Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
But when I opened the message, a wave of relief washed over me, followed by a glow of happiness. And maybe a little bit of shock.
Far from admonishing me for leaving the school in the middle of the workday and telling me not to bother to come back, the message was warm and reassuring. Mr. Wayne repeated what Mr. Proctor said, but in his own words telling me to take the time I needed to get well and to focus on my health rather than worrying about what was going on at the school.
He then told me he thought I was doing a great job and was impressed by my presence in the school already. Even though I still had the rest of the semester to prove myself and demonstrate my ability to fulfill the needs of the position, the principal didn’t need that much time to make a decision. I’d only been at the school for one week, but Mr. Wayne was already prepared to offer me the job once I got my teaching certificate.
He wrapped up the message by thanking me for all my hard work and saying he hoped I felt better soon. I had to read the email several times just to make sure I actually got all the words into my head. Maybe there was a “gotcha” somewhere in there I didn’t originally see or some layer of subtle sarcasm I was supposed to catch on to.
But it wasn’t there. It was a sincere, supportive email that not only said they weren’t mad at me, but that laid my future out for me the way I was hoping it would unfold. I was nothing short of bowled over. The sick feeling was still there, but when I lay down and turned on the TV, I had a smile on my face.
CHAPTER 12
ALEX
I really shouldn’t have taken freelance work.
That was the only thing going through my head as the mind-numbing programming job came to a close. It had been a long day, and an even longer week in which I found myself working on the freelance job with my free time. It was inconsequential, repetitive, and boring. A restaurant chain wanted a series of customized, custom-built websites that annoyingly needed to look similar yet be different. I did everything by their instruction and had finally finished after I clocked out for the day at the vineyard.
In the last two weeks, Cameron had taken to using the new office that Noah had built on the other side of the restaurant. It was smaller than Grandpa’s old office, but since it was new, he could design it how he wanted, and he was closer to the action. That meant that I got to do what I wanted with this office, and I mostly filled it with books and paperwork.
With the door closed, I was pounding through my work. I had caught up on most of the work I had gotten behind on for the vineyard and got the restaurant stuff done a few days early. I was feeling pretty satisfied with myself as I closed the computer down and spun my chair around when there was a knock at the door. Figuring Cameron had suddenly developed a sense of privacy that he had yet to show me in that office, I got up and opened it.
“Mr. Proctor?” I stared out at the man on the other end of the door. Ally was beside him, smiling.
“I found him wandering into the kitchen,” she said.
“I was trying to find your office, and I got lost,” he said. “Figured there’s nowhere better to get lost than a kitchen, so I went in there. Smells delicious in there.”
“I bet,” I said. “Thanks, Ally.”
“No problem,” she said. “Still want those crab cakes?”
“Lord yes,” Mr. Proctor said, and I laughed.
“They’ll be waiting for you at the register,” Ally said and waved. “Bye.”
“Bye-bye,” Mr. Proctor said, then turned to me. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“About the crab cakes?”
“No, about me dropping by.” He paused and crumpled up his face in worry. “Or the crab cakes as well, I guess.”
“Not at all on either,” I said, “come on in. I’ll make a space for you to sit.”
I walked into the room and grabbed the papers off the giant green chair next to my desk. It was my favorite chair in the entire building, but I kept things on it because I had a tendency to sit in it and fall asleep. If I kept stuff there, I wouldn’t be tempted to work on my laptop and eventually doze off. Once it was cleared, Mr. Proctor sat down with a series of familiar sounds.
“Thank you, Alex,” he said as he got comfortable. “My, what a wonderful chair. Rather cozy.”
“It is,” I said. “So, what brings you here? You’ve only ever visited me here once, and that was before Noah did the remodel.”