Willow Falls: Finding Home

One

Delilah Lewis tucked a strand of loose, almost-black hair behind her ear as she meticulously straightened the last row of desks in her classroom. She had already walked the perimeter of the room a dozen times that day, ensuring that everything was set up perfectly for the Open House that evening. Despite the cool air blowing out from the buzzing air conditioner, it was beginning to feel stuffy in her room. She pulled at the top of her dress, already sticky with sweat, wishing she would have brought along a change of clothes. The late August heat was so intense, it seemed to ooze right through the walls. Delilah grabbed a packet of papers from her desk and leaned back, fanning herself. The Alabama climate was one of the many things that was going to take some time for her to adjust to.

“Look at you, workin’ so hard in here!” Leslie Thomas, the third-grade teacher from the classroom next door proclaimed as she walked into Delilah’s room. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more welcoming space than this one right here. You have done a lovely job transforming this room, Delilah.”

“Thank you, Leslie, that’s very kind of you to say.” Delilah smiled proudly.

It had been only three short months since Delilah had graduated and gotten her teaching license. She struggled most of the summer attempting to find a job near her hometown. There were plenty of openings at the high schools, but no available elementary positions. As much as she needed a job, she was not up to the task of teaching students who were only a few years younger than she was.

When August came, one of her friends suggested that Delilah put her resume up on a national teacher registry. Her first reaction was absolutely not. She had lived in Appleton, Wisconsin her entire life and always assumed that was where she would stay. Her job search parameters were all within a thirty- minute commute from her parents’ house. But after over two months of a frustrating job search with seemingly no possibilities, she decided to go for it. She was staying with her parents, so she didn’t have a lease she needed to worry about getting out of. She had been too busy for a relationship while she was student teaching the past semester of college, so there was no boyfriend she would be missing if she left. There really was nothing tethering her to Wisconsin other than her childhood fantasy of the cozy life in her hometown she had always thought she would have.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she hopped online and uploaded her application. Her childhood house was feeling less and less like her home, and she was anxious to find a place of her own, which would be impossible to do without a job. The very next day the calls for phone interviews started coming in. Her first was for a second-grade teacher in a small town called Willow Falls, Alabama. The interview went great, and they offered her the job that same day. Her father told her to hold out and see what other offers came in, preferably from somewhere much closer to Wisconsin, but it was only three weeks from the start of the school year and Delilah wanted time to prepare. She was tired of being stuck in the limbo and was ready to move forward. Moving across the country for a job was not at all what she had in mind when she graduated, but she found herself feeling an unexpected pull to this appealing fresh start.

“I stopped in to let you know there are refreshments in the lounge. This can be such a long night, so stop on down before the troops start coming and have a bite. I bet you haven’t eaten a thing all day, and if you keep that up, I’m afraid you are going to waste away!” said Leslie.

“Thanks again, but I’m so nervous, I couldn’t eat a thing right now.” Delilah put her hand over her queasy stomach. “I’ll be sure to grab something before I head home tonight, though.”

“Nervous? Oh goodness, you have nothing to be nervous about!” Leslie said with a wave of her hand, “Well, nothing that is, other than being the talk of the town this past week. We don’t get many new faces around here and your face has definitely been giving folks something to discuss, that’s for sure!”

Delilah gave her a worried look. “I was nervous about meeting my students and their families, but now I guess I’m nervous about meeting everyone around town.”

“That came out wrong!” Leslie said quickly. “I don’t mean you have to be nervous about what people are saying about you. And there’s nothing wrong with your face. Far from it! You are so beautiful! It’s all good things people are sayin’. I mean, how could it not be?”

Delilah looked around the room, “I just really want everything to go smoothly tonight. My only other beginning of the year experience was when I student taught last fall, and my cooperating teacher was so organized, I hardly had to do anything to get set up.”

“You’ll get to that point too… a few dozen years from now.” Leslie nodded towards the door. “But... it looks like you’ve already got some guests, so I’m going to scoot on back to my room. Just relax and try your best to enjoy the night! And again, you have no reason at all to be nervous!”

Delilah took a deep breath and walked over to the girl standing in the doorway with her father. “Hello, I’m Miss Lewis. What is your name?”

“I’m Amelia Rogers, but my dad is really the only one that calls me Amelia. Everyone else calls me Amie.” said the girl, holding out her hand.

Delilah couldn’t help but smile. She thought Amie was ridiculously cute, standing tall with her hand extended. She had light blonde hair that was pulled back in braided pigtails. When she smiled, her freckled nose crinkled up and she had a gap in her mouth from missing front teeth. Delilah began to feel slightly more at ease.

