“Good morning. I hope everyone had a great summer.” Mary Clare twisted the pen in her hand. She couldn’t remember ever being this nervous. Who thought standing in front of a bunch of ninth graders—three-fourths of whom probably hated math—was a good idea?

Muttering started from the back of the classroom and swelled to a distracting volume. Mary Clare knew if she didn’t command their attention right away, she’d lose them for the year.

“Quiet down, please.” She swallowed hard. “My name is Ms. O’Connor”—she’d taken back her maiden name—“and I graduated from this same high school. I’ll be filling in for Mrs. Brennan until she returns in January.”

A few kids made comments, something about dark ages or a long time ago.

“I know some of you think math is something that you’ll never use, but you will. I want to make it fun. Help you learn. So you can do well. Anyone have any questions?”

Crickets sounded from the back of the room. She broke out in a flop sweat.

“Okay.” She picked up the stack of papers on her desk and handed them out. “This is the syllabus for the first quarter, as well as my expectations.”

She walked up and down the aisles. The students had on uniforms similar to the one she had worn. The girls had on gray skirts—unlike the plaid ones she had worn—and a white shirt. Gray socks. These kids had all their lives ahead of them, yet they stared at her as if she was boring them to tears.

The rest of the day went much like the beginning, but, if truth be told, she loved every minute. It felt awesome to be in front of a class. She hadn’t done it since her student teaching days. And the icing on the cake was that a few kids actually seemed interested in what she had to say. She went home convinced more than ever that she had made the right decision.

Around her mother’s kitchen table, Henry was chatty about his day, too. He stabbed his fish stick and took a large bite. It made her smile. They would have never had a dinner like this with Chip. He demanded meat and potatoes and a green vegetable. Part of her felt a little mischievous.

“So, you like school?”

“Hmm mmm.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

“Hey, don’t do that.”

He looked a little sheepish and picked up a napkin. “Zach’s in my class. We went outside for recess and played basketball. It was the best day ever.”

Her heart expanded. “Glad to hear it. And we’ll be able to move into the apartment this weekend.” Maybe things would be okay after all.

After dinner, she cleaned up the kitchen and asked Henry if he wanted to take a bike ride. She needed to get away from the constant thoughts bouncing around her head. They pulled their bikes out from the garage. Henry ran his hand across his brand-new bike Chip had brought over from storage last weekend. That, and a promise to see that she was made whole in the alimony agreement.

Parked next to it was Jesse’s old bike. As if reading her mind, Henry asked, “Is Jesse ever coming around again?”

Mary Clare ran a hand over his sweaty head. “Maybe we can drop it off at his sister’s house. Jesse lives in California now.” Mary Clare and Bill had stopped over to check on Jesse a few days after his father’s death. Jesse had made it clear that he planned to get back on the road and go gangbusters with his motocross business. Who was she to stand in his way now that his dad wasn’t keeping him in Mills Crossing? They both had bright futures, free to do whatever they wanted.

Henry frowned.

“He gets to travel to motocross tracks all over the country, but mostly out in California. How cool is that?” Mary Clare asked.

“Way cool, but I wish he’d take me riding again.”

She tipped her head toward the road. “At least we can ride bicycles. We can stop at Zach’s house.”

After a ten-minute bike ride, they looped around and arrived at her brother’s house. Henry ditched his bike and ran right in the front door. She hollered for him to stop, but he had obviously made himself right at home. For a kid who didn’t have any siblings, he now had the benefit of cousins. She never thought she’d find this kind of peace.

Mary Clare followed Henry into her brother’s house. “Hello,” she called, stepping over the sneakers and flip-flops in the front hall.

“Back here.” Her brother was doing the dishes while Amanda was reading Billy a story on the couch. Amanda looked up with a funny expression on her face. “Hey, it’s a school night. What are you guys doing here?”

“We weren’t ready to call it a night. It’s gorgeous out. Before you know it, it’ll be snowing.” She strolled up to her brother and clapped him on the back. “Nice going, bro. Doing the dishes.” She opened her mouth to add that Chip would have never done the dishes, but she clamped her mouth shut. Leave it in the past.

“Amanda has me trained well.” He tossed her the damp dish towel. “Since you’re standing there.”

Mary Clare took the pot from him and dried it and put it in the cabinet where it belonged. When she stood up, her brother was leaning on the counter with crossed arms. “Have you heard from Jesse lately?”

“No.” She tried to act casual, like why would he call me?

“Hmm, hmm,” Bill muttered and brushed a kiss across her cheek. A spark lit his eyes and he jumped back and playfully snapped her thigh with a wet dish towel. “I’m really proud of you, sis.”

“Hey—” She reached out to grab the towel, but Bill was faster. “You’re proud of me, huh? But I’ll always be the little sister and you, my pain-in-the-hiney older brother.”

