Timing Is Everything

Chapter Thirteen~ Hayden

CHAPTER THIRTEEN~ HAYDEN.

 

I don’t stay in the office for too long.

Mortification leads me to the nearest Starbucks where I try to stifle the embarrassing flashbacks by drowning myself in an extra hot white chocolate Mocha.

It doesn’t exactly help. No matter how hard I try, the morning scenes keep replaying in my head. I don’t why it’s bothering me so much, but it does.

The dead look in his eyes. The pronounced steps he took away from me. How close I came to losing him. Me breaking down so quickly for a man I keep telling myself I knew, but hardly did.

This is all happening too fast.

When did Cole Jackson start making me feel so restless?

I think back to when I had found him, then the following month when I had felt so frustrated, but determined to help this mysterious guy. Then I recall when things started changing, getting too personal.

Yes, I felt a deep connection with all of my patients, but never, ever, have I been so attached, so obsessed that I would break down in the middle of a hallway. Feeling so hopeless. So hurt. So scatterbrained.

I can’t get Cole out of my mind.

Is it because he’s the only one that I have never been able to help? Or do the feelings run much deeper?

I sip my Mocha, staring out the window at nothing.

I grudgingly leave the coffee shop when it is time for my next shift. I arrive and head towards the team office.

I empty my bag onto my desk, before refilling it with supplies I needed for my next shift.

I’m almost at the classroom, when I pass by Susan. I walk a little faster, praying that she hadn’t seen me, but she did.

“Hayden,” she calls out. I bite my bottom lip and turn around innocently.

“Yes?”

She gives me a sympathetic look that I instantly hate.

“Blake told me,” she says. When I say nothing, she continues, “Do you want to talk about it?”

I rearrange my face into a smile and say, “Maybe later. I’m running late.”

Without waiting for her to reply, I speed down the hallway, not stopping until I reached the classroom.

Melissa immediately runs over and gives me a hug.

“Hayden!”

My heart instantly warms for the little girl who had been struggling with names. A big smile easily forms on my face and I hold out my hand to give her a high five. She gleefully slaps it.

“Melissa!” I exclaim proudly. “Good job.”

“Thank you! Is it time for our lesson?” she asks.

“Yep! Can you lead me to your desk?” I reply.

She takes my hand and walks me over to her pink desk. Along the way, I look around the classroom, where other teachers and children were happily interacting. My spirits rise and I feel more comfortable.

This is where I belong. This is the original reason I had picked teaching. I wanted to make a difference in children’s lives. This is why I’m here. Dark thoughts of Cole still hover around the back of my mind, but now, they are much easier to push aside as I move my focus to the bright little girl looking up at me expectantly.