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on the
back.  Relief swept over her.  It looked like they wouldn’t be
meeting out back by the bike rack after all. 
    A second later,
she heard the exclamation, “Mrs. Thornton!  Is that you?  How
wonderful to see you!  Please.  Join us!” 
    Mrs. Callahan
graciously pulled her into the group, and gave her a hug.  “How are you?  Have you seen Robbie?  He’s working the event as one of the
wait staff tonight.  He’ll be so happy to see you!”
    Ryann returned
the hug and said, “Yes, actually, he was the one who let me know you were
here!”  She turned to Robbie’s dad, and greeted him with a smile. 
“Hello, Mr. Callahan, it’s good to see you again.”
    “You too, Mrs.
Thornton.  Now that Robbie has graduated, we never get to see you
anymore!” he said good naturedly.  “I’m so glad that I have the
opportunity to tell you again what an integral role you played in his
education.  Robbie has always told us that you were his favorite teacher,
and that he learned so much from you.  You’re still teaching at the
Academy, I assume?”
    “Yes...I’m still
forming the young minds of Manhattan,” she said jokingly.  “And thank you
for the kind words.  It’s always wonderful to hear you’ve made a positive
impact on your students.”   Although she was hoping for a job change
soon, and she hoped Mrs. Callahan’s sister played a role in that, Ryann
wanted to play her cards close to the vest.  The high school still didn’t
know of her plans, and she wasn’t sure if Robbie’s parents were involved with
the hierarchy of the Academy in any way.
    “Are you
enjoying the showing?” Mr. Callahan asked.
    “I’m sure I will
once I get around to seeing all the pieces.  Unfortunately, I had a little
car trouble getting here tonight, and only got here a bit ago.  But I
can’t wait to finally walk around.  As I told Robbie, Ms. Lowe is one of
my favorite artists, and I’ve been looking forward to this showing since it was
first publicized,” Ryann beamed, already anticipating what they would say next.
    Mr. and Mrs.
Callahan looked at each other with knowing smiles. 
    “Did Robbie tell
you that Tabitha Lowe happens to be my wife’s big sister?” Mr. Callahan asked
with pride in his voice.
    “He did! 
What a small world it is, huh?  Or at least a small city. ”  
    “Well then, we
must introduce you two,” he said.  “It looks like the party is starting to
die down, and she’ll have plenty of time to chat now.  You would’ve met
her at Robbie’s graduation last summer, but she and her son were out of town on
a business venture, and couldn’t get back in time for the actual graduation. 
We’ve all talked about you often enough in the family, so it’ll be fun to watch
her connect the name with the face finally.” 
    Right at that
moment, Mr. Callahan looked over her shoulder, and said to someone standing
there, “Ah, Jem.  You’re just in time.  We were about to go looking
for your mother.”
     
     

Chapter 5
     
    Ryann turned
around to see Jeremy standing at her back. 
    No.  No,
no, no, no, no.  She made brief eye contact with Jeremy, then
looked at Mr. Callahan with an overly bright smile plastered on her face. 
She immediately swallowed, and wanted to crawl under a rock. 
    Please,
please, please don’t tell me that Jeremy is Tabitha Lowe’s son!  
What were the fucking chances?  I mean, seriously.  This night could
not have any more coincidences, could it?
    This gorgeous
yet pompous man, who she’d been snippy to for the last 15 minutes was Tabitha
Lowe’s son.  Great.  You couldn’t make this stuff up.
    Mr. Callahan
continued.  “Jem, let me introduce Ryann Thornton.  She was Robbie’s
English Lit teacher from when he was at the Academy.  Mrs. Thornton, this
is Jeremy McCallister, Tabitha’s son, and my nephew.  If you know what’s
good for you, you’ll stay away from him.  He’s a heartbreaker, this one,”
he said with a