Chapter 28

Twenty-Eight

Parents! Please forgive us if the school seems a bit under construction these days. We’ve had roof issues affecting several classrooms. Also, our lost and found in front of the office is bulging with items. Students, please do your part to keep our school beautiful and welcoming!

MERRY

As a parent and a teacher, I was the lucky recipient of Principal Alana’s emails for parents and staff alike, which meant twice as many announcements to scroll through while waiting at the dentist on a Friday afternoon instead of teaching. I’d have to return to the school for the boys, of course, but I was enjoying the brief?—

Scratch that.

I was enjoying nothing these days. Sure, missing my afternoon classes for a teeth cleaning wasn’t the most exciting schedule change, but even taking the long way to the dentist and stopping at my favorite food truck for a late lunch hadn’t lifted my mood. All I’d thought about the whole time was how much Nolan would like the food truck, how there was no one to fight with over the last few pieces of pineapple or push extra meat toward.

Forcing my thoughts away from Nolan, I resumed playing with my phone. I made the mistake of clicking to social media only to be confronted by Alyssa’s heavily made-up smiling face.

Gah. The universe really did hate me. Or perhaps this was a necessary reminder of how well things had gone the last time I’d trusted someone to stay. Grandpa’s lecture had stayed with me for days, but Alyssa was proof positive that being welcoming to mainlanders didn’t always turn out for good.

Moreover, because I was a glutton for punishment, I scrolled through more of Alyssa’s content. There was Alyssa boxing up the name-brand goodies she’d sent the boys, shouting out each brand that paid her in merch and showing pics of her shopping on Rodeo Drive with her besties for other items. There was Alyssa lounging by a pool in Vegas in a metallic bikini that likely couldn’t actually get wet, looking nothing like the twenty-year-old I’d taught to surf, both because of the numerous cosmetic procedures she’d had and because she was so carefully posed, no spontaneity or easiness to any of her carefully curated content.

Not at all like Nolan. Nolan, who dove head-first into new things and simple pleasures, whether it was food truck noodles, teaching, boogie boards, or a foil tree for a kid. Of course, Alyssa was ten years removed from her time on the island. I closed my eyes, leaning back in the plastic chair in a waiting room that smelled vaguely of mint.

But in my mind, I was in New York City ten years from now. And there was Nolan discovering some hole-in-the-wall dumpling store. Nolan leading his much-older nieces on adventures and randomly breaking into song because that wasn’t an act. That was simply who Nolan was .

“Mr. Winters?” The dental assistant in her pink scrubs with a tooth print broke into my mental time-traveling exercise. “The dentist will see you now.”

I arrived back at the school with about twenty minutes until the end of the day. Enough time to knock out some paperwork or grading, so I headed into the school, but I pulled up short at the double doors leading from the main hall into the courtyard.

“I’m so mad!” Kaitlyn stood on one of the picnic tables, and I was about to intervene in whatever this tantrum was when I realized she was singing. Loud and righteous, a mini diva steeped in rock and roll and blues traditions with a gravelly voice no middle schooler should be able to belt out. And yet, there she was, angry and awesome.

“Shout! Shout!” Around Kaitlyn, the rest of the class danced in agitated clumps, equally upset and compelling.

“More rage!” And in front of them all was Nolan, directing with his eyes closed, looking for all the world like he might be having a religious experience. “That’s it. Now, try stomping hard on that last verse. From the top! Let’s get loud!”

“What on earth?” Belinda Masters came up beside me carrying a stack of math handouts as Nolan’s class started the song over. “Is this appropriate?”

“I think it’s wonderful.” Principal Alana glided over, voice as soothing as ever.

“I simply don’t understand why he’s taken over the courtyard of all places.”

“Because his classroom smells like mildew from the leak we still haven’t found someone to fix. And there’s no denying it was once a storage room with an ambiance to match.”

“Is that Kaitlyn smiling?” Belinda readjusted her papers.

“In a Wicked sort of way, yes.” Principal Alana laughed at her own theater-inspired pun. “I, for one, can’t wait to see the spring showcase.”

“Me too,” I agreed without thinking. But it was the truth. I couldn’t wait to see what Nolan did with the spring concert. And I wanted to be there, to help him, to hear about it, to?—

Oh. Dating or not, here or not, I would always want to see what Nolan Bell did next.

And then the literal bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Kids streamed out of the courtyard and down the hall. I stepped toward Nolan as if tugged by the invisible thread that linked us, even over the past few weeks.

“Hey. Um.” I sucked my lower lip, then released it. “That song was pretty incredible. What you’re doing with the eighth graders is… It’s amazing. I just wanted to tell you that.”

“Thanks.” His reply was more curt than expected and he was already striding toward the doors.

“I…uh…you doing okay?” I struggled to match his quick steps.

“Making it through.” He shrugged, but his hurt eyes gave him away. The guy couldn’t lie to me any more than I could to him, a thought that made my chest feel warm. But then Nolan added a small shake of his head, and all that warmth evaporated. “I’d stay and stand around awkwardly some more, but I’ve got a meeting with Principal Alana and the guidance counselor about bringing in a music therapist for a visit.”

“You came up with that idea?” Nolan always impressed the hell out of me, but this sort of initiative was full-time teacher energy.

“Trying to figure out how to help kids like Kaitlyn whose parents are getting divorced. Or Liam K., whose dad deployed. Or Ross, the kid with the sick grandma. They’re all going through something. I want—I need to help.”

“I see that.” I let all my wonder fill my voice. “You’re?—”

“Mr. Bell!” Principal Alana chirped from the doorway before I could finish my compliment.

“Gotta run.” And with that, Nolan was gone in a few efficient steps, leaving me dazed. How in the heck was I supposed to get him to listen to me?

Had I waited too long to wake up and accept the good thing in front of me?

Winters Moment . I could hear Grandpa laughing right before saying he’d warned me. However, I was a Winters. We didn’t give up so easily. If Nolan didn’t want to listen, perhaps I’d have to give him a sign he couldn’t refuse.

With a burst of fresh energy, I headed toward my classroom. Ryder and Legend caught up to me near the shop room door.

“Dad!”

“Put your bags over by my desk,” I directed.

“What’s up?” Legend cast a skeptical eye around the room. “Aren’t we headed home?”

“Nope. We’re headed to work .”