Some of the staff whispered.
Some students noticed how the librarian smiled more, how the fourth-grader teacher seemed brighter.
Ainsley didn't care.
She stood in her classroom one afternoon, looking out at the playground, when Calvin came to the door with a donut in each hand.
"Do you think we did the right thing?" she asked as he handed her one.
"I think we did the only thing."
She smiled, warm and a little sad. "Not a fling, then?"
He shook his head. "Something more."
And as they stood together in the doorway, the sounds of laughter and life echoing down the hall, Ainsley finally believed it.
Some love wasn't about fireworks or fantasy.
Some love was a quiet, steady thing, like turning the pages of a book.
The End.