When Love Happens Again by Diane Craver

Author:Diane Craver [Craver, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Diane Craver
Published: 2014-07-28T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

“Miss Miller, could I speak to you for a moment in my office?”

Stephanie’s arm jerked at the sound of the principal’s voice coming over the PA system, and she dropped some of her students’ spelling tests. “Yes, I’ll be right there.”

Stephanie bent over to retrieve the papers and hurriedly shoved them into a folder to take home to grade.

She walked down the hallway to his office. It was the end of the school week, and Mr. Sprague had already approved her lesson plans for next week. The new teachers were required to submit their weekly lesson plans to him. Since she’d done this, she wondered if she’d forgotten something that needed to be turned in. She slowed considerably when a terrible thought occurred to her. What if he knew about her abortion? Could he somehow have found out what she’d done to her baby?

The secretary wasn’t at her desk, but Mr. Sprague’s door was open. He motioned for her to enter and smiled at her. “Sit down.”

“Thank you.” She gave him a weak smile and sat on the edge of the chair.

“Stephanie, I chose you for this teaching position over many other applicants. The others had high grades, too, but during our second interview I was impressed with your enthusiasm, creative ideas and sincerity in wanting to help students reach their potential. That person I hired hasn’t existed for the last several weeks. At first I thought perhaps you were nervous about it being your first teaching job, but I’ve been wondering if there’s something wrong in your personal life. Is there anything I can help you with?”

She shook her head at the concern in his gray eyes. “Everything’s fine.”

Mr. Sprague studied Stephanie. “Yesterday a student told me you were crying on the playground.”

“I wasn’t crying. Some dirt blew in my eyes.” She was afraid he saw through her and knew she was lying.

“All of us have noticed a change in you. You’ve lost weight, have circles under your eyes, and you’ve avoided the other teachers. They tell me you were friendly at the beginning of the school year.”

“I…” She gulped. What should she say to him? “I guess I feel overwhelmed at times with teaching.”

“If you need help with anything, please feel free to talk to Mrs. Cooper. She’s helped other beginning teachers, and she’d be happy to help you. She’s taught second grade for ten years.”

“I’ll talk to Mrs. Cooper.”

“Good.” He gave her a kind smile and stood. “I’m sure you have things to do and I need to clear my desk before the weekend.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Sprague. I’ll do better,” she said as they walked to the door. Although her life mattered little to her, she hated how she’d slacked off on being the best teacher possible. She’d try to improve.

* * *

Since it was a Friday night and payday, the younger teachers had invited her to join them at a local restaurant in Troy. She wasn’t interested in socializing. Instead she spent the evening in her drab apartment.

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