Her cheeks blazed hot. A loud female hoot of laughter emanated from her classroom. She glanced back anxiously.

“I should probably go back in or they’ll be hanging from the rafters soon.”

He nodded. “I understand. I’m glad I caught you, even if was just for a few seconds.”

Her bewilderment mounted. Was he here to say good-bye to a particularly pleasant but irrelevant fling before he left the city like a brilliant sunset?

“I’m glad you did, too,” she said, searching his face and finding no answers to the dozens of questions buzzing like furious bees in her brain.

He nodded toward her classroom door. “What were you doing...