Our days mostly consisted of lazy sleeping in, taking a walk or a run on the beach, and strolling along Santa Monica Pier. Jesse held my hand, kissed me, and loved me, even though he still wasn’t ready to say the words.
Our nights consisted of dinner with his parents, and Jesse even set up a bonfire on the beach a few times. We sat by the fire, talking softly about our pasts and the dreams we had for the future. I never felt closer to another person than I did to Jesse, and I couldn’t get over the fact that we shared so much intimacy without having sex.
Jesse treated me to a few date nights, and I felt more and more like he was my boyfriend. Each day that passed caused my heart to open more to him, and I knew that he felt as close to me as I felt to him based on the intimate confessions he’d made to me.
And because of our amazing spring break together, nothing could’ve prepared me for the shit storm that faced us when we returned home.
And I mean nothing.
CHAPTER 14
I had been at the beach. I’d called my parents to let them know I had forgotten my cell phone charger and gave them the Drake’s home number for emergencies.
Jesse and I went off the grid for a few days.
What a hell of a few days to go off the grid.
We arrived home Sunday night, and on the surface, everything was fine. We both plugged in our phones immediately and then headed back out to the car to unload. We took our time, unpacked our luggage, and started some laundry. I felt lighthearted and happy as I watched my clothes mix with his in the washing machine. It was one of those simple, everyday chores that had suddenly become special because we were doing it together.
I felt closer to Jesse than I ever had. I felt like a part of his family. His parents made me feel like another daughter, not in the sense that I could ever replace their Allison, but in the sense that they loved me because they saw how happy I made their son. I even sat with Judy one night and told her all about Richard. She held my hand in hers and patted my arm as I spoke. She sympathized with me and hugged me and brushed my tears away when I told her how unsupportive my own mother had been when I’d told her that I was getting divorced. She understood my situation and could clearly see that I was meant to be with her son. In fact, she’d said to me, “I’ve never seen Jesse with a woman, but I know love when I see it, and I know that my boy loves you. I don’t know if he’s told you that. He’s had a hard time getting close to people since what happened with Allie. But I see the way he looks at you, and I couldn’t be happier that he’s found someone as special as you.”
Tears spilled from my eyes as she hugged me, and I suddenly had the inclination that someday I’d be part of her family. Someday I’d pass the sweet potatoes over the Thanksgiving turkey and someday she’d hold our child, her grandchild, in her arms.
So everything was perfect until we arrived home. Well, really, until our phones were charged. It wasn’t until I turned on my phone that I started to freak out.
Apparently Jesse had turned his phone on at the exact same time, because when he appeared in the doorway to the guest room that we’d been sharing since… well, since the first night he’d stayed the night with me, his face was pale.
I had seventy-four new texts. Most were from Quinn, and after reading through the first few, I knew that I had not only missed something major, but we had a major problem.
“Are you seeing this?” Jesse whispered.
I nodded, staring at my phone.
I pulled open my work email, and that was when my fears were confirmed. I couldn’t log on. My account was frozen.
I logged into my personal email account, and there it was: an email from our campus union representative.
Veronica:
I have tried to reach you by phone and am hoping this email will reach you. If you haven’t seen the news, you and Jesse Drake are both being put on leave during this investigation. The leave shouldn’t last more than a week, but contact the union attorney ASAP.
Dave
Jesse and I had both been put on administrative leave? For what?
“Jesse, I have an email from Dave,” I said.
“So do I.” He took a few seconds to read it.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but Bill texted me a link to a news report.”
I stood close to him and we watched as his phone loaded the video.
The news anchor from our local news started reporting the story. “Breaking news out of local high school Central Valley, where a teacher and a counselor are being accused of having an illicit affair on school grounds. CBS five takes you to the scene. Nancy?”
The shot zoomed to a still of our school’s marquee out front and then showed a few panoramic photos of the campus.