A Rescued Heart (Rescued Heart Romance) (3 page)

Once they settled down, he pointed to Alex. Ava slowly closed her eyes, fearful of what words would escape from his mouth. Alex entertained her daily with his loose cannon presence in class and she often wondered what went on in that cute head of his.

“My dad mows our yard. Who mows yours?”

“Oh, well I live in an apartment so I don’t have a yard. But if I did, I would mow it.”

“How about you?” he asked Carrie who sat holding one arm around her knees with the other slightly in the air, timid.

Carrie looked down shyly and then asked, “Are you married?”

He smiled. “No, but I’d like to be some day.”

Ava knew where these questions would continue to go. She stood up quickly, stopping the downward spiral before they embarrassed him. At the same time, she realized she was relieved by his answer. For the past two years, dating became the furthest thing from her mind, so why did she care if he was married or not? She pushed the foreign thoughts aside, not willing to pick at the scab that covered her heart.

“Okay, I’m sure Sergeant Thompson has a busy day, so let’s have one last question.
How about you, Luke?” His hand flopped around in the air, demanding attention.

“Sergeant Thompson—I mean Matt. Could you stay and have lunch with us?”

Matt glanced over at her. The question threw her off guard. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders, leaving the decision up to him.

Matt looked back at the kids. “I’d like that. Thank you for asking.”

Everyone jumped up excitedly. Ava couldn’t hide her unexpected smile that amplified from his decision. She came out from behind her desk and stepped toward the children clapping to catch their attention. “Okay, let’s not forget to be polite and thank our guest for coming.”

“Thank you!” everyone chimed in unison.

The bell rang for lunch shortly after and the students filed into a line. She decided to join the class and Matt for lunch today. It wouldn’t hurt to help the other staff out on cafeteria duty. Being the first day back from break, the kids would still be riding high on adrenaline, which would produce a few glitches in routine.

Today’s menu boasted chicken nuggets, fries, and peas.

Yay, lots of food that’s easy to throw. Here we go
.

Between the handsome guy walking beside her and embracing the job ahead, Ava had the strange urge to bounce up and down on the balls of her feet and punch her fists in the air while humming th
e
Rock
y
theme song.

Entering the cafeteria, she surveyed the battlegrounds and headed to the sidelines to get a better view of the entire room. After the students made it through the line, she and Matt found a pair of seats amongst the kids.
They received a lot of looks, more from the adults than kids, but she chose to ignore them. He asked some questions about the school, but the kids kept asking him more questions—thankfully not too personal—and frequently interrupted them.

Halfway through lunch a little girl started crying because someone had taken one of her nuggets, and shortly after Ava had to talk down two boys trying to see who could make milk come out of their noses first. Overall, lunch time transpired with a lack of tension. She’d had worse.

The kids went to recess after lunch. Ava took her few minutes of freedom and walked with Matt back to the main entrance. They took the time they had away from the earshot of the students to finally laugh together about some of their questions. To tell someone about these moments never measured up to experiencing it with someone.

It felt nice.

She extended her hand to him, “Thanks again for coming. You did a great job and I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.”

“You’re welcome. It seems like you never have a dull moment.”

She shook her head back and forth. “Nope, never.”

He started toward the door but stopped short. It looked like he wanted to ask a question, but nothing came out of his mouth except, “It was nice meeting you, Ava.”

“You too, Matt.”

They waved good-bye and went their separate ways
.
Maybe dating isn’t such an appalling thought after all. Scary, but not appalling.Too bad I’m never going to see him again
.
Ava stopped, her legs paralyzed by the shocking thoughts that trickled i
n.
His presence and smile had just become more than she could handle right now.

She walked away relieved for the distance.

In attempts to stay ahead of schedule before the final bell rang, Ava helped the kids with their jacket zippers and saw to it that all the backpacks were off the hooks and onto little backs. She noticed Alex off by himself and realized that he’d been unusually quiet all day.

The boy held an adorable look that constantly had her fighting the impulse to pinch his cheeks. He had spiky blond hair, a chubby face, and glasses. He reminded her of the little boy from the movie
,
Jerry Maguir
e
. He stood at the back table making sure he had all hi
s
Car
s
pencils in order. She took a moment to talk with him one on one.

“Hey, Alex, do you have all your pencils?”

