Lessons Learned (8 page)

It wasn’t long until the sandwiches were devoured and everyone was back to work. I felt a little guilty that everyone was working on my house except me, so after cleaning up the lunch mess, I told Aubrey I was going to change clothes and grab a paintbrush.

“I think I’ll go get the baby,” she said. “I only have a week left with him before I go back to work.”

We hugged, and I thanked her for feeding the crew before I rushed upstairs to dig through my closet. After changing into a sweater and a tattered pair of jeans, I pulled my hair into a ponytail before making my way out onto the sidewalk.

“Wait!” Lucas yelled, running toward me and placing his hands on my shoulder. “This requires a slow reveal so you’ll get the full effect. Close your eyes.”

Giggling, I did as I was told, and he gently pivoted me toward the house.

“Ready?” His mouth was close to my ear.

“I’m ready.”

I opened my eyes, and I gasped.

“I think Rocky Mountain Sky Blue was definitely the right choice,” he whispered.

“It’s nearly finished!”

I couldn’t believe it.

Lucas laughed. “Not quite. This is just the front, and it’ll need a second coat.”

“I’d like to help. I mean, I’ve never really painted a house, but—”

“I could teach you,” Lucas offered. “The guys have set up a scaffold on the back. We could start there, if you’d like.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

“I’m making a mess.”

Lucas had been so patient, even when I accidentally dumped a gallon of the paint and he’d had to mix more. “You’re doing fine. Just remember to roll it from side-to-side.”

I sighed heavily and tried to keep a steady hand as the paint roller moved across the siding. He was standing beside me on the scaffold, using a brush to smooth out the places where I’d applied too much. We talked while we worked, but he never mentioned yesterday’s panic attack, and I was thankful.

“So,” Lucas said, dipping his brush into the bucket. “What do you think about Friday night’s game? Should we go?”

The roller became slightly unsteady in my hand, but I was careful to keep my voice casual. “We could go. The new kids on the block should probably stick together when it comes to school functions.”

“You’re not exactly
new
,” Lucas reminded me with a grin. “But yeah, we should do that.”

“Okay.”

It’s not a date. It’s a school function.

This would have to be my mantra for the rest of the week.

“Sarah, you’ve got—” Lucas motioned toward my face.

“What?” Blindly, I swiped at my nose, which caused him to laugh even harder.

“Your roller is dripping!”

I looked down to find my fingers covered in Rocky Mountain Sky Blue. I groaned in frustration as he handed me a towel.

“Stop laughing at me!”

This only made him laugh harder, so I grabbed his brush out of his hand and gently swiped his cheek, creating a lovely streak of blue from his ear to his chin.

I couldn’t stop laughing. “Now we match!”

His laughing subsided just long enough for him to take a step closer and slowly lift his hand, carefully touching the tip of my nose with his finger.

“
Now
we match.” Our laughter faded as he took another step closer. His eyes flickered to my mouth, and I held my breath when he leaned closer.

Suddenly, Tommy’s voice rang out, causing us to jump away from each other. “There you are! What are you guys doing back here?”

Lucas mumbled something about avoiding interfering people, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing as I dipped the brush back into the bucket.

“You two have more paint on your faces than you do on the house!”

“All my fault.” I was more than happy to take the blame.

Tommy looked at Lucas and then back to me before exploding with laughter.

“Don’t you have something to do?” Lucas shouted down at him, clearly annoyed.

Tommy just smirked.

“Actually, we have practice in an hour, so the guys are cleaning up. We’ll be back tomorrow, bright and early.”

“Thanks, Tommy.”

Lucas gathered our supplies while I carefully climbed down the scaffold. When I reached the ground, I looked up to admire our handiwork.

“We really do have more on us than we have on the house.”

“Told ya,” Tommy said with a grin, “although I have a feelin’ neither of you mind too much.”

Tommy winked at me before running toward the front of the house. By the time Lucas and I walked around, the boys were already packed on the bus, waving excitedly with their heads stuck out the window.

“Thanks, guys!”

The team cheered wildly, causing the bus to shake before it finally rumbled away, disappearing in a thick cloud of dust.

Late that afternoon, I decided to take a drive around town. Not much had changed at all on Main Street, but there were a few new shops, including a sporting goods store with Sycamore Panthers sweatshirts displayed in the window.

I bought two.

I had to guess at his size, but Mabel, the elderly saleslady behind the counter, had apparently gotten a good look at Mr. Miller at church on Sunday, and she promised me a medium would fit just fine.

