Finding Home (28 page)

Levi.

She still couldn’t believe he’d moved in next door.

Couldn’t believe that her heart still skipped a beat each time she saw him.

Couldn’t believe how right it still felt to be in his arms.

“Enough! He’s just an old friend,” she muttered to herself as she grabbed a can of diet cola from the fridge and hurried outside. The police had returned her purse the day before, and she pulled her keys out as she jogged down the porch stairs. Things had been quiet since the break-in at the school, but she still felt uneasy and anxious. Someone had an ax to grind with her, and Shauna wouldn’t feel completely safe until the police found out who it was.

“Looks like we’re both starting our days early.” Levi’s voice carried across the yard, and Shauna turned, her heart doing exactly what she knew it would when she saw him—skipping and dancing and celebrating.

Fickle foolish heart.

“Jack must be a real taskmaster for you to be out and about before seven. The way I remember it, you didn’t believe in opening your eyes before eight. How many first-period classes did you miss in high school?” The question left her mouth before she could think it through, and she blushed. She should
not
be bringing up the past when she was trying so hard to forget that she and Levi had shared one.

“More than I want to admit.”

“You still managed to pass every class.”

“I had a good tutor my senior year.”

“Not that you ever really needed one.” She’d tutored him in calculus the year they’d dated. She didn’t remember much teaching going on, but he’d somehow managed to ace every test.

“I needed you, and you were a great teacher, Shauna. I don’t know why I ever tried to convince you to do something else with your life.” He smiled, walking toward her, his suit perfectly fitted, his face clean shaven. He wore the past twelve years well, fine lines at the corners of his eyes giving him a look of maturity he hadn’t had when they were dating. It appealed to Shauna in a way she hadn’t expected and didn’t like.

“You didn’t want to be limited by my small-town dreams.” That’s what he’d told her the day he’d said he was going to Seattle to attend college and to create a new life for himself. A new life that didn’t include her.

“I should never have said that. I was young and—”

“It was meant to be, Levi. We weren’t. There’s no sense in rehashing it all.” She opened the car door, would have gotten in and driven away. But Levi put a hand on her arm, the heat of his touch shooting through her.

“I was young and foolish. I’m older now and hopefully a little wiser.”

“Meaning?” She knew she should pull away, but his touch was familiar and new all at once, and she couldn’t make herself break the contact.

“There were better ways to say goodbye, and I wish I’d taken them.”

“But you don’t wish you hadn’t said it?”

“I had to leave, Red. If I hadn’t, I’d never have learned what it was I was missing.” His hand slid up her arm, rested on her shoulder, his fingers playing with her hair. He’d done the same dozens of times when they were teens, but it was different now—more compelling, more deliberate.

He knew what he wanted, and he knew how to get it.

And if Shauna wasn’t careful, she’d fall right into his plans.

Chapter Thirteen

B
reathless, Shauna pulled away and got in the car, anxious to put some distance between them. Even then, she could feel the warmth of his hand on her shoulder, feel her heart’s shuddering response.

That wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all.

She grabbed the door handle, but Levi put his hand on the window, his grip light. She could have closed the door if she wanted to, and she knew it.

So why didn’t she?

Maybe it was the way he’d looked at her when she’d stood at her desk early Saturday morning. She’d seen things in his eyes that she’d never seen before—understanding, respect, admiration. And she’d responded in a visceral way that had made her want to turn tail and run.

But she hadn’t.

And she wouldn’t.

She wasn’t a teenager, anymore. She was an adult, and she’d act reasonable and in control no matter how muddle-headed she felt when Levi was around.

“I need to go. I’ve got a classroom to get ready.”

“I guess we both have busy days ahead of us. How about we have dinner together? We can finish our conversation then.”

“We
are
finished.”

“Then let’s just have dinner.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not? We’re old friends. What could possibly be wrong with us having dinner together?” He made it sound so reasonable that for the life of her, Shauna couldn’t think of one reason why they shouldn’t.

“Give me a few hours. I’ll think of something.”

He laughed, and Shauna couldn’t help smiling in return. “You’re laughing, but I’m not joking. I can’t have dinner with you.”

“Why? Are you dating someone?”

“I don’t date.” That, at least, was the truth.

“Since when?”

“Since my fiancé announced that he was in love with another woman and left me at the altar.”

“Let me guess.... His name was Matthew.”

“Good guess.”

“And that was how long ago?”

“Two years, and I haven’t been sitting around pining for him, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just don’t see any reason to get involved in another relationship.”

“Actually, what I was thinking was that any man who was fortunate enough to be engaged to you would have had to be an idiot to walk away.”

“He’s not the only one who walked away.” The words slipped out and she immediately wished them back.

“I was an idiot, too. And if I had another chance, I’d never walk away.”

“You’re flirting again.”

“I’m way past flirting, Shauna. I think you know that.” He spoke quietly, his eyes burning into hers.

And she was breathless again, lost in his gaze and in all the things they’d once shared, lost in dreams that she didn’t dare allow herself to believe in.

Lost and completely helpless to do anything about it.

Forget reasonable and in control. She needed to leave before she threw herself in his arms and begged for a second chance at love.

“I really do need to go.” She yanked the door closed, and this time he didn’t try to stop her as she shoved the keys in the ignition and drove away.

