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through to wrap in the crook of his arm, trapping her to him.
    They turned to
go, and from behind her, she heard Mr. Callahan say, “Why don’t we all join
you?  I would love to see Tabby’s face when she discovers who Ryann
is.  She’s certainly heard Robbie talk about her often enough.”
    They stopped and
looked over their shoulders to Mr. Callahan, and Ryann noticed Jeremy’s
face.  His jaw was tight, and he had a resigned look about him, but smiled
and nodded to them.  “Of course.”
    At that moment,
Robbie walked over and interrupted.  “Hey,” he said as he looked at
everyone with a smile.  “I just wanted to make sure Mrs. T found you
guys.   I’m almost done, and then we can go.”
    “You don’t have
to help with clean up?” his mother asked.
    “Nope.  I
was the first shift.  Thank God.”
    “Ok.  Well,
why don’t you go finish up and we’ll take Mrs. Thornton to meet your
aunt.  Then we can head out.”
    “Cool.”  He
looked between Ryann and Jeremy, then smiled.  “I’ll see you before you
go, right Mrs. T?”
    “Oh, you
definitely will,” she said, giving him a look.
    He smiled his
charming smile, and said, “Ok, see you later?”
    She shook her
head, then smiled.  “Yup, we’ll say goodbye before you go,” she said with
a wink.
    “Okay,” he said
blushing.
    As Robbie walked
away, Jeremy began to lead the group through the exhibit, using his other hand
to toy with her fingers wrapped around his arm.  She could feel her nerves
stretching, as her left breast pressed up against his arm, and her nipples
tightened. 
    Moments later,
they were separated a bit from Robbie’s parents who were waylaid by another
couple wanting to say goodbye.  Suddenly, it seemed as if she and Jeremy
were the only two people in the room.  He released her arm, and moved his
hand proprietarily to the small of her back.  His fingers stroked there
where his hand rested and she could feel her body going turning warm and gooey.
    Get it
together, Ryann!
    Peripherally,
she could feel his look burning through her before she even glanced up to meet
his gaze, but couldn’t tell what he was thinking by his expression.  Then
he said, “Robbie has a crush on you.”
    What?  That
was the last thing she expected him to say.  She shook her head.  “No
he doesn’t.  I taught him for two years, and we had a great
relationship.  He was one of the few students who I genuinely liked, and
we simply have a mutual care for one another. That’s all.”
    “That might be
true, but he still has a crush on you.  If my former high school English
teacher winked at me, I wouldn’t have been so affected.  Mr. Harkins
didn’t look as good as you,” he said wryly.  “But you don’t look like most
teachers.  Robbie got all flushed when you winked at him just then.”
    “Did he?” she
asked, disconcerted.  “I hadn’t noticed.” 
    “Maybe you
shouldn’t wink at him anymore.  He’s not a kid.  It might be ok for
you to wink at a kid, but when that kid is now a young man, it takes on a whole
new meaning.”
    This guy was
unbelievable.  Did he think she was being… inappropriate with his cousin? 
Now she was pissed.
    “First of all,
it was completely harmless and innocent, and you know it. I… always wink
at people.  It’s just, I don’t know, what I do.  Robbie knows
that.  Stop making it into a bigger deal than it is,” she stammered.
    Now she was
flustered.  She realized she sounded defensive and didn’t like it. 
She had nothing to feel guilty about.  Geez, did he think she had been flirting with Robbie?  She would never do anything like that.  Ayanna
would be snorting her head off right now if she were here.  Doesn’t
this guy know you don’t even know how to flirt with MEN?, she’d say.  
You certainly wouldn’t know how to flirt with a teenage boy.  And, eww,
that’s gross, by the way. 
    Ryann
agreed.  It was gross.  Not to mention just plain wrong on so
many