Snow Days (The Hope Falls Series) Read online

  “Well, Mr. Burke,” Principal Walters said, far more patiently than Matt would have been able to, “do you have an alternate solution that you would be happier with?”

  “I just don't like it,” Burke reiterated, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair, the matter clearly closed in his mind.

  Principal Walters looked unsure but then continued. “Well then. Moving on...”

  Matt realized that he didn't even know what it was that Wyatt Burke didn't like. He had been so tuned out and focused on Amy that he had completely lost the thread of the meeting. Okay. He was going to force himself to focus if it killed him – and it might.

  “Next on the agenda,” Principal Walters said, clearly dreading the next item he had to bring up, “we have Student Service Day this Saturday.”

  A collective groan arose from the teachers in the room, and Matt gave Amy a questioning look. She was just opening her mouth to respond when Principal Walters continued. “I know, I know. No one likes it. But here's the thing, people. Not only is it tradition, but it serves several useful purposes. It builds character in the students by allowing them to be of service to their school community, and it helps us to winterize the building without having to eat into the budget, which is thin enough as it is.”

  “I don't like playing the taskmaster, browbeating the kids into doing manual labor,” groused Art Gardine, the aging hippie history teacher.

  “Yes, it does seem to crush their spirits a bit,” chimed in Autumn Canela, the free spirit of an art teacher.

  “I don't like it,” Wyatt Burke put in, but Matt could not be entirely sure that the elderly math teacher was not still voicing his displeasure over whatever the previous topic discussed in the meeting had been.

  “I often wonder,” said Andy Sternhagen, the—and Matt really could not think of a nicer way to describe him—unbearably nerdy science teacher, “if the net amount of energy we expend in attempting to force the children to complete these tasks is not greater in total volume than the net amount of energy we would expend were we to simply undertake the tasks ourselves.”

  “Wait,” piped up Mrs. Coolidge, her interest suddenly aroused. “Are you suggesting that we do the work ourselves?” Matt didn't know if the woman simply had a natural aversion to taking on extra tasks outside of her contracted duties or if she was merely burned out on that concept after months of taking on the responsibility for the extra history classes. Either way, he had a feeling, if the conversations he had had with her since he had arrived were any indication, that idea was not going to go over well with her.

  “No one is suggesting that,” Principal Walters rushed to assure her.

  “Good,” Mrs. Coolidge huffed.

  “You'll all be working with the students in your homeroom classes that day. It's the easiest way to split it up. Your work areas will be determined by who your prep partner is. Those assignments will be emailed out this week.”

  Principal Walters glanced down at his notes and, with obvious relief in his voice, said, “Well, that looks like everything that was on the agenda. Anyone else have anything? No? Good. We're dismissed.”

  With that, the principal hightailed it quickly out of the staff lounge, clearly not eager to discuss the concept of Student Service Day with anyone who might want to take it up with him right then. That was fine with Matt. Walters was definitely not the staff member Matt felt excited about talking to at that moment.

  Turning to Amy, he said, “So, prep partner. Looks like we'll have our classes together on Student Service Day. Is it really as bad as these guys make it out to be?”

  Amy shook her head. “It's not so bad. I do agree with Principal Walters. It's good for the students to have a chance to do something that is completely selfless and gives back to the community of the school—to perform a true act of service. On the other hand, it's difficult to argue with their claims that the school is just using them for free labor when that's pretty much exactly what's going on.”

  Matt chuckled. “Yeah, I can't see myself being very on board with a concept like this when I was in high school.”

  Amy shrugged. “Well, there is one good thing about it. This year, at least.”

  “What's that?” Matt asked.

  She looked up into his face and his heart stopped at the adorable smile she was sending him—just the perfect balance of shy, playful, and innocent to take his breath away.

  “We’ll be together. Um, I mean, we won’t be alone,” she stammered, blushing. “I just mean it won’t be thirty to one in favor of the kids.” She stopped and took a breath before continuing. “We’ll have each other as backup. This is the first year they’re pairing people up.”