“Yep, I just counted all five.” He pushed his glasses up with his pointer finger and smiled. “Now I am making sure they are all safe in my pencil box.”

“That is a very good idea,” she agreed. “How was your spring break?”

“Well,” he started slowly, “it was really sad because my grandma went to a better place.” His frown and elongated sigh displayed how upset he was over the situation.

“Oh no, I am so sorry.” She put her arm around him. “When did she pass away?”

Concern for him and frustration at herself filled her. She had not heard and would have talked to him about it earlier had she known.

He looked confused. “What?” Then he grinned. “Oh no, she just moved to Ohio,” he said while making a fist with his thumb out and thrusting it over his shoulder, demonstrating that Grandma had hit the road, moved away.

It took everything in her not to laugh out loud. “Oh, well, Ohio is very nice.”

He gave her a hug and then ran up to the front of the room to find his spot in line.

On the way back from sending kids home, she decided to stop at her friend Kate’s room to catch up. They had both started working at the school the same year and their friendship blossomed instantly. As she approached Kate’s room she couldn’t help but giggle at the horrible sound escaping from the room. She stuck her head in the open door to find Kate erasing her board and singing some lovey-dovey song from the eighties. Kate held no distress over the fact her life would start a new season by getting married this weekend. It was cute, a little sickening and off tune, but cute. Ava shook her head and then sang the echo part to let her counterpart know she had company.

Kate laughed before she turned around, “You caught me,” she swooned.

“I still can’t believe you’re getting married this weekend. It feels like just yesterday that Kyle proposed to you,” Ava said as she stepped inside and sat on the edge of Kate’s desk. “Did you get everything worked out with Principal Hunt about all of your time off?”

“Yes, he has been great. He’s even letting me take Friday off to decorate the church and prepare for the rehearsal.”

Kate was busting at the seams with delight. Ava had a twinge of jealousy—or was it nausea—for just a split second and then pushed it out of her thoughts.

Kate must have seen something in her face because she kindly brought it to the surface. “I’m sorry if this is hard to talk about. I haven’t seen or talked to you in a week. I’m sure there is something else we can discuss.”

Ava regretted her selfishness on mentally turning their conversation back on her. “Kate, I love talking about your happiness. I am so glad that you and Kyle found each other. Your wedding is going to be wonderful and I’m looking forward to being a part of your special day,” she replied with sincerity.

Kate’s smile confirmed her contentment with the answer. “Thank you. So since you are okay, do you want to hear about where we’re staying on our honeymoon?”

“Absolutely.”

After finishing up a few more things at her desk, Ava headed out to her car, a red Honda Accord, clearly dated by the rust that covered the bumper. Nothing fancy, it got her to where she needed to go and that’s all that mattered. Ava stayed simple when it came to vehicles. She wanted to look around for something different, but her finances just didn’t allow it at this time. Her brothers constantly nagged her to buy something newer and cooler, but so far she held firm and ignored their digs.

As she reached her car something caught her eye at the corner of the building. It looked to be one of her students, Tessa Davis. She threw her books into the car, shut the door with a loud slam and jogged over to the small child. Tessa was one of her students that walked home after school and she recalled watching her head home earlier that day.

Tessa was a shy and introverted child. Ava continually questioned her home life. The girl’s father left awhile ago, but her mother always seemed nice and invested in her daughter’s life. During the last few weeks, though, something just didn’t seem right.

“Hi Tessa, why are you not at home? Is everything okay?”

“Well, I did go home, but my mom wasn’t there and I didn’t know what to do.”

Concern jumped
first into Ava’s mind, since this had happened before.

“Okay, let’s go see where your mom is together. I’m sure she is very worried about you.” Ava directed Tessa into the office to call her home. Ava smiled when Tessa reached for her hand while they walked. These little moments made the long exhausting days a little brighter. Ava asked her a few questions to brighten the mood and had Tessa giggling by the time they reached the office.

Tessa’s mother answered, quite upset about the situation and apologized for the mix-up. Ava sent the little one home, frustrated that her hands were tied. She decided to mentally keep an eye on Tessa and observe her more carefully, maybe even prod her into answering a few questions that swirled around in her mind.

