Finding Faith (Love's Compass Book 4) (11 page)

Aaron thought about Kenneth, all of the fun memories coming to the surface. A smile brought the corners of his mouth upwards in spite of the mix of emotions vying for attention. “Kenneth was smart. He could read novels at the age of five. He loved zebras more than anything and he knew everything there was to know about them.” Aaron chuckled. “He’d spend an hour or more telling me about the different facts he’d learned. One time, Mom took us to the zoo and we never made it past the zebra enclosure.”

Serenity was smiling too. She shifted on the couch until she was facing him, her legs crossed in front of her. Dark hair flowed down past her shoulders to almost touch the cushion she sat on. “That’s awesome. I’ll bet it drove you crazy sometimes.”

“Definitely. We didn’t have a lot in common, but we sang together. We even made up songs about zebras.” He laughed again. “I decided to become a music therapist because of him. It always made him happy and I grew up wanting to help other kids in a similar way.”

“I know you’re making a difference in Gideon’s life. And every other student that steps a foot into your classroom.” Serenity gave him a watery smile. “Kenneth would be proud of you.”

“Thank you.” Aaron reached for her hand again in hopes of hiding the warmth he felt creeping up the back of his neck. Even when he’d told Zane about Kenneth, he’d kept the details vague. If someone had told him he’d spill his guts to Serenity even a few days ago, he would have said they were crazy. Now, he was glad he had. The heavy weight on his shoulders eased a bit.

Aaron turned her hand over and laid it on his knee. With his other hand, he caressed the skin on the underside of her wrist. It was as smooth as satin and he was tempted to touch his lips to it.

Gideon ran in, tossing a train onto Serenity’s lap. She gave Aaron’s hand a small squeeze and let go to fix the wheel that had come off the engine. Once it was good to go, Gideon retrieved a collection of train cars and brought them back, setting them up on the living room floor.

Aaron stayed at the house another hour before he decided to head home. Serenity walked him to the door. Aaron waved to Gideon behind her before turning his full attention to the woman standing in front of him. “I’ll see you tomorrow at church.”

She nodded. “Thanks again for the pizza. It was great.”

“You’re welcome.”

Gideon stood next to his mom, his arms wrapped around hers.

Aaron desperately wanted to pull Serenity to him and kiss her like they had the day before. But he couldn’t, not with her son watching them. Serenity gave him a grin that was a cross between sympathetic and humorous. He chuckled, gave up, and placed a kiss on her cheek near her ear. “Bye.”

“Goodbye.” She gave him a little wave before closing the door behind him.

Aaron took in a fortifying breath as he got into his car. He didn’t need any more incentive to find a way around the policy at work. But if he had, there was no doubt about it. Serenity had completely embedded herself in his heart.

It was just as well that she wasn’t supposed to meet Aaron for lunch. Serenity would’ve had to cancel on him, anyway. She’d walked into work that morning with a note waiting for her on the desk:

Serenity,

Please come see me at 1 p.m. today. I have something I wish to speak with you about. Thank you.

Cynthia

She’d dreaded the meeting all morning. Maggie was kind enough to trade lunch hours with her so at least Serenity was able to eat beforehand. It had been odd eating lunch at the same time as the majority of the other people at the school. Serenity even saw Letty and Zane for a short while.

She said a prayer that things were going well for Aaron and his mom. They’d talked about the whole thing more on the phone and he promised he’d call her tonight to tell her about it and the dinner with his dad. She’d made him promise, even if it was late when he got home again.

On her way to Cynthia’s office, Serenity tried to quell the ball of nerves bouncing around in her stomach. She didn’t know the woman and, while she tended to be a little demanding, hadn’t had any horrible experiences to set her on edge. But she’d heard enough from her co-workers to know that Cynthia didn’t call people in to pay them a compliment.

She paused at her door for a deep breath and knocked. Cynthia’s voice summoned her inside.

The office was decorated with every kind of flower Serenity could imagine. From photos on the walls to the sun catcher in the lone window, to the pot of pen flowers on her desk. Serenity blinked against the assault of color. She hadn’t known what to expect from Cynthia’s office, but the cheeriness was not something she would’ve bet on.

“Thank you for coming by, Serenity. Please have a seat.”

Serenity eased into the chair opposite Cynthia. It was much lower than she anticipated. In fact, the other woman seated at her desk chair seemed significantly taller and Serenity could only assume the differences were intentional. 

This was not a good sign of the conversation to come.

Cynthia cleared her throat. “I heard that your son was injured on the playground Friday. How is he doing?”

Was that all she wanted to talk about? Maybe this wouldn’t be bad after all. “He’s healing up fine, thank you. He’s back to school today and if you didn’t see the bandage on his head, you’d never know he hit it.” She smiled.

“Good. Good. I’m glad to hear that.” Cynthia shuffled some papers around on her desk. Once she’d finished, the expression on her face turned to something much more serious. “When you began working here, there was a packet of guidelines and school rules that you should have been given. Did you receive that information?”

Serenity thought back to her hiring process. She didn’t remember getting anything then, but they had received a booklet with school policies when Gideon enrolled. She told Cynthia as much. Her mind flew through what she could remember, trying to figure out which one of them she might have violated.

“I understand that our music therapist, Aaron Randall, accompanied you to the hospital.”

“Yes. He helped me get Gideon there and then back home again afterwards.” What did Aaron have to do with any of this?

“I see. That was thoughtful of him.” Her expression didn’t relay the same sentiment. She studied Serenity over the tips of her fingers that she kept steepled in front of her nose. “I’ve also heard that the two of you eat lunch together most of the time. Is that correct?”

“Yes. We both usually take a late lunch. I met him in the breakroom the week I started working here.”

