A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND
It wasn't really fair that she had parent-teacher conferences when she had only taken over for her friend Caroline two weeks ago. Caroline wanted to go on a sabbatical to work at the Chicago Institute of Art for a semester. She cleared it with her school and Joanna agreed to teach her art classes in Inverness, Scotland. The Scottish school thought it would be good to expose their students to a "foreign" teacher.
Joanna tried to bluff her way through the conferences as best as possible. She was still learning names and was supposed to give meaningful feedback to parents? But as Jeremy, her neighboring teacher, pointed out, the parents who scheduled with her were probably more interested in just meeting her.
The parents Joanna met were all very nice. She had made it to the end of the evening and her last appointment, Mr. MacEwan was lingering and trying to engage her in more personal conversation. She was not planning on relocating to Scotland and really didn't need the hassle of getting involved with a local (and a parent on top of it).
She looked up and found Jeremy at her door. "Joanna, it's time for our post parent-teacher conference meeting," he said in an attempt to save her.
"Oh, no. Time just got away from me." Joanna turned back to Mr. MacEwan and begged him to excuse her. Once alone, she softly said to Jeremy, "Thanks. It was starting to get uncomfortable. I want to make a good impression, but I think he wanted to take the conversation to a more personal level."
"Well, Tom just lost his wife a year ago and he is trying to find his way. Who could blame him for hitting on the hot American substitute?"
Joanna snorted at that and told him "Yeh, he gets a
real
treat with me. Here for only five months and then back to the U.S. That won't help him very much. Will it?"
"No chance that you will want to stay longer?"
Joanna shook her head and told Jeremy that she had a fiancé in Ohio and that she was here to help Caroline out and to spend the summer painting highland landscapes. "Oh, well. Doesn't hurt to ask. Joanna, it's been a long day. A few teachers are going down to the pub for a pint. Care to join us?"
"That's awful nice of you to ask, but it's getting late and I should get home."
"I'd be more than happy to walk you home. Come on, then. It will clear your head of what must have been a fairly frustrating evening," Jeremy cajoled.
"It was. And, you're right. I am a little tense. Besides, tomorrow is Friday. So, why not?" Joanna reasoned. "I'll just get my jacket."
Jeremy was a handsome man from Boston who had moved to Scotland for his post. He was in his mid-thirties, had sandy brown hair and blue eyes. From everything she had experienced, he was a very nice gentleman. Joanna admitted only to herself that he was extremely attractive. If she wasn't already engaged, she might consider something with him.
The teachers that had gathered were some of the more colorful ones that Joanna had met. And they seemed to be wound up by the conferences. Maggie, a history teacher, was recounting a story from the conferences in which she had informed a set of parents that their son had been found behind the building with a girl making out. She was regaling the group with the heartfelt denial of the mother and the father's promise to "skin him alive". As the group laughed at her animated telling of the incident, Jeremy leaned close and said, "Boys will be boys." Joanna smartly retorted that age didn't seem to effect that. She said that she could recount similar stories from her adult years of dating.
"How long have you been with your fiancé?"
"Three years. We met in graduate school and have been together since."
"And what does he do?"
"He is a financial advisor. I don't claim to know much about his job, but then, he could say the same about mine."
Jeremy responded glibly, "Yes, but you
do
get free financial advice, I'm sure."
Joanna laughed. "You mean for all of my expendable income from teaching?"
Jeremy laughed in response. "Yes, well. I won't be requiring his services either."
It was then that Ennis, a science teacher, interjected. "Hey, you two. Do either of you want another pint?"
Joanna declined and Jeremy did as well since he would be walking her home. They said their farewells and started the walk to Caroline's flat. Joanna inquired, "How did you end up in Scotland?"
"My grandfather and I traveled here after I graduated from high school. He was on a quest to connect with our Cameron relatives. I fell in love with the highlands and returned as soon as I could. How did you and Caroline become so close?"
"Caroline and I were room mates our freshman year at the Ohio State University. We both came into our own there. She was quite the ceramics student and I focused largely on painting. The truth is, I would have loved to have spent the summer with her in Chicago at the art institute, but I was afraid she wouldn't go if she didn't feel comfortable leaving her students."
"So, you are staying on throughout the summer. Do you plan on doing some site seeing?"
"Yes. I will be traveling throughout the highlands staying at different rental cottages. I will be sightseeing, but I will also be photographing and painting during my travels."
