I was blown away by your encouragement for this story and so please accept my apologies for the delay in posting the next chapter. August has been super busy with work, birthday celebrations and a visit to see my family in Dublin, but here it is. In this chapter we find out a little bit more about Abby's new art teacher Callie Torres.
Callie and Arizona found an empty bench slightly away from the crowds where they settled down to enjoy their coffees. Arizona watched the teacher as she got comfortable on the seat, tucking a leg under her other one, before turning to face the doctor. Arizona prided herself in being able to read body language. She needed it in her job when often her patients were too young to be able to articulate their pain/emotions, instead Arizona would watch their eyes and face react as she spoke or examined them. Most of the time, in her patients' case, that feeling was one of fear given the fact they were in hospital . The brunette's body language was completely different. It was warm, open and Arizona felt able to start the interrogation. The teacher intrigued the blonde and she intended to find out as much as she could.
"So, Abby said you used to work in New York?" Arizona asked, deciding to kick off with an easy one.
"Yeah, I've been in New York for, wow, must be coming up to 10 years now. Before that I spent time in London and Paris, studying and just absorbing it all in. I'm originally from Miami, but if you are into art, then New York is the only place to be." Callie responded before pausing and adding with a small chuckle as she realised what she had just said. "Well it was!"
Arizona picked up on the last statement "Well this must be a big change for you?" Arizona asked, wondering why anyone would leave New York to take a job in her smallville town. Arizona hadn't lived in Mill Creek for that long herself, but she had moved here just before Abby came to live with her, having decided that the smaller community would be good for the teenager. Over the years she had developed a circle of close friends who had been invaluable to her at times. Being a parent was not something Arizona had ever envisaged for herself, and she had major imposter syndrome most days. The friends she had made had helped her so much at the beginning and were always there at the end of the phone to help look after Abby if she got stuck at work.
Callie looked away from the doctor for the first time and took in the scene around them. "Well we have farmers markets in New York you know!" She said with a cheeky smile, before turning back to look at Arizona. The comment generated a small chuckle from the blonde, the smile generated an altogether different sensation in the blonde who quickly took a sip of coffee to try and hide the fact that she felt her cheeks start to blush slightly at the feeling that smile had caused. "You know what I mean!" she countered, trying to regain the upper hand.
Callie nodded "I do. Ah yeah of course it's different, but different is good right now. Different was exactly what I was looking for, and so I'm honestly enjoying the…." Callie paused whilst she searched for the right phrase "...slower pace of life here."
Arizona found herself admiring those brown orbs that were fixed on her at that precise moment, and noticed for the first time the incredibly long eyelashes that seemed to frame them perfectly. She blinked in an attempt to refocus before asking another question. "So how long have you been teaching?"
"About three years. I first started whilst I was studying for my Masters at the School for Visual Arts, and my supervisor asked me to stay on and help with the summer school. I ended up assisting with the teaching and found I really enjoyed it. I own a gallery in Tribeca, and whilst it was great being around all these really exciting and insanely talented people, after five or six years, I realised I needed a change. Artists can be kinda intense sometimes, you know?"
Arizona didn't know any artists, but she had in her time met some real primadona surgeons who were super intense, so she nodded indicating that she sort of understood. Abby had said that the teacher had worked at a gallery after graduation, but Arizona could have sworn Callie just said she owned one.
Callie took a sip of her coffee and continued "At first it was great. The gallery was a huge success and I was lucky to discover some amazing up-and-coming artists who bought into the vision of the gallery and agreed to let me represent them. Our shows would sell out before opening night, which was…. amazing…."
"But?" Arizona asked, picking up on a sadness in the way the teacher spoke about her previous career.
"But... after a while it just felt like I was going through the motions, but not really...living. I would wake up with this empty feeling inside me and it would still be there when I went to bed at night, no matter how amazing my day had been."
Callie paused and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and checked the doctor was still following her. The blonde was listening intently and her mouth formed a small smile, encouraging the teacher to go on.
"I would go to opening nights and despite all the buzz and excitement, and undoubtedly drugs, in the room, I felt like I was a spectator. It's hard to explain, but I just felt like I was standing at the edge of the room, watching everything go on around me, even though I was very much in the centre and at the heart of it all. People would be talking to me and I would nod and laugh and make all the right gestures, but I don't think I was even really listening."
Callie may not have been listening in the scene she described, but Arizona was. The blonde had listened intently as the teacher spoke and pictured the scenario Callie was describing. Arizona imagined a room full of uber hip people wearing the latest fashion trends, whatever they were, giving each other over the top air kisses as they greeted each other, fawning over each other with a level of fakeness, even though they thought they were the real deal. It was her idea of hell. She watched as the brunette nervously bit her bottom lip, before directing her eyes at the blonde.
