Operation Back to School

A single mom, her daughter’s teacher, and a chance to find love the second time around.

Shannon Cross is finally coming to terms with her husband’s death three years ago. Being a single mom isn’t what she planned, but she and her girls are making it work.

Now that her youngest is starting Kindergarten, she’s looking forward to a quieter, more stable routine.

Fraiser Campbell has finally landed his dream job as a Kindergarten teacher. First day drop-off goes about like he expected—with the exception of that one mom who catches his eye. At back-to-school night, he’s relieved to discover there’s no dad in the picture.

But learning to live without her husband is a far cry from being ready to replace him. When Fraiser offers her a new chance for love, will Shannon have to choose between her head and her heart?

Operation Back-to-School is the final novella in the Operation Romance series of Contemporary Christian Romance novellas from Elizabeth Maddrey.

If you've enjoyed Operation Mistletoe, Operation Valentine, and Operation Fireworks, you'll want to be sure to catch up with past characters and fall in love with Fraiser and Shannon. Buy your copy today!

“Ready, girls?”

“Yes!” Lizzie, older by fourteen months, pumped her fist in the air and reached for her seat belt.

Jillian shrugged, her lower lip quivering. “You really can’t stay after we go in there, Mommy?”

“Oh, sweetie, no. I have to go to work. It’s time I got back into the office. Mr. Rick and Mr. Gabe and Mr. Jake need me. Now that you’re both in school, I can help them better when I’m right there. But I’ll be back to pick you up as soon as the day is over, okay?” Shannon reached for her purse and stepped down from the driver’s seat, pushing the button to open the sliding door on her side of the minivan that Simon had insisted they purchase when they’d found out
she was pregnant again just five months after Lizzie was
born.

Jillian slid off her booster and crawled out of the car, looping her purple backpack over her shoulders. Lizzie bounced down after her, her sparkly pink backpack already
dangling off one shoulder.

Shannon held out the other strap and waited until Lizzie put her other arm through it.

“You don’t have to walk me to my class, Mama. I can do it.”

“Ah, Lizzie. I want to meet your teacher. We’ll drop you off and then I’ll take Jillie to her classroom.”

Lizzie frowned.

“Why does she get to go first, Mama?” Jillian’s voice was close to a whine.

Shannon took a deep breath, grabbed the two bulging
bags of school supplies, and started counting in her head as
she steered the girls toward the front of the brick building.
“Because we’ll pass her classroom on the way to yours.”

That’s not fair.” Jillian pushed her sister.

Shannon took Jillian’s hand and moved her so she wasn’t walking next to her sister. That would make it a little harder to kick and hit. Though knowing them, they’d find a way. The girls were either best friends or mortal enemies, depending on the day. Sometimes the hour.

She breathed out the day’s third prayer for patience, which, given that it wasn’t
quite eight o’clock, was a new kind of record.

Jillian’s eyes widened as they strode through the school lobby and turned down the hall that led to the lower elementary classrooms. When they’d come for the miniorientation, the place had been empty. Today, crowded with kids and other parents, it was a whole different building.

She whimpered and scooted closer to Shannon’s leg.

Lizzie bounced as they neared the first grade rooms. “Which one is mine?”

Shannon scanned the room numbers and nodded
toward the next room on the left. “That one, I think. Let’s
peek in.”

The teacher was an older woman who could have
passed for a librarian in a movie from the 1960s, down to the cat-eye glasses. She strode over in her no-nonsense pumps and offered her hand. “Hello. I’m Mrs. Curtis.”

Shannon set down the bag of supplies and took her
hand. “Shannon Cross. This is my daughter Elizabeth.”

"I go by Lizzie.” The little girl beamed up at her teacher. “Do I get a desk all to myself?”

Mrs. Curtis smiled. “You do. Why don’t you look for your name and get settled?”

“She’s very excited to be in the first grade.” Shannon picked up the bag and checked it. “And these, I think, stay here.”

“Thank you.” Mrs. Curtis gave a brisk nod. “There’s a big packet of information coming home today. You can bring it with you on back-to-school night next week.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you then. Come on, Jillian, let’s go find your class.”

