It had been two weeks since her lunch out with Chris. While Melanie felt bad about not calling him, she had honestly been so exhausted that she had slept in on the weekends and spent the remaining time tweaking her lesson plans and getting everything finalized for her first official day of school. Smiling slightly Melanie watched as Thomas happily walked into his preschool room not a tear insight. Melanie felt tears gather in her eyes as he turned to wave at her, stopping only briefly for Melanie to take a picture of him with Mrs. Wendy his school teacher. She knew that this signified the fact that her baby boy was no longer her baby, and for a brief moment her heart broke. She wished whole heartily that David would've come with her, but he was too busy with Sara to be bothered with his children in their milestone of starting school. Returning to her SUV, she smiled at Jessica who bounced into her seat with excitement at the prospect of being in Mrs Jackson's room which was right next door to her Mommy's.

Finding her parking spot, Melanie grabbed Jessica's hand and smiled at her sweet little girl as she skipped happily towards the kindergarten wing of the school. Stopping so Melanie could take the traditional first day of school pictures, Jessica hugged Melanie tightly and bounced into Mrs. Jackson's room not stopping to tell Melanie goodbye. Smiling Melanie went into her room to begin her preparations for the day.

Glancing around to make sure everything was perfect, Melanie was startled when Mrs. Amanda Andrews, the school's principal, walked into her room with a huge bouquet of windflowers in a light blue vase.

"Good morning Melanie," Amanda chirped cheerily handing her the vase. "Your room looks amazing, I know your going to have a great day!"

"Thank you," Melanie replied as she placed the flowers on her desk, her hands automatically reaching for the card that was attached. "I really appreciate you giving me the chance to come back into the classroom again."

"Nonsense," Amanda exclaimed. "You're an awesome teacher and had glowing references. You're just what we needed this year to replace Mrs. Cahill on her retirement." Glancing at the wall the principal smiled as she heard children beginning to walk into the halls of the school. "I'll let you get ready for your day. Whoever sent you those flowers really likes you Melanie, have a great first day." And with a bright smile, Amanda left the room.

Glancing down at the envelope, Melanie noted the messy writing that had her name written on the outside of the envelope. Opening the envelope Melanie couldn't help the small gasp that escaped. The flowers were from Chris. The note was a simple one, simply wishing her a fun day of school, but that didn't matter to her. The fact that he remembered and cared enough made her heart beat rapidly in her chest.

Melanie felt tears gather in her eyes, and for the first time in the past eight months, these were tears of pure happiness. Chris cared for her and was willing to show it. Brushing a stray tear that rolled down her cheek, Melanie put the card into her purse and lightly touched the petals of a black eyed susan. Turning to the door at the sound of a mom dropping off her little girl, Melanie began her busy day as Ms. Thompson, kindergarten teacher.

For Melanie, the day flew by. The 18 children assigned to her room were all so sweet and she greatly enjoyed her day even though she was absolutely exhausted. Smiling as Jessica bounded into her room she listened to her excited daughter chatter about her first day of school. Hastily straightening up her classroom, Melanie held out her hand so they could go and pick up Thomas. Jessica smiled and oohed and awed over the pretty flowers that Melanie was bringing home with them.

Thomas was also all smiles as he told Melanie all about his day. Both kids happily chattered on the phone with Tammy as they walked into their home. Hanging their backpacks up on pegs that Melanie had put up for just such an occasion the kids hurried to their room to change while Melanie prepared a quick snack for them.

"Hey, Mom," Jessica called coming around the corner of the hall, "can I call Daddy and tell him all about my day?"

Melanie smiled at her daughter, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "Of course sweetie, bring me my phone and we will call right now." Jessica jumped and ran to hand Melanie her phone. Dialing the familiar number, Melanie waited for Sara to answer.

"Hello Sara," Melanie calmly said as the woman answered David's office line, "Is David available? Jessica and Thomas would like to talk to him".

"Sorry but he's can't be disturbed during business hours," Sara sneered. Melanie drew in a sharp breath at the other woman's tone of voice.

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind, he has talked to them on the phone before," Melanie tried again looking at the two little sets of eyes waiting expectingly to talk to their father.

"No, I'm sorry they need to call him after 6:00," Sara once again snapped. Suddenly the other line went dead and Melanie glanced down to see that the phone call had indeed been disconnected. Looking over at her children, Melanie offered a small smile.