"God, sorry...I don't know why I'm telling you all this." Callie said with a small chuckle as she looked at Arizona and shrugged "I guess what I'm trying to say is that the art world is pretty shallow and I decided I wanted something more in my life. I'm totally unqualified to do anything other than art, so remembering how good it felt to teach, I decided to retrain to be a teacher."
"That's a big change." Arizona commented as the image of the packed art gallery in her head was replaced with a high school.
"Maybe. Maybe not. I mean my New York friends all think I'm crazy, but I still have the gallery that I can always go back to if I want."
"I guess, but why come here? What made you apply for this job?" the doctor probed as she looked around the farmers market and the local community as they walked up and down the stalls. This was as busy as this town got. Sure Arizona understood the need to do something more meaningful with her life, but why here in this small town on the other side of the country?
Callie took a sip of her coffee and considered her answer. She honestly didn't mind being quizzed, it was understandable Arizona had concerns, but at the same time there were some things that she didn't feel comfortable sharing with the blonde. One of those things being the reason why she left New York.
"Well...ten years is a long time and I'm not getting any younger."
Arizona did an imaginary eye roll at the teacher's comment. Callie was in amazing shape and so she knew it was BS, but she let it go as she listened to the reason.
"I was teaching in a private school in Upper Manhattan, you know the kind of place where very rich people ship their kids off so they don't interrupt their lives too much. The school charges thousands of dollars a term, and whilst there obviously is some genuine talent, in most cases, it's more in the parents imagination. You know, the mother is a famous writer and thinks their darling daughter is an amazing talent and so ships her off to the school to be taught by a bunch of exceptional teachers hired to nurture that talent and turn them into the next big thing!"
As Arizona listened to Callie describe her last school, she thought of Abby and how she hadn't even known about her interest in Art. She felt a pang of guilt hit her in the stomach as she chalked up yet another example of what a bad job she was doing at being a parent to the teenager.
Callie's voice interrupted Arizona's thoughts as the teacher continued to explain how she went from a posh private school in New York to Mill Creek High School.
"The sad thing is, in most cases the kid wasn't remotely interested, but the parents didn't really care about what they were interested in, it was all about what their parents wanted for their child."
Callie saw the blonde's eyes narrow slightly and she realised she had somehow irritated the doctor.
"Well it sounds as though they are just trying their best!" Arizona said in a slightly prickly voice that surprised even herself. Why had she felt the need to defend these parents.
"Well they were definitely trying, that's for sure!" Callie responded "but they would have been better just sitting down and listening to what their kids actually wanted to do, not what they thought they wanted to do."
Arizona's thoughts once again turned to Abby as she remembered what Teddy had said the other day, about Arizona not forcing science and medicine on the teenager and allowing her to find her own passions.
The brunette watched as Arizona nervously played with her empty coffee cup and realised that she may have unintentionally offended the doctor.
"Arizona, you do know I'm not talking about you and Abby here?"
Arizona looked up as the teacher used her first name, but didn't respond. The fact was, she didn't know Abby all that well. It seemed that this cool teacher from New York knew the teenager better than she did after just a few weeks, and that thought stung.
Callie realised she needed to fix this situation or else there was no chance the doctor was going to allow her to help Abby out outside of school, and that would be a real shame.
"Listen, I'm not a parent. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must be, but the one thing I do know is that kids these days grow up way faster than we did. They have to. They are so more mature than we were at their age, because they have to be. They have so much more expectations on them from their parents, peer group, society as a whole with the whole social media thing, god I would absolutely hate to be a teenager these days!"
Callie was right, Arizona had in her career crossed paths with kids with eating disorders, or anxiety issues caused by the pressures of….just being a teenager.
The doctor realised she had perhaps come across a bit harsh earlier, and nodded her head in agreement with Callie's statement "Me neither!" she added, acknowledging that it wasn't the art teacher's fault that she didn't know Abby as well as she perhaps should.
Callie took the doctor's small smile as a sign that she had managed to defuse the situation, and so decided it was safe to continue explaining the reason she took the job, well at least the part she was prepared to share with the doctor.
"Anyway, I had had enough of New York and the superficial way of living. It suited me for a time in my life, but now...right now, it's not what I need, so when I saw this temporary position I decided why not! Some time away from the hustle and bustle is good for the soul." Callie said, hoping that the doctor would buy that.
