Page 61 of Finding Happily Ever After
“The wrist appears to be broken,” the student said seriously. “Or seriously sprained.”
Natalie nodded and waited.
“The injury has been splinted with some firm sticks and a length of cloth from a shirt.” Natalie narrowed her eyes in question, and the student quickly added, “From an undershirt. I tried to make sure it was as clean as possible as there was also a cut on the arm and I want to avoid infection.”
Nat smiled and pushed up from the grass, the knees of her pants soaked through. “Good work, Ben. I think you got it.”
Ben smiled and did a fist pump before high-fiving the student he’d just finishedtreatingfor hisinjuredhand.
Natalie laughed and shook her head. The wilderness first-aid club had been a hit with the students, who’d all signed up on their own, and with Natalie. She’d really enjoyed teaching, especially when they were able to get out of the classroom and outside.
Her hatred for high schools had diminished somewhat in the last few weeks. Dating a sexy school teacher had a lot to do with it, but some of the old feelings still lingered.
But those were about the only old feelings that lingered these days, because everything was feeling brand-new.
“Great work today, everyone.”
Natalie turned to Aiden, who was the number-one reason that everything felt so newandso damn good. And just like every time she looked at him, she smiled.
In fact, Natalie couldn’t seem to stop smiling these days, and it wasn’t a problem she cared tofix.
She moved through the kids who were still all sitting on the grass in their pairs with their various fake injuries that Natalie had assigned. Ithadbeen a great class. The students had jumped at the opportunity to practice everything they’d learned over the last few weeks; when Nat came up with the idea to give them situations to act out, they’d loved it.
And they’d all done really well.
As Nat joined Aiden, where he stood off to the side of the field, she felt that swell of pride in the students that he’d once described was the best part of his job. Naturally, she grabbed his hand to squeeze it before remembering they were in front of a group of teenagers and she pulled away quickly.
“It’s okay,” one of the girls, Simone, the girl who on the very first day of class recognized Natalie, said as she returned the supplies to the bin in front of them. “We all know you two are dating.” Simone winked. “Thank you, Natalie. This was a really great class.”
“Hey.” Aiden pretended to be offended. “I was your teacher.”
Simone shrugged with typical teenage disinterest. “Whatever.”
When she walked away, Aiden reached for her hand and squeezed quickly before returning his attention to the rest of the kids who were all returning their supplies as well. When the last bandage was back in the box, he glanced at his watch. “We should get going, Nat. We’re going to be late, and you still need to change.”
They knew they were pushing it to hold thefield dressingsession of the club on the Saturday before Hope and Levi’s baby celebration party. But the students had been eager, and Aiden hadn’t wanted to stifle any of that excitement because, as he said, “It’s hard to get them excited about much that isn’t on their phones these days.” So they’d made it happen.
But Aiden was right; Natalie still had to change out of her jeans and maybe do something with her hair before they got to the party at Ever After Ranch. She’d been beyond honored to even be invited to baby Cole’s naming ceremony. They weren’t calling it a baptism or christening, as Hope and Levi had decided to raise their baby with spiritualness and an understanding of all religions, but they did feel it was important to have a proper welcoming of their son to the world.
Natalie thought it all sounded beautiful. And from the moment she got the invitation as a person of honor, she’d been looking forward to the day.
“It’ll only take me a minute,” she told Aiden as they got in his car and drove the short distance to his place. The night before, she’d taken her change of clothes to his house because, well…she’d largely been spending most of her time there anyway. His rental was starting to feel more and more like home, even in the few short weeks since they’d been officially dating. Although she still hadn’t figured out how to work the coffee machine.
While Natalie was in the bathroom trying to wrangle her hair into some type of suitable style, Aiden had changed into a fresh pair of black dress pants and a bright-green shirt that he’d left unbuttoned at the collar instead of a tie. After all, it was meant to be a casual affair.
She paused in the door when she realized he was on a phone call. His back was turned to her, so he didn’t see her standing there, nor did he see the way her knees buckled a little, or the way her hand reached out to brace herself from the hurt, when he said, “No, Brenna. She doesn’t know yet.”
Aiden had been naive when he thought he was done with his ex-wife. He’d sent in his last payment. He’d even sent it early. After everything that had gone down with Natalie, and the wake-up call he’d had about how he could very well have lost the best thing that had ever happened to him, he’d sat her down and told her all about his first marriage.
He’d told Nat everything. Not leaving out any detail. He needed her to know and to understand how much he’d changed, and how he wasn’t the same man who had married Brenna and let himself be used the way he was. More than that, though, he wanted Natalie to understand that there was nothing he would keep from her. Not again.
He’d sent Brenna one last message, letting her know that they were done. He wouldn’t be answering her calls anymore and she needed to move on the same way he had.
When Aiden hadn’t heard back from her, he’d assumed it was over. Finally.
And then the phone rang.
His heart had sunk when he saw Brenna’s name on the screen. He muttered a curse under his breath and almost didn’t answer at all. But he knew if he didn’t, she’d just keep trying. There was one thing that would end it all for good.
