After Kat left, Gavin realized with a start that they hadn’t talked about that email she’d gotten. He cursed. What kind of protector was he if he got so distracted by kissing her that he couldn’t come up with a way to keep her safe? After his body had calmed down and his mind wasn’t quite as filled with thoughts of her in his bed, he sent her a quick text.
Forgot to talk about that email. Still think you should go to the police.
Her reply was almost instantaneous: That’s not what I was thinking about on my walk home, but I’ll think about it. Have a good night, Gavin.
Chapter Seven
“Ms. Williamson, I think my computer froze.”
Kat looked up from her own computer to see Danny Tucker raising his hand. She restrained a sigh. The kid’s computer inevitably froze at least twice each class period, mostly because he seemed determined to press as many buttons as possible until the computer gave up the fight.
Kat fiddled with the mouse and, seeing that the cursor was frozen, she used the tried and true Control-Alt-Delete and told Danny to do only exactly as he was told when the computer rebooted. Danny nodded, but she knew that was basically code for “I’m going to mess around again the second your back is turned.”
Kat didn’t mind teaching most days. The kids were entertaining, and she essentially babysat while they played keyboard games to improve their typing skills. It was a far cry from her work as a computer programmer, and if she thought about how she was wasting her own education to sit here and make sure kids like Danny didn’t cause their computers to explode, she might shed a few tears. But at the same time, she had enough to keep her preoccupied and not restless; besides, she’d only lost her grandmother a few months ago. She didn’t have the heart to abandon the house yet, and the town Lillian had lived in for decades.
You’re always taking care of everyone, Lillian had said more than once before she’d started to slide into a fast decline. But who’s taking care of you? I worry about you, Katherine.
Kat had always taken care of others, it was true. She’d taken care of her mom, she’d taken care of Lillian. She’d taken care of friends and her exes and she’d taken care of dogs and cats, but more recently, the weight of caretaking had felt almost too heavy to bear. And now she had another person on her mind—or persons, plural.
In the week since she’d kissed Gavin Danvers a second time, she’d barely seen the man. They’d run into each other a few times, but he’d only greeted her in a gruff voice and never stopped to talk. Kat didn’t know what to make of him. He invited her to dinner, he kissed her in his living room, he begged her to touch him, and then…nothing. He’d ghosted on her as badly as any guy she’d dated in undergrad. Normally she’d write him off, but with Gavin, she had a feeling there was more to this than him suddenly deciding he was no longer interested.
She’d also seen the look in his eyes when she’d touched him. He wanted her—there was no doubt about that. Desire could only take them so far, but it was at least a start. And if Kat was honest with herself, she’d admit that she was lonely. Not just for sex, but for companionship. Having that person you could talk to after work, that person you got to see as the evening wound down into night. And even that person who could take care of you, just as much as you took care of them.
Feeling restless, she got up from her chair to wander the room, looking over kids’ shoulders to see their progress. Given this class consisted only of second graders, most of the students continued to “hunt and peck” their way through typing exercises, despite Kat’s corrections and insistence that they use the right fingers for particular keys. Then again, by the time these kids were in college, they’d probably have computer programs that allowed them to avoid typing altogether.
Seeing that Danny was actually typing instead of trying to get online, Kat wandered to the edge of the class, where Emma Danvers sat. Her head was down, her focus on the monitor in front of her, but Kat soon realized the girl wasn’t typing. Instead, she seemed almost dazed.
Kat laid a hand on her shoulder. Emma barely responded to the touch. “Emma? Are you all right?”
Emma didn’t say anything. Kat watched as the girl’s breathing increased, and she squatted down to her level to get a better look at her. Emma’s breaths were fast and frantic, and soon the girl started moaning low in her throat.
“Emma, look at me,” Kat said in a low voice. “What’s wrong?”
By this point, most of the students had stopped typing and were staring at the pair. Emma, though, seemed like she was in her own little world. When she started hyperventilating, though, Kat’s heart froze. She caught Emma’s gaze. “Emma, I need to get you to calm down. Take a long, deep breath for me? That’s it. And let it out. Do that again. Count to ten as you breathe in, and count to ten as you breathe out.”
Emma’s breaths slowed enough that Kat was able to leave to go to the classroom next door, where she knew Silas was working during his break. When he saw her expression, he didn’t even ask what she needed. He got up and followed her back into the lab.
“I’m taking Emma to the nurse,” Kat said. “Watch my class for me?”
“Of course. Do you want me to call her dad?” Silas glanced at Emma, whose hand Kat had taken.
“Please, and let Mrs. Gentry know as well.” She tugged on Emma’s hand. “Let’s
