Loving Liam (Cloverleaf #1) (17 page)

Rachel exchanged numbers with Maggie and said good-bye to the children. As she hovered near the front door, fully loaded with goodies, she glanced at Liam, who was on the floor playing with one of the twins. She hoped to leave unnoticed, but he looked up at her and stood quickly.

“Here, let me help you out to your car,” Liam offered as he grabbed their coats. Mary threw a look to Maggie, then raised her eyebrows approvingly at Liam.

“Oh, it’s fine. I got it,” Rachel said, despite struggling to balance the Tupperware and her purse in her hands.

Not allowing her to shoo him away, Liam grabbed several of the containers as he worked the door open. Giving up, Rachel took her coat from him and waved good-bye to the family. Daniel gave him a thumbs-up as Liam closed the door behind them.

“Really, it wasn’t necessary for you to come out here,” Rachel stammered while she fussed with her keys.

“I wanted to.” Liam placed the containers in the trunk of her car as she stood beside him.

They then looked at each other in silence, waiting for the other speak. Snow had started to fall gently, landing on Rachel’s hair. Liam carefully swept it away and looked down at her. Then he leaned in and planted his warm lips on hers.

Bolts of shock blasted through her as she accepted his kiss. The connection was hot and electric, but his lips on hers were warm and soft. It was perfect.

Liam lifted his head, searching her eyes as if waiting for a response.

She felt dizzy as she begged the panic that had suddenly reared up in her to vanish. “I need to go.”

Disappointment flickered through his eyes, but he simply nodded and opened the driver’s side door for her, then closed it after she got in.

Almost too stunned to drive home, Rachel told herself she had to regroup as she pulled out of the driveway. She wasn’t exactly sure what had just happened and wondered if she had just imagined it. She was thankful that the drive to her home would be brief.

***

Liam

Liam walked back to the house, not knowing what had come over him. What the hell was he thinking? Why would he just kiss her like that? It was the way her glacier-blue eyes had looked up at him, all crystal and perfect, and the way the snow had decorated her blonde hair. The moment just felt right. But while he’d love kissing her, he really wished he would have thought things out better.

Chapter Twelve

Rachel

Monday morning came too soon, and Rachel was filled with dread. As she entered the foyer of the elementary school, Karen stopped humming while she filed papers into the teachers’ mailboxes.

“Good morning, Rachel. How was your weekend?” she asked without looking up.

They had developed a nice routine. Rachel arrived at exactly the same time every morning to find a pot of coffee brewing and Karen busy with her clerical duties. “It was okay.” She didn’t care to elaborate. She’d spent most of Sunday trying to digest the kiss she had shared with Liam. On one hand, she was completely steamrolled by the incredible way his lips felt against hers. On the other, she felt as though whatever was between them couldn’t go anywhere.

Rachel had called Chelsea to see what she thought, and they’d rehashed the kiss over and over again. Chelsea was thrilled Rachel had finally gotten a little lip action and tried to reassure her it wasn’t the end of the world. Rachel wasn’t convinced, though. She had already been having a difficult time ignoring and avoiding Liam. Now she couldn’t forget the way his kiss left a tingling sensation on her mouth.

Karen turned to face her. “You doing okay, sweetie?” she asked, interrupting Rachel’s thoughts.

“Oh, sorry, I’m fine. Was thinking about when to draw up that memo about the staff meeting,” she replied quickly.

“Okay, well, anytime you want me to write that up, you let me know.” Karen smiled and turned back to her work.

Rachel shut herself in her office and plopped her briefcase down on an empty chair before spilling into the chair behind her desk. As she held her head in her hands, someone knocked.

“Come in,” she said, straightening up in her seat.

Liam poked his head into the room. “Is it okay if I come in?”

Oh Lord.
Her stomach started doing flip-flops. “Sure, um, of course.”

After shutting the door quietly behind him, she watched Liam’s throat as he swallowed.

“Okay, I wanted to say I’m sorry,” he said as he moved closer to the desk. “I feel like I put you in a really awkward position, and I don’t know what came over me.”

She hadn’t expected that. “Uh, yeah, it’s okay. I appreciate the apology, but you didn’t have to.”

“Okay, good. I just didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“Nope, all good here.”
Please leave.
Being in the same room was difficult enough, but hearing him go on and on about making her feel uncomfortable was starting to irritate her. “Also, Liam,” she said as he opened the door to leave, “we’ll be having a staff meeting tomorrow to go over some of the curriculum. Testing is at the end of the month, as you know.”

