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Her brows rose. “You…when?”

He didn’t respond, only stared at her with that sexy gaze she loved. For one second, Carla remembered rolling over in the middle of the night to find Jacob’s side of the bed empty. But she was too out of it to go in search of him. Now, however, Carla wondered if his absence had anything to do with the report she just heard.

“Serves him right. Piece of shit.”

Reaching for her briefcase and purse, Carla left her car and headed into the building.

“Morning, Ms. Jones,” her colleague Pricilla greeted.

“Good morning.” Carla’s eyes lit up, and Pricilla planted her hands on her hips and paused her stroll.

“Well, look at you, shining like a diamond.”

Carla’s lips spread into a wide smile, and she twirled on her feet but completed her circle, singing, “Am I…?”

Pricilla laughed, and Carla winked, strutting to her classroom door, unlocking, then entering with love on her mind.

“Da, da, da, da, da,” she sang, a tune she had all but made up.

The bell rang, and as she unpacked her briefcase, voices could be heard filling the halls. A few students entered the classroom, followed by Carrie and Samantha.

“Good morning, Ms. Jones,” they chimed.

“Good morning.”

She watched them take their seats, noticing their skirts looked shorter than usual this morning. Carla twisted her lips. She would have to tell them later to stick with the standard length according to the school dress code.

They were growing up so fast, but life has a way of slowing everyone down. They would understand eventually.

Beverly power-walked into the room and headed straight for the back of the class. Still, Carla didn’t know what to do to get to Beverly. She was unreachable. Maybe today, Carla would say something to the principal. It might be essential to get Beverly in a program that would get to the root of her issues.

Carla nodded. It was a good idea. If someone else could get through to her, that would be a good thing.

“Okay, come on in.” Carla raised her voice as she strolled to the door, leaned against it, and folded her arms. “If you’re in the hallway when the bell goes off, I’m marking you absent.”

Several students ran into the classroom just as the bell rang. Sliding through the door, Jared yelled, “I’m in!”

The students laughed, and Carla shook her head.

“Jared, are you ready to talk to me in Italian today?”

Jared frowned. “Ms. Jones, can’t we start with something easy like Spanish?”

“Oh, Spanish is easy now?”

“Sí.”

The students laughed.

“That’s all you know, isn’t it?”

“Sí.”

More laughter rang out.

“That means you’ll fail my class.”

“Hold on now, Ms. Jones, don’t go getting all extra on me.”