Cynthia gave a definitive nod. She slid a piece of paper across the desk. “I want to make sure that you saw this particular guideline. I wouldn’t want you or Aaron to run into any complications because of it.”

Completely confused, Serenity’s eyes moved from Cynthia’s face to the paper and scanned it. Then she went through and read it in detail. Nausea rolled through her gut as the words sank in. She definitely had not been made aware of the policy before today. “Can I keep this copy?”

“Of course.” Cynthia waved her away. “If you have any questions about it, I hope you know you can come to me.”

Serenity nodded, numb. She said her farewell and left the office quickly. As soon as she got back to her desk, she had Maggie’s full attention.

“What did she want?”

Serenity held up the paper. “Apparently, I was unaware of one of the guidelines and since Aaron and I have been spending some extra time together, she thought it was prudent I did.” Her words dripped with sarcasm as her mind raced. Was Aaron aware of the policy? If so, why hadn’t he warned her? From the wording, it sounded like he was putting his job at risk if they pursued anything more than friendship. Could she be fired, too?

Maggie looked sad. “I’m sorry. The whole thing’s a mess. Did you hear what happened at the end of the last school year?”

Serenity shook her head.

Maggie told her about the administrator who had started seeing one of the student’s moms and how the whole thing had blown up in the middle of the hallway. “I guess Cynthia has decided something like that isn’t going to happen again.”

“Doesn’t that seem a bit extreme, though? If situations like that came up every school year, then that might be different.”

“I agree.” Maggie shrugged. “But the board of directors voted the policy through. There’s not a lot the rest of us can do about it.” She studied Serenity. “I hate to see it get in the way of a good thing.” She lowered her voice. “You and the Music Man have chemistry. Everyone can see it.”

Fantastic. She needed to stay off the radar and if everyone could tell that there was something possibly going on between them now, well, that wasn’t a good thing. Her chest tight, she went through the motions for the rest of the day, eager to escape the confines of the school.

~

Aaron flopped onto the couch, a loud groan escaping as he stretched out. He’d been on his feet most of the day and the few times he had been able to sit down — primarily at meals — the conversation was emotionally taxing enough to add to his exhaustion.

It was almost ten and he hesitated to call Serenity. But she’d made him promise. He caught a glimpse of her twice while at work and even managed to wave once, but hearing her voice would be the highlight.

“Hey, Music Man. Did you survive the day?”

The sound of her voice, lovely and melodic, flowed over him.

“Barely. I’m glad to be home again.” He laid an arm over his eyes, blocking out the light fixture above him. “It could have been worse. They were both on their best behavior. And now that’s done for another year.”

It sounded like Serenity took a drink of something. “Do you see them any other time of the year?”

He shrugged, even though she couldn’t possibly see the movement. “A Christmas here and there, but not normally. I’m okay with that.” She was silent for a few moments. “Are you still there?”

A sigh came over the receiver. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I guess I’m just dragging tonight.”

“Did your day go all right?” There was no answer. “Serenity?”

“Everything went fine. Gideon had a great day at school and Letty told me he never complained about his head.”

“That’s good to hear. When do his stitches come out again?”

“A week from today. But my Grams’ birthday party is Sunday and we’re going to Kitner for the weekend. My sister will probably remove them for us.”

“I didn’t realize you were going back home. That’ll be nice for you to get to see everyone.”

“I’m looking forward to it. The Chandler get-togethers are always interesting.” Humor colored her voice.

Aaron imagined the way her lips tilted up at the corners when she smiled. Was she lounging on her couch like him? Or was she sitting at her kitchen table? Right now, he wished he could reach out and hold her hand. “It sounds like fun. I’ll miss you.”

She paused. “I should probably go. Gideon was up several times last night. If he does that again …”

He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something in her voice. If she’d been up so much with Gideon, hopefully she was just tired. “You don’t have to say another word. Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

They said goodnight and he hung up the phone.

The next morning, he went to work thankful for a normal day. All morning, he counted down the hours until lunch. Serenity greeted him at their table with a bright smile, but it didn’t take long to realize the hesitation he felt last night was still there.

She seemed less talkative. And when he asked if she was all right, she insisted she was. But her gaze remained fixed on her food or other activity in the breakroom.

By the time lunch was over, Aaron’s gut told him something was going on and clearly Serenity wasn’t going to talk about it at work.

A knock at his classroom brought his attention to Zane. “I have a moment and wanted to give you a heads-up.”

“Oh?”

Zane came into the room and rolled his shoulders before leaning against the wall. “Cynthia summoned Serenity to her office yesterday. Word has it she made sure Serenity read the new policy. Then Cynthia quizzed her on why you went to the ER Friday.”

Aaron groaned, sinking to the corner of his desk. No doubt that was what caused her to be so standoffish today.

“You never discussed the guidelines?”

Aaron shook his head. “I kept meaning to, but things didn’t really go beyond a friendship level until Friday.” He kicked at the chair leg. Stupid! If she hadn’t known about them, did she think he was trying to hide them from her? “I meant to bring them up over the weekend and didn’t.” That was going to come back to haunt him.

“Don’t overthink it yet, man. Go see her tonight and talk to her then. The sooner you guys get it all out in the open, the better it’ll be for both of you.”

Aaron knew that was true. He nodded. “I’ll text her and see if I can do that.” He pushed away from the desk. “The last thing I want to do is mess this up.”

“Letty and I will be praying.”

“I appreciate that.”

When Zane left, Aaron texted Serenity. “Can I come by tonight and talk?”

Twenty long minutes later, he got her response. “Okay. See you then.”

It was going to take a miracle for Aaron to focus on anything but the upcoming conversation for the rest of the workday.