Lost In Love

Lost In Love 13

“Happy Thursday Tracy,” Trent chirped as he walked into the school’s cafeteria.

“Morning to you,” Tracy answered back.  “Do you need some breakfast this morning?”  As always she held a warm smile for Trent.  Her smile usually brightened his mood, but nothing could top his scorching mood today.  He could still taste Becky on his lips and feel her soft skin on his fingertips.

“Just a little something, if you have good stuff today,” He rested his hands on the silver bars that were meant for student trays to slide on.

“We always have oatmeal, but I have a few pancakes and sausages this morning too,” Tracy waited for his answer.  She noticed his seemingly permanent smile and wondered who had put it there.

“I’ll have a bowl of the oatmeal.  It fills me up more.”  Trent tried to control the smile on his face.

“What has gotten into you this morning?  You look like the mouse that ate the cheese.”  Tracy found that Trent’s smile was contagious as her own spread across her face.

Trent paused and didn’t know how to answer Tracy’s question.  Has he eaten the cheese?  He certainly enjoyed tasting the cheese this morning.  He looked up at Tracy, “Uh…”

“Oh,” Tracy responded quickly, “Mister Jensen, are you in love?”  She placed her hand over her chest waiting for his answer.

It took Trent a few seconds to recover from her blunt question, “Yes, Tracy, I do believe I am.”  He surprised himself with the truthfulness of his answer.

“It’s about time.  I hope you’ll invite me to the wedding,” she teased.

Trent blushed as he took his offered bowl of oatmeal.  He just smiled as he turned to leave.  Trent began to walk more comfortably when he was out of Tracy’s eye sight.

He was in love.  Trent took a bite of the oatmeal that he held in one hand as he walked down the hall to his classroom.  He expected there to be a lump of anxiety in his throat to prevent him from swallowing, but there wasn’t one.  He took a deep breath and relaxed himself.

Love.  He had been in love before, once in high school and once in college.  Neither time had the emotions felt this strong this fast.  He had broken it off with both girls for different reasons, but Trent couldn’t imagine ever breaking it off with Becky.

Tapping his spoon against his lip, Trent rounded the corner into his classroom and sat at his desk.  He leaned back comfortably in his chair deep in thought.  He mindlessly ate the rest of the oatmeal as he thought about him and Becky.  “I wonder how she’d answer that question?” he asked aloud.

Silas tightened the last screw in Becky’s new chain lock on her home’s back door.  He had come knocking on Becky’s door two hours ago with a paper bag from the hardware store.  Becky had welcomed him into her home and let him go to work.  He had put slide locks on all of the first floor windows and chain locks on both doors.  Becky knew Silas and Trent were worried for her safety, and she was grateful for their concern.  She had doubted that Nolan would ever actually hurt her.  She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“Can I make you some lunch?”  Becky wanted to make sure her guest was taken care of.

“Aw, Becky, I didn’t come over to get in your way,” Silas stood back from the completed task and looked to Becky.  He was actually concerned for her safety, but that hadn’t been the main reason for his visit.  He wanted to know that she was dealing well mentally with what had happened.  He knew that women didn’t always reveal everything after an attack like Becky had experienced.