Sophia not only never met his eyes or spoke in class, she never spoke, period. She didn’t talk to the other kids, she didn’t talk to other teachers, and even if she was sitting with classmates at lunch, she didn’t say a word. She sat on the swings at recess and pushed herself back and forth throughout the period.
Fletcher hadn’t tried to push her to do more. Her father had died over the summer and the school counselor hypothesized that Sophia either was afraid that people were going to ask about her father at school, where she might get emotional and be embarrassed, or she was simply talked out and didn’t have anything else to say.
Fletcher had barely heard her voice since school started.
It seemed that Sophia was simply sad.
And Fletcher felt like a complete failure.
They’d done a class project, had gone on a nature walk, had done some show and tell about everyone’s summer break. They were things that all the other kids enjoyed immensely. In every other instance, Fletcher felt like his reputation as a fun but effective teacher was well-earned.
Sophia was the only exception.
But she was doing well in class. It seemed she was learning the material anyway. And that was, after all, his primary goal. He was a teacher and as long as his students learned the subjects he was teaching them, he must be doing at least a decent job. Right?
But right now, talking about him and Jordan getting married in Las Vegas over the weekend had Sophia’s attention.
Was he willing to share about his personal life, even knowing that these kids would go home and tell their parents everything he said, just to feel like he was entertaining Sophia even in the slightest?
Absolutely.
“Okay, who has a question?”
Hands shot up around the room and Fletcher chuckled. Yes, clearly this topic needed to be addressed.
“Okay, Kyrie, you’re first.”
The little girl beamed. “Did she wear a beautiful dress?”
Even not having a lot of girls in his family growing up, Fletcher knew that a beautiful dress was a big deal to eight-year-olds. Should he tell her that Jordan had been wearing white capri pants and a pink tank top?
“She looked absolutely breathtaking,” he told the girl honestly. “I have never seen a more beautiful woman in my life.”
Kyrie’s smile was bright and Fletcher knew he’d answered correctly.
“Okay, Travis, what do you need to know?”
“Did you steal her from some other guy? ’Cuz that’s what my cousin said.”
Now see, that was more the type of thing Fletcher was expecting these kids to overhear.
He shook his head. “Jordan and I have been friends since we were younger than you guys. Her boyfriend didn’t want to get married and she did and I love her so I decided I should be the one to marry her.”
That was all completely true as well. And it sounded so simple. It should be simple. Of all the people in the world that it should be easy to make a life with, Jordan Benoit would be at the very top of the list for him. Or so it would seem. Then again, he’d always expected to be playing the sidekick. He’d never really thought he’d have the starring role.
“Emma, what’s your question?” he asked before he got too wrapped up in his own thoughts.
“Did you wear a tuxedo?”
Lots of questions about their clothes. Interesting.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why not?” Kyrie asked.
“We didn’t have time to get fancy clothes,” Fletcher said. “We decided to get married and just did it.”
“You didn’t want to wear a tuxedo?” Kyrie asked.
“You know that feeling when you want to go swimming and you’re right there standing by the water but then your mom tells you that you have to wait so that she can put sunscreen on you before you jump in?” Fletcher asked.
Most of the class nodded.
“That’s what this was like. I wanted to go swimming and I was standing right by the water and I didn’t want to wait for sunscreen.”
He knew he had to be careful what he said here because he knew it was going to get repeated at home. And the accuracy of information taken home was already somewhat lacking.
“My dad said that he wasn’t surprised at all. He thought you would marry her a long time ago,” Travis said.
Fletcher liked that. He’d dated Travis’s aunt Shelby in high school too and had known her older brother David fairly well.
“Jordan is very special to me,” Fletcher said. “I’m very lucky she agreed to marry me.”
“Did you go to prom together like my mom and dad?” Kyrie asked.
“My mom and dad went to prom together too!” Katie said.
“Mine did too,” Samuel said, as if it was obvious. Clearly in his mind, all moms and dads went to prom together.
And stupidly, that made Fletcher’s chest feel tight. Because he and Jordan had not gone to prom together. They hadn’t done a lot of things together.
Not that all married couples went to prom, of course. But he and Jordan hadn’t even dated. Not really. She was right when she said that they’d been dating for twenty years in a way.
But he still felt like they’d missed out on so much.
“Nope,” he said, curling his fingers into the edge of his desk. “We didn’t go to prom together.”
Aubrey’s eyes went wide. “Did you go to bonfires together?”
Fletcher nodded. “We did do that.” There had been lots of bonfires. “And we went to parties and barbecues and ball games. Our families are really good friends, so we did a lot together. We went swimming and boating and fishing and camping.”
Aubrey nodded, as if relieved. “My mom and dad went to lots of bonfires together.”
“Did you kiss her at the bonfires?” Samuel asked, his tone and grin teasing.
The other kids giggled. Even Sophia.
“My mom and dad kissed lots at bonfires,” Aubrey told Samuel. She giggled. “They still do.”
Everyone laughed.
“My mom and dad kiss all the time,” Travis told them with an eye roll. “In the kitchen. In the living room. On the porch. In the—”
“Okay,” Fletcher interrupted.
“Mine do too,” Katie agreed. “My sister tells them to get a room. But they have a whole house!”
Everyone thought that was hilarious.
Fletcher shook his head. He was losing control. But he loved when his kids were open and happy and talked lovingly about their families.
Then he looked over at Sophia.
Dammit. She looked sad again.
Her father had just passed away. There wasn’t any spontaneous mom and dad kissing going on at her house anymore.
“Okay, okay,” Fletcher said, redirecting the conversation. He really needed to remember that not all of the kids came from the same types of families. Not all had moms and dads. Some of them, like Emma, had never had a dad around.
Still, Emma was grinning about all the kissing talk.
He sighed. Being the fun teacher wasn’t as easy as he’d imagined in college. Because being the fun teacher…still meant being a teacher. Interacting with, helping, supporting, and guiding kids.
“I thought we were talking about me,” he said, giving the class a grin and grasping for his laid-back fun persona.