Page 43 of Love Me Not

I opened my mouth to argue, but Trey held the door open wider and she disappeared inside. Instead of doing the same, he let the door close behind him and stepped out into the cold, looking as kind and puppy-like as ever.

Well, hell.

Chapter Eleven

“I’m sorry.”

His head tilted to one side. “About what?”

“That you lost.”

Trey shrugged. “It happens.” Very practical of him. “What are you doing out here in the cold?”

“Donna thought I needed some fresh air.” Before I could give Donna’s advice any thought, one thing needed to be cleared up. “Do you know that people are talking about us?”

“Us?” he said, sounding surprised. “What are they saying?”

Going with Pepper’s words, I replied, “That we have a budding romance.”

Trey ran a hand over his bald head. “I hadn’t heard that, no.”

“I don’t like being the subject of gossip.”

“I’m not fond of it either.”

Stepping closer, I asked, “Why do you come to the play rehearsals?”

He jammed his hands into his pockets. “I came to make sure the guys were taking it seriously at first.”

“At first?”

“Yeah, at first. Then I liked watching you work with the kids, so I kept coming.”

I didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t an intrusion on rehearsals, since he never made a sound and didn’t distract the kids, and technically, anyone who wanted could sit in and watch, though I’d only seen a handful of parents do so over the years.

“Is that why the rumors started?” he asked.

“That’s part of it, I guess. Pepper also mentioned the day I locked my keys in my car. I guess someone saw us sitting in your truck.”

“Pepper? Who’s Pepper?”

I forgot that he was still new to the school. “Pepper Lowell is the choir teacher. Medium height, strawberry-blonde hair, big glasses.”

“That’s who that is?” Trey shook his head. “Now I get it.”

“Get what?”

“In the lounge a couple of weeks ago I was topping off my coffee when another teacher came in. I didn’t recognize her and I thought she said her name was Piper. She started asking questions like was I single and did I have a rule against dating a fellow teacher.”

“That sounds like she was asking for herself.” The rush of jealousy threw me off balance. Why should I care if Pepper hit on Trey Collins? Or if he went out with her?

“That was my assumption, yeah.”

I had to know. “What did you tell her?”

“The truth. That I wasn’t looking to date right now.”

Wait, what? “You aren’t interested in dating Pepper or dating anyone?”