burned our fajitas and loaded the dishwasher but forgotten to turn it on. Jaycee had teased me about getting old and I couldn’t even play it off as a busy day at work because she’d been there.
I rested my head on the back of my chair and stared at the ceiling. My office was the opposite of Mara’s. Old movie posters decorated three walls and Jaycee’s sketches of the store hung on the fourth wall. The window shade was closed and I let my eyelids drift shut.
I missed Natalia. Spying on her for five seconds before she’d spotted me hadn’t helped my control yesterday. The play of the lights over the blond highlights in her hair had caught my eye before my gaze had drifted down to her business-wear-clad ass. She’d had the coat off that went with it—and I’d seen her at work enough to know that the suit coat was a layer to hide behind. Without it, the taper of her waist into the rounded flare of her hips was mesmerizing. Then she’d caught me lusting after her and had barely batted an eye.
But she’d proven she wasn’t immune to me either.
What the fuck had we done? Two people who couldn’t climb a hill had no business dreaming of mountains—or whatever prophetic words my mom had spewed when I admitted to Cierra’s rejection.
I hadn’t been able to get the mother of my kid to consider marrying me; I wasn’t going to win over Natalia’s family.
Natalia
“Henry’s on line one,” came Ms. Branson’s crisp voice through the intercom.
I raised a brow and tore my gaze off the spreadsheet in front of me. Henry must’ve made his call sound critical. New week, new mood had been my motto until Ms. Branson had bypassed our messaging for the intercom. And it was only Monday.
My gaze shifted to the ominous phone. Oh, I knew what the call was about. Frederick Wentworth had gone nuclear when I’d told him Dresden was suspended. The entire board had probably heard his case before the weekend. Coach Sammie had turned beet red and blustered his way straight out of my office and likely right onto Henry’s lap to complain about how mean I was.
“Cheater,” I muttered. I’d counseled Coach Sammie and expressed that I had one hundred percent confidence in my ability to find a qualified coach who’d hold our students to Preston’s standards and not lie for them. I should’ve fired him, but he was tight with the powerful families who communicated through their pocketbooks. Enraging one family was inconvenient, but I’d be a fool to upset the horde.
I gave the phone one last hard stare and picked it up. “How are you, Henry?”
“I’ve had better weekends.” His tone didn’t make my hopes rise.
“I should’ve notified you what might happen when I started disciplinary action on Jaycee Halliwell and Dresden Wentworth.”
“And Coach Samuelson. Look, I’m not interested in a he-said-she-said, especially when my phone kept ringing with more hes and shes.” I didn’t dare chuckle. Nothing was funny about the situation—but maniacal giggles were fighting to get out. “Based on the claims and accusations, I’m calling an emergency parent meeting tomorrow evening. Six o’clock.”
I let my eyelids drift shut. Would I walk into a room with gallows and rotten tomatoes? Henry wasn’t interested in excuses. He wasn’t a guy who cared to play intermediary between me and upset parents and faculty.
Hanging up with him, my stomach roiled. The meeting was going to be a brutal trial filled with accusations and well-aimed targets about my character. And unlike when Lauren PenaltyCall had tripped me and I’d knocked my head on the floor, I would be hurt and alone.
Chris wasn’t going to be around to support me through this mess.
Chapter 15
Natalia
I pulled on my suit jacket. I lined the cuffs up with my sleeves and straightened the bottom. The meeting started in twenty minutes. Henry had arranged for the gathering to take place in the conference room.
My stomach fluttered, harder than last time. I was going to be nauseous by the time the meeting started.
Earlier in the school year, when I’d first arrived, I’d spoken in an auditorium with hundreds of young faces staring at me as I introduced myself and outlined my mission statement and plans for the school. I’d assured them their days wouldn’t be disrupted as they restructured minor areas of programming and extracurricular activities.
I had channeled Valaria the whole time.
For the most part, I’d told the truth. Jaycee’s and Dresden’s actions should’ve only affected