Game of Love(36)
He opened his eyes and pulled her up so they were eye to eye. “Now can I kill him?” His voice was dead serious. He stroked her hair and cupped the back of her head, drawing her cheek to his. “I’m so sorry, baby.” He kissed her cheek and held her there.
“Are you mad at me for not telling you?” She didn’t want to hear the answer, but she needed to ask.
“I’m mad at him for doing it. I wish you would have told me sooner, but I’m not mad at you for not telling me. We’re past that.” He kissed her cheek again. “I’m trusting that you’ll tell me things when you’re ready. That’s all I can really do.”
“Thank you.”
“I think we should go to the police. He knows you’re here. He saw you when you were in the Village. Ellie, that’s stalker behavior.”
“Can’t we just see if it stops? Please? When he saw me in the Village, he didn’t follow me. He travels all the time, or at least that’s what he told me, so maybe he’s not following me.”
“Ellie.”
She recognized the you’re-doing-the-wrong-thing-but-I-won’t-fight-with-you tone. “I’m starting a new job tomorrow. You’re releasing your game next week. Can’t we just have a little time without any craziness? Please? If he shows up anywhere, we’ll go to the police.”
“I’m really not comfortable with this, Ellie. How do you know he won’t try to hurt you again? He’s a scorned man who probably has a pissed-off wife.”
“I was in Maryland for almost three weeks before moving here. If he wanted to take revenge, don’t you think he would have done it then?” He’d called and texted relentlessly when she was in Maryland, but he’d never pursued seeing her. She had to believe that his being in New York was a coincidence. Otherwise, wouldn’t he have approached me when he saw me at the thrift shop?
“Damn it, Ellie. I’m not going to argue with you, but I don’t like it one bit. Promise me that if he contacts you again, text, in person, anything, that we’ll file a report.”
“Fine.”
He leaned over her. “You mean it?”
“Yes. Fine.” She popped her head off the mattress and kissed him. “Promise, and you have to admit, I’m getting better at this whole honesty thing. Like telling you that you are incredibly handsome and I’d like to make love to you again.”
He leaned his forehead against hers. “You’re the most frustrating woman I’ve ever known.” He lowered his lips to hers.
Chapter Thirty-One
ELLIE LEANED OVER her desk as her students worked on a writing assignment. It was Friday afternoon, and although it was only her first week of teaching at Maple Elementary, she felt as if she were meant to work there. The staff was completely in tune with the students and their needs, they were excited about the potential software proposal, and since the first morning when they’d gathered in the teachers’ lounge for coffee, she’d felt as though she fit in perfectly. Her colleagues were, in fact, her peers. She wasn’t the only teacher who had something other than a middle-class childhood.
During her first few days of teaching, Ellie observed and listened. She met with each of the students and got to know them. She knew, for example, that Selma liked reading about horses and anything that had to do with animals, and that she once had a cat that her neighbor ran over with his car. Michael enjoyed only comic books and thought any other literature was boring. His mother, however, could not read at all. Kenny had a hard time with math but could read on a third-grade level, and he often prepared the grocery list for his family. Tabby could barely make her way through a sentence. During that initial get-to-know-you conversation, she’d also learned that Joseph lived with his aunt and her five children, and they had moved three times since first grade. The classroom was ripe with need, and Ellie was chomping at the bit to take them under her wing.
She watched the kids, some intent on the task at hand, others staring out the window, unable to stay focused for more than a few minutes at a time. And then there was Joseph. Joseph was a wanderer. Smart as a whip, socially awkward, and undiagnosed as anything other than a problem child, Joseph worked best when his legs were moving. She understood the need to not feel confined, and that was part of what drove her to ease up on typical “in your seat” guidelines and allow Joseph the freedom to move.
“Okay, girls and boys, it’s time to put our work away for the afternoon.” She walked down the rows of the high-ceilinged classroom as they put their work away. Sunlight filtered through the windows. Plywood blocked the holes where windows had been broken and not yet repaired, and as she glanced at them, she wondered what had caused them to break. Did it happen during school hours, or were they broken by rowdy teenagers over a weekend? The desks were standard student fare, small, metal, scuffed, and some covered with graffiti. Overall, the classroom was functional, and with a few colorful decorations, it would soon come to life.
