‘Are you sure?’ Gemma felt bad for not insisting she was fine and that she’d continue to help, but truth be told, the last thingshe wanted was to risk getting shut in there again. Besides, there wasn’t much more to tidy away, anyway.
‘Positive. Just check in on me if I’m longer than ten minutes. I don’t fancy getting stuck in there either.’ Annie gave a sheepish smile before making her way across the playground to retreive a couple of scooters.
‘Are you okay?’ Jonathan looked her up and down.
‘I will be.’ Gemma nodded. ‘Thank you for...’ She waved her hand in the direction of the shed. How was she supposed to word it? Comforting her? Locking her inside? ‘What did you want to talk to me about?’
Holding his hand out and indicating the door to her classroom, they walked in silence until they were inside and he had closed the door behind them. ‘I wanted to apologise.’
‘What for?’ She knew what for. He had finally decided to face up to what had happened between them and speak about it.
‘For Saturday night. For...’ He waved a hand between them.
‘When we almost kissed?’ She walked across to a table and perched on the edge, suddenly not trusting her legs to keep her upright. ‘You want to make sure I know it was a mistake.’
Tilting his head, he looked at her a moment before shaking his head. ‘It wasn’t on my part. Not for the reason you think, anyway.’
Snapping her head up, she frowned. It hadn’t been a mistake? Or it had? He wasn’t making any sense. ‘I don’t understand.’
Walking towards her, he perched on the table opposite her. ‘I wanted to. I wanted to kiss you. Heck, I want to now, but what you said on Saturday night was right, it wouldn’t work between us. Not with what’s going on at the moment with the school. You said you were worried people would think I was favouring you if I didn’t make you redundant when the time comes? You said people would think that was the only reason you were with me.’
Looking down at her shoes, she nodded. She had said that, and now he was agreeing.
‘Any other time, in any other circumstance, I would love to get to know you better. I would love…’ Despite his voice cracking, he continued. ‘There’s nothing I want more than to explore this connection between us.’
She stubbed the toe of her shoe against the floor, leaving a little smear of black polish on the blue linoleum. She blinked. ‘Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?’
‘Avoiding you?’
‘Yes, you could have come and spoken to me yesterday or earlier today. Or Sunday even. Or when I came to your office...’ She let her voice trail off, she was sure she had given enough examples.
‘I could have, yes.’ He dragged the palm of his hand over his face. ‘But after watching you and your friend duck behind your hedge in your front garden when you heard me coming, I assumed you were avoiding the conversation also.’
‘Oh.’ Gemma felt the glow of embarrassment sweep across her face, and she kept her eyes fixed on the floor. ‘I didn’t realise you’d seen me.’
‘No, I guessed that.’ He chuckled wryly, a sadness creeping into his voice as he pushed himself to standing. ‘Anyway, I should go.’
Gemma listened to him leave before finally looking up and swiping at her eyes as the tears began to fall. Why was she upset? She’d been the one to tell him the reasons against getting together in the first place. He’d said nothing she hadn’t.
‘Aw, Gem. Are you okay?’ Having finished tidying the playground, Annie must have seen her crying before pushing the door open and hurrying towards her. ‘That must have been such a shock for you, getting stuck in like that.’
‘I’m okay. Sorry, I...’ Pulling a tissue from her pocket, Gemma dragged it across her cheeks and took a deep breath in. ‘I guess it just shook me up more than I thought it had.’
‘That’s understandable.’ Annie reached around and gave Gemma a shoulder hug. ‘Why don’t you get off home? I know you like to stay late and get set up for tomorrow, but you look as though you need an early night.’
‘Yes, I think you’re right.’ Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Gemma pushed herself to standing and went to get her bag from the cupboard.
‘Oh, I meant to ask, what did Jonathan want with you? Did he need to speak to us both?’
Turning to face her again, Gemma forced a smile. ‘Oh, nothing, really. I think he just came to see what the lock was like.’
‘Really? And there I was moaning about him not taking my repair request seriously.’ Annie held her palms against her cheeks. ‘He must think I’m really impatient.’
‘No, he knows it’s been broken a long time.’ She hitched the handle of her canvas bag higher up on her shoulder. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Yes, see you. And stick your feet up and get some binge-watching in or something this evening. You deserve it.’
Nodding, Gemma turned and walked out of the classroom. Annie’s idea of watching TV and forgetting about what had just happened sounded as though it was just what Gemma needed. Only not for the reason Annie thought.