Chapter Fourteen

S
hauna had always loved teaching, but, by the time she walked into Deer Park Elementary, all she wanted to do was go home and go back to bed. Her head was pounding, her nerves were shot, and in less than two hours, twenty-eight kids would walk into the room.

She only hoped she’d have enough energy to keep up with them.

At least the room was clean and in order again. She had yet to find the missing folders, but everything else had been accounted for.

She pulled out her plan book and took a long sip of diet cola, the silence of the room settling around her. It would be an hour before most of the other staff members arrived, but Shauna had always liked getting to school early. There was something about an empty classroom that appealed to her—so many possibilities waiting to be discovered. Even now, her run-in with Levi fresh in her mind, she felt herself relaxing. Everything would work out. It always did. She just had to trust that God was in control and let Him lead where He would.

As long as where He was leading didn’t bring her back into Levi’s arms.

She frowned, opening her plan book to the last page where she’d jotted notes about each child. A few came from difficult family situations. Others were struggling academically. And then there was Nicolas. Quiet and shy, he had an anxious quality that made Shauna wonder what his home life was like. She’d asked him a few questions, but he wasn’t quick to share, and she hadn’t learned much more than what his paperwork said. He was from a single-parent home, and his mother was a nurse who worked at a local convalescent center. Nicolas had said a few other things in passing. That he’d lived in many different places and that he’d once had another name. He’d even drawn a picture of himself and labeled it “Eli.” When Shauna showed the drawing to his mother at Friday’s parent-teacher conference, she’d laughed and said Nicolas had always had a good imagination.

Maybe he did, but the drawing still made Shauna uneasy.

The sound of footsteps on tile drifted in from the hallway, and she tensed. There were other people in the building. The kitchen and custodial staff had arrived before her, and she was sure a few other teachers were working in their classrooms. Any one of them could be walking through the hall. She stood, anyway, moving across the room and grabbing a pair of scissors from the supply closet. They weren’t much in the way of weapons, but they were better than nothing.

The footsteps drew closer, then stopped outside the door.

Shauna’s grip tightened on the scissors, her heart beating a hard, jerky rhythm. Was it possible the person who’d held her up at knifepoint and trashed her classroom was standing on the other side of the door? Was it possible that person had more than a theft on his mind this time? Maybe he had a gun or a—

The door swung open, and Shauna shrieked, jumping backward and stumbling over a chair. She landed with a painful thud, but she didn’t have time to catch her breath. She was on her feet in seconds, the scissors in hand, ready for an attack.

Chapter Fifteen

“S
hauna! What in the world are you doing?” Maggie Tennyson stood in the doorway, her eyes wide with surprise. A teacher’s aide working toward her teaching degree, Maggie had been assigned to Shauna’s classroom at the beginning of the year and had proven a valuable asset.

“I could say the same about you. You’re never here this early.”

“Ms. Mallory called me Saturday and told me there’d been a break-in. I thought I’d come in early in case you needed help setting up for the day, but it looks like you have everything under control.” Maggie dropped a pile of college textbooks on a table at the back of the room. She looked pale and tired, her eyes deeply shadowed. Apparently, Shauna wasn’t the only one who’d had a rough weekend.

“For now. Are you okay? You look tired.” She put the scissors back in the closet, her hand shaking. She really needed to pull herself together and stop jumping at shadows.

“College is kicking my butt this semester. You know how that is.”

“I remember. If you need the day off—”

“Are you kidding me? Thanksgiving is just a few days away, and we have tons of projects to do before then.”

“I can manage, Maggie. If it’s the difference between you being exhausted and not—”

“Really. I’m fine. You’re the one who probably needs time off. I heard you were nearly killed by a guy with a knife this weekend.”

“Who’d you hear that from?”

“My landlady. She has her ear to the ground and knows everything that goes on in Deer Park.”

“Well, she has the facts wrong. I wasn’t nearly killed. My purse was stolen.” And then returned, but that wasn’t something Shauna wanted to talk about.

“It must have been really frightening.”

“It was, but I’m over it.” Almost.

“Good. How about I start writing the warm-up on the board?” Maggie grabbed a piece of chalk and set to work, her presence a nice distraction from Shauna’s worries.

By the time the students arrived, she was feeling more herself, and the first hour of class went off without a hitch. When Krista appeared in the doorway and gestured for her to come out in the hall, Shauna gave the students their assignment and walked out of the room.

“What’s up?”

“I need you to have Nicolas Samuels gather his things and bring them down to my office.” Krista spoke quietly, her voice belying a tension that was unlike anything Shauna had seen in her before.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m not at liberty to say. Just have him get all his things. I’m not sure he’ll be returning.”

“What—”

“Shauna, I can’t tell you any more than that. Just bring him to my office.” She turned and walked down the hall before Shauna could ask more.

Nicolas sat at the back of the classroom, his head bent over the math book. He looked up as she approached, his freckled face tense with worry.

“Hey, Nick, I need you to get your things together. We have to go to the principal’s office.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why do I need to go?”

“Principal Mallory will explain everything when we get there, okay?” She helped him gather his books and put them in a worn backpack, her heart thudding uncomfortably. Something was wrong, but she had no idea what. All she could do was pray that everything would be okay as she walked Nicolas down the long corridor to Krista’s office.

Chapter Sixteen

A
good day’s work was a good day’s work no matter where it was done, and Levi was feeling more content than he had in a long time as he pulled up in front of his new home. The sun had already set, and he could see lights on in Shauna’s house as he got out of the car.