Taking his out-stretched hand, I pull myself up and stand before him. “Fine, thank you,” I answer, trying to look as composed as possible.
“Tim,” he introduces himself, handing me my briefcase. “And you must be Grace.” Laughing at my name, he looks me over. “Rather ironic, huh?” he jokes. “Falling on your ass like that with a name like Grace.”
Losing himself to a silly fit of laughter, it’s easy not to be mad at him. He’s not much older than me, his face young and carefree. “My parents clearly didn’t think that one through, huh?” I laugh with him.
“Clearly,” he agrees, running his hand through his light blond hair. “Well, Grace,” he emphasizes my name, “it’s a pleasure to meet you. June mentioned we’d be sharing a room this year,” he explains, walking us into the classroom.
As I step in front of him, he puts his hand on my lower back ushering me into the room. An unsettled feeling brews in my gut as he introduces me to the group as his new roommate. I know he means well, and that he’s just trying to be friendly, but the combination of the casual friendliness in his voice and the ease with which he’s putting his hand on me, it’s throwing me off.
The rest of the teachers introduce themselves and we share a collective laugh at my entrance. Tim pulls out a seat next to him for me to sit in. Seeing as it’s the only free spot, I take it and try to push back the feeling of unease. “Grace, this is Kathy, Lauren, Doug, and Mike.” Shaking hands with each of them, I thank them for allowing me to be a part of their team.
“Nice to meet you, Grace.” Lauren smiles at me from across the table. “Are you okay?” she asks, tipping her head out to where I fell on my ass.
“Yeah, I’ll live.” Laughing about it is the only way to make the embarrassment go away.
“I’ve got an even better one for you,” Doug chimes in. “I was walking up the stairs, piles of papers in my hands and of course, I figured I could carry my coffee as well. I actually tripped up the stairs.”
“Oh no,” I gasp, laughing.
“Oh yes,” he continues. “Papers and coffee went everywhere. I had to lay the papers out on the windowsill so they could dry off. My room smelled like coffee for days after that.”
“Well, at least you didn’t trip over your own shoelaces and fly face first into a couple making out,” Tim adds to the horror stories.
“That’s . . . wow, that’s just awful.”
“You’re telling me.” Tim laughs along with everyone else. “I was face-to-face with pretty much the worst threesome you could ever imagine.”
After a few more horror stories, some their own, and some belonging to their fellow co-workers, we’re all laughed out. With the focus off my less-than-graceful entrance, I feel much more relaxed with this group of new people.
Half an hour into the first task, I feel even more at ease. Mixing work with funny stories about the students and teachers of the building, I realize just how lucky I am to be a part of this group. They really do seem to be nice people. Even Tim, who I must admit is really easy on the eyes, has proven to be funny and smart and not at all creepy like I thought he’d turn out to be.
As the hours move on, I’m in awe of the group’s collective intelligence. In complete contrast to their casual appearance, every teacher here is articulate and creative. My brain hurts by the end of the day. Their ideas and enthusiasm are almost too much to take in. Whatever apprehension I was feeling earlier is completely erased as they embrace and encourage my participation. By the end of the day, my mind is racing with a million different ideas for lessons in the upcoming school year. At the end of the session, we share some ideas about what we’ll work on tomorrow and I offer to bring in some muffins for breakfast.
“I’ll walk you to your car, Grace,” Tim offers, holding the door open for me as I walk out of the library.
“Okay,” I accept, suddenly nervous.
“So what did you think of today?”
“It was good. I learned a lot. How do you think it went?” Of course he agrees. It really was a good day. As we walk to the car, the conversation is filled with talk of who will use which side of the room and how we’ll divide the bulletin board.
“Sounds good, Tim. And thanks again for helping me earlier.”
“No problem.” He leans against the rear panel of my car. “It’s great having you aboard.”
“Yeah, I’m excited. I just moved out here for this job so it’s nice to know it was worth it.”
“From where?” he asks, genuinely interested.
“I grew up in New Jersey, but went to college in Manhattan. I just moved out here a few weeks ago.”
“Well then.” The tone of his voice sounds as if he’s just come to a monumental decision. “I’ll have to take you out. Show you the lay of the land. Help you get used to your new hometown.” With each word he moves closer to me, leaning into my personal space. His motives are not nearly as hidden as they should be.
“Thanks, but really it’s okay.” After I open the door, I drop my briefcase inside. Deliberating for a second on how to say it, I felt like an idiot trying to tell him about David. In all my experience with men, which isn’t much, I was never good with being able to tell if a guy was interested in me. Maybe Tim is simply being nice and offering his help, but there’s something in his smile and his eyes suggesting that this is more than an offer of friendship. “Um, I,” I start lamely. Digging for my confidence, I say, “I have a boyfriend.”
Oh, my God. I sound like a dope.
“Oh, okay.” There’s dejection in his words and I have to say, I’m more than a little proud at being able to read the situation correctly. “Well, my offer still stands. I mean we will be working together for oh, I don’t know, like the next twenty or twenty-five years.” Recovering quickly, he laughs, smiling at me. “But seriously. I was just trying to be a friend.”
“Thank you. Maybe I’ll take you up on that tour one day.” Sliding into my seat, I say goodbye through the window. “See you tomorrow.”
“Bye.” He smiles at me as I pull away. Maybe it’s a little duller than the smiles he gave me the rest of the day, but there’s still a friendly air about him making me believe he is a decent guy.
The first thing I do when I get home is change and clean up my knees, which are now a lovely shade of bluish purple. It’s still an adjustment living alone, but it’s one I’m really enjoying. Besides, on the stretches when David isn’t working, he spends most of his time here. As I toss my heels into the closet, I smile when they land next to David’s extra pair of running shoes. It makes me think back to this morning.
“ Why are you up? ” I groaned, curling around him as he sat on the edge of the bed. Lacing up his sneakers, he chuckled at me and my drowsiness.
“ You ’ re kind of adorable when you ’ re tired. ” Twisting around, he pulled me into his arms completely. “ And believe me, I would love to stay here and waste the day away with your legs wrapped around my hips. ” He arched a brow, smiling at me. “ But I have work tonight and you have work in like an hour. ”
Sweetly, he pressed his lips to mine, completely ignoring my morning breath. “ You have way too much energy after last night. ” Stretching, I raised my arms above my head and the sheet fell away.