  Matt felt his head spin. Man. He knew that the rest of the teachers, and for very good reasons, were dreading Student Service Day. But as for him, he was kind of looking forward to it.

  Chapter Nine

  Amy rang the bell at Amanda and Justin Barnes's house and felt herself relaxing. She was here to meet up with her friends for Book Club, which they always joked should more aptly be named Drink Wine and Gossip Club, and she could really use the break from thinking about everything that was going on inside of her where Matt was concerned. All she wanted to do tonight was down two or three—or four or five—glasses of sweet and buttery Moscato and laugh with her girlfriends.

  Amanda threw open the door, her eyes sparkling with wicked glee.

  “Finally!” she exclaimed, pulling Amy inside. “You're here! We've been waiting!”

  Amy's brow furrowed in puzzlement. She had grown up being the wallflower. Nikki was the attention-grabber. It wasn't as if people didn't like Amy—they liked her well enough. But it also wasn't as if she was very often—or ever—pulled into social gatherings to a chorus of people saying that they'd been waiting for her.

  “Oh...” she said hesitantly. “I'm here... Why were you waiting for me?”

  “Well,” started Amanda excitedly, “Justin told me that he’s playing basketball tonight with the new teacher at the high school. Henry’s nephew, Matt. And he's young—as in...our age. That's a new one for the high school faculty, that's for sure.”

  Amy nodded, carefully trying to keep her expression neutral.

  “Sooo....?” Amanda questioned.

  “What?” Amy queried.

  “Have you met him? Is he hot? What’s the scoop?” Amanda laughed, and the rest of the ladies in the room joined in.

  Amy looked around, feeling a little overwhelmed by her new place as the center of attention. It wasn't a position she was used to occupying. She saw each of the girls in turn as she scanned the room and felt even more insecure about the idea of laying out her story to these confident women.

  First, there was Amanda. She was so cute, with curly blond hair and a tomboy fashion sensibility. She had reunited with her long-lost first love, Justin, when he had come back to town the previous year, and now they owned and ran a highly successful resort in Hope Falls known as Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures.

  Next, there was Karina. The raven-haired beauty was an internationally famous pop star who had moved back to her hometown of Hope Falls in order to get back in touch with her musical roots and to reconnect with her Washoe identity. Almost immediately, she had met Ryan, Sue Ann's grandson, who had come to town to help his grandmother run the café. It had been love at first sight, and they were blissfully happy.

  Then, there was Sam. Her lustrous red hair, sparkling green eyes, and elfin smile had clearly been just a few of the things that had caught the attention of her now-fiancé, Luke, whom she had met years earlier on the competitive snowboarding circuit. They had been thrown into spending more time together when they had accepted jobs as the coordinators and in-house experts on skiing and snowboarding for Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures. They were crazy in love and insanely happy together, as well.

  The last woman in the room was Lauren—tall, blonde, elegant, and always impeccably put together. Amy probably would have found her intimidating
even if she wasn't the co-host of a successful real estate reality television program, Home Sweet Vacation Home, a spin-off of the highly successful Home Sweet Home. Her co-host was her fiancé, Ben, a man Amy had always thought might be the one person in the entire world who was always as immaculately turned out as Lauren was.

  She wanted to talk to her friends, but after all, what could she even say? What did the story even amount to? That she had a crush? That it was on someone who seemed to be very much in love with his dearly departed wife?

  Yeah.

  Pathetic.

  Not gonna happen.

  The issue, however, was that Amy was not experienced in the art of smoothly covering up. She had neither the expertise nor the facility to just make a split-second decision about what she would and would not like to say and then continue blithely on with barely a blip in her conversational radar.

  No. Rather, she stood in front of them, color draining from her face, mouth opening and closing silently as she tried to figure out what to say.

  “I think she's met him,” Karina observed wryly.

  “Yes, I have,” Amy confirmed, feeling her cheeks burst into flames. She wanted to bury her face in her hands.

  “And in answer to your second question,” Karina continued flatly, “yes, she thinks he is hot.”