Jillian huddled close to Shannon’s leg, clenching her
slacks in her fists. Her voice was a whisper. “I don’t wanna.”

Shannon’s heart sank. She squatted so she was at
Jillian’s eye level. “Sweetie, I know it’s scary at first, but I
promise you, you’re going to love school. Look how much
Lizzie enjoys it.”

Jillian shook her head and flung herself into Shannon’s arms.

With a sigh, Shannon stood, hitching her clinging daughter up so her legs wrapped around her waist. She grabbed the other bag of school supplies and headed for the door. “Bye, Lizzie. Have a good day.”

“Bye, Mama.” Lizzie looked up from her desk and waved.

At least one of her kids was excited. Shannon knew
how Jillian felt. This was change. And change was hard. But also necessary. Her bosses at Intelligence Associates had been so accommodating for the last two years, but it was time to get back to the office.

With the girls in school, there was no reason for her to sit at home staring at the walls, swamped by the memories of Simon. Especially now that all three of the bosses were back in the office full-time. From the things Angel had said—and the things she hadn’t said—the office needed her. With the girls getting more independent every day, it was good the office still needed her.

She stopped at the end of the hallway and looked in the door on the right. Kids who looked to be the same age as Jillian were playing on a large rug on the far end of the room.

Parents milled around, huddled in clumps of two and three.
This had to be the place. “Look, Jillie, they have blocks and dolls over there. Do you want to go play?”

Jillian’s head lifted. She caught her lower lip between her teeth before nodding and sliding out of Shannon’s arms.

“Hi. I’m Mr. Campbell.” A young man—he couldn’t be older than twenty-three—approached and extended his hand. He was wearing dark jeans and a bright yellow polo with the school mascot on the breast, looking for all the world like a high school student who had gotten lost and ended up with the wrong school shirt. “You can call me Fraiser.”

Shannon smiled, keeping one eye on her daughter as
she skirted the edge of the group of playing kids before
settling in next to another girl and beginning to talk. “Shannon Cross.”

“Ah...Jillian, right?”

“That’s right. Impressive.”
He chuckled. “Not really. I’ve been studying my class
list every night since I got it. I know the names that go
together. Matching them up with the children may take me a bit longer. Is she your oldest?”

“No. Her sister just started first grade, down the hall. Obviously.” Heat flooded her face. What was wrong with
her? He was cute, sure, but what kind of man taught
kindergarten? And why should he create butterflies in her
stomach? “Is this your first year teaching?”

Fraiser shook his head. “Third. Though it’s my first year at this school. I taught fourth and fifth across the county for the past two years, but I live over this way, so I’ve been looking for a kindergarten spot to open up.”

Her eyebrows lifted. He actually wanted kindergarten?

“I get that a lot.” He shrugged. “I love this age. They’re so full of wonder and curiosity. And, for the most part, they don’t talk back. Fifth grade quashed any consideration I’d been giving to moving into middle or high school.”

Shannon grinned. “I bet.”

“They’re having breakfast for new kindergarten parents in the cafeteria, if you want to stay a while.”

She checked the slim gold watch that Simon had
given her two weeks before he passed away and winced. “I
have to get to work. I...”

Fraiser looked over at the kids on the carpet. “Don’t leave without saying goodbye. Even if she cries a little, it’s better than slipping out.”

Was it? She did the disappearing act at church all the time. But that was a familiar setting with people she knew.

Maybe he was right. “Okay. Thanks.”

“Sure. I’ll see you at back-to-school night.” He tucked
his hands in his pockets and moved to chat with another
group of parents.

“Bye, Jillian. I’ll be back when school’s over to pick you up, okay?”

Jillian looked up, tears welling in her eyes. “You have to go?”

“I do.”

The little girl sniffed. “Okay. I love you, Mama.”

“Love you, too.” Shannon knelt down and squeezed her daughter before kissing her forehead. Her baby was in
school. Tears pricked the back of her eyes. She stood and,
with a final wave, hurried from the room. She could cry in the
car.