Arizona wasn't stupid and she could sense that there was more to this than what the teacher was willing to share, but she knew it wasn't really her business, she just needed to get a sense of the kind of person Callie Torres was to ease her worries about Abby spending time with her outside of school.
"So are you settling in OK?" the doctor asked the woman opposite her, moving the conversation along when she noticed the change in the teachers body language indicating that she had had enough of that line of questioning.
"Well I found the gym!" Callie said as she gestured towards the yoga mat and her gym gear.
"I can see!" Arizona smiled back as she took in the teacher's toned physique again. "What else have you been up to?"
"Oh I got a dog!" The brunette said excitedly. A huge smile formed on her face as she pulled out her phone and showed Arizona her screensaver photo of a selfie she had taken with a cute looking dog. "I've always wanted a dog, but New York isn't the place, so when I heard I got the job here, I decided to go for it and went to the local rescue centre and that's where I found Hamilton."
Arizona couldn't stop her eyebrows shooting up at the name choice, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by the brunette.
"HA! OK so confession time…" Callie laughed "My name is Calliope Torres and I'm a huge musical fan and yes...my dog is named after the show. I know it's not cool, and my friends tease me about it, but I can't help it."
Arizona smiled as she watched the teacher become a little nervous for the first time. Calliope. What a pretty name the blonde thought to herself, as the teacher opposite her started talking again, feeling the need to explain more.
"I think it's because when I was younger, I would fly up from Miami with my parents at Christmas to go shopping and then we would always go and see a show." Arizona wasn't sure if she had ever met someone who's face lit up the way Callie's did when she talked about something she cared about. First it was the dog, and now musicals and her family. Literally her whole face came alive. That smile was all encapsulating.
"Do you have siblings?" Arizona asked before she saw the joy on the teacher's face slip away in front of her eyes.
"I used to." Callie responded softly. She hadn't said it to make the blonde feel uncomfortable as she watched the sympathetic look start to form on the doctor's face. There was, Callie had learnt over the years, no way of avoiding that look. No way of telling people about the accident without making the person who had asked a simple question feel awkward when she answered "Unfortunately, she and my parents died in a car crash when I was 12." Callie said in a tone of voice that she had perfected over the years. It was one of acceptance, but one that still hinted at the sadness of the situation.
Callie waited for Arizona's response, which was different from most people who felt a need to apologise for asking the question. "I'm sorry to hear that Callie. It must have been very difficult for you?" The blonde's response was caring, but businesslike. Callie guessed with her job as a doctor she was used to dealing with news about death. It was refreshing that she hadn't over compensated or got embarrassed at the subject.
Callie held the blonde's gaze a while before softly nodding her head "Yes, it was. But…" the teacher said, her tone changing as she shifted on the bench "...I still love musicals!" she raised her hands and did goofy jazz hands in an attempt to lighten the mood. She had just met this woman, she wasn't about to go too deep.
Arizona smiled at the gesture "Ha! I like a good musical too" she whispered as she lent in a little closer to the teacher "much to Abby's disgust!"
"You do?" Callie smiled at the confession and chuckled "God these kids, it's all so serious sometimes right? Maybe I should start playing some musical soundtracks during my classes. Show them what they are missing out on!"
Arizona laughed, shaking her head "You do know you'll have to keep this a secret from Abby otherwise you will lose all your cool street cred!"
"Yeah, it doesn't really go with the edgy art scene vibe does it, but hey….I'm different if nothing else!"
You most certainly are. Arizona thought to herself as she watched the teacher talk a bit more about how she was settling into the new area. The blonde took a sip of coffee before realising the cup was empty and that it was probably time to wrap things up. The thought made her feel a little sad as she realised she didn't want her time with Callie to end. She felt an ease around the teacher that she didn't feel that often when meeting new people. An ease and a slow burning urge to find out more about the brunette.
"Well I should probably be letting you go!" the brunette said as if reading the doctors thoughts. Arizona thought she heard a slight tone of disappointment in the other woman's voice as she stood up off the bench that had been their home for the past 30 minutes. It seemed that Arizona wasn't the only one enjoying their chat.
"Umm yes, I suppose I had better get home." Arizona said check in her watch for the time "Abby will probably be surfacing soon, demanding food!"
Callie smiled at the mention of the teenager's name. "Sooo talking about Abby, how do you feel now? About the exhibition? Did I pass the Dr Robbins interrogation? " the teacher asked with a cheeky glint in her eyes.
Arizona knew there was more to Callie Torres than the teacher was willing to share with her, but she seemed responsible and genuine and so nodded "Yes, you passed Miss Torres."