Delilah grinned and shook Amie’s hand. “Well, it is very nice to meet you, Amie. We have a little time before our meeting begins. Why don’t you find your desk and take a look around the room while we wait for the rest of your classmates to arrive?”

“I told you we were too early.” Amie mumbled to her dad as she walked toward the desks.

“Uh, yeah, I’m sorry about that.” said Amie’s dad, running his hand awkwardly through his sandy blonde hair. “I’m not known to be the promptest person in the world, and I really didn’t want to be late for this, so I guess I overcompensated a bit.”

“No problem at all.” said Delilah. “You’re only fifteen minutes early. Others will be showing up soon, I’m sure. Do you have any questions for me right away, Mr. Rogers?”

“Please call me Jake.” he said. “And, yes, I’ve got a million questions, but I think I’ll let you do all your explaining first, and then we’ll see if I still have some left after you’re done.”

“Ok… Jake.” Delilah noticed him shifting his feet, thinking she may not be the only anxious one in the room anymore. “That’ll be a good test to let me know how I do.”

“Oh. My. Gosh! Come look at this! We have a gecko as our class pet! How cool is that?” Amie called from across the room.

“Very cool, Amie.” Jake grinned at Delilah. “Reptiles are her thing, so you just scored major points with her. You are probably going to go down as her favorite teacher ever now, no matter what happens the rest of the year.”

“If I do turn out to be her favorite, I hope it’s not just because of my pet gecko.” joked Delilah.

“I’m sure there will be many more reasons.” Jake held her gaze, noticing just how bright her blue eyes shone in the late afternoon sun. He felt the familiar twinges of attraction creeping in but did his best to ignore it. This was Amie’s teacher, after all, and he was pretty sure it would be considered poor etiquette for him to be hitting on her right here at the elementary school open house.

Delilah watched as Jake went to explore the classroom with Amie. She tried to focus her attention on her new student, but it was difficult not to be distracted by her father. There was no denying that he was strikingly handsome. Delilah thought he reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on who. She was sure she would never forget meeting someone like him.

After a few more minutes, the rest of the students and their families began trickling in. Delilah allowed them some time to explore the room and then she called them over to sit at the desks so she could go through a brief description of what to expect in second grade.

“In conclusion, my goal is to get to know each of your children as individual learners this year.” Delilah told the parents after she had explained the logistics of second grade. “In our classroom, we will become a family with mutual trust and respect. This room will be a safe space for them to learn and grow. I am sure you all have high expectations of me, and in turn, my expectations for my students are held high as well. That being said, I want to keep the lines of communication open so please don’t hesitate to stop in, call, or e-mail me at any time with questions or concerns. We can work together to make this a fantastic and successful year. It was so nice to meet you all! Thank you very much for coming tonight and please feel free to stick around and discuss anything that you may still have questions about.”

Delilah gathered the paperwork from the desks as the parents and students started filing out of the room. She noticed that Jake and Amie were slow to leave. Amie was back by the gecko cage, and he wasn’t rushing her out the door like the other parents had with their kids. When he turned around and began walking in her direction, she felt her heart inexplicably begin to race.

“Well, Miss Lewis, I have to say your welcome- to- second grade speech was incredibly thorough. You managed to answer all my questions, and then some.” Jake said.

She bit her lip, “Was it too much?”

“No!” Jake smiled, shaking his head. “It was exactly the right amount of information.”

“Ok, good. Thank you.” Delilah exhaled, trying not to stare at his dimpled smile. “I was really nervous….and I don’t know why I just told you that.”

“If you hadn’t mentioned that this was your first year teaching, I would have never guessed it.” he said. “Well, other than the fact that you look like you could be right out of high school…”

“Oh my gosh, that is probably the biggest compliment you could have given me!” she said. “I mean the fact that you wouldn’t know it was my first year, not that I look young. Although, I appreciate that as well, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. But, if you don’t mind me saying so, that is most definitely not the biggest compliment I could have given you.” he flashed her a crooked grin.

Delilah was caught in his gaze again. Something about his eyes made her feel like her insides were slowly turning to liquid. And that southern accent only made him more charming to her, a northerner who was not used to the smooth, slow drawl. Was he flirting with her? No, he’s just being kind. She glanced at his left hand and noticed he was not wearing a wedding ring. She saw his eyes follow hers and immediately felt her face flush with embarrassment.

