Page 34 of XOXO, Yours

And nobody knows. Not Hope, who thinks my sudden good mood is a new vitamin regimen. Definitely not Cora, who is twenty weeks pregnant with his brother's baby and has become a woman who cries at insurance commercials and tells Mimz everything.

The point is, everything is under control.

I have successfully maintained a casual sexual relationship with a twenty-two-year-old cowboy for six weeks without developing so much as a single inappropriate emotion.

I'm very proud of myself.

"Miss Long?”

I blink and look down.

Sophie Martinez is standing in front of me holding what appears to be a purple octopus with seventeen legs.

At least, I assume it's an octopus.

Second-grade art requires interpretation.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Can mine have eyelashes?"

"Absolutely."

"But Noah says boy octopuses don't have eyelashes."

"Tell Noah that gender norms have no place in cephalopod portraiture."

Sophie stares at me.

"Tell him yours is a girl.”

"Okay."

She skips back to her table.

I smile and go back to sorting brushes.

This is why I love my job. Adults are complicated.

Children mostly want to know whether they're allowed to put eyelashes on sea creatures. I'll take the children.

My classroom door opens.

"Jules?"

I glance over to find Melissa, one of the third-grade teachers, sticking her head inside.

"Hey."

"You have a second?"

I look at the clock. Four minutes until I need to herd twenty-two small artists into the hallway.

"Very literally."

"Mrs. Donnelly finally found someone to cover for Mrs. Ball.”

"Thank God."