The gymnasium swarmed with teachers mingling with parents who now dressed down to casual slacks and blouses.

“Congrats on surviving the first week and a half of school!” Daphne greeted me when I arrived. She held a plastic cup with a bright red liquid in it. Next to her stood a woman in her thirties whom I recognized from the teacher’s lounge. She had a name tag that said, “Miss Rachel Atlas, 5th grade.”

“Ah, if only they were all as easy,” I joked and waved to them. “Looks like a good turn out tonight.”

Daphne nodded. “And speaking of looking good…” she jutted her chin toward a spot behind me. “Isn’t that Braden Callahan?”

I whacked my friend’s arm. “Daph!” Heat rose to my cheeks as I took in his easy going outfit of slacks and a dark blue shirt. Damn, he cleaned up nice.

Rachel laughed next to us. “Don’t worry about it, Amelia. Many of the young first time teachers develop crushes on the single parents. And the same goes for some of those not-first time teachers.” She raised her own plastic cup to her lips.

“It’s not a crush,” I said hurriedly.

Rachel and Daphne looked at me with matching eager grins.

I rolled my eyes and gave the short version of the ‘forbidden love’ story that we could’ve almost had together.

After the exhausting rehashing of the story to my friends, I walked over to the drink table and poured myself some juice from one of the clear containers.

"Is the punch any good?"

I choked on my drink, turning to find Braden standing there. He had impeccable timing. My hand flailed around in the air to signal that I was ok, but I needed a second to regain control of my lungs.

"Yes, it is," I finally managed to say. "Sorry, you scared me. I didn't see you standing there."

Braden chuckled. "Seems like we can't get away from each other. Lucy loves you, by the way. You're all she talks about at home."

I smiled. "I'm glad. She's a great kid."

Braden rapped his knuckles on the drink table. "Amelia—Miss Lawrence—I wanted to apologize for…well, for not telling you the truth about Lucy sooner. Maybe it’s not something typically divulged on the first date,” he said, lowering his voice, “but it’s still something that I should’ve said. And now that you're teaching my daughter, I don't want things to be...weird between us, you know? This week has been busy at work but I do want for us to be friends. I think…I think it can work."

"Thank you. I need to apologize too. I also just got out of something complicated too, although I can’t really say that it was anything because he confessed his feelings before moving away, but I want to make sure we set some ground rules if we’re going to do this friendship thing. You and me…it’s a lot to process right now."

“Amelia.” Braden slipped a hand over mine, sending electric shocks down my spine. “We’ll start over as many times as we need, okay? I can’t just forget that I met you but I can sure as hell can suppress my feelings for you when we’re in the same vicinity at school.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Braden nodded.

I leaned forward. “Then take your hand away before you get us both in trouble.”

He uncovered my hand and shoved it back into his pocket.

“Good boy,” I murmured.

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A mischievous twinkle glimmered in his eyes as a grin slipped onto his face, and I couldn’t help but burst into a fit of giggles. That earned us a few odd stares from people passing by the drinks table.

We stepped away to the side to have more privacy.

“So anyway, in the spirit of staying professional, I haven’t had the chance to be a normal twenty-six year old. Ever since Linda and I split, things have just been hard. And it sounds like we could both use a chance to be young and free and…friendly.” He added the last word as I raised my eyebrows. "Anyway, I know this great Italian restaurant and—"

"Braden." I tucked my hair behind my ears and an edge creeped into my voice. "That’s not…I-I can't. You know I can't. This is what I’m talking about as ‘too much’. We can’t—the rules..." I couldn’t figure out how to articulate what I wanted to say. It seemed there was no good way for us to be friends without slipping into date territory.

He put his hands up in defense. "Yeah, too fancy. I know. Staying professional." He tilted his gaze up to meet mine. "Why don't we set up lunch sometimes? Take my card, you already have my cell number. If anything changes, or if something comes up with Lucy. Don't hesitate to call, ok?" He took a card out of his pocket and scribbled something onto the back.

Callahan & Sons Construction

Hesitantly, I took the card from him. Our pinkies touched briefly and for a moment, there was a spark.

“Welcome, everyone!” The principal’s voice boomed over a microphone. “I’m Victoria Mullins, Principal here at Williams Preparatory School. I am so pleased to see so many wonderful new faces among us tonight. I will begin by calling up each grade level’s teachers, and parents with children in those grades will follow them to their classroom. Now let’s kick off Parent-Teacher night!”

All while the principal spoke, I glanced around to see how many parents showed up for my class. As my gaze wandered through the crowd, it stopped cold on a familiar face.

A face belonging to a woman with dark hair pulled back, a Prada handbag on her shoulder, and eyes that bore deep into my soul.

Daphne squeezed my arm, and I jumped.

“Woah. Are you ok?” she asked.

I tore my eyes away from Linda Callahan and forced a smile. “Yeah, fine. Let’s go meet the parents.”

***

The night went smoother than I’d anticipated. Braden caught my eye several times throughout the night, and each time I felt my cheeks flush.

“As you can see, our class has spent a lot of time working on these wonderful little projects you see throughout the room,” I said. “Feel free to look around and let me know if you have any questions about our classroom. It was great meeting you all tonight, and I hope to see some familiar faces at our PTA meeting next week!”

Several parents came up to thank me for my time before heading home to relieve their babysitters. Others stayed to mingle a bit longer.

Soon, everyone had left—or at least I thought I was all alone until I heard a pair of heels clacking against the floor, the sound growing louder with every step.

“Miss Calla—Freeman,” I said. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Linda quirked an eyebrow. “I saw you getting pretty cozy with Braden earlier. Anything I should be concerned about?”

I stumbled backwards. Did she suspect something? For someone only a few years older than me, she certainly had intimidation down to a T. “N-no. There’s nothing going on.”

She pursed her lips. “Let’s ensure it stays that way.” Linda took a step forward. “I’m the president of the school’s board, you know. I’d hate for them to have to find out that such a…” she gave me a once over just like she’d done the day we met, “young and promising teacher fooled around with a parent. They might begin to question whether you can actually do your job.”

Heat rose to my cheeks and my heart jumped in my chest. Where the hell was she getting her information? She acted like I was a child!

“I’m twenty-three and more than qualified to be a teacher,” I tossed at her. “Braden has nothing to do with my abilities to work at this school. You have nothing to be worried about either because there is nothing going on with me and Braden.”

Linda clucked her tongue. “The minute that dumb act of yours wears off, you’ll realize he’s just mooching off of you because he’s bored without me. You are nothing more than a plaything. Soon enough he’ll toss you away without a second glance. Believe me, he’s done it before and he’ll do it again.”

Before I could inquire anymore about what she meant, she turned up her nose and spun on her heel, walking out the classroom door and leaving me dumbfounded in the wake of her heels echoing off the cinderblock walls of the school.

Oh boy.

I took a deep breath. Braden had flirted with me tonight and Linda must’ve picked up on it.

Clearly.

It’s not like we were being subtle at all.