  “Stop it, Kar. You’re embarrassing Amy,” Sam said, coming to her defense.

  “Oh no. There’s no need to be embarrassed,” Amanda said soothingly, leading her over to the couch. “We've all been there. Let's just talk it out.”

  Amy glanced around the room and saw the supportive, open faces of her friends smiling at her. She smiled back, not really having a clue what else to do.

  Lauren, perhaps sensing her hesitation, declared, “We definitely need some wine.”

  “Absolutely,” Amy agreed.

  Within minutes, Lauren came back with glasses for each of them and a few bottles of Bella Moscato on a tray. She proceeded to pour out the shining, golden liquid into each of their glasses as she said matter-of-factly, “Okay, so you’ve met him?”

  “Yes.” Amy took a deep breath and an even deeper draw on her wine glass. “I have.”

  “And,” Lauren prompted.

  “He’s very nice,” Amy answered. There was a very uncomfortably long stretch of silence, and Amy was starting to feel a little too on display. She wasn’t sure what else to say.

  Sam came to her rescue once again by changing the subject. “Well that’s good. Um, how are the interviews going?”

  “Good. Really good. I feel like I am collecting some valuable data.” Amy was relieved that the conversation had moved on. She would have to remember to thank Sam later.

  “Do you have your notebooks with you? I would love to see what kind of kinky stuff you’ve found out,” Karina smiled mischievously.

  Amy had to laugh. “No, I don’t. But even if I did, I wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing them.”

  “Oh come on. I know Nikki’s seen them,” Karina pushed.

  “No she hasn’t,” Amy answered honestly.

  “No one’s seen them?” Karina asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

  Oh crap. She hated lying. And this wasn’t even something worth lying about. “Well, um, Matt saw them but—”

  “Matt!” all four girls exclaimed at once.

  Amy nodded, chagrined. “He inadvertently found them.”

  “How did he inadvertently find them?” Lauren asked, puzzled.

  “Well,” Amy admitted regretfully, “it was completely my fault. I had brought them into school on the last teacher in-service day. You know I like to have my class prepared weeks in advance. I knew I would have some free prep time on that day and I thought I could use some of it to go over my findings. I figured it was safe to bring them to the school because no students were on campus that day.”

  “I'm tracking with you so far,” Sam said encouragingly but seeming to want to move the story along, “So how did he get his hot little mitts on them?”

  Amy grimaced. “When the principal brought him in to introduce him, I got so flustered that I just pushed my bag under the desk and forgot about it. When I realized later what had happened and went flying back to the room to retrieve it, I walked in on him reading my research. There was no name on the papers and he was trying to determine who the bag belonged to.”

  “Oh my gosh!” Amanda cried in a concerned tone. “What happened?”

  At the same time, Karina leaned forward, eyes gleaming in anticipation, and said, “Oh my god! What happened?”

  Amy smiled. Although the two women had asked essentially the same question, the difference in their intent could not have been clearer.

  “Well…” As she related the next part, she allowed a small grin to creep across her face. “He offered to let me interview him.”

  “What?!” Karina exclaimed, “Oh, hell yes. This story just got good! Amy, you better have said yes!”

  “I did,” Amy confirmed. The girls whooped and hollered. They had been her earliest interview subjects, after all, and knew firsthand how explicit some of the questions were.

  “So, how did that go?” Lauren asked.

  “Well,” Amy replied, the blush sneaking back up on her cheeks, “his portion of the interview was great, but although I was trying to take good notes, I have to admit I was distracted by his smile. It is just so…sexy.”

  “Oh, Justin does those,” Amanda sighed dreamily. “He has the best sexy smiles!”

  “Not now, newlywed!” Karina exclaimed, laughing, “I want to hear the girl's interview story!” Amanda laughed right back. It was certainly not the first time, Amy knew, that Amanda had been teased about being in her “newlywed bliss bubble.”

  “That was it. There’s no story,” Amy concluded to the girls’ obvious dismay. She felt like saying that anything more would be betraying Matt’s confidence.

  “That’s it,” Karina said.

