Kelly Jamieson - Breakaway

“I think you’re kind of overreacting,” he finally said, the words long and stretched out. “What’s gotten into you?”

She breathed out through her nose, lips pressed together. “This isn’t working, Jason. You live in a different world. I had no idea who you were or what you did or that you make freakin’ millions of dollars.”

“What does that have to do with anything? And besides, I never knew you were a teacher, either, but I didn’t let that stop me from getting to know you.”

She took a step backward. What was he talking about? That made no sense at all. “You have something against teachers?” She gave her head a shake at that.

“Forget it.” He stood, towering over her. “You’re acting weird, Remi. You knew that stuff last week. Why is it such a big deal now?”

“Because you…you said…that!”

He ran a hand through his hair, making the short dark strands stand up in all different directions. He closed his eyes briefly. “I’m sorry. I just wanted you to know…ah hell. This is fucking nuts. What the hell am I doing?”

He walked to the door, still wearing his jacket.

He turned in the French doors, his mouth a straight, grim line, brows drawn down over his eyes. “Bye, Remi.”

When she heard the front door close, a sob tore from her throat and her knees wobbled. She stumbled to the couch and sat down, tears scalding her eyes and her cheeks. Then she lay down and sobbed. “It was supposed to be fun,” she sobbed. “It was supposed to be fun.”

* * *

Much as Jason looked forward to working with the kids at Abraham Lincoln Middle School, he dreaded going there Wednesday afternoon. He was dying to see Remi, but he was terrified too. He pulled in to the parking lot in his Jeep and sat there, hands on the wheel.

He wasn’t sure exactly what the hell had happened at her place Monday night. Women. He damn sure didn’t get them. And why, why had he made that lame confession about falling in love with her? Once again, he’d blurted something out without thinking about the consequences of it. He’d spent his whole life working on controlling his impulses and telling a woman he was in love with her was one of the craziest impulses he’d ever had, with huge fucking ramifications. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He’d never told any woman he loved her. Not even Brianne. Well, okay, his mother, but that didn’t count.

He jumped out of the vehicle and walked toward the school. As he neared the entrance, he saw Dominic pull into the parking lot. He worked with a different class…maybe he could offer to trade today?

Nah. Couldn’t do that. He had to see how Ryan was doing this week with Tom Sawyer. The kid reminded him of him at that age. Ryan was going to face the same struggles he had too. It made him ache for the little dude, but made him even more determined to try to help.

The kids and Remi were in her classroom. She was sitting at her desk and she looked up at him when he walked in and she kept her face from showing an expression, but she looked sad. There was no hiding that.

His heart squeezed. He tightened his mouth.

“Hey, Jase!” The kids all greeted him and crowded around him and he forced a smile.

They got busy with their reading activities and he signed all their forms listing all the books they’d read since last week. Some kids were crazy readers—a list a mile long—others like Ryan had only read one book.

“You finished it?” He looked at Ryan, who nodded, trying not to look pleased. “Good job, dude!” They bumped fists. “Let’s talk about it.”

Ryan was having a hard time today, Jason could tell. He was unfocused, fidgety; Jason knew the signs. He tried a few times to draw him back, but knew it wasn’t going to work today.

Then Remi came over, having noticed his struggles.

“Ryan,” she said. “What’s going on?”

No, no. Jason looked up at her and shook his head. He didn’t want the kid to get in trouble for something he couldn’t help.

“Nothing.” Ryan shifted in his seat one way, then the other.

“D’you need to go for a drink of water?” she asked him. “I’ll come with you.”

Jason watched them leave the class. He wanted to follow. He was worried for Ryan. What was she going to say to him? A memory flashed through his mind. “Stupid. You’re just stupid. Would you just sit still and pay attention.”

He remembered being taunted and teased by other kids, remembered defending himself with his fists instead of his brains and the shitloads of trouble he’d gotten into because of that, which hadn’t endeared him to his teachers at all.

He surged to his feet and strode across the classroom, leaving the kids on their own for a moment. He had to get to Ryan. He walked into the hall and stopped. Remi and Ryan stood there and she had her arm around his shoulders. “Did you take your medication today?” she asked softly.

