life in her long-dormant heart. No. This wasn’t happening. Eva shook her head; this was merely a gut reaction to what had happened to her mother, to how lonely Eva would be without her.
Lily didn’t mean anything to her.
And she never would.
Chapter 14
Lily did a double-take whenshe found Eva in the teacher’s lounge on Monday afternoon. She’d expected her to rush home the second her classes were done, but apparently not before she made a phone call, a faint note of exasperation in her voice.
Lily forced her gaze away from taking in the sight of her charcoal pencil skirt tight over her ass as she leaned over the counter, because if she was caught ogling Eva, it might fracture the tentative truce between them before it had even had a chance to get started.
Lily went to the coffee machine. The phone clattered back onto the hook as Lily was filling her mug. Eva heaved a frustrated sigh, and Lily turned toward her.
“Everything okay?”
“Parents are the worst part of this job.”
Something else they agreed on. “I guess you didn’t have to deal with that at Georgetown.”
“No.” Eva pinched the bridge of her nose. “If they spent even half of the amount of time they spend complaining actually parenting their children, then they wouldn’t misbehave to the point of needing a detention.”
“Yeah, but entitled parents want us to do the parenting on top of everything else we do for their kids.” Lily took a sip of her coffee and noted the bags under Eva’s eyes. “How’s your mom?”
Lily had been relieved of lending a helping hand by the arrival of Anna before Eva had returned to pick up her car. The last time Lily had seen Eva, she’d been racing toward the door to the ER.
“As best as she can be, all things considered. She had a broken ankle but no concussion.”
“Is it a bad break?”
“No, but she’ll be in a cast for six weeks. At least she’s already used to using a wheelchair, so it shouldn’t hamper her too much. I wanted to thank you again for taking me to her.” It looked like it physically pained Eva to say it, and Lily tried not to grin.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad she’s okay.”
“Me too,” Eva said quietly, her relief clear to see on her face. “I’d better be getting back to her. Make sure she’s not caused any more damage while I’ve been here.”
“See you tomorrow.” As the door shut behind her, Lily marveled at the fact they’d just managed some civility. If she could forget they’d kissed at the Christmas party, maybe things between them could almost be friendly.
Shaking her head, Lily followed Eva out. Outside of her classroom, a small group of kids awaited her. Lily had extended her tutoring sessions from just Carly after noticing a few of her other students struggling as the content got harder.
Carly still came, even though her grades—and her confidence—had improved. She smiled at Lily as she ushered them inside.
“Is there anything in particular you’d like to go over today?” Lily said, setting her mug of coffee on her desk as the seats on her front row were filled.
Amanda raised their hand. “Calculating molar mass.”
“And Avogadro’s number,” said Ben.
“Okay.” Lily turned to the board. “Let me know as soon as something doesn’t make sense.”
Over the next ten minutes, Lily covered the board in notes and equations, six heads bobbing in unison whenever she asked if they were okay. Afterwards, Lily set them off on some problems, and smiled when she noticed Carly leaning over to help Amanda with a question.
One of Lily’s favorite things was seeing someone who was struggling begin to succeed, and she hoped, as she assured both Carly and Amanda the answer they’d come to was right, that Carly no longer dreaded Lily’s class.
