Teacher's Plans Page 18

  Tracy nodded. “Sure. If I don’t hear from you differently, I’ll meet you at the school tomorrow afternoon to spend some time with Joey.”

  Amanda smiled. “Thanks, Tracy.” Tracy was about to walk away when she stopped him. “Oh, and Tracy?” As he looked at her, she said, “I had a nice time tonight. Thanks for dinner.”

  Tracy gave her a smile of his own in response. “You’re welcome. I had a good time, too.”

  ****

  The next day, Amanda looked expectantly at the classroom door waiting for Joey to arrive. It didn’t take long for Joey to pop his head around the door. He flung his backpack down from his shoulders to his hand and stood before Amanda. “Mrs. Hall said you wanted to see me.”

  Amanda smiled at Joey. “Yes, I did. Thanks for coming.” Amanda studied Joey for a moment. “I met with Mr. Atkins last night and he’d like to meet with you. Would that be okay?”

  It seemed like Joey was trying to hide a smile as he said with a gleam in his eye, “Only if you’ll be there with us.”

  Amanda suddenly felt like she was missing something important. She tried to weigh Joey’s response and came up with a blank. “Well, I think we could arrange that.” Trying to shake off her hesitation, she said, “Mr. Atkins was hoping you’d be free after school today. Do you think we could call your mom and ask her if you could stay for about an hour and then Mr. Atkins and I could give you a ride home.”

  Joey quickly got up from the seat he had plopped into just minutes ago. “Sure thing. I’ll go to the office now and call. Should I meet you in here after school?”

  Amanda nodded her head. “That would be fine.” Before Joey left the room, she said, “And Joey, if you can’t stay, please let me know so Mr. Atkins doesn’t have to make the ride out, okay?”

  Joey dismissed it with a wave of his hand, “Okay.”

  The rest of the morning went quickly, much to Amanda’s relief. As she made her way to the break room, she thought to herself, I can’t believe there is only one more week left of school. She spotted Carolyn sitting with a cup of coffee. “Hey there, Carolyn.”

  Carolyn looked up and a bright smile covered her face. “Hey, how’s it going?”

  Amanda sat down with an ungraceful plunk. “Well, I think okay.” Amanda let her mind drift back to Joey. “Something is up with Joey.”

  In a voice that suspiciously sounded fake, Carolyn asked, “Oh really, what’s up?”

  Amanda sat back against her chair. After thinking for a moment about Joey and Carolyn’s behavior, it was as if a light bulb went on. She hesitated for just a moment and then asked, “You wouldn’t, by any chance, have been talking with Joey lately…have you?”

  Carolyn gulped her coffee so fast that it must have gone down the wrong pipe. Choking and sputtering at the same time, she asked, “Why…would…I…be…talking… to…your…student?”

  Amanda patted her on the back, quickly changing her line of questioning, “So, what did you do last night?”

  Carolyn shrugged, “Not too much. There wasn’t anything good on TV.”

  “I don’t know what you’re up to Carolyn Clark, but you’ve just been nabbed.”

  “Whatever do you mean?”

  Amanda chuckled “I haven’t figured out what you and Joey are trying to do, but I know that you two are in cahoots so …you better just give up.”

  Carolyn weighed her chances. With a big sigh, she said, “What gave us away? Joey put on such a supreme act yesterday that I had to hug him when he came out into the hallway.” She leaned on the table as she said, “Girl, you fell for it…hook, line, and sinker.”

  Amanda’s sense of humor was dwindling as she saw Carolyn held no remorse for her deed. “You, my dear lady, said you couldn’t get together with me last night because something came up.”

  Carolyn hit her head with the palm of her hand. “Oomph. It was me.”

  Amanda was more than ready to cut to the chase. “So, do you want to tell me what this is all about?”

  She held up her hands in surrender and took a deep breath. “Okay, okay. Joey and I love both you and Tracy, but you’re both too thick-headed and stubborn to see what is before your very eyes. So Joey and I came up with a plan.” She chuckled. “It really was quite brilliant. We simply knew if we could get you two together to work on something, then you couldn’t help but see that you two make a great team.”

  Hadn’t Amanda come to that same conclusion herself? Only, she wasn’t about to share that information with Carolyn—at least not at this point. Amanda heard someone clear their throat. Both girls looked up. If it were any other time, Amanda would have laughed as she watched Carolyn’s jaw drop open.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Tracy folded his arms across his chest. “I’m here listening to a very interesting confession.”

  Carolyn picked up her coffee cup. “Listen, guys, I’m sorry if you’re upset with us, but we did it for you.” After fixing him with a piercing gaze, she said, “I’m really the one to blame. I let Joey talk me into thinking up all this silliness. I just hope it wasn’t for nothing.” With that, she left the room.