“He’s a very nice young man,” Mabel said as she handed me my receipt. Her eyes crinkled when she smiled, reminding me a little of my grandma.

“Yes, he is.”

After promising to come again, I headed home. On the way, I decided to take a detour—taking a left at Jackson’s Pond and continuing on the old dirt road that led to the river. I’d practically lived there when I was a kid, and as teenagers, we’d hike the trail and camp close to the waterfall.  It was nearly twenty feet high and one of the most serene places I’d ever known.

I wanted to show it to someone who’d never seen it. Someone who needed a little serenity in his life.

Grabbing my cell phone, I was amazed to find I had a signal. I had never called Lucas, but we’d exchanged numbers the day we met at the hardware store. I quickly gave him directions, and half an hour later, we were standing together at the trailhead of Sycamore Falls.

“You do remember I’m a city boy,” Lucas said quietly, his eyes wide as he looked toward the woods.

“I remember, but I really want you to see the waterfall. It’s a short and easy hike, I promise.”

He didn’t look convinced but followed me anyway. The trail was flat but rocky, and when I stumbled, Lucas quickly grabbed onto my hand. He didn’t let it go, not even when we reached the riverbank, and I pointed across the water.

“Wow,” Lucas whispered.

The sight of the waterfall took my breath away. I hadn’t seen it in years, and back then, I’d been just a kid, viewing it with innocent, adolescent eyes. I’d loved this place, but I didn’t fully appreciate it.

Not until now.

“This is really beautiful, Sarah.”

“I know.”

We sat down on the sand, listening to the roar of the falls and watching as it flowed into the current below. The river was a little low, making the jagged boulders visible above the rushing water. Sycamore trees—still bright green and full of life—majestically surrounded the water. It wouldn’t be long until the leaves traded their emerald shade for the pretty colors of autumn.

“I bet this place is gorgeous in the fall,” Lucas said, reading my mind. “We’ll have to come back when the leaves change.”

I smiled.

Yes, we would.

The rest of the week was busy as our summer vacations came to an end. Painting the house continued until mid-week when Tommy and Lucas decided they would finish the trim work while the team began renovating the wrap-around porch. In the afternoons, the Panthers would head off to football practice while Lucas and I went to school to prepare for our first week of classes. Mr. Mullins, the principal, finally provided me with a curriculum, and I spent my evenings creating lesson plans. I also learned I would be teaching a Creative writing class, which excited me a little more than it probably should.

I was ‘settling in,’ as my neighbors called it, and I loved the routine of it all.

On Friday afternoon, I was sitting in the kitchen and answering an e-mail from Monica when Lucas appeared in the doorway.

“You need to come outside,” he said with an excited grin on his face.

“Okay.” I clicked send and closed my laptop. He was still grinning as he motioned for me to follow him out onto the porch.

“Close your eyes.”

“Are you insane? I’ll fall down the steps if I close my eyes.”

Lucas slipped his fingers through mine. “I won’t let you fall.  Now, close them.”

He gently pulled me along the porch and guided me down the front steps. When my feet reached the sidewalk, he released my hand and placed both palms on my shoulders.

“Turn around and open your eyes,” Lucas murmured.

“You know, I’m getting a distinct feeling of déjà vu.”

He laughed. “Just do it.”

The sun was blinding, but it wasn’t so bright that I couldn’t see the lovely blue house with white shutters.

Just then, a thunderous cheer erupted from behind us, and I spun around to find the football team, along with Tommy and Aubrey, gathered around the bus. Everyone looked so proud, and I had no idea I was crying until I felt a tear trickle down my cheek.

“What do you think?” Lucas asked softly.

I took another long look at my beautiful house before smiling up at him.

“I think I’m finally home.”

Chapter 7

“I’m Miss Bray, and welcome to English literature.”

    I’d practiced my intro in my head for weeks now, but as I stood before my first period class and actually said the words aloud, I realized just how inconsequential they really were.

They didn’t care.

They weren’t impolite or unkind. A few had actually smiled in my direction while I passed out the syllabus. They were simply seniors. School was the last place they wanted to be and they were more than ready to get through their final year of high school. English literature was an unfortunate roadblock in their journey to graduation, so I was automatically perceived as the enemy.

Because I was nervous, I’d already decided to keep today’s lecture to a minimum, so we discussed the syllabus and I highlighted a few projects I would be assigning throughout the year. There were a few questions—mostly from the football players who, surprisingly enough, sat in the first two rows—and I assigned a short writing exercise to fill up the rest of the class period.