Chapter 21
Sawyer
“All right. Who remembers when I said the essays on The Great Gatsby were to be emailed to me over the weekend?” I say with my arms crossed over my chest, standing at the front of my classroom. This is my favorite part of a new semester, getting to cover my favorites again.
Most of the students raise their hands.
“That’s weird because if I’m counting correctly, there are twenty-one of you in this class, and as of this morning, I only have twelve in my inbox. That’s not something I’m very happy about.”
As I continue my morning scold of this particular class, I can feel the ache in my muscles and between my legs with each movement. It makes focusing on the task at hand more difficult when all I can think about is the way Isaac touched me and the way his voice sounded when he told me he loved me in my ear.
Plus, the emotional catharsis that came with finally telling him the story of my brother has put me in a place mentally where I feel like I could conquer the world... and handle moody teenagers like it’s nothing.
“To those who actually followed instruction, you’re exempt from the additional reading and essay questions I’ll be assigning for homework at the end of the week.”
There are scattering sighs of relief and annoyed groans. You can’t make everyone happy. That’s the life of a teacher.
I give them a bit of reading to do right now, silently to themselves before we begin open discussion, then I pull out my cell phone to check for any messages but not finding any.
I stayed with Isaac until this morning when he took me home to drop me off so that I could come into work. This weekend was incredible to say the least. I really felt like some walls were broken down and we absolutely took the next step.
I’ve never felt this strongly for someone before, so I’m riding this high for as long as I can.
He’s like my green light across the pond, and I’m Gatsby, clinging to the hope that at the end of the day, we will be happy, just as we are, and there isn’t something ominous coming our way.
Because as someone who spends her every day discussing the highs and lows of the human experience as told through fictional characters, I’m programmed to always wait for the other shoe to drop.
But when I feel the stress or worry of that sinking in, I think about the fact he told me he loves me. I have to hold on to that as a positive and not let the fear of the negative drown me.
Isaac
What have I done in my lifetime that is so horrible? Why is the universe choosing me to fuck with? Haven’t my good deeds far outweighed the bad? It sends the most incredible woman my way then tosses the biggest wrench in history right into the middle of us.
It’s all I’ve thought about for nearly three weeks, since she told me about her brother. I’ve almost told her who I am a couple of times, but part of me is scared to hurt her because that’s the last thing I want, and the other part of me is scared if she knows... she’ll leave.
“Do you think he’s ignoring us?” Finn says from across the table, snapping me out of my own thoughts.
“Or he’s dead,” Caleb adds, waving a hand in front of my face, but I push it away.
“Cut the shit. I’m fine. Sorry. I was just thinking,” I tell them, taking a sip of my beer.
The bar is quiet tonight, thankfully. I’m not in the mood to deal with a crowd of drunks.
“Must have been important since we’ve been saying your name for ten minutes and you’ve just been picking at that beer bottle label,” Caleb says.
“Sawyer finally come to her senses and realize she’s way too fucking hot for you?” Finn asks with a laugh.
“Watch it.” I shove my finger into his chest. “Careful.”
“Jesus Christ. What’s your problem?”
I take a breath then scrub my hand over my mouth. “I told Sawyer I love her.”
I wait for a response but I’m met with blank stares with no reaction whatsoever.
“And she said it back...” I add.
“Hold on. I need to process this,” Caleb says, holding up his hand and Finn nods in response.
All I can do is laugh and shake my head. “If that is the surprising part, you have no idea what’s coming.”
I’ve, of course, told them all about the girl from the LA Wildfire. About how I still thought of her and I harbored so much guilt, even though I know I did everything I could. I still hear her voice in my ear telling me she will never forgive me for letting her brother die, even though she had no idea who I was.
“Okay, you love Sawyer and she loves you back. I’m not sure why that is making you a moody asshole, but hit us with whatever is next.” Caleb waves me on.
I lift my beer to my lips and take three large gulps then place it back on the table with a loud pop.
“Sawyer is the blonde girl from the LA fire.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Finn answers. “That’s literally impossible.”
Caleb replies quickly, “Not literally impossible, but really fucking bizarre. Are you sure? How do you know?”
“She told me with her own mouth.” I pull my ball cap off and toss it onto the table. “She couldn’t sleep and was just sitting up in the middle of the night. I asked her what was wrong and it developed into a conversation about her brother and how he died. Every detail, guys, every single one was there down to the scar in her eyebrow where she was cut.”
“What did she say when you told her who you were?” Finn asks me, but his eyes grow wide when he realizes the truth. “You haven’t said anything to her, have