She meant for her tone to remind him who was in charge, and that it certainly wasn’t him.

***

The weather grew menacing and dark as the day slowly wore on. The sun was clearly hiding until spring, and Rachel was starting to feel the effects. As she stared out her office window, she wondered how people here coped with the long winters
and if she would stick around—or even want to stick around—long enough to see another one.

The only intrusion she’d had to deal with was a couple students who had been sent to her office for acting up in class. Because of the storm brewing, the kids had been forced to stay inside for recess, and they were all restless. By the end of the day, all the teachers looked exhausted.

The following day brought even more bitter-cold and fierce weather. Rachel had layered up the best she could but still felt chilled to her bones all day. By early afternoon, she wandered into the teachers’ lounge in search of something, anything, hot to drink. Inside, she found Liam filling his mug with coffee, wearing a cream-colored, cable-knit sweater and dark-wash jeans that made his legs look even longer than usual. The casualness with which he stood there, apparently not knowing Rachel was only feet behind him, let her anchor herself before she moved closer to him.

When she managed to conjure up a little cough to get his attention, he simply moved a foot or so away from the coffee station without taking his attention away from his beverage.

“Good afternoon, Liam,” Rachel said coolly, keeping her guard firmly up.

“Afternoon, Rachel,” he replied, his tone just as even and cool as he stirred sugar and cream into his coffee.

“I wonder when this weather is going to warm up,” Rachel said, trying to make small talk as she followed him to one of the long tables in the lounge.

“Probably by spring, like it always does,” he said curtly.

Rachel sighed loudly. “Look, Liam, I think you and I need to talk.”

“Is there really anything to discuss?”

“Well, we’ve got to figure out something, because whatever this is—” Rachel waved her arms around in frustration, “—it’s not working.”

Liam matched her sigh. “I thought you felt whatever this is too.” Sadness crept into his striking green eyes.

Rachel didn’t really know how to respond. She was in an impossible position. Of course she felt an attraction to him. Who wouldn’t? The man was kind, came from a wonderful family, and was about as gorgeous as they came. The problem for Rachel was that she’d moved here to further her career, not to start dating anyone, let alone someone she supervised.

“Liam, I’m sorry. I feel we need to keep our relationship strictly professional.” Rachel bowed her head, not wanting to meet his stare.

“Okay. I need to get back.” Liam got up from the table and left the room without another word.

Rachel felt awful as Karen strutted into the room, humming lightly.

“Oh, Rachel, I forgot to tell you, we always have a little bake-sale fundraiser in February. We use the proceeds to hold a Dr. Seuss party in March. It’s the neatest event. We buy books and treats, and everyone comes dressed up as their favorite character or in some wacky costume,” Karen rambled on without looking at Rachel as she opened the freezer to retrieve a frozen meal. She continued talking as she pressed several buttons on the microwave and went to sit by Rachel. “Oh, and last year, Liam dressed up like that cat character in one of the books. It helps that he’s so darn tall. The kids just loved it.”

Rachel was able to nod and give Karen a smile. “That sounds so neat. Please let me know what I can do to help.”

“You bet.” The microwave beeped, and Karen stood to retrieve her food.

Realizing she had mentioned a bake sale, Rachel pushed her thoughts of Liam aside. “You know who would bring in a ton of money? Mary, with those amazing muffins of hers.”

“Oh, aren’t those simply the best? But yes, she brings all sorts of treats every year, and they always sell out first,” Karen agreed as she brought a steaming cardboard dish to the table.

“Not surprising,” Rachel added as the lunch bell rang and children began filing into the halls. “Well, I better go. I need to prepare for the staff meeting.”

“Okay, and I’ll let you know more about our bake sale a little later,” Karen said as she fished a romance novel out of her purse.

Rachel headed back to her office and closed the door. She felt safe in this small room, despite its bare walls and shelves. She wondered if she hadn’t bothered to decorate it yet because she was still deciding if she wanted to stay here.

The staff meeting was only a couple hours away, and it would be the first meeting she would oversee by herself as principal. Her nerves were a little rattled, and her conversation with Liam earlier hadn’t helped. Rachel reviewed her notes and had even created a slideshow presentation so the teachers could visualize her ideas and see the statistics that backed them. But the difficult part of the entire meeting would not be speaking in front of the group. It would be knowing the teachers didn’t agree with her methods. Rachel now realized she should have expected this “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” attitude when coming to a small town.

