He said her name to himself again so he wouldn’t forget it. But he doubted he would, anyway, and he also doubted he’d need to remember it. He probably wouldn’t even run into her again.
chapter three
As Paige stepped through the front doors of Jefferson Elementary, its faint but distinctive smell surrounded her—a mingling of cleaning products and freshly sharpened pencils. Not everyone would’ve found it pleasant, but Paige had worked there long enough to find it welcoming.
One of the teachers, Brittany, stood chatting with the principal outside his office. Paige waved at them both as she passed, wondering if Brittany was talking to him about the details of her maternity leave. Paige still had a couple of weeks to figure out what to bring to her baby shower.
A voice called out. “Morning, Paige! You sell those kids’ books yet?”
Paige looked up to see Linda Goff, who taught second grade. Linda had been at the school forever, and often had teaching advice for Paige—whether she wanted it or not.
“Not yet,” Paige chirped and strode down the hallway, the bakery box in her hands, before Linda could ask more questions.
She’d almost reached her classroom when her best friend Jessica intercepted her. “Hey!”
“Hey. How was your weekend? Is your mom still in town?”
Jessica shook her head. “She went back home yesterday morning.” Her mother and stepfather lived in San Antonio, where Jessica had grown up. “On Saturday we went wedding dress shopping.”
“Ooh. Come tell me more.” Jessica followed Paige into her classroom. Paige set the box down on her desk. “So did you find The Dress?”
“No. I’ve tried on so many pretty dresses, but there’s always one little thing I don’t like.” This didn’t surprise Paige. Jessica paid a lot of attention to details. “And let me tell you, those dresses are not made for short, curvy ladies.” She was smiling, but Paige could hear the insecurity in her voice.
“You’ll find the right one. You’re going to be a stunning bride.” She meant it, too. Jessica, with her curly dark hair, big brown eyes, and flawless amber skin, would look beautiful if she went down the aisle in a flannel nightgown.
Jessica’s mouth turned down. “My mom keeps telling me about how much weight my cousin lost for her wedding.”
Paige had heard a lot of stories about Jessica’s big but close-knit family. “You don’t mean the cousin who got divorced three months later?”
Jessica nodded. “She did look great on her wedding day, though.”
“Well, I guess that’s all that matters,” Paige quipped, and they both laughed.
Jessica sat down on top of Paige’s desk. “And guess what? Yesterday I volunteered at Furever Friends. I took three dogs on walks.”
Paige looked at her askance. “I thought you were going to get through your wedding first, and then help rescue cats and dogs.”
“I know…but it’s good exercise. And you know how I want to adopt a dog with Steve as soon as I move in.” Jessica had talked about this so many times that Paige had teased her about marrying Steve for his big fenced backyard. Jessica lived in a dog-friendly apartment building, but she’d be moving into Steve’s very nice three-bedroom house.
Paige asked, “Did you meet any you wanted to adopt?”
Jessica laughed. “Pretty much all of them. But especially the senior dogs. Some of them are so sweet.” She scrunched up her shoulders.
“I can’t wait to meet your future furry friend,” Paige said.
She wanted to tell Jessica about the cabin, but class would start soon, and she’d need at least an hour to go over all her hopes and fears.
Jessica pointed at the box. “So what’s in there?”
“Cupcakes. It’s Sam’s birthday.”
Jessica lifted the lid. “Oh, man. These are like, gourmet.” She gave Paige a quizzical look. “They’re way too good for six-year-olds.”
“Yeah, that occurred to me after I got them.” She should’ve gone to the grocery store.
“Next time you won’t break the bank.” Jessica closed the box again.
“Actually…” Paige didn’t know why she was hesitating to tell her best friend this. “I didn’t buy them.”
Jessica raised her eyebrows. “I don’t see how you could’ve stolen twenty-five cupcakes. Which, by the way, would be wrong. Impressive, but wrong.”
“The guy behind me in line paid for them.”
Jessica’s mouth dropped open. “Just totally out of the blue?”
“Yeah.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true. “But before that, I was sitting next to him and we were talking.”
Her friend’s eyes narrowed. “How old was this guy?”
“A few years older than me, I guess?”
“Was he cute?”
Extremely. Or handsome might be the better word. The truth was, Paige had sat down right next to Dylan on purpose with a vague idea of striking up a conversation. Then she’d almost chickened out, but when he’d seemed to be looking at her, she’d said hello.
Jessica added, “He must’ve been very interested in you.”
“It wasn’t like that!” She’d already told herself about three dozen times that it hadn’t meant anything. “He was just being friendly. And generous.”
“Sure. People buy stuff for strangers all the time. You won’t even tell me what he looked like?”
“White guy, tall, brown hair, brown eyes, wearing a nice suit.” After Jessica spread her hands wide in impatience, Paige added, “Yes, he was good-looking.” She felt that flutter in her nerves again, the same one she’d felt earlier with Dylan. Some kind of unspoken connection had flared between them.
But that was nonsense. She’d just met him.
Jessica asked, “What did you talk about?”
Still trying to act casual, Paige shrugged. “I told him about Clean Slate Mondays.”
Jessica’s eyes widened. “What did he think of that?” Paige knew that sometimes her best friend found her optimism a little over the top.
“He wasn’t convinced.” And he wasn’t the kind of guy to ever be taken in by fanciful notions, she was sure. “Listen, he wasn’t dating material. He’s a banker or something. And he was working on a spreadsheet.” She shuddered.
“Um,
