It had been a difficult day. Elizabeth was normally a happy, upbeat person while she was teaching. It was easy to have fun with a classroom full of little ones. Today though her alarm clock had not gone off. She thought it must have broken because it wasn't even on when she woke up to the sun coming in her window. She jumped out of her bed and hurried to get to school quickly. Luckily her teacher's assistant got things going and she was able to get to the classroom before the students arrived.
Even though she had arrived on time, she felt like she was running behind all day. She liked to be early to have everything organized for her lessons for the day. She hoped that she could catch up on a few things while her teacher's assistant took the class to lunch and recess that afternoon.
After the students left for lunch, she walked around the room picking up a few of the toys and books that had been left on the ground. She put some of the pillows back in the reading corner and then went back to her desk. She went through her desk to get some coloring pages that she wanted to copy for the afternoon. As she was about to walk to the office to use the copier, she heard a familiar voice in the hallway.
'Nathan?' She thought to herself. 'What was he doing in the school?' Elizabeth knew she wasn't looking her best that day as she had rushed in the morning and had only been able to put a little mascara on in the car with her hair pulled back. She smoothed her hands over her hair and moved her hands over the front of her shirt.
Nathan walked into the classroom and saw Elizabeth with her back to him. Her classroom was bright and cheerful, just how he thought of her. He smiled as he saw that her students were not there, thankful to have a couple of minutes with her. Elizabeth turned and smiled as she saw him.
"Hi Nathan," Elizabeth said.
"Hi, these are for you," Nathan said as he held out a bouquet of daisies. "I was leaving work today and I saw these. I wasn't sure why but I felt like maybe you could use them today."
Elizabeth started to have tears in the corner of her eyes as she took the flowers from him. She nodded, not quite able to get words out yet.
"Hey, is everything alright?" Nathan said putting his hand on her arm.
"Yes, everything is fine. It has just been a tough day but this makes it better. Thank you."
"Good, I'm glad. I know you are busy so I will get going. I wanted to ask if you would come over for dinner tomorrow at my house. My sister has been asking to meet you and I would like the two of you to meet. My niece will be there as well."
"Really?"
"Yes. Will you come?"
"Of course I will," Elizabeth said.
"Great."
"Great."
Nathan smiled as he walked to the door. Elizabeth looked for a vase for her flowers but she didn't have one. She had a empty water bottle that would work until she could take the flowers home, she carried the water bottle with her to make the copies and she would get water on the way back to class.
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After school, Elizabeth gave Faith a ride home. Normally the two of them would walk on nice days like today however with Elizabeth running late, she decided to drive. The two of them were planning to meet Rosemary for coffee on the way home. Faith saw Elizabeth carrying a beautiful bunch of daisies with her bags.
"Where did you get those? They are lovely," Faith said.
"Nathan brought them by during the student's lunch break. He said he thought I could use them today," Elizabeth said with a smile.
"Wow, that's amazing how he just seemed to know after the morning you had."
"I know, right? He also asked me to dinner to meet his sister and his niece."
"That's big. It seems like you two are moving right along."
Elizabeth blushed as she kept driving, pulling into the parking lot of the coffee shop. The two of them climbed out and saw Rosemary walking out with a man Elizabeth recognized as Rosemary's assistant Mike. Elizabeth and Faith walked over to the two of them.
"Sorry ladies, I can't stay. My editor called and he has a couple of small changes he wants made to the book before it goes to print next week. Mike and I need to head back to my office so we can go through the pages to get everything done," Rosemary said.
Elizabeth looked at Faith who was just standing there looking at Mike. He was looking at her too but the two of them were trying to avoid each other's eyes. Elizabeth would have to ask her friend about this later, "That's ok Rosemary, we understand. Do you need anything from us?"
"No, everything should be ok. Lee is going to pick up dinner on his way home from work in a few hours so we can just concentrate on getting this done. I will be glad when the books are printed and no more changes can be done."
"Good luck to you both and we will talk later, ok?" Elizabeth said as Rosemary and Mike walked by to the parking lot. Faith watched them walk away but as soon as she saw that Elizabeth noticed her watching, she snapped out of it and she started to walk towards the coffee shop. 'Interesting,' Elizabeth thought.