Ryan said nothing, then shook his head.

“You have to take it,” she said. “Come on, Ryan. You know it’s important.”

“I hate taking it.”

“We talked about this before. Remember? About how smart you are and how the Ritalin helps you learn. If you miss out on stuff now, Ryan, it’ll be so hard to get caught up. That’s what it’s there for.”

Jason stared at them, his heart thudding, his breath choppy.

She’d told the kid he was smart.

His heart expanded ‘til he thought it might burst out of his chest. Jesus. He wasn’t falling in love with that woman. He was in love with her. Head over hockey skates in love with her.

Remi turned. “C’mon,” she said with a smile. “Let’s not waste the time that Jason is here…” And then she looked up and saw him standing in the door of her classroom and the look on his face made her knees fold. She almost couldn’t walk.

“Hey, Jason.” Ryan went up to him. “I…I’ll try to pay attention. Let’s talk about Tom Sawyer.”

Jason’s dark eyes met hers, catching her gaze and holding it. An invisible thread tugged between them, drawing her to him. Why was he looking at her like that? Like she’d sprouted wings out of her back or something.

He kept staring at her even as Ryan went back into the class.

“What?” she hissed at him.

He said nothing, but followed her back into the class. He sauntered over to Ryan and they started talking and she went back to the other kids, but had a hard time dragging her gaze away from him.

Why had he followed her out into the hall? Why did he look so pole-axed?

He was so patient with Ryan, even though Ryan was having a bad day. He made the boy laugh at something, and her chest constricted. She blinked and tried to focus on the other kids. Her throat felt tight and achy and she just wanted this to be over, much as she loved spending time with her students. She was going to go throw herself in Jason’s lap in a minute.

She tried to breathe, in and out, until finally the clock on the wall said the reading program was over.

The kids were in no rush to leave, though, talking to Jason, taking their time getting their belongings together. “Don’t forget your homework!” she reminded one.

And Jason seemed in no hurry to leave either.

Finally the classroom was empty and quiet except for the two of them.

Jason sat on one of the small desks. She hoped it would hold his weight.

“Thanks,” she choked out. “Again. You were great with them. Especially with Ryan.”

“He’s a good kid.”

He was still looking at her strangely. She put a hand to her hair to make sure it wasn’t sticking up or something. “Yes, he is.”

“You told him he’s smart.”

She blinked. “Yes. He is. He’s a very smart kid.”

“He has ADHD.”

“Yes.” Her brow tightened. “How’d you know that?”

“Never mind. Remi.”

“What?”

“Don’t push me away, Remi.”

Her body went soft and hot and her ears buzzed. She swallowed through a painfully tight throat. And then she was in his arms, climbing up his body, kissing him, feeling the wetness of her tears on his face. “Oh, Jase. How can this be?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter. It just is. Just let it happen.”

He held her face in his big hands and kissed her so gently, so tenderly, she trembled. “Come home with me.”

“Yes.”

* * *

Remi could not believe Jason had talked her into this.

It was Saturday morning and she was getting off a plane at LAX. Jason’s last road game had been last night against the Kings and he didn’t have to be back in Chicago for a practice until Monday, so he’d convinced her to fly to Los Angeles for a weekend with him.

Jesus. Who did things like that? Flying to L.A. for the weekend.

Apparently she did.

She couldn’t even imagine how much the airfare had been. She tried to put that out of her mind.

She walked out of the gate, pulling her small carryon, which was all the luggage she’d brought, looking around for where to go. Follow the crowd seemed the best plan. Everyone was heading for a set of long escalators. This was all new to her—despite her parents having travelled the world, she never had. New and scary and exciting because deep down inside she realized she’d always wanted to travel. She’d never been able to, never had the money, never been able to leave Kyle and Jasmine. Even when she’d had the opportunity when they were older, there was always that fear that if something happened to her, like what had happened to her parents, she’d be leaving them all on their own and the fear of doing that to them had been paralyzingly powerful.