  Tracy sat down next to Amanda. The silence seemed to stretch until Amanda felt compelled to break it. “Well…”

  Tracy ran his fingers through his dark hair. “Yes, that is a deep subject.” He sat back into his chair and sighed. “They’re right. We do make a good team.”

  Amanda’s heart was racing and she was well aware how breathless she sounded when she said, “I admit, it was good…while it lasted.”

  “It doesn’t have to end, just because my job here has.”

  Amanda chased the crumbs around the table with her finger. “About this teamwork...”

  Tracy’s eyebrow lifted in inquiry.

  “I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. What I mean is if I changed my mind and did come to work with you....ahh...”

  Tracy ventured, “You’d consider the assistant position but nothing, shall we say, more personal.”

  Amanda breathed a sigh of relief and finally looked at him. “Exactly.”

  Tracy nodded his head. After a moment, he chuckled and asked, “Ever hear the old saying, ‘beggars can’t be choosers.’ It would be the ice cream shop’s loss, but my gain.”

  Amanda considered for a moment. On one hand, it would be torture to see him every day, but on the other, it would be worse not to see him at all. Before she could change her mind, she nodded her head decisively. “I think it’s about time for a change from my regular summer routine and since this is a temporary position…”

  Tracy’s eyes grew wide. “Really? When can you start?”

  Amanda flinched. “Remind me I owe Carolyn and Joey payback.”

  Tracy’s eyes fairly glistened. “I owe them a big thanks.”

  “I’ll start the week after school is over.”

  “That’s super!”

  Amanda cut him off. “It would be very helpful if you could give me a written run-down of exactly what I’ll be doing so I can look it over before I start.”

  “Will do.” He agreed. “I’ll give it to you on Sunday.”

  Amanda blinked in surprise. “You’re coming back to church?”

  “Yes. Now that school will be over next week, there is no need for me to stay away.” With a shrug of his shoulder, he admitted, “I miss the fellowship.”

  After taking a deep breath, she said, “I guess I should tell you this is Carolyn’s week.”

  “You mean she’s having lunch?”

  “You got it. I’m sure she’ll invite you over when she sees you at church.”

  “She’s a good friend, isn’t she?”

  Amanda rolled her eyes. “Most of the time.”

  Tracy smiled. “Look, I’ve got to run. I’ll get that job description for you and I’ll see you on Sunday.”

  “Okay.” Amanda stayed sitting at the table for a few minutes wondering what she just got herself into.

  ****

  Su
nday couldn’t have come quickly enough for Tracy. Now as he sat in his pew, he wondered how he managed to stay away. It was good to be in church and see all the friendly faces, smiles, and greetings while soaking up the Word of God. The final hymn had been sung and everyone was preparing to leave, Tracy turned to pick up his Bible. Sam found him and thumped him on the back. “Tracy, it’s good to have you back, man. Where’ve ya been?”

  Tracy glanced over at Amanda and said in a stage whisper, “In hot water.”

  Sam laughed, “Well, then it’s about time to get out. We missed seeing you around. Seriously, how have you been?”

  Carolyn strolled up. “You two going to make it over to my house for lunch? Jim and Amanda and a few others will be there.”

  “Count me in,” Tracy said.

  “Me, too.”

  “Great. I want to talk to Pastor Moore about something he said in the sermon, so I’ll meet you there.”

  “Sounds good,” Sam replied before turning back to Tracy. “Want to catch a ride with me to Carolyn’s? There’s that hymn sing at five-thirty...”

  “Sure, I might as well make a day of it before I go back to my new place. Say, how are things going for Carolyn and Jim?” Tracy asked as they made their way through the parking lot.

  Sam rolled his eyes. “They’re on cloud nine. It’s disgusting.”

  Tracy laughed so hard he felt as if his sides could split. “Come on, it can’t be as bad as all that.”

  Sam just grinned and then looked curiously at Tracy as if waiting for him to say something.

  Tracy knew what he wanted. Finally, he admitted, “I’ve been working at Milltown, under the guise of an assistant, when I actually work for the State.” He shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

  “Oh, I can imagine. Now I think I understand why you’re in hot water with the girls. You can mess with a lot of things, but don’t you dare mess with their school.”

  “I hear ya.” Tracy looked out the window and confessed, “I don’t know why, but I never considered how much trouble it would cause when I took the job.”

  Sam was quiet for a minute before he asked, “Do you think working at Milltown helped the State?”

  “It did.” Tracy licked his lips. “Honestly, though, I don’t think it would warrant them doing this again.”

  “Do you think they will?”

  Tracy shrugged his shoulders. “Hard to tell. That’s what I’ll be working on now. I need to gather all the data and reports from the schools and piece it all together.”

  “Sounds like a big job.”

  “It will be.” He couldn’t help smiling, “But, I just found out a few days ago that I’m going to have some help.”

