The Crying Bridge

The Crying Bridge--Chapter Four

 When Del awoke at 6:30 am, there were three very clear thoughts that came to her immediately. The first was that she had again thought she heard a baby crying in the night, but with the storms she couldn't believe that a sound like that would have carried to her out here. This thought quickly faded as the second thought formed. She had risen around one o'clock and closed some of the windows to keep rain from coming in, then had gone right back to bed. She wondered now if the storm had done any damage.

As she got up to take a look around, the third thought came. She wouldn't see Evan today at all. She wouldn't see him until tomorrow night, which she whole-heartedly was looking forward to. She was a little amused and a little annoyed that she thought she might actually be missing him. She laughed out loud. She did, she missed him, and she hardly even knew him.

She went into the bathroom and combed her hair out and pulled it into a ponytail, preparing for her morning run. She was smiling at herself in the mirror, enjoying being a little smitten with Evan. She was pretty terrified, too, after last night's events, but as she looked at her stupidly grinning image in the mirror, she decided she was just going to go with it. She was still pretty worried that the strong physical attraction between her and Evan could really complicate their chances at a relationship, but she also thought that they were both on the same page about it all. Hopefully, they would be able to control themselves a little better, at least for a little while longer. She wasn't one of those women who had a certain timetable when it came to bringing sex into the mix with a new beau but she did think having a good working knowledge of someone was pretty important. For her, if you didn't know someone's middle name, what their favorite color was and what sort of pets they had growing up then it was too soon for sex. When information like that started to fall into place, she knew she would feel more comfortable about this whole thing, this surprise potential relationship that she certainly hadn't been looking for.

Back in her bedroom, Del donned jogging attire and went outside to survey her property for storm damage. There were a few small tree limbs in the driveway, but that seemed to be it. Considering herself lucky, she picked up the limbs and tossed them aside. She imagined the young man who came out to do the yard work could take them somewhere for her. She went back inside for a hat and her IPod then took her morning run.

When she returned to the cottage, she removed her jogging shoes and left them on the porch. They were a little muddy from all the rain. She quickly ate a container of coconut milk yogurt with some low-fat granola mixed in and a few slices of mango that had been left over from last night's dinner then headed to the shower to get ready for her day.

She had a 9:00 am meeting with the high school principal whom she'd only met once before during an interview with the school board. Apparently, the principal, Mrs. Karen Bradley, liked to have the opportunity to get to know her new teachers a little before the school year started whenever possible. Del though it was a great idea. Mrs. Bradley had seemed very competent at their first meeting, as well as warm and compassionate. Del knew from experience that having a good working relationship with the school principal was extremely important for all teachers.

She drove into town, noticing that there was a bit more damage here and immediately wondered if Evan's house had been hit. She realized with a start that she didn't even know where his house was...one more indication that she still had a lot of getting to know him to do. That pang of missing him hit her again, and she pushed it away. She had to focus now because today was a professional day.

With classes out for the summer, she had no trouble finding a parking spot at the high school. It was the smallest school she'd taught at and she was still surprised that it was only one building. It was a good-sized building, three stories high, but still small compared to her previous positions. She headed towards the administration offices and announced herself to the secretary.