Read Clallam Bay (A Fresh Start #2) for Free Online

paper clips. When I didn’t take the bait, she took my red pen away.
    “Hey!”
    “You’ll get it back when I get some answers. Now what’s up with you?” I reached out for the pen, but she was quicker. “I tell you your boy toy’s cruising in on the love boat tonight, and nothing. I mention your best friend from home is flying in from thousands of miles away just to see you, and nothing. What gives? Why aren’t you more excited?” Alyssa growled through her clenched teeth as she shook me by my shoulder.
    I shrugged her off. “I don’t know. I’m just not.”
    Taking advantage of her proximity, I snatched my pen back to finish grading papers. She snatched it right back once it hit the paper, this time chucking it across the room. I glared at the little red dot before glaring at the floor where the pen had landed. When I turned my glare on her, she smirked, raising a brow as if to ask what I was going to do about it.
    “Real nice, Alyssa. Let’s just teach the kids it’s okay to steal and throw other people’s property. I’m sure the parents will really appreciate that.”
    “Learn to chillax, Teach.” Alyssa rolled her eyes then looked out over the class, gesturing toward the children. “They’re not even paying attention.”
    Grabbing another red pen from my red pen cup, I looked back down at my papers. I was quicker this time, pulling the pen out of reach before she could snatch and trash it again.
    “Okay, fine.” After sliding off the desk, Alyssa stood and straightened her skirt. “Be that way. But you better be in a better mood by tomorrow because the three of us are hanging out and we’re all going to have fun, whether you like it or not.”
    I watched her walk away out of the corner of my eye, letting out a breath when she shut the door behind her. I had a lot of things I had to get done before the conferences on Tuesday. Things that needed my full attention. Things that were going to cause dinner to be late tonight. I was already stressing enough over what I was going to cook. I didn’t need anything else slowing me down.
    To be honest, I didn’t really want to talk about what was bothering me, seeing as Alyssa had already told me what she thought—that I should jump on that ship and kindly sail it all the way to port “O” or shut the hell up about it for good. I’d never sailed anything in my life. It was kind of hard to be excited when the thought made me feel as nervous as it did.
    I got less accomplished than I hoped to during arts and crafts hour. Little Bobby got a ball of something stuck up his nose, and when he couldn’t blow it out I had to call for backup before personally escorting him to the school nurse. During snack time, more than the usual amount of milk was spilled, which I had to clean up. A fight broke out between Molly and Jada that I had to break up, so nobody got to play with the doll. Then finally, at the end of the day, when everybody was set to go home, Kaylee’s foster father forgot it was his day to pick her up and I had to console her while we waited for her foster mother. By the time we got her out of my arms and settled in the car it was going on five o’clock. I still had a handful of conference points to plan. The end seemed like it was nowhere in sight. But once seven thirty rolled around, I was done—whether I really was or not. And I packed up my stuff and headed out, stopping at a burger joint on my way home.
    Coll’s truck was sitting in the driveway when I got there. I pulled up behind it and parked, contemplating if I should knock or not. The lights were off. All except for the security light that clicked on once I got out of the car. The last thing I wanted to do was wake him after a long trip out to sea. It was hard work. He was probably tired. So I knocked lightly a couple times before leaving the bag on his porch and jumping back in my car to head over to my house.
    I was wide awake by the time I walked through the door. Once changed into