I enter my classroom a few minutes later and open the adjoining door. Ava’s laughing, and Landon has a big grin on his face.
She spots me and waves me over to join them. “I was giving Landon a few pointers, and we were catching up a little.”
“Catching up?”
She nods. “That’s right. We went to college together.”
“Back when she and her husband were first dating,” Landon points out.
I vaguely know the story about how Ava and her husband were college sweethearts, but then something happened, and they broke up until a few years ago when they bumped into each other and quickly fell in love again.
Romantic Me sighs dreamily. Their story sounds like a Hallmark movie.
Nothing close to mine.
“Well, good luck, Landon,” she says. “But I’m sure you won’t need it.”
“And I’m next door,” I tell him. “If you have any questions or need my help, just ask.”
“I’ll see you two at lunch.” Ava hurries out the door.
“Good luck,” I throw out at Landon and return to my classroom. Thoughts of how I can convince Tabitha that the Christmas concert is a great idea perform theDance of the Sugar Plum Fairyin my head.
Humming the music to myself, I walk to the side cabinet and look inside the large cage on top of it.
“What the heck are those?” Landon asks from behind me.
A surprised gasp breaks free from my lungs. “Wow, way to sneak up on a girl and give her a heart attack.” I clasp my hand against my heart in mock exasperation. “What were you in your former life? A ninja?”
“Something like that. So what are those things?” He points at the three sleeping hedgehogs cuddled together in the corner, his eyebrow raised in jest or quizzical concern.
“My classroom pets. This is Pinecone.” I point to the hedgehogs in question. “And this is Thistle, and Tumbleweed.”
“I don’t have any classroom pets, do I? No snake I failed to notice or some sort of rodent.” His tone is laid-back, as if nothing scares him.
“No, Zoe doesn’t have any pets. I have these three because a friend of mine was moving, and she wasn’t allowed pets in her new apartment. There was no way I could let them go to a shelter. Who knows what would’ve happened to them?”
“So you adopted them?”
“I figured they would make great classroom pets, and the kids love them.”
“You love animals, then?”
I grin. “I do. Pets are wonderful for reducing stress. That’s why dogs make great therapy animals and reading companions for kids who struggle with reading.”
“Do you have any? Dogs, I mean?”
“No. These three are the only pets I own. I’m not home enough to be a dog owner.”
“Have a busy social life, do you?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a social life. I volunteer several evenings and on the weekend at a local seniors’ residence.” The school bell rings, echoing through the building. “You should go into your classroom now. The herd will be stampeding in there any minute, and the last thing you want is to be in here when they do.”
He salutes me, and I watch him go, pretending it has nothing to do with the view.
He really does have a nice ass—I mean shoulders.
Niceshoulders.
