Unexpected Admirer Read Online Free PDF

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    “How is Olivia feeling?” Melissa asked as she picked up the bag with Jonah’s muffin and handed it to him.
    “She’s feeling very done with being pregnant,” he laughed. “Otherwise, she’s feeling great and Gage is ready to meet his brother.”
    “I heard you’re going to name him after your father?”
    Cade nodded. “Yep. He really raised us both and made sure we found each other. It only seems right.”
    “It sure does.” Molly handed her the coffee she had ordered. Melissa lifted it to her nose and took a sniff. It was just what she needed. “Give Olivia my best.”
    Cade walked off and Melissa looked around the enormous parking lot.  All three schools sat in the same corner of Aspen Creek. The elementary teachers had parked and the kids were beginning to arrive.  The middle school lot was filling up and soon the high schoolers would begin arriving in their own cars. 
    There was a time when martin would sit out front of the school in his patrol car just to keep absent minded teenagers in check.
    The memory stung and Melissa’s heart ached. She missed him.
    Three years hadn’t eased the pain of him being gone. She twisted the band of gold which still adorned her finger. He was too young, she was too young—Jonah was too young to be without him.
    “Mom, Todd is already at school. Can I run over there?” Jonah pleaded.
    Melissa looked across the parking lot and Sandy Sharp, the town’s most loved kindergarten teacher, waved back. She signaled to them to send Jonah over.
    “Go, but you stay out of Mrs. Sharp’s way. And get to your own class on time.”
    “Got it.” He turned to run off.
    “Oh, no you don’t. Give me a kiss.”
    Jonah turned back to her and narrowed his eyes. “I’ll see you in like six hours.”
    “Yep, and this will get me through my day.”
    Reluctantly he kissed her on the cheek and then took off in a flash to be with his friend. She gave Sandy a grateful wave and headed into the school.
    The office was quiet, and William’s door was closed.
    Melissa hurried to fetch her papers and get to her classroom. There were going to be eighty students who would be facing a test today, and she knew she’d be on the least popular list. This was a place she was more comfortable. All the silliness and wasted time of Friday was over. It was time to move on—back to normality.
     
    The last bell of the day rang, and as the students hurried out of her room, Melissa laid her head on the desk.
    “That test must have been as bad as I heard,” William’s voice rang through the room.
    Melissa lifted her head to see him leaned up against the door jamb.
    She’d avoided him for an entire weekend and the whole school day. It had been stupid to think that he’d never try to talk to her again just because she gave him the cold shoulder. William Scott was her friend. Perhaps it only made sense that maybe he had feelings for her.
    “Not only did I give them all a test and they grumbled about it, but now I have to grade them.” She ran her hands through her matted curls.
    William walked into the room and right toward her desk where he sat down on the corner of it. “I’d love to help you with that.”
    Before Emmy Lou had walked in last week with her accusations, this would have been normal. She would have accepted his generosity and never have noticed the gaze he gave her.
    Melissa shuffled the papers together and stacked them. “I think I’ll be fine.”
    William stood, but he was still much too close to her. He touched her arm. “Is everything okay? I feel as though I’m being brushed off. I’m not sure what I did.”
    Melissa let out a sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m just a bit out of sorts this week.”
    He reached up to her hair and ran his hand over it. “You’re still tired from your concert night.”
    She reached for his hand. Again, it shouldn’t have been awkward. This man had been by her side for three years and a dear friend long before Martin had died. Why only now