Jake noticed Delilah’s cheeks redden and felt the attraction return. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had caught his attention without her making obvious attempts at flirting. He had sworn off dating recently. He was fed up with the shallow emptiness of it all. He was tired of sitting awkwardly at a bar or restaurant, putting on an act to impress a person he hardly even knew. If he had an evening free these days, he would much rather spend it hanging with his friends or relaxing at home with Amie. He had decided being in a relationship was overrated. Yet, despite this fact, he couldn’t stop himself from flirting with Delilah just a little.

He noticed Delilah fidgeting with the papers in her hand and figured he was quickly wearing out his welcome. He cleared his throat and tore his eyes away from the beautiful teacher standing in front of him.

“Alright Ame,” he called. “Time to say goodbye to the gecko. I’m sure Miss Lewis would like to head on home for the night.”

“Do we have to?” Amie turned and gave him puppy dog eyes.

“That look might have worked to get you an extra donut this morning, but it’s not working now young lady.” Jake shook his finger at her. “Let’s go!”

“Ok, fine. Bye Glinda, I’ll see you Monday morning!” Amie reluctantly picked up her backpack and walked over to join Jake and her new teacher. “Miss Lewis, are you going to name your next gecko Dorothy since Glinda is named after The Wizard of Oz?” Delilah had explained all about their class pet in her speech earlier.

“Probably not, because that is actually what I named my dog that I had growing up.” said Delilah. “And, I also had a cat named Toto.”

“You named your cat after a dog?” laughed Amie. “That is super silly!”

“I thought so too.” smiled Delilah. “I was about your age when I got him. I tell you what, you brainstorm new names, and when I get my next pet, I will enlist you to help me give it a proper name.”

“Really?” said Amie excitedly, “I won’t let you down. I promise I will come up with the best name! I really want my own pet, but my dad won’t let me get one yet. He says I have to be more responsible first. I’ve been trying to keep my room really clean, and I bet next year when he sees-”

“Well, we have officially taken up more than our share of your nice teacher’s time.” Jake interrupted Amie, with a shake of his head. “I think it’s got to be bad manners to be the first ones here and the last to leave.”

“Not at all! I have enjoyed getting to know you.” Delilah told Amie. “I look forward to seeing you on Monday!”

“Bye Miss Lewis. I can’t wait for the first day of school!”

Jake led Amie out the door, glancing behind him. “Watch for flying pigs on your way home. This girl has never been excited to go to school before, in fact it is usually quite the opposite.”

“I am so glad she is excited! Have a good night.” Delilah laughed and waved as they walked out the door.

As she finished cleaning up her classroom, Delilah couldn’t stop smiling. Amie’s enthusiasm was inspiring her to make the beginning of school something to be remembered. And, somehow, Jake had managed to boost her confidence, making her feel like the evening had been a huge success. For the first time since she had made her move across the country, Delilah had a glimmer of hope that this had, in fact, been the right decision.

Two

Delilah was up and out of bed early the next morning. She only had two more days before the school year officially began, and her plan was to spend them both in her classroom preparing for as smooth of a first week as possible. She pulled on some yoga pants, grabbed a t-shirt, and went to the bathroom to finish getting ready for the day. She threw her hair in a messy bun on her way down the stairs and ignored the un-emptied moving boxes that she walked past on the way out of the house. As exciting as it was to be living in a house on her own for the first time, she didn’t have the time or energy to spend on decorations or furniture to make it feel like home yet. She would get to that and the unpacking eventually, but right now, making sure her classroom was in order was her top priority.

Before heading to work, she stopped by the Willow Café near her house for a much-needed caffeine boost.

“Well, hey there stranger!” a chipper voice greeted Delilah as soon as she walked through the door.

Delilah looked over and saw Leslie standing at the counter waving enthusiastically. “Hi, Leslie. Good morning!”

“I should have known you’d be up and about bright and early today.” Leslie said. She turned to the woman behind the counter, “You mark my words, this young lady here is going to turn out to be the most dedicated teacher this town has ever seen.”

“Surely nobody can beat you in that category, Mrs. Thomas.” said the pretty, blonde barista.

“She is certainly making a go of it! Delilah, you have come to the just the place to start your day off on the right foot. Courtney brews the best coffee in town.” said Leslie.

“Likely because this is the one and only café in town.” shrugged Courtney, “But I’ll take the compliment. It is very nice to finally meet you, Delilah. What can I get for you this morning?”

“Nice to meet you too.” Delilah smiled. Willow Falls was a completely different