The Reluctant Bride Read Online Free Page B

being a sub.” She exited the classroom and walked down the hallway with Angela. “The gym is a mess. Will it be straightened out in time for your meeting?”
    “Didn't I tell you? The meeting will be held inthe cafeteria. They're leaving the displays in the gym until tomorrow afternoon. Career Day was such a success with the kids that the principal arranged for most of the volunteers to return tomorrow for a couple of hours.” They neared the front door.
    “Rob is one of the only ones who can't come back,” Angela explained, disappointment obvious in her tone. “He has a hearing first thing in the morning.”
    “That's too bad,” Micah said. “For the kids, I mean.”
    “Uh-huh,” Angela said in agreement. “I didn't know that you and Rob knew each other. He's never mentioned you.”
    “We met because of a car accident,” Micah told her. “He represents the injured driver, and I was supposedly a witness, but I didn't really see much.” Abruptly, Micah changed the subject “So Career Day was quite a hit with the kids.”
    “Too much so,” was Angela's sharp reply. “Remember, I told you that my son Nathan wanted to be a doctor?”
    “Want ed? Past tense?” Micah responded.
    “He's giving up medicine for a career in karate.”
    Micah laughed.
    “This had better be just a phase he's going through,” Angela said. “I'm going to have his father discuss potential gross income with him tonight.”
    Micah laughed heartily. “He's only ten years old,Angela. Give him time. How much could he understand about potential gross income anyway?”
    “He'll know plenty about it by bedtime this evening. His future wife, wherever the poor child may be, should be out there somewhere praying that I can talk some sense into him.” Angela pushed open the door.
    “See you tomorrow. Good luck with Nathan.”
    “Thanks,” Angela responded as she left Micah standing in the doorway.
    “You'll have to let your kids choose their own careers, Angela.”
    “Not when they're eight and ten, I don't,” She waved as she neared her car. “Well, the kids are waiting for me, and I have a lot of 'steering in the right direction’ to do tonight…and for the next decade or so. See you!”
    Micah pulled the door shut tightly, remaining in the building. Turning to her right, she walked down the hallway toward the gym and the side exit that led to the parking lot where she had parked her car. The building had cleared out quickly, and she hastened her pace a little as she continued down the long, empty corridor. Then she heard the comforting sounds of someone else in the building. Probably a janitor, she assumed. They worked later than everyone else normally did so they could lock up the school. Metal chairs that were being folded and returned to their rack made clanking, banging noises that reverberated through the gymnasium. Shewalked past the bakery display and the unattended office equipment of the secretarial exhibit toward the noise and the side door leading to the parking lot.
    “Hello, again.”
    Micah gasped at the unexpected voice.
    “I didn't mean to frighten you,” Rob said as he folded the last chair.
    Micah's hand was on her chest, feeling the rapid pounding of her heart. “What are you doing here? I thought everyone but the janitor had gone.”
    Rob motioned toward the vacant floor space where his mock courtroom drama had played out. “I'm putting away the chairs and tables that I used today since I can't come back tomorrow.”
    “Angela said you had a hearing in the morning.” She pushed her hair away from her face and adjusted the books that were shifting in her arms. “The kids really liked your presentation.”
    Rob smiled, a lazy kind of smile. Micah noticed her heart continued to pound too quickly. And she was no longer frightened.
    “Some of them seemed to get caught up in it. I think Wellspring Elementary School has several potential attorneys in it.”
    He stopped talking, and Micah knew she should