“Got a minute?”

Zach looked up from the math test he was grading. Amy stood in the door of his classroom. His heart skipped a beat, as it always did, when she was near. “For you? Always.”

She grinned and crossed to one of the student desks, pulling it closer to his Zach’s before sitting. She crossed one long, slender, jeans-clad leg over the other. “What are you working on?”

“Gave a test today in Algebra. If I can get them returned tomorrow, I’ll know how many make-up exams I have to put together over the weekend. It pushes off grading the quiz I gave in geometry on Monday, but I can finish that at home tonight if I need to. The Algebra kids are struggling, so I try to get them feedback faster. Give them a chance to see the problems worked through before they completely forget why they made the choices they did. And you have no interest in that. What’s up?”

Pink tinted her cheeks. “I’m not uninterested...just preoccupied. Sorry. Have you given any thought to the Christmas—pardon me, ‘holiday’—program?”

Zach closed his eyes. This wasn’t the conversation he wanted to have with her right now. Or, possibly, ever. “Not really. There’s time, isn’t there? It’s barely October.”

“Ten weeks. And one of those has Thanksgiving. Plus we have report cards and a workday in there. December eighteenth will be here before you can blink. Zach, please.” Amy leaned closer, her amber eyes locked with his. “I need your help. The kids need your help.”

His math students needed his help, too. Diving in to work on a holiday program was going to eat up any of his spare after school time. And it wasn’t like he had a lot to start with. And yet...it would earn him points with Amy. That counted. The principal would be pleased, too, but that meant considerably less. “Fine.”

Her whole face lit. “Really? You’re the best, Zach. I knew I could count on you.”

He forced a smile. “Sure. Just let me know what you need me to do. Or do you want to get together, maybe dinner tomorrow, and talk about it?”

“Dinner’s good. I’ll bring the notes I’ve made so far. Maybe Terri can join us? I’ll have to ask her.”

“Wait, Terri’s helping? If you got the music teacher on board, why do you need me?”

“It’s a big job, Zach. We need all the help we can get.”

“Ah.” He cleared his throat. “I was kind of hoping dinner could be just the two of us. Like a date.”

She blinked, her mouth dropping open before one corner poked up. “In that case, why don’t we have a meeting with Terri after the final bell tomorrow? That way we don’t ruin a perfectly good date talking about something you don’t really want to do.”

Zach winced. “That obvious?”

“Yeah. But you’re doing it anyway, which means a lot to me. See you tomorrow.” Amy stood and pushed the desk back to its row on her way out of the classroom. Zach watched her turn down the hall that would take her to her office. On the one hand, he’d finally worked up the courage to ask her out on a real date—one that couldn’t be construed as a friend outing. On the other...the holiday program? What had he gotten himself into?

“You’re helping with the holiday program? You?” Jackson guffawed and hit pause on the game controller. “Make sure you tell us when it’s going to be. ‘Cause this I’ve got to see.”

Zach stuffed his hands in his pockets. “It’s not that funny. I like music.”

“Everyone likes music. You don’t even sing in church.”

“I sing.” Mostly. Okay, sure, sometimes he mouthed the words when he wasn’t sure the tune was right. “This is going to be a disaster, isn’t it?”

“Not necessarily. Maybe you can do set design or help with advertising materials. Or the heavy lifting.”

Zach scoffed. “Great. Just great.”

“What’s great?” Ben dropped his backpack by the couch and grabbed a chair from the dining room table, flipping it so he could sit.

“Zach here is helping with his school’s holiday program.”

“I thought you were adamant that you had no interest in doing after school activities?”

Zach shrugged. “Amy caught me at a weak moment.”

“Ah.” Ben nodded. “Gotcha. I didn’t know you were into choir stuff.”

Jackson laughed. “Exactly. ‘Cause he isn’t.”

Ben frowned. “It’s not a concert?”

“No, it is.” Zach raked a hand through his hair. “Look, I’ll tell her I made a mistake tomorrow. It’ll probably mean she cancels the date we were supposed to have after the initial planning meeting, but...”

“Don’t be an idiot.” Jackson punched a button on his game controller. “We’re just giving you a hard time. It’s great that you’re helping out.”

“Even better that you finally got Amy to go on a real date with you. How many ‘friendly excursions’ have you gone on?” Ben stretched his legs out, crossing them at the ankles.

Too many to count. Some of them were supposed to have been dates, but it never ended up working out that way. Amy was a master when it came to keeping things friendly. He would’ve given up a long time ago if, every time he teetered on the edge of moving on, she hadn’t done something to make him think she really was interested after all. Of course, that didn’t explain the problem. Zach shrugged. “I quit counting. Anyway, this time I made it clear it was a date. Up front. And she still said yes. So...I guess we’ll see. You really don’t think I’m going to regret doing the Christmas thing?”

Ben laughed. “Nobody said that. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.”

Zach stretched out in the chair and ottoman in his bedroom with the pile of papers he needed to grade. Ben and Jackson were slaughtering radioactive bugs on the game console in the living room. Their laughter and smack talk echoed down the hall. He chided himself and clicked his red pen, focusing on the first problem. Maybe he’d have a chance to get in on the final round, if he could keep his nose down. He winced at the scribbled mess on the paper and tried to find some logical thought process in the jumble of numbers. Did his students listen to anything he said in class?

Four tests later, Zach set the stack of papers aside and scrubbed his face. At this rate, he was going to be up all night. He stood and crossed to his desk. Maybe he had some interesting email, or a funny cat video that would break up the cringing. He considered heading out to join the game for a few minutes, but if he did...the tests would never get graded. He checked social media and opened his email.

Well now, that was interesting. His heart rate accelerated. What an opportunity. Zach drummed his fingers on the desk. A mid-year switch was never ideal, but the local magnet school didn’t have openings every day. He couldn’t even imagine what it’d be like to have class after class of kids who actually liked math—who wanted to be there and learn. Oh sure, maybe there’d be a few who were there for the science or just because their parents figured a magnet school was better all around and pushed them to go. But the school itself—all the funding. Calculators that the kids could use, computers even? How did he say no to that? Of course, there was no guarantee he’d get the job.

He exited his email, head swimming with possibilities. The opening didn’t close until November. He had a few weeks to think about it—pray about it. For now, he’d better get back to the math tests and the needs of his currently floundering students.