"Phew. Although do I hear some reservations?" Callie asked the blonde, who answered the question, by her silence.
"Listen... I have an idea, why don't you come with us?" Callie suggested with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh I don't know, I know nothing about art" Arizona responded nervously. She didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of this intriguing woman.
"Well why don't you come along and find out more?" Callie said hopefully.
"Hmm I don't think Abby will be happy with me coming along." Arizona replied making an excuse.
"She'll be fine if it means she gets to go to the exhibition!" Callie responded with confidence.
Arizona considered the invite. She really wasn't that into art, but it was clear that Abby was and reflecting back on their earlier conversation about parents at Callie's previous school not understanding their kids, she decided it wouldn't be a bad thing to try and expand her limited knowledge on the subject. Plus she wasn't unhappy about the prospect of hanging out with the good looking teacher again. The last thought was enough to make up her mind.
"OK, let's do it!" she said with a big dimpled smile.
"Really?" Callie replied surprised by how excited she felt to hear the doctor had agreed to join them.
"Yeah really. I'll have to check my schedule when I get home.." Arizona started to explain.
"Of course, of course..I understand." Callie said, still smiling. "Let me give you my number so you can text me once you have checked."
Arizona pulled her cell out of her bag and unlocked the screen before passing it to the teacher who quickly tapped her number into the device, before passing it back over to the doctor.
"Thanks." Arizona said with a smile as she looked down at the screen and saw that Callie had put herself into the phone as Mysterious Miss Torres. Arizona looked up smiling and was greeted with brown eyes smiling back.
"Are you?" Arizona asked with a suggestive tone.
"Well that's for you to find out...Dr Robbins!" The teacher responded as she turned to leave, before stopping and turning back to look at the blonde. "Text me your schedule and I'll send you over a couple of links to articles on the artist, so you can do your…..homework!"
Arizona felt her throat go tight as she listened to Callie go into teacher mode "Yes Miss Torres!" She replied softly as she held the brunette's gaze slightly longer than normal before turning and walking the direction of her home. She couldn't resist a sneaky glance back over her shoulder to take another look at the teachers peachy arse in those leggings. A smile forming on the blonde's face as she took in the sight.
###
Arizona wasn't the only one smiling. As Callie weaved her way out of the market, her thoughts were distracted as she pictured those blue eyes staring at her. Quizzing, probing her for information. The doctor had been perfectly civil and polite about it, and Callie had found it surprisingly easy to talk to the blonde. She was a good listener, but she figured she probably needed to be with her job. But Callie knew the doctor still had doubts about her motive for taking the job. She hoped that those doubts would fade in time.
As the teacher walked the few blocks back to the house she was renting, she started to think about seeing the blonde again at the exhibition with Abby. She couldn't explain why, but she found herself hoping that Arizona's schedule would work with the dates. Aside from work and the gym she had joined, she hadn't really developed any friendships since moving to the town. She had grabbed a drink one night with a couple of the teachers from the school, and bumped into someone from her yoga class whilst walking her dog, but that was it.
Callie was for the most part grateful for the time alone. It was so different from her life in New York where her phone buzzed non-stop, with WhatsApp messages, social media alerts and there always seemed to be someone or other in her apartment, friends, new artists, business partners discussing the new deals. One night as she watched all these people sitting around the huge dinning table that sat in the middle of her loft apartment she quietly got up and walked to the bathroom, ran a bath, removed all her clothes and climbed into the bath slipping completely under the water just for the sensation of silence. She didn't need to, or want to do that here.
Before Callie had even stepped foot on the porch, Hamilton started barking, causing a smile to form. They may have only been together for less than two months, but the teacher and her pooch had formed a tight bond and Callie always felt guilty when she left him behind. Unfortunately, dogs and yoga don't go together that well.
As Callie opened the door, Hamilton jumped up and started pawing at her.
"Okaaaay…..Okaaaay…I'm home now…..yes I missed you too!" The brunette said as she knelt down and pulled the pooch into her arms and affectionately gave him a kiss on the top of his head.
"Mamma needs a shower and then we'll go for our walk".
Hamilton's tail started wagging at the mention of walkies and the pooch followed its owner to the bathroom door, only to let out a whine as the brunette closed the door behind her, locking her canine friend out on the other side.
After a super quick shower Callie wrapped herself in a towel and was applying moisturiser to her legs when her phone pinged indicating a message. The teacher smiled to herself as she headed over to where she had left the phone hoping it was the blonde doctor confirming her schedule.
Callie felt her stomach drop when instead of a message from Arizona, she saw her fiancé's name on the screen.