“Joseph, good job getting your homework done last night,” she said as the little dark-haired boy put his work into his backpack.
“Thank you, Miss Parker.”
Blythe appeared in the doorway and waved her over.
“Three minutes until the bell rings. Be sure to take your jackets home with you. Check your cubbies for anything else you might need.” She held up one finger to Blythe and continued speaking to the students. “I enjoyed our first week together, and I think we’re going to have a great year.”
“Me too.” Missing her two front teeth, Selma flashed a toothless grin.
“Thank you, Miss Parker,” Joseph yelled.
“It was a fun week except the reading,” Michael said.
She met Blythe in the doorway.
“Great news. The grant program doesn’t close until December twelfth, so we can still apply.” Blythe’s eyes widened as she smiled. “I’m so excited about this, and talk about fate! With Dex and his friends’ help on the technical side of things, and our educational staff, I think we really have a shot at this.”
“That’s fantastic news. I can’t wait to tell Dex. We’ve already begun the outline of the proposal. Why don’t I bring it in next week and we can flesh it all out and get some opinions on anything that’s missing?”
After the kids had left for the afternoon, Ellie gathered her papers and texted Dex.
We got the okay to apply for the grant! Wanna have a drink 2 celebrate?
A minute later, her cell phone vibrated with Dex’s answer.
NightCaps? 45 minutes? I’ll wait out front.
K. See u soon. Xox.
Over the past week, Ellie had found a new side to herself. She no longer weighed her answers with Dex. She gave herself over to trust, and when he asked about Bruce, she answered fully and honestly. Luckily, she hadn’t heard from Bruce all week. When Dex told her he loved her, she couldn’t say she loved him fast enough. As much as she had lived in hopes of her mantra, Everything will be okay, she had never fully believed it. She was starting to believe that maybe everything really would be okay.
“WE’RE READY TO rock and roll,” Mitch said as he came into Dex’s office. He plopped his rumpled self into a chair with a wide grin on his lips. “Reviews are awesome; people are begging for the game. You know how many kids are going to miss school Monday because they downloaded the game Saturday at midnight and they’ve gotten so far it would kill them to have to stop?”
Regina was right behind him. “Way to ruin Dex’s high, Mitch. He hates that kids skip school to play. Jesus, don’t you ever learn?”
Dex shook his head. “What matters is that we’re going out on time and we’ve got a great product. I don’t want to talk about the kids skipping school. I wanna pretend they all have a father like mine.” He lowered his voice and pinched his eyebrows together. “Over my dead body will you stay home to play games. You’re a man. Men don’t play; they work. They provide.”
“That’s actually pretty sexy,” Regina teased. She carried a handful of Twizzlers and offered one to Mitch and one to Dex. Both of whom declined. “Suit yourself.” She sat in the chair opposite Mitch and hiked her jeans-clad legs over the arm of the chair. She wore her black hoodie unzipped with a black ribbed tank top beneath.
“My dad is anything but sexy.” Dex rose to his feet and came around to the opposite side of the desk. He leaned against it and crossed his legs. “I hate to jinx us, but I think we’ve got this release nailed.”
“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock,” Mitch said, then scratched his stomach.
Dex’s phone vibrated with a text from Sage. I’ve got a free night. Wanna grab a brew? He knew Ellie wouldn’t mind if Sage joined them, and he was excited to share their relationship with him. He texted back. NightCaps half hr. Meet us?
“Hey, how’s Ellie’s new job? I kinda got used to seeing her.” Regina stuck a Twizzler in her mouth.
“She loves it. The work, the kids.” He shrugged. “It’s a good match. I’m on my way to meet her. Wanna come?” His phone vibrated, and he read a text from Sage. Sure. C U there. Looking forward 2 getting 2 no Ellie better. Then he texted Ellie, so she wouldn’t be taken by surprise. Mind if Sage joins us?