Use Your Words (River Valley Teacher's Lounge, # 2)

Aaron Hopeless romantic.

Ms. Lucy. Desperately hopeful.

I wanted a fresh start with my demon behind me, across the state line where he belongs. I didn’t want this instead–for my one night stand to show up at my new place of employment the next day.

When Aaron Russo, the middle school gym teacher, shows up as my mentor the day after I flee his bedroom in a panic, I have no choice but to grin and bear it. But despite my insistence to never give my heart to a man again, his puppy-dog demeanor and eyes that glimmer with hope make it almost too easy to fall.

Although Aaron is a hopeless romantic looking to jump the gun on finding his happily ever after, he slows down. Just for me. He puts on the brakes, and does things at my turtle-like pace, while also encouraging me to find my voice that was taken from me all those years ago. But just as I allow myself to believe in love again and start to take back the control that I lost during my decade-long marriage, my demon sneaks his way back in.

As I come to the crossroads of my mangled past, the words I once buried deep have to break through the rubble. Because slaying those demons once and for all means reaching Aaron’s shining light that is the hope at the end of the tunnel.