  “Wait a minute!” Amanda snapped her fingers. “I remember why I knew that name. Didn’t his wife pass away? I remember taking Henry to the airport so he could fly down for the funeral.”

  “Yes,” Amy confirmed. Since Amanda already knew what had happened, Amy didn’t feel like she was talking out of turn.

  “That’s horrible,” Lauren said solemnly.

  Sam’s face fell. “That’s so sad.”

  “That poor guy.” Karina shook her head.

  Tears began filling Amanda’s eyes as she shook her head. “They were young too. Like our age.”

  Amy nodded. She didn’t know exactly how old Matt was but he looked about their age.

  “So he’s sexy, single, but lost his wife tragically,” Karina said as if she were pondering the situation. “I still think you should go for it, Amy. You might be exactly what he needs.”

  “I don't know,” Amanda cautioned. “A first love can have a lot of power. Look at me and Justin. I just don't want you to get hurt, Ames.”

  Amy really didn’t like where this conversation was headed. She and Matt were just friends and colleagues. Yes, she had an insane crush on him, but that didn’t mean anything. Luckily, she was saved when the doorbell rang and her soon-to-be sister-in-law Lily arrived.

  She’d just come back from touring with Karina. She was her choreographer and also her backup dancer. The subject naturally changed to the brand new ring she was wearing on her left hand, courtesy of Eric, and the story of how he had flown out to a show they were doing in St. Louis and surprised Lily by showing up on stage, getting down on one knee, and proposing in front of thousands of people.

  Amy was so happy for her brother and Lily. They were both amazing people and they really deserved happiness. That little inner voice popped up again. Just like you do.

  --- ~ ---

  Matt grabbed his bottle of water and put it to his mouth, drinking the entire thing in several gulps. His shoulders and legs felt like they were on fire. He wasn’t sure he was even going to be able to get out of bed tomorrow.

/>   “Good game, Kellan.” Justin, his teammate, slapped him on his shoulder and Matt tried hard not to flinch.

  “You too.” Matt couldn’t remember the last time he’d played basketball just for fun. He’d played in college and then he’d been in a league before he lost Jess, but not since then. It had been years since he’d pushed himself this hard. His body was telling him that he was going to pay for it.

  How could he have possibly gotten this out of shape? He could barely keep up with these guys. Which, normally, he’d feel really bad about, especially considering this was basically just a pick-up game, but these guys were extremely athletic.

  Justin owned Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventure Park, Eric was a cop, and Jake was a fireman. They all needed to be in shape for their careers. Matt was a teacher, so being fit wasn’t exactly a requirement. Still, that was no excuse. He definitely needed to get back in the gym—or at least start running again.

  “Damn, man. You got hops. If I would have known that, I would have ditched the old man.” Jake motioned to his older brother Eric.

  “Your loyalty is touching,” Eric said flatly.

  Jake put up his hands innocently. “Hey, it’s not my fault you’re old.”

  “I’m not too old to kick your ass.”

  “It always comes back to that, doesn’t it?” Jake smiled good-naturedly.

  Seeing the two of them going back and forth made Matt miss his sisters. He needed to make sure he called them. He’d planned on it but he’d been distracted…by a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed teacher.

  As they were all grabbing their bags, Jake said to Eric, “Hey, did you hear Amy’s online dating?”

  The second he heard Amy’s name, Matt’s first thought was, Are they talking about my Amy? His next thought was that Eric and Jake must be the brothers Amy hadn’t wanted to interview.

  “You mean Nikki?” Eric asked.

  Yep, definitely Amy’s brothers. He remembered Amy mentioning that her sister’s name was Nikki when she said she needed to get home to dog sit.

  “Nope.” Jake shook his head. “Amy.”

  Once he’d sorted out that these were Amy’s brothers, he was left dealing with the first thought that had struck him. Matt couldn’t believe he’d mentally referred to her as his. Yes, he liked her. Yes, he looked forward to the fifty-two minutes he got to spend with her Monday through Friday during their prep period. Yes, it was by far the best part of any day. But she wasn’t his.