"Sorry guys, Daddy is busy. We will have to call him later." Melanie watched as the smiles left her children's faces and tears formed in Jessica's eyes. "I know what we can do though!" Melanie exclaimed trying to distract the children from the heartache she saw on their small faces. "How about we call Grandma and ask her to meet us at Pizza Palace to celebrate our first day of school"

Both children jumped up and down excitedly.

"Pizza Palace!" Thomas began to chant while Melanie handed her phone to Jessica after she had dialed Tammy's phone number. Smiling at her daughter as she excitedly announced that Grandma had said yes, Melanie put on a cartoon so she could go change into something more comfortable. Glancing back at the flowers she had put on the kitchen table, Melanie grabbed her phone and pulled out the paper that had Chris' phone number. Smiling at the messy handwriting, she quickly dialed the number silently hoping it would go to voicemail.

"Hello," Chris' deep voice sounded on the other line as Melanie's eyes grew large. He had actually answered.

"Hi, um Chris, it's Melanie," Melanie stated in a soft voice.

"Oh hey Melanie. How are you?" Chris responded his voice instantly cheering knowing who he was chatting with.

"Oh I'm exhausted, I'm not used to dealing with so many five and six year old kiddos for six hours anymore," Melanie chuckled slightly, thankful Chris couldn't see the blush that had darkened her cheeks upon hearing his deep voice. "But that's not why I'm calling. I wanted to thank you for the flowers, they're lovely."

"Oh good," Chris responded instantly, "You did get them, I was afraid I'd forgotten the name of your school." He chuckled at the end.

"No, you remembered and I really appreciate them. They made my day." Melanie smiled again thinking of the sweet gesture.

"Well I'm glad. So what are you doing now?" Chris questioned not wanting Melanie to hang up after not hearing from her for two weeks.

"Oh, I'm taking the kids to Pizza Palace to celebrate our first day of school. We are going to be meeting Tammy there too." Melanie responded.

"That sounds like fun. I actually just got off work and ordered a pizza too. But mine is from boring old Papa John's." Chris replied laughing at his own joke. "I never go anywhere as fun as Pizza Palace."

Melanie laughed lightly at his statement.

"Oh believe me, Pizza Palace isn't fun. Well, I guess it is if you love awful pizza and yelling kids, but hey, the kids do love it so I guess I can endure it for an hour or so," Melanie replied with a chuckle.

"Wow, sounds great!" Chris said with his own laugh. "Sure beats my night of pizza and a movie. I might even splurge and pay some bills on line."

"Wow Chris, " Melanie found herself stating automatically, "Way to adult tonight and" suddenly she stopped talking and Chris heard a little voice announcing Tammy's arrival at the house instead of the restaurant. "Hey, I've got to go, kids are ready to head out," Melanie said.

"Got it," Chris replied not really ready to hang up. "Have fun and think of me eating all alone."

"I will," Melanie laughed lightly again. "And I mean it Chris, thank you again for the flowers."

"Not a problem Melanie, I mean it you deserved them. I'm glad you had a great first day," Chris stated and once again Melanie was glad he couldn't see her blush over the phone. "Hey, can I call you maybe later in the week like Friday? I'm on night shift for the next few days."

"Um," Melanie hesitated slightly not sure how to respond.

"We are just friends Melanie, I get lonely sometimes and it's nice just to chat with someone," Chris cut her off hearing the indecision on her voice.

"Yeah, of course Chris," Melanie relented. "I'm looking forward to it". Once again she paused and Chris heard banging on what he assumed was her door causing him to smile at the thought of her children getting antsy to go.

"Look I've gotta go Chris, we'll talk later ok?" Melanie said while shooing her kids out the door.

"Perfect Melanie, talk to you soon. Bye."

"Yeah, bye", Melanie stated as Chris hear her say something to Thomas as the phone was disconnected.

Chris sat smiling at his phone for five minutes thankful no one else was around to see the silly grin on his face. He had hated not hearing anything from Melanie for the past few weeks but he also knew how hard it was for her to adjust from being a mom to being a teacher again. He was glad he listened to his mom's advice and sent her the flowers. Maybe he would call his mom later to thank her, he thought in passing. One thing he knew for sure, getting to know Melanie Thompson, even if she was just a friend, was something he was more than willing to be patient and do.