Bill swirled his wrist, getting ready to snap the towel again. “You’ve got that right.” Then he suddenly grew serious. “I wanted you to know I apologized to Jesse?”

“What for?” She drew an eyebrow down.

“I told him to stay away from you.”

“You what?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, I was being a little overprotective. But I was wrong and I told him so. If things had worked out differently, I think you guys would be a great couple. I mean, I hear he’s expanding his business on the East Coast. Maybe that changes things.”

Heat fired in her cheeks. Jesse never mentioned that to her. She fought back her disappointment. Obviously, if that had been in Jesse’s plans, it meant she hadn’t been in his plans. Mary Clare smiled tightly and scooted past her brother and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Well, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’ve got a new life here and I’m happy.” She called to Henry who was goofing around with his cousins in the family room. “Come on, Henry. Time to go. It’s a school night.”

* * *

By the end of September, Mary Clare was getting the hang of teaching. She was no longer exhausted at the end of each day or hoarse from talking all day. She and Henry had settled into their very own apartment and life was turning into a routine.

A nice, familiar routine.

Mary Clare had found herself holding her breath every time she heard a loud muffler coming down the street, but she figured she’d get over that soon enough, too. She and Jesse were both carving out the futures they wanted, independent of one another. And it wasn’t like he knew where she had moved. And now that Mr. Thorpe was gone, he had fewer reasons to come home. Being back on the East Coast didn’t necessarily mean Mills Crossing. Or her.

Mary Clare looked up at the clock in the cafeteria. Lunch monitoring duty was almost over, then she’d get to take her own lunch. She was so hungry she feared her salad and banana weren’t going to cut it. Maybe she’d pick up a juicy pizza after school on the way to her mom’s house. The last supper. Escrow was closing on the house tomorrow. Tomorrow someone else would be living in the house where she had grown up. A nagging twisted her insides.

A big part of her childhood would be gone.

A gawky girl who would soon come into her own sat alone at the end of a long table. Something about her reminded Mary Clare of herself at that age. “Anything good for lunch?” Mary Clare asked her.

Sarah Mae hitched a shoulder. “I usually have peanut butter.”

Mary Clare smiled. “Sounds good.”

Sister Janita, the school principal, appeared in the doorway. The decibel level automatically went down a few notches with her appearance. The nun scanned the room. When she saw Mary Clare, her eyes grew wide. Then she turned and looked at someone out of view behind her in the hallway.

Curious, Mary Clare strode toward the door and came up short when she saw Jesse standing there with a bouquet of white carnations.

“I believe this gentleman is here to see you, Ms. O’Connor.” There was actually a twinkle in her principal’s eye.

Jesse stepped into the cafeteria. All the students—especially the girls—stared at him slack-jawed. “I remember a girl who said she never got carnations in high school.”

Mary Clare pressed her hand to her chest. “Not one.”

She wrapped her trembling hand around the stems of the bouquet, but Jesse didn’t let go. He pulled her closer. She glanced over her shoulder. She might have been delirious, but she thought she saw Sister Janita tear up.

Jesse brushed a kiss across her mouth. Warmth coiled low and deep. “I thought you said you’d never step into this high school building again,” she whispered.

“For you, I’d do anything. Including moving my business to the East Coast.”

The shrill ring of the lunch bell broke the spell. Mary Clare took a step back and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, feeling the heat of thirty sets of eyes on her. “Thank you, Mr. Thorpe. It looks like lunch is over.”

Jesse was beaming and thoroughly enjoying this. “I won’t go until you promise me you’ll go out with me tonight.”

Mary Clare tipped her head. But why? I’m just getting my feet planted. My independence. A murmur of “Say yes” rose up from the students, boys and girls alike.

Her gaze shot to her boss, the principal. “Well, Ms. O’Connor, I do believe the young man seems sincere.”

Mary Clare nodded. “Yes, I’ll go out on a date with you.”

Applause erupted from the lunchroom until Sister Janita had to whip out the large bell from somewhere under her skirt and clang it for silence. Jesse’s face lit up in a satisfied smile.

“Mr. Thorpe,” Sister Janita said in a stern voice. “Perhaps you’ll join us in the faculty cafeteria for lunch. It’s always nice to chat with an alum, especially successful businessmen like you.”

Never taking his eyes from Mary Clare’s face, he said, “Sounds great.”

“They’re looking for funds to build a new gym,” Mary Clare whispered.

Jesse laughed and lifted his hand and dragged his knuckle down her cheek, making it nearly impossible to think of anything but his touch. He reached down and took his hand in hers.

She couldn’t wait to ask him what this was all about. Did he plan to move back to Mills Crossing? Was he just home for a few days?

Stop. Enjoy the moment. Why not?

She leaned over and bumped his shoulder. “By the way, taking me to lunch in the faculty lounge so doesn’t count as a date.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”