Page 37

Like clockwork, as soon as the bell rings my class becomes a whirlwind of chaos. More so today since it’s the last day before the winter break. Squeals and whoops ring through the air as the kids slide their chairs along the tiled floor. Ben is the only student left in my class. He’s sitting at his desk, scrolling through his phone.

“Ben?” I call out to him. “What’s up, buddy?”

His gaze lifts to me. “My dad told me to wait for him here. He said he’s taking you home.”

I can feel my brows scrunch as I think back to this morning when he gave me a ride to work. I hadn’t asked him to pick me up. Besides, I normally have to grab Jenna and Trevor after work and take them to their dad’s house if they aren’t staying with me.

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

Ben shrugs, dragging his gaze back to his phone. I open my desk drawer to grab my purse and pull my phone from it. There aren’t any texts from Liam. There’s a quick knock on the closed classroom door, and I hear it creak open. I pull my gaze from my phone, and a huge bouquet full of wildflowers enters my room, followed by a delivery man and then Liam.

I can’t take my eyes off of Liam. He’s wearing a green flight suit and black boots, and the material is tight around his arms and thighs. I can only imagine what his backside looks like.

“Ma’am.” The delivery guy pushes a clipboard towards me, waiting for my signature.

“Oh, sorry.” I blush listening to Liam chuckle as I sign my name. “Thank you,” I tell the man as he strides from my classroom.

“What are those for?” he asks.

“Well, since it’s my birthday,” I respond as I pull the card from the envelope. A smile pulls at my lips as I read what he wrote on the heavy card stock: Love Always, Heath

“Why didn’t I know it was your birthday?” I barely register Liam’s voice.

I snap my head up. “Wh–what?”

He takes a step closer to me. “I said I didn’t know it was your birthday. I thought we were friends.” He gives me a lopsided grin.

My head turns towards Ben who’s busy packing up his bag. “Well, since technically that only started this morning, we haven’t had the time to go over all the basic friend stuff yet. So I’ll let this one slide.” I tap his shoulder with the card.

He takes another step closer to me, and I find my throat has grown dry. I swallow, trying to find my voice. “What are you doing?” I ask in a low voice, knowingly sweeping my eyes over his form again.

“I’m taking you out tonight.”

“No.”

“Yes.” He stares at me.

I grip the paper in my hand, remembering who sent me the flowers, and I take a step back from Liam. “I need to make a call.” He nods, walking over to his son. Pressing the ‘call’ button on Heath’s name, he answers on the second ring.

“Hello.”

“Hey. I wanted to thank you for the flowers. That was sweet.” The line goes quiet. “Heath?” I take the phone from my ear to see if the line was disconnected, but when I bring the phone back to my ear, I can hear him cursing. “Shit, Whit… Those flowers… Alice set up that a while ago. I didn’t know they were still scheduled for delivery. If I would’ve remembered, then I would’ve had her cancel them. I’m sorry about that.”

“Oh.” Defeat flows heavily over my body as I drop my head. My stomach drops, and my nose burns as I feel the sting in the back of my eyes. When I look up, I find Liam watching me. “Well, um, they’re beautiful,” I choke.

“No! Christ, that’s not what I meant. I meant that I should have had her cancel them because I wanted to take them to you personally. It’s just been… Shit. It’s been busy here, and I haven’t been able to break away.”

“Okay.” My eyes are trained on Liam’s interaction with his son.

“Okay? Whitney?” Heath’s voice pulls my concentration away from Liam.

“Yeah?”

“Let me take you out tonight.” I hear him shuffle papers around on his desk. “Let’s do a late dinner.”

My eyes catch Liam’s again as he gives me one of his boyish smiles. “I have plans. I’m sorry.”

“Plans? With who?”