Jeremy studied Joanna's features. She was a beautiful woman with long strawberry blonde hair and fair skin. Her eyes were green and if he didn't know better, he might have mistaken her for a local. "That sounds like a terrific way to spend a summer. I am an avid photographer myself. Scotland is one of the best places to photograph."
"How so? I mean, I know that it is a beautiful place, but isn't it a bit too rainy to provide you with the best subject matter?"
Jeremy chuckled. "Actually, it is a fallacy that beautiful weather provides beautiful photos. Overcast, wet weather makes the colors richer in photos. Bright, sunny days actually wash colors out. Besides, the foggy atmosphere makes for beautiful photos as well."
"Oh, well, I guess then that you are in the perfect place." Joanna quipped with a laugh.
"Exactly."
"Well, here we are. Thanks for walking me home."
"Of course. Caroline and I are also friends. Feel free to call on me for whatever you might need. I'll see you at school tomorrow. Have a good evening." Jeremy said as he turned to walk home.
As the spring progressed, Joanna and Jeremy spent increasingly more time together. They shared lunches together when either of them didn't feel like the crowd in the teachers' lounge. They shared the occasional pint together, when Jeremy wasn't out on a date. And they had also driven out into the countryside a few times to photograph the scenery.
Jeremy often wondered how Joanna and her fiancé could stand to spend so much time apart. When he inquired, Joanna had said that Bryce was traveling with his job throughout the summer. It seemed like an oddity to him since he was a financial advisor, but Joanna didn't seem uneasy about it. He had grown more and more fond of her and hoped that everything was as she said.
One Saturday, toward the end of May, Joanna called Jeremy and asked if he could come over. Jeremy thought that she didn't sound good, but she didn't want to get into it over the phone. So, Jeremy stopped for some scones on the way to her flat and showed up at her door with scones in hand.
Joanna looked awful. Her hair was a mess, her nose was red and her eyes were puffy. She had obviously been crying. She let him in and they sat on the sofa together. "Thanks for coming, Jeremy. I really just need to talk and I'm sorry for interrupting any plans you may have had."
"Not at all. I was just lazing around. What's wrong? Are you alright?"
"No, I'm not. I just didn't see this coming." And with that, she broke into tears. "Bryce called me this morning." Joanna was struggling to find the words to explain what was wrong. "He broke up with me. He said that he had been seeing someone for months and that he couldn't in good conscience go into a month of traveling with her without telling me." Joanna broke down again and sobbed without stopping. Jeremy held her, rubbed and patted her back trying to console her.
"What a feckin' bastard."
Joanna wanted to defend him, but couldn't. She had had those same thoughts herself. "I asked him 'why?'. What was wrong with us that he needed someone else?" He said 'nothing'. He said that he wasn't looking for anyone else, but that it had just happened."
"What a bastard! A headache just happens. A paper cut just happens. But an affair that breaks the heart of your fiancé, doesn't just happen!"
"I know. He was seeing her before I ever left to come here. All those late nights at the office were spent with her. He is actually spending the next month traveling with her. We have never taken a vacation together. He always said that student loans came first."
"He's an ass. And you are better off without him. If he can't see what a beautiful, talented woman you are, he doesn't deserve you."
"What's wrong with me? Why did he even look at her?"
"Nothing is wrong with you, Joanna. He's a fool."
"She's not even a college graduate! She is a barrista. How did that happen? 'Here's your coffee, sir. Would you care for a cheap fuck with that latte?' He always made me feel like his intellectual inferior! That is really rich. What do they even talk about?"
"My guess is that they don't talk a lot. Which is interesting in itself. You are one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. He's crazy. It makes no sense."
Joanna sniffled and blew her nose. "Thanks for trying to make me feel better. You don't need to say those things."
"No, I don't need to say those things. I say them because they happen to be the truth. Don't you know how amazing you are? How sweet and beautiful you are? How creative and intelligent you are?"
Joanna shook her head as if to deny what he said. But she stopped when she saw how ernest his face was. He must truly believe what he is saying. "So, if I am so great, why would he do this?"
"You know, I honestly don't know. It makes no sense. The fact that he couldn't be bothered to fly here and tell you in person after being together for three years, says a lot about his character. He's a loser."
"I know. Who does that? One day you are going to spend the rest of your life with someone and the next you are cheating on them with a person that serves you coffee?"
