I had to tell them the truth.
Reaching across the table, I curled my hand around Mrs. Lohan’s and gave her a squeeze. “You’re not alone,” I stated.
Her eyes met mine, silently questioning me.
“Brent isn’t the only kid in school whose family is struggling,” I started. “And the day I realized what he was going through, I ended up learning that a significant amount of students in the school are going through the same thing. In fact, the district has tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of unpaid school meal debt.”
I paused a moment and watched as their eyes widened in surprise.
Without giving them the opportunity to respond, I continued, “It breaks my heart to know that there are more kids like Brent in this school and this district. A friend of mine teaches in another district, and it’s even worse there. So, we’re doing something about it.”
“What do you mean?” Mr. Logan asked.
“My friend and I have started a nonprofit. We’re raising money through raffles and donations to pay off the school meal debts so that no child or their family will have to worry about something like this ever again,” I replied.
“Can we help?” Mrs. Lohan asked.
When my eyes shifted to her, she went on, “We don’t have the means to donate, obviously. But we go to church every Sunday. The members of the church are very generous people. I’m sure they’d be willing to help if we could bring awareness of the organization to their attention.”
My brows shot up. “I think that’s a great idea. Before you leave, I’ll give you some information to take with you. We have a couple of raffles that are ending soon, but there are more coming. Plus, there’s always the option to just donate directly to the cause,” I said.
“Thank you,” they replied in unison.
I smiled and returned, “You’re welcome. So, how about we discuss how proud I am of what I’ve seen from Brent so far this school year?”
With a couple of nods, Brent’s parents agreed to shift the focus of our conversation to the real reason they were there to begin with. If there was one thing that did bring a smile to their faces, it was hearing that their son was an extraordinary student who I believed had the potential to become incredibly successful as long as he remained focused.
Several hours later, I’d finished my day of conferences. It had been a long day, but I didn’t necessarily mind. Because now that I’d finished at work, I had a few days off.
The Thanksgiving break was starting now.
Of course, while that normally led me to feel a bit of worry over the welfare of my students, I wasn’t necessarily feeling as much stress about it now. I knew that there’d be families struggling over the holiday season, but I’d still do my part to make sure I helped.
Best of all, Riggs wanted to join me.
When he asked about my plans for Thanksgiving, I’d explained that I was going to get up early and visit with my parents because I had made plans to volunteer that afternoon at a local shelter that was providing a holiday meal. So, even though I wouldn’t necessarily see to it that all the kids in my school district were being fed, I’d still be helping.
And I’d be doing it with Riggs by my side.
“Do you mind if I join you?” he asked after I finished giving him the rundown of my day.
“What?” I asked, a bit shocked by his request.
“I don’t want the holiday to pass by without spending any of it with you,” he began. “So, I figure if I can do something to help others while spending time with my woman, it’s a win-win.”
Grinning at him, I cocked an eyebrow and asked, “Well, after you’ve done your good deed for the day, what are your plans for the evening?”
He pulled me close, lowered his mouth to mine, and whispered, “I’m hoping to bring you back to my place so you can have dinner with my family and spend the night with me.”
“On one condition,” I responded.
“What’s that?” he wondered.
“Will you come with me to see my parents in the morning?”
His arm tightened around my waist before he answered, “I’d love to.”
It filled me with such joy. Even though I’d already met Riggs’ family, he hadn’t met my parents. It wasn’t that I was hiding them from him. I simply hadn’t seen them myself in a few weeks; though, I still managed to talk to them on the phone every week.
As though all of the things I had planned for Thanksgiving alone weren’t enough to make it virtually impossible for me to feel anything but good about the upcoming days, I had the transformation of the Donovan Family Farm to look forward to as well.
Riggs had mentioned, once again, that they’d be preparing the farm after Thanksgiving for the Christmas holiday. I couldn’t wait to see how it turned out and hoped I’d be able to help and partake in some of the festivities.
I didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself, though, because I needed to tie up a few last-minute loose ends before I left school for the holiday break. My top priority was cleaning out the snack boxes I’d had in my classroom closet. The students had their last day yesterday and since I knew some of them, like Brent, might not have enough to carry them through the break, I decided to pass out what I had left to all the kids. There was plenty for each of my students to get a couple different snacks. Overall, it wasn’t much, but it was still better than nothing. And I’d make a trip to the grocery store before coming back to school so I could stock up on my snack supplies again.
As much as I wanted to leave and go visit Riggs like we’d planned, I couldn’t. I still needed to make a phone call to Kacey, and I knew if I didn’t reach out to her now without the nice distraction of Riggs, I wouldn’t call her at all. Once I was with him, I didn’t want anything else taking my attention away from our time together.
So, I sat down at my desk and pulled out my phone. Not quite a minute later, Kacey’s voice came through the line. “All finished with your parent-teacher conferences?” she asked.
I let out a laugh at her greeting and replied, “Yes. And I’m getting ready to head out of here for the next few days. How was your last day before the break?”
“Not bad. I’m so looking forward to the time off,” she admitted. “Gerry and I are preparing to enjoy our holiday season to the fullest because we’re certain we’re going to be living in stress when we’re in wedding-planning mode right after the new year.”
“Yeah, I’m actually really excited about the break for once,” I confessed. “In fact, this holiday is shaping up to be one of my best yet considering I’ve not only got my volunteer work planned out and lined up but also the fact that I’ll be spending it with Riggs. His willingness to join me in my charitable efforts is just icing on the cake.”
“I’ll bet. It’s crazy how good you two are for each other,” she noted.
Nodding, I agreed, “I know. I mean, maybe he hasn’t been out there doing the same work that I do all the time, but now that he knows it’s important to me, he makes a real effort to be involved in it. Nobody else has ever done that for me.”
There was a beat of silence before Kacey pointed out, “That’s because they weren’t the one for you. I still don’t understand how all this time has passed and you still haven’t shared your real feelings with this guy. After all he’s done to show you how much he cares about you.”