  “Cool.” Sam took a quick look over at Tracy. “So what’s the smile for?”

  “God is good. Guess who’ll be working with me?”

  “I don’t know.” Sam said with his eyebrows raised.

  “Amanda.”

  Sam’s eyes grew large as he choked out, “Amanda. I’d love to know how you accomplished that!”

  Tracy laughed. “I didn’t.”

  “Well, then how?”

  “Let’s just say Carolyn and one of Amanda’s students gave me a little help. Why don’t you ask Carolyn about it at lunch?”

  Sam tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “I think I will.”

  ****

  Amanda popped her head inside Carolyn’s door. “This is it. Are you ready for the last day of school?”

  Carolyn put down the pencil she was using to help her keep track of the reams of papers she was counting. “I think so. How about you?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Carolyn asked with a knowing grin, “Looking forward to your summer job, huh?”

  Amanda rolled her eyes, unwilling to let her friend know just how much she was looking forward to it. “Yeah, sure rub it in.”

  Carolyn laughed out loud. “Well, I’ve got some news myself.”

  “Oh?”

  “Jim’s taking a week off from work and is going to team teach with me during Vacation Bible School.”

  “Now that’s love.” Amanda said biting the inside of her cheek. “What grade are you going to be with this year?”

  “Pre-kindergarten.”

  “Wow...are you trying to scare him away?”

  “I never thought about that.” Carolyn looked a little nervous. “Do you think?”

  Amanda held up her hand in mock surrender, “Just kidding. Relax.” Carolyn still looked a little concerned. “ It will be fine, really it will. I better get back so I’ll catch you later.”

  “All right.”

  As soon as Amanda walked back into her room, she sensed something was different. She looked around the corner and there sitting at the desk was Tracy. “Tracy, what are you doing here?” she asked in surprise.

  “Good morning. I had a little extra time today and I wanted to stop by to wish the kids a great summer vacation.”

  “Well, I’m sure they will be as surprised as I am.”

  Tracy looked around the room, smiling. “I can’t believe how much I miss this place.”

  Just then Allie came in. “You’re here. You’re here. I knew you’d come back,” she said as she wrapped him in a hug.

  “Hello, Allie.”

  She looked adoringly into his eyes and announced, “When I grow up, you’re going to marry me.”

  Tracy’s eyebrow rose and Amanda could tell he was trying hard not to laugh. Finally, he coughed into his hand. “Allie, it’s nice to let the boys take care of proposing.”

  “What’s proposing?”

  Amanda could hear the shuffle of feet coming into the room so she missed Tracy’s response as she turned around to greet the kids.

  Ralph was at the back of the line. He came in with the file box Amanda had requested. “Thanks, Ralph.”

  “No problem.” He looked at Tracy and Tracy stood up, extending his hand.

  “Hi. I’m Tracy Atkins. I was Amanda’s assistant earlier this year.”

  Ralph took the hand Tracy offered and looked from Amanda back to Tracy. “Oh...”

  Amanda quickly said, “Tracy just came back to say good bye.”

  “Are we having a party today?” Abby asked.

  Thankful for the distraction, Amanda took Abby by the hand and led her over to the circle. “I can’t tell you yet. Today is a surprise day. Even Mr. Atkins is here for a little while.”

  “Yeah!” the kids greeted him excitedly pulling him to join the circle.

  Smiling at Ralph, Amanda said, “I think we’re going to have a fun last day.”

  ****

  That night, Amanda snuggled down under her covers and reached for her journal. She and began to write.

  June 28

  Well, today was the last day of school. As I look back over the year, I can see how God’s hand has been working. Last year at this time, I was worried about the future, but now, although I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, I’m not feeling so anxious about it. It reminds me of the verse I read in my quiet time from Jeremiah this morning. ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’

  God, thank you that You take such good care of me. I don’t know what You have in store for me, but help me to remember that You have a plan for me. Your plans are always better than my own. Amen

  Teacher's Plans

  Teacher's Plans

  Chapter Fourteen

  July

  This was it. The first day on the new job. Nervously, Amanda shuffled through the door while reading the sign to make sure she was walking into right room. Was it because of the newness of the job or the fact she would be around Tracy on a daily basis once again?

  Tracy looked up from his desk as he heard the door open and stood up. “Amanda, it’s good to have you here. Come on in...”

  Amanda looked curiously around the room as she walked further in. His office didn’t lo
ok anything like she envisioned it. It was a small room with the majority of the space taken up by two desks. Where would she fit?

  “Come and meet my co-worker and friend.” Tracy turned to Don. “Don, this is Amanda.”

  Don held out his hand to shake hers while gesturing over toward Tracy. “Nice to meet you, Amanda. This guy talks about you like the sun and moon revolves around you.”