Causes, he could fight for—like getting the trip to Paris to happen at all, despite all the obstacles that had been put in his way. He could fight through that, but when it came to love? That was a different story. But it shouldn’t be. This was his life, and if he wanted someone like he wanted Ray, he should be willing to fight for them.
But it had taken him a long time to come to this conclusion. Maybe too long. Still, he was here now, and if he let events flow, if he let everything take its course, he knew exactly what would happen. Nancy would storm off, Ray would leave, and yes, Simon would keep his job, but that would be all that he had.
Of course, all of that could still happen. Ray probably wouldn’t react very positively to what Simon had to say. But at least if he said it, he would know that he had done his very best. So he opened his mouth, and he shot his words like a cannonball into the midst of everyone in the office.
In the shocked silence that followed, he knew that he had the stage. This was his chance, what might be his only chance, to put it all out on the line, and he wasn’t going to waste it.
“Ray, I know what we agreed to, and I know that by those terms, it’s over,” Simon admitted, facing the other man now because he was the important person to be talking to. “But that’s not what I want. If it’s what you want, then sure, I’ll accept the terms that have been laid out, I’ll keep my job, and I’ll never try to contact you again.”
“Simon,” Ray whispered, but Simon held up a hand to stop him from speaking. If he was going to do this, which he clearly was, then he was going to do it right.
“Please, I’ll let you talk in a second. Just let me get this out,” he begged, and Ray nodded, looking understandably a bit shaky. Who could blame him? And it was about to get much worse.
“I love you,” Simon told him because that was really what this all came down to. “I didn’t even know how much I could love someone until you were there. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but do you think that there’s even a chance …”
“Simon!” Ray said again, this time more insistently. It was funny, in a way, because the office was not that large and it was pretty much stuffed full of people, but to Simon, it felt like he and Ray were the only people there. Which was a good thing, because his pride could so easily get in the way otherwise.
“Ray?” Simon asked, and then the other man took the few steps that brought him right in front of Simon, with an enigmatic little smile on his face that Simon had no idea how to decipher.
“Shut up,” Ray murmured, and before Simon could take offense to that, Ray’s hands were so sweetly cupping his face that everything else went out of his head. Their lips came together naturally and flawlessly. They had kissed so many times, but never before like this. Those kisses had all been a long, drawn-out goodbye even from the beginning.
This was the complete opposite. For the first time, they were greeting each other like this had a chance of being something real. It wasn’t even a particularly deep or intense kiss, at least physically, because it was like it was about the connection of their minds and souls more than their bodies.
‘“Disgusting. Control yourselves,” Nancy said, voice cold as ice except that it was shaking just a little bit. “How dare you do this in front of impressionable children?”
But Ashley was pretty much jumping up and down, bouncing with giddy joy. “Go, Dad!” she cheered, and Simon didn’t think she seemed particularly traumatized, which was nice for him, that the daughter of the man he loved didn’t seem to object.
“You’re just jealous because they’re happy, and you aren’t,” Mandy noted. She certainly had come a long way. Even a month ago, she wouldn’t have dared to say boo to her mother, much less hurl wise and insightful, but no doubt insulting, comments like that. Not that Nancy didn’t deserve it.
“You have to see that the only option is to fire him now,” Nancy said to the principal, ignoring her daughter but with an obvious effort. “You set a condition, and he just said he isn’t going to meet it.”
“I’m afraid she’s right,” Simon’s said slowly, although not without reluctance. “There are rules …”
“Hey!” Ashley said, her tone slightly sharp, though not rude. Just blunt and to the point, much like the girl herself. “Who are they hurting? Mr. Taylor isn’t even my teacher anymore.”
“I understand that, but he was when they started this relationship …”
“So what? They started being together or whatever after I’d already gotten my grades for the class. I was already passing before they even met.”
“More than passing,” Simon acknowledged. “Her final grade is ninety-nine percent, all calculated before I ever met Ray. And I have her tests and homework assignments to prove that she earned that grade fairly.”
“Aww, man! Ninety-nine percent? Where did I miss …” Ashley pulled herself together with a visible effort. “Okay, not the point. The point is, why can’t they be together? It didn’t affect my grade or anyone else’s, or the quality of the class, so who gives a damn if they’re together? How is that anyone’s business?”
There was a long silence as everyone thought that over, and Simon had to admit, he’d never looked at it quite that way before. His relationship with Ray didn’t change anything for anyone academically speaking. He let his fingers slip into Ray’s, tangling them together, much to Nancy’s sniff of disgust, which he was only too pleased to ignore.
“Miss Myers, may I suggest that you look into law when you graduate?” the principal finally said, but she had a smile on her face. “You could do a great deal of good there. But I can’t deny that you’re right.”
“I can’t believe …” Nancy started, but then everyone in the room turned to look at her, identical expressions of pity and disgust written on their faces, and it seemed like even Nancy had a point of shamelessness that she wouldn’t go past. So she did the only thing she really could do and left the room.
Well, no. What she could have done and should have done was apologize for everything that had happened. But it would be more likely for the sun and the moon to switch places in the sky than it would be for her to admit that she was wrong.
“So I can keep my job,” Simon asked, just wanting to clarify. “And my personal life has nothing to do with it?”
“Yes. Although I hope you know how lucky you are,” his boss said and then shook her head as she sat back down at her desk. No doubt, she was going to have to think quite a bit about how she was going to replace the money that Nancy Bradford had been pumping into the school.
But some things just weren’t for sale, and Simon was glad for it.
Only slowly did he realized what this all meant. He had won. Against all the odds, he and Ray were together. Where it was going, he didn’t know, but it was going somewhere, and that was more than what he had thought possible. Even just a chance was huge.
