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I smile at the thought of my nephew. Few know exactly how I’m related to the movie star, but I prefer it that way. “I’m glad he’s got a good thing going for him.”
“And I have the sweetest grandkids.” My brother is my senior by fifteen years, so he has a lead on me.
“Yeah.”
“One of these days, you’ll have them, too.”
“You’re making me feel old.” I chuckle, as a couple of early students make their way into the room. “But I need to go. Class starts soon.”
“Yeah, okay. Best of luck. But don’t worry about Madeline. We’ll deal with her.”
“If you say so.”
We say our goodbyes and I hang up, placing my cell phone back in my suit jacket pocket. My eyes scan the faces trickling in as they take their seats and pull the desktops around to set their laptops and notebooks down.
I’m not a huge fan of the theater style seating, but it is what it is.
Better napping for the tired students.
I take a deep breath and pull out my own laptop. I put the attendance code up on the screen for the class to see and waitas the students automatically start to appear as present. My eyes scroll through the roster of names, stopping on Melody Everett.
Will she show up today?
Probably not. I sent a less than pleasant email to her the night after she missed, and she never responded. Was it a little rash of me? Maybe. But she clearly didn’t take my offer seriously, and it’s a little disrespectful of my time. However, as my eyes rest on the screen, a check mark appears by her name.
She’s here.
I whip my head up. Sure enough, a redheaded, long-legged beauty gets comfortable... in the second row. She’s in a pair of black leggings and a V-neck blouse, her hair braided to the side. I try not to stare at the way the low-cut shirt sits on her chest.
Don’t be a fucking pervert.
But I can’t deny that for some reason, she’s catching my attention more than ever. My mouth feels dry as I do my best to ignore her.
I sip on my coffee, letting it keep me busy as I navigate through the next forty-five minutes of a lecture, all the while, unable to stop myself from wondering if Ms. Everett will find me after class.
And I hate that I’m hoping she does.
Even if I’m pissed that she’s blatantly ignored me.
“I’ll see you all next week,” I call out as the class comes to an end.
I watch from the corner of my eye, expecting Melody to do something. And she does.
She makes her way to me. And my heart picks up as my blood sings when she approaches.
Dammit, this is not good. I can’t feel like this.
“Dr. Banks.” Her voice is shy. “I was really hoping that we could talk about my absence.”
My jaw tenses so tightly that it aches. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“But—”
“I don’t need your excuses, Ms. Everett,” I snap at her.
She cringes at my tone. “But I missed for good reason—”
“I don’t care why you missed. You didn’t even have the decency to let me know that you’d be gone. It’s disrespectful—”
