Read Online Starting Over by Barbie Bohrman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Barbie Bohrman
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sorry, what I meant to say is I’m sure you were very pretty as a little girl. Dammit, that’s not right either. Not to say you weren’t very pretty as a little girl, not that I would know either since I didn’t meet you until recently. Wait, that’s not right either. What I meant to say, rather, what I mean to say is that you’re very pretty now, just as I’m sure you were back then.”
Wow, just wow. My eyes are wide as saucers as I try to take in everything that just came out of his mouth. I think . . . nah, that can’t be true.
“I’m so sorry,” Cameron says as he nervously fiddles with the coffee cup, turning it around and around on the table with his hands. His head is slightly lowered, but then he lifts his eyes to meet mine again and says, “I’m not very good at this, am I?”
Nope, I was right. He likes me.
The funny thing is that even though I know this isn’t necessarily a good development—because the fact remains, he is Josie’s teacher—I feel almost giddy from my head to my toes, like I am a teenager all over again.
“Cameron,” I say gently, “I’m flattered, I really am, but . . .”
“You don’t have to say it, Vanessa,” he says. “I’m used to being shot down. Sometimes I wish I could catch myself before I open my mouth to speak. Actually, sometimes, I probably shouldn’t speak at all.”
“If it makes you feel any better, if you weren’t Josie’s teacher . . .” I hesitate to find the right words. “It’s just not something that could happen between us. I do like you as a friend though. And I do need a friend in my life, so you can be my first new friend if you’d like.”
He leans back in his chair, more relaxed than I’ve seen him during this entire conversation, which now that I think of it was supposed to be friendly from the get-go. But when I dig down deep inside myself, I know that I was fooling myself. The attraction was there from the moment I laid eyes on him, like a magnet pulling me to him at full force. Had I known he felt the same pull, I would have never agreed to this single cup of coffee with him. Because that’s what it’s going to have to be, just this one time, and then we’ll go our separate ways, he back to his hot science teacher corner and me back to my parent of one his students corner.
“Vanessa, you do know that there is no rule that says a teacher cannot date one of their students’ parents, right?”
“Um, come again?”
Cameron leans forward, licks his lips again, the action forcing me to wonder for the first time how they would feel against mine. Soft and plush, I bet, with maybe a hint of tenderness, yet forceful and sure so I’d know without a doubt that he wanted me as much as I wanted him.
“There isn’t anything wrong with us being out like this as friends or if we were on an actual d—”
“Don’t say it,” I say in a panic. All this time I simply figured it was not acceptable or something to that effect. I never in a million years would have guessed it was totally okay to date one of my daughter’s teachers. Which begs the question: How many other women has he tried this with? Am I only one in a long line of women he’s attempted to seduce? Because that’s what I think he’s trying to do to me. With his supercute and sexy nerd thing, and his awkward and shy and then totally out of the blue forwardness . . . I bet he’s done this before. And now I feel like a complete idiot.
“I better get going,” I say and stand up. “Thank you so much for the cup of coffee, it was really nice.”
Before Cameron can say anything to me, I’m already heading out the door like a torpedo, walking as fast as I can to my car to go home, which is where I should have stayed to begin with. Because there is no way in the world that I’m going to be “that woman”: the one who’s the sucker for a handsome face and the aw-shucks personality, along with the other countless women he’s probably roped in before
Wow, just wow. My eyes are wide as saucers as I try to take in everything that just came out of his mouth. I think . . . nah, that can’t be true.
“I’m so sorry,” Cameron says as he nervously fiddles with the coffee cup, turning it around and around on the table with his hands. His head is slightly lowered, but then he lifts his eyes to meet mine again and says, “I’m not very good at this, am I?”
Nope, I was right. He likes me.
The funny thing is that even though I know this isn’t necessarily a good development—because the fact remains, he is Josie’s teacher—I feel almost giddy from my head to my toes, like I am a teenager all over again.
“Cameron,” I say gently, “I’m flattered, I really am, but . . .”
“You don’t have to say it, Vanessa,” he says. “I’m used to being shot down. Sometimes I wish I could catch myself before I open my mouth to speak. Actually, sometimes, I probably shouldn’t speak at all.”
“If it makes you feel any better, if you weren’t Josie’s teacher . . .” I hesitate to find the right words. “It’s just not something that could happen between us. I do like you as a friend though. And I do need a friend in my life, so you can be my first new friend if you’d like.”
He leans back in his chair, more relaxed than I’ve seen him during this entire conversation, which now that I think of it was supposed to be friendly from the get-go. But when I dig down deep inside myself, I know that I was fooling myself. The attraction was there from the moment I laid eyes on him, like a magnet pulling me to him at full force. Had I known he felt the same pull, I would have never agreed to this single cup of coffee with him. Because that’s what it’s going to have to be, just this one time, and then we’ll go our separate ways, he back to his hot science teacher corner and me back to my parent of one his students corner.
“Vanessa, you do know that there is no rule that says a teacher cannot date one of their students’ parents, right?”
“Um, come again?”
Cameron leans forward, licks his lips again, the action forcing me to wonder for the first time how they would feel against mine. Soft and plush, I bet, with maybe a hint of tenderness, yet forceful and sure so I’d know without a doubt that he wanted me as much as I wanted him.
“There isn’t anything wrong with us being out like this as friends or if we were on an actual d—”
“Don’t say it,” I say in a panic. All this time I simply figured it was not acceptable or something to that effect. I never in a million years would have guessed it was totally okay to date one of my daughter’s teachers. Which begs the question: How many other women has he tried this with? Am I only one in a long line of women he’s attempted to seduce? Because that’s what I think he’s trying to do to me. With his supercute and sexy nerd thing, and his awkward and shy and then totally out of the blue forwardness . . . I bet he’s done this before. And now I feel like a complete idiot.
“I better get going,” I say and stand up. “Thank you so much for the cup of coffee, it was really nice.”
Before Cameron can say anything to me, I’m already heading out the door like a torpedo, walking as fast as I can to my car to go home, which is where I should have stayed to begin with. Because there is no way in the world that I’m going to be “that woman”: the one who’s the sucker for a handsome face and the aw-shucks personality, along with the other countless women he’s probably roped in before
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