Ava drove to the store to pick up some groceries needed to make dinner, trying to fight the distraction of Tessa in her mind. Jules would be at her apartment soon for their weekly meal together. Between the two of them, Jules was the better cook, which wasn’t saying much. At least her critic didn’t have a high scale to judge from. Grilled chicken salads … she couldn’t screw that up too badly.

Hectic traffic and a packed grocery store put Ava behind schedule. By the time she got home the clock showed six. She threw the chicken on the George Foreman grill and ran back to her room to change clothes. Sweat pants, a comfy shirt, and slippers—her girls’ night wardrobe.

As she opened the bag of salad Jules knocked and stuck her head in. “Hi. Sorry I’m late, traffic was horrible.”

“I know. I just got in myself. My downfall started when I got caught up talking with Kate after school.”

“Is this the weekend she’s getting married?” Jules asked as she plopped down at the kitchen table, resting her head on the back of the chair. Her autumn colored hair spilled down onto her shoulders.

“Yep, it’s Saturday night.”

“You’re still planning on going, right?”

Ava rolled her eyes when she recognized the hope in her friend’s voice. “Yes. I know my record of attending weddings hasn’t been very good the past couple years, but I’m looking forward to this one.”

“Good. I’m glad. So … are you planning on taking someone?”

“Ha ha, very funny, Jules.”

“You’d have a great time.”

“No.”

“I know this guy.”

“Quit.”

Julia’s grin started wide and ended mischievous. She obviously enjoyed herself, a little too much for Ava’s patience.

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Come on, Ava,” she pouted, “just hear me out.”

If Ava didn’t have twenty years of history with Julia, she might have been a little annoyed at the badgering. They met in early grade school and had been best friends ever since. They grew up on the same street, riding bikes together and having sleepovers. Besides family, there wasn’t anyone else she trusted more. Julia only brought up the matter of her dating again because of concern for Ava’s happiness, but even after two years, the subject stayed one that Ava did not like to discuss. Being left at the altar continued to not only be embarrassing, but deeply scarring.

Dating for her was off the table at this point. It joined the same category as skydiving and bungee jumping … it terrified her.

The thought of Matt popped into her mind, and she became frustrated with herself because this wasn’t the first time today the handsome officer had invaded her thoughts. Ava quickly dismissed the idea of bringing him up to Julia. She didn’t want the drama that would ensue.

Ava waited, debating if she could handle this conversation Julia pushed. “Fine,” she conceded as she grabbed the plates and joined Jules at the table. “You’ve got five minutes.”

“Really? You’re starting to break a bit, Ava. I can feel it.”

“Four and a half, you better get to it, time’s a ticking.” Ava tapped an imaginary watch on her wrist.

“Okay, okay, so much pressure.” Julia took a deep breath. “I’m not saying that you need to go out and start a serious relationship. I understand that commitment is still not an option for you. But what’s wrong with just going out on a friendly date?”

“It seems pointless. Dating should be the first step in seeing if that someone is marriage material, and I have no desire to look for a husband.”

Pleased with her rebuttal, Ava smirked, certain her statement would silence her long-time friend. She wanted to lick her finger and make an imaginary mark in the air
.
Round one to Ava.

She licked too soon.

“I see your point, and it’s a good one, but it’s not going to change me bugging you until you cave.” Jules smiled, determined to win this conversation for once.

“I still don’t see what good it would do.”

“Listen, your heart was crushed. I’ve been with you every step of the way and know how devastated you were. I stayed with you all those nights when you cried yourself to sleep. But Ava, it’s time. Even if it’s only a few dates, just to get your feet wet again. You have to trust God to guard your heart. It doesn’t have to be anything serious, just go out and enjoy yourself.”

It had been two years and still a part of her remained dead. Burying her emotions created a safe environment, why dig herself out of that shelter now. Ava twirled her fork around in her food, stalling. “I’m scared, Jules,” she finally admitted.

“I know, but you’re never going to know unless you try.”

“Okay, tell you what. I’ll think about it.”

Julia lifted an eyebrow and gave a look of determining if Ava was serious or just trying to get her off her back.

She was both.

“Seriously, I will think about it.”

“Good. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Discussion closed.”

Ava laid in bed that night wrestling with the promise she’d made to her best friend. Jules’s reasons held merit. She needed to at least start thinking about dating again. She rolled over and sighed, letting the tension release out into the empty room.

There, I thought about it, that’s good enough for now.