But that wasn’t how she operated. She always wanted to see growth and improvement. But then, she also didn’t like her life to be messy or complicated, and thanks to her job and to the mess of feelings she had around Liam, it was now both.

When the final bell screamed out, Rachel and Karen had already set up the cafeteria for the meeting. Rachel was preparing her laptop for the presentation when the flood of students took over the hallways, so Karen left her to corral some of the end-of-school madness. Rachel looked up from her work just as Liam entered the room with Megan trailing close behind him, followed by several other teachers from different grades.

Liam took a seat near the front, and Megan sat next to him and inched her chair closer to his. Liam didn’t pay her much attention as she fussed with her blouse and batted mascara-thick lashes at him. Instead, he was scrutinizing one of the agendas Karen had laid out on all of the tables.

Megan leaned in close to him, obviously pretending to be study the material as she whispered in his ear. Whatever she shared caused Liam to laugh a little too loudly. Rachel frowned, feeling a tad irritated as she waited for the remainder of the staff to get seated. Finally, Karen scurried in and took a seat at the table where Rachel’s laptop was.

Several minutes later, when she was sure everyone was there, Rachel stood and thanked them for attending and for keeping an open mind. She started by going over how the students had prepared for the statewide tests in the past and explained how their results measured up to other schools in nearby cities and counties and the state at large. Rachel had done her homework and had pulled from every resource she could. She wanted the teachers to understand she wasn’t some nitwit who had come in from another state with no idea of what she was talking about when it came to their school and their state. Nope, she had definitely covered all her bases.

Rachel started the visual presentation with a series of graphs that showed the school’s decline in test scores over the past few years.
She spoke slowly and confidently and only faltered when she noticed Liam staring at her. She couldn’t tell if he was truly engaged in her talk or if he was trying to intimidate her, but she suspected the latter.

When she finished her explanation and provided a clear and easy route for the teachers to follow to bring up the test scores, Rachel asked if there were any questions.

Liam’s arm immediately shot up.

“Yes, Liam?” she asked, feeling the pit of her belly fill with nervousness.

Liam stood, and the teachers turned their attention to him as though he were a god. “I guess my only question is, do you have any charts or graphs that show how this testing will actually benefit my students in their lives? How do these tests measure their actual abilities as people that we will be releasing into society someday?”

Several teachers whispered in agreement, and a couple actually clapped.

“Well, I understand your question and obvious concern. Testing provides information that can eventually lead to better teaching. It gives us a good gauge on where we are as teachers and about areas we can improve on,” Rachel tried to explain just as Megan raised her arm.

“Yes, Megan?”

Liam remained standing as Megan stood, fixing her skirt along the way.

“I have to agree with Liam on this and would also like to add that I feel this testing puts pressure on us as teachers and isn’t an accurate gauge on how we are teaching our kids. What about children that don’t perform well on these stupid things but are amazing in class? I don’t see why we are having to focus more of our valuable teaching time on figuring out how to better prepare them for being tested.” Megan’s tone grew angrier as she stared Rachel down.

Readying herself for a confrontation, Rachel bit her lip, seething with annoyance just at the sight of Megan.

Another teacher raised her hand and softly commented that while she understood the importance of testing to a point, she felt this over preparation was a bit daunting and conflicted too much with the regular curriculum.

Rachel listened to her, but the gears in her head were already turning. “I understand your concerns, and they are valid. However, this is the game plan we are going to try,” Rachel said. “Also, I want to add that we will be sending home weekly progress reports on each student to their parents. I expect these reports to be signed by parents and returned to me.”

Surprised faces stared back at her.

Liam squared his broad shoulders, his stance firm. “Wait, what? Why are we going to be doing that?”

“Because we need to get the parents on board as well if we are going to make our goals. It’s that simple.”

Liam let out a deep breath of irritation. “I think these requests are ridiculous. Mr. Anderson allowed the teachers to actually teach, Rachel. Mr. Anderson–”

“I am not Mr. Anderson. The sooner you realize that, the better, Liam.”

Several people shook their heads and offered Liam a sympathetic look.

Oh good grief.
Of course they were on his side. Everyone always was. But frankly, Rachel had had enough.