A/N: I deleted an unfinished / abandoned novel from the archive quite a bit ago. I co-wrote that with ICanStopAnytime. Now we're going to hack it to pieces and rewrite the pieces to see how many COMPLETE short stories we can get out of it for the archive. This one will be six chapters. Do review please.

One

When Tami got home from work one evening in April, Eric already had dinner on the dining room table. As she walked from the living room through the kitchen to the dining room, she noticed all the flowers – on the kitchen table, on the hutch, down the hall from the dining room on the coffee table in the living room. "What's with all the flowers?"

"For you, babe, just because I love you."

"Seriously?"

"Well…it's teacher appreciation week."

"That again?"

"They have it every year, hon." He set out wine glasses and put the wine bottle on the table as Gracie slid into her seat. He sat at the head of the table and started filling his water glass.

Tami put her napkin in her lap and muttered, "I still don't see why y'all get an entire WEEK of appreciation."

"That's how they do it on the east coast, babe." He filled Gracie's glass and told her to pass the pitcher to her mother at the other end of the table. The kindergartener struggled with the heavy glass but managed to get it to her mother without spilling. "They've got high expectations out here."

"They give you flowers? The students? Even though you're a man?"

"They have a list this year."

The water streamed into Tami's glass as she poured, and then she set the pitcher aside. "What do you mean a list?"

"The school gave the students a list of what they're supposed to bring to their teachers each day. Today was flowers. Tomorrow is candy. Wednesday is the teacher appreciation luncheon – parents help with that – and Thursday they write me love notes. Friday is gift cards."

"They give you gift cards! ALL of your students?"

Eric had to teach full-time to pull in the same salary he used to make in Texas dedicating himself solely to football. They used him wherever they happened to have need, and this year he had no two periods alike. He taught a class each of Weight Training, P.E., Health, Driver's Ed, Public Speaking, and – much to Tami's merriment – Family Living, which he insisted was not the same thing as Home Ec.

"That can't be right," Tami continued. You'd get hundreds of dollars in gift cards. That's…that's too many teachers. They all have seven teachers. That's insane. Families can't afford that."

"Well they've got it divvied up. Last name A-C focuses on their 1st period teacher, D-F does second period, and so forth. They pool thier money for their assigned teacher and a representative delivers the cards at the end of the day."

"That's the most ridiculous – "

"- Babe, don't you think I deserve to be appreciated?" He poured a glass of wine and passed her the bottle.

Her mouth fell shut. "Well I'd like to be appreciated from time to time too." She filled her glass.

"You are. Look at all the flowers I brought home for you."

She eyed him over her wine glass. "That your students brought you. Teenage boys seriously brought you flowers?"

"No, only the girls did. The girls seem to appreciate me more for some reason."

"I bet they do," she grumbled and set down her glass. "I don't know if that's a good idea, Eric, for the school to suggest teenage girls bring their male teachers flowers. I worry about you enough as is."

"Worry about me? What does that mean?"

She glanced at Gracie. She widened her eyes to communicate that they needed to watch what they said and how they said it. "You know what I mean."

"I have no idea what you mean," and he looked like he really didn't.

"You know…false accusations."

"What's a false acwusation?" Gracie asked.

Tami ignored her question. She knew those girls were always finding excuses to linger after class to talk to him. She would have, if she'd ever had a teacher who looked like him. And she'd seen the way Julie was with that one English teacher at her high school…maybe that should have given Tam a heads up about what awaited her daughter at college. "You always keep the door open, right?"

"Sure," he said sarcastically, "unless I'm giving extra credit." He lay down his fork and rested a hand on his leg. "You know I'm forty-four, right?"

"Hon, just be careful." He'd been out of the teaching world for so long. He'd worked only with boys for years. And sometimes she wondered if he realized how good-looking he was. He'd been aware in high school, but at some point he seemed to have assumed that just because he'd become a grown up, a father, and a long-time husband, he'd suddenly ceased to be attractive to anyone but his wife. "Just…be careful."

He shook his head. "A'ight. Any particular candy you want me to save you from tomorrow? Dark chocolate, right?"

"It's a bit much, don't you think?" She put her wine glass down. "Just who is this Gestapo who orchestrates teacher appreciation week anyway? How can you demand appreciation from an entire captive audience of students, and send them home with lists of things to lay at your feet like you were some walking shrine of – "

Eric turned to Gracie and nodded conspiratorially. "Mommy had a bad day," he said. "Why don't you go give her hug?"

Gracie got up and threw her arms around her mom. As Tami hugged her back, she continued to look sullenly at Eric. "When's my appreciation week?" she asked as Gracie went back to her seat.