‘Hey.’
‘Hi.’
Great start, Matt, strong and manly.Now what was he supposed to say? He’d never had this kind of trouble before but his mouth felt really dry. Luckily, he was saved by a child. Which really didn’t make his teetering masculinity feel much better.
‘Hello, I think it’s pretty cool here. I like the feel of the earth. My younger sister was here this morning, she liked it too.’
‘Well, thank you, I think it’s pretty cool too. You look like you’ve got this planting down pat, what seeds did you get in the packet?’ All the children had a selection of easy-to-grow veg so they could grow a range of different things and compare the different types of vegetables with those of their friends had grown. He looked over the boy’s head at Rosy and smiled, trying to include her in the conversation.
‘Um, I got some of these carrots, which is great because I like carrots. They’re OK as far as vegetables go. Some beans, I’ve grown those before in Miss Winter’s class so I know that they’re easy, and I got some of these big ones, which are easy to plant, they’re courgettes, I don’t like those at all. But my mum does, I think. Miss says I need to push them a bit further into the mud because they’re bigger. Is that right?’
‘Yep, Miss sounds like she knows what she’s talking about.’ He managed to flash her another smile; this was returned. But it had an undertone he couldn’t quite decode. Never mind, a smile was a smile. ‘Which seeds did you get, Miss Winter?’
‘Oh, I got some squash seeds. They looked very similar to the courgette, didn’t they, James? We thought they might be from the same family.’ The boy nodded his head furiously. ‘And I’ve got some tomatoes, and some peas. I’ve done pretty well really, I’m looking forward to seeing how they grow, but more importantly than that, how they taste.’
‘You’re right, the squash and courgette are from the same family, both can grow to be massive. And I love cooking with produce from the garden. Are you a good cook, Miss Winter?’
He knew she was, and he felt a bit guilty saying it; it had fallen out of his mouth, almost as if his subconscious was asking her to remember that night. She fixed him with a very Rosy look, not a scowl and not a smile but an are-you-really-going-there look. He felt about eight. Then she perked up and turned back to the child.
‘Was there something else you wanted to ask Matt, James?’ Rosy may have had her concerned headteacher face on now, but there was definitely something else shooting through her mind. He could feel her mischief as if it were a tangible thing. She grinned up at Matt and he immediately felt as if he was caught in a trap.
‘Um… thank you?’ James clearly wasn’t entirely sure what it was he was meant to remember.
‘No, well yes, obviously thank you, but didn’t your sister have a message for him?’
‘Oh yeah!’ James’s face broke into a big grin. ‘I nearly forgot! She says can she have her hair grip back? She can swap it for another if you like, but it’s just that’s her favourite.’
‘Hair grip?’
‘Yeah, my sister’s, she said she gave it to you this morning, it’s that one there, in your hair, at the front there, the butterfly.’
Matt suddenly understood why Rosy’s eyes had taken on that extra twinkle and what it was like to wish that the ground would open up.
And now she just stood smiling, with a triumphant gleam in her eye, almost a challenge as he raised his hand to his head and, sure enough, felt the prongy metal of a sparkly pink and silver hair slide. How had he forgotten about that? It must have been in for hours! What had he been thinking, putting it there in the first place? James’s sister had been a bit spooked by a worm so he had had to cheer her up, but to forget it was there… Arggh! So much for his dead manly approach.
He undid the clip and passed it to James.
‘Would you thank her for me? It was very kind of her to lend it to me.’
‘Yeah, rather you than me though,’ answered the boy, clearly more masculine than the thirty-five-year-old man standing in front of him.
‘I’m sure she’ll be happy knowing you loved it.’ Rosy’s mischief was all over her face. ‘It suited you.’
James giggled. Rosy continued, ‘And I’d like to thank you for today, it’s been a huge success. The children have loved it. You are so good with them.’
They both turned and walked away from the table now, as James went back to happily rummaging in his seed packets. Was she planning on saying something she didn’t want the pupils to hear? He felt his heart beating a little faster.Play it cool, Matt, play it cool.
‘It’s a pleasure, they’re a bit of a joy. I can see why you enjoy working with them.’
‘Can you?’ Her face lit up. ‘I do really love every one of them, it feels like such a privilege to be involved in their lives, and yet people can be so disparaging about teaching as a career. But I love it.’
‘Which is why you’re so good at it. Look, I don’t want to push things, and you were quite clear about keeping things professional, but I really think you and I need a talk, a proper talk, not in the earshot of your pupils, and not when we’ve been drinking buckets of booze and things get confused. What do you think?’Don’t push her, don’t say a time and place, he told himself.This is a time for slowly-slowly rather than alpha-male-hear-me-roar. Although how many roaring alpha males sported butterflies in their hair he wasn’t sure.
‘I think you might be right. Someone very wise told me today that communication is key and I think maybe she should be listened to.’
‘I think so too.’ He knew he had a grin that stretched from ear to ear, if not wider, and he didn’t care.
‘OK then, I’ve got to get these guys back to school, then I’ve got a staff meeting and then I’m meeting a friend. Can I give you a call when I’m free and we’ll arrange something, is that OK?’
