“No, sweetie. It actually belongs to our new neighbor.”
“Was it a boy or a girl?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, we need to find out,” she declares as we reach my friends.
“Maybe later,” I tell her before blowing out a breath and locking eyes with my sister. “I didn’t think I was gonna make it.” Setting Ellis down on the ground, I readjust my uniform and belt while still trying to regulate my blood pressure.
“You look like you just ran a marathon,” my sister says to me, eyeing me up and down.
“Actually, I was running after a damn dog.”
“You said a bad word, Daddy,” Ellis scolds.
“Sorry, sweetie.”
“I didn’t know that was in your job description,” Elliot says with a smirk.
“It’s not.” I force a hand through my hair, trying to tame it since I never got to style it. “It’s my new neighbor’s dog, and it happens to be a bit of an escape artist.”
“Wait. You have a new neighbor? Someone is renting that house now?” Laney asks.
“Yeah, and it’s…” My voice trails off as my eyes lock onto the beautiful blonde in a red dress at the front of the cafeteria picking up a microphone before her voice drowns everyone out.
My stomach drops.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
“Good morning, everyone,” Vienna says brightly to the crowd. “If you could all take your seats, please, we will begin Career Day in just a few minutes.”
The teachers guide the students to sit in their class groups.
Others begin to follow, but I’m frozen in place as everything around me grows fuzzy and my pulse roars in my ears.
Henley lays his hand on my shoulder, his brows drawn together. “Dude. You okay?”
“Fuck. My. Life.”
“What’s going on?” Fletcher asks.
“That’s Ms. Lewis!” Ellis shouts, tugging on my hand. “That’s my new teacher, Daddy.”
“She’s—she’syour substitute?” I stutter, blinking myself out of my trance and dropping my eyes to my daughter.
“Yes. She’s so nice and pretty. Isn’t she pretty, Daddy?”
My eyes land back on Vienna as Henley, Elliot, and Fletcher are all staring at me.
Henley clears his throat. “Uh, Rhonan?”
“Go take your seat, Ellis,” I say to my daughter. Luckily, she runs off before I close my eyes, blow out a breath and mutter, “No fucking way.”
“Care to fill us in?” Henley adds.
“That’s the woman I…” I trail off because how do I explain who she is?
She’s not a one-night stand. Hell, we didn’t even kiss. No, she’s just the first woman who’s intrigued me since my wife died, then she ghosted me in a bar.
