like the blanket he'd kept artfully draped over the back of the sofa, his place was cozy. There were books everywhere, he had a habit of abandoning his ties all over the place, he kept nothing in the refrigerator—and we'd been holed up here since returning from his hometown several days ago.
We'd even agreed to skip the school's annual holiday party today because we didn't want to forfeit these final hours of couple time before we had to get back to business on Monday.
And we didn't want to put on real clothes.
He regarded me with a slight smile. "Pizza?"
I shook my head with an exaggerated groan. "It's New Year's Day. We're supposed to be eating egg whites and asparagus or…something dreadful like that."
"As you said, sweetheart, dreadful," he replied. "How do you feel about tempura? There's a place Clark turned me onto last year with the best vegetable tempura I've ever had." When his phone buzzed, he reached for it on the coffee table and chuckled. "Speak of the freakin' devil."
"What is it?"
He handed me his phone. "See for yourself."
Clark: Where are you, man? It's the school holiday party. Attendance is basically mandatory and I require a shoulder to commiserate on.
Clark: FFS, I'm here and we all know I'd rather be anywhere but.
Clark: The elementary team is hypothesizing whether you and Treloff finally killed each other. It would be amusing to watch if I wasn't trying to get the hell out of here but that's not happening.
Clark: The problem being, the human shield I brought with me today is now besties with the boss and she's hooking us up with a new science teacher so I'll probably die here.
I shot Drew a confused smile. "What does any of this mean?"
He met me with an equally confused blink. "You don't know?"
Slowly shaking my head, I said, "I understand that both of us skipping that party might raise some eyebrows and start up the rumor mill but what's this about commiserating and human shields?"
He tapped out a quick response and dropped his phone back on the table. "Clark has a thing for Noa. A significant thing."
"Does she know that?" I asked, thinking about the middle grade language arts teacher Noa Elbaz.
"Oh, hell no," he replied with a laugh. "No, no, no. She's made it perfectly clear that's a nonstarter and he…well, he's still getting over that rejection. He does a fantastic job of making her believe he's busy being Tinder's top user."
"But—but—they lesson plan together every weekend." I couldn't wrap my mind around this. "They collaborate on everything. Their pacing is lockstep. They debrief every single class during passing periods. How do they—how does he survive that?"
"It's a cocktail of bitterness and resentment with a chaser of self-flagellation," he replied.
"Ohhhhh." Now I understood. I never would've guessed these men were tender-hearted buddies. "You and Clark both—that's why he needed a shoulder for commiseration."
"Yes." He squeezed my calf. "Clark will make it through without me. There are plenty of people at this event to distract him."
Before I could ask anything else, my phone buzzed—and didn't stop. "Wow," I breathed, reading through messages from Emme Ahlborg, the sorceress of second grade, Audrey Saunders, the fabulous ruler of the fifth graders, and Shay Zucconi, the queen of kindergarten. "The elementary team really does think we killed each other."
Emme: Hey, doll. So, some of our dear friends are worried you've died. Please confirm otherwise.
Audrey: Hi there. We're all here at the holiday party and wondering if you're okay.
Shay: Tara! I thought I was going to see you today at Lauren's! What's up, girlfriend?
Audrey: I'm sure you're all right and everything is fine but you know how I worry.
Shay: Tell the truth—did you and Larsen fight it out cage-match style? And can I hear the gory details?
Emme: If you're busy living your life, please continue doing that. Explanations are unnecessary. Everyone will just have to simmer down.
Audrey: You know I worry a lot. I'm sorry. It's just so unlike you to miss an event and I haven't seen you since before the winter break started.
Emme: Ignore Audrey. I'll deal with her.
When I handed him the device, he scrolled through the messages with a low whistle. "Your team adores you. You’ve even snatched Audrey out from underneath me."
"You say that like it's a competition. Like it's a knock against you because my team is demonstrably affectionate." I wagged a finger at him. "Everyone adores you. It might not be the same love and sunshine I get but that's