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In less than a week, our lives were going to change. Finley and I would no longer spend all hours of the day together, and I’d have a whole lot more time to take on more design clients. I’d been doing some freelancing since moving back to Woodvale, often getting most of my work done after Finley went to bed. Half of me looked forward to the quiet time I’d soon have.
The other half of me dreaded it so much it made me physically ill.
“Found them!” Finley yelled, crawling between the barstools and the counter in our kitchenette. She was wearing her shoes on her hands and whining like a puppy for some reason.
I glanced down at my phone, disappointed to see Kendall hadn’t replied yet. Maybe she was busy. “Come on, Fin,” I said. “Get ‘em on. Let’s go.”
**
I hadn’t set foot in Grissom Elementary School since my fifth-grade graduation fifteen years ago. It appeared not much had changed, from the statue of Gus Grissom in the vestibule to the mural of a rocket ship on the wall next to the front office.
And it smelled the same. As I walked through the main doorway into the front hallway, holding Finley’s hand as she skipped, memories of my childhood flooded my mind. I swallowed, realizing Finley would be making memories in this building now.
My cousin Owen’s fiancée, Sarah, was standing next to the office doors, greeting everyone. She smiled when she spotted us, giving Finley an enthusiastic wave. “Hi, Finley!” she said. “Are you excited about starting kindergarten?”
Finley raised one eyebrow at her. “Aren’t you my aunt or something?”
“No, not your aunt—I’m your dad’s cousin’s fiancée, though,” Sarah said, glancing at my face. “I guess that is a little confusing, isn’t it? My name is Ms. Lavely, and I’m your new principal.”
“Um, where’s my classroom?” Finley clearly did not have time for this conversation.
Sarah laughed, and I glanced over my shoulder. “The kindergarten rooms are that way, right?” I asked, nodding down the hall. “We’re looking for Ms. Devin’s room.”
“First door on the right,” Sarah said. “Finley, you are going to absolutely love Ms. Devin. She’s the sweetest, most fun teacher ever. You’re so lucky!”
This made Finley’s face light up, and she began pulling me in the direction of the kindergarten rooms. “See ya,” I called over my shoulder as Finley yanked my arm even harder. “Tell Owen I said hey.”
“I will, Mason. It was great seeing you both!”
Finley’s classroom was the closest to the school office, and its proximity to the front entrance made me a little uneasy. My mind went to a dark place—if there was ever any kind of danger at the school, her classroom was an easy target. And in that moment, the vulnerability of sending a piece of my heart into the world hit me hard. With her here, I’d have no control over her safety—no way to protect her. For a few seconds, I considered turning right back around and homeschooling her instead. But the kid was smiling from ear-to-ear at the decorated bulletin board next to her classroom door, which made her stop in her tracks. “Daddy, look!” The display featured a giant beehive surrounded by twenty-something bees, each of them labeled with the kids’ names. And right next to the hive itself was Finley’s bumblebee. “I see my name!”
I squeezed her hand, feeling the worry begin to dissipate. She was going to be fine. “Are you the queen bee?”
“No, silly,” Finley said, rolling her eyes at me like I was an idiot. “My teacher’s the queen bee. Let’s go meet her!” I let Finley lead me into the classroom behind another family. Upon entering, I realized it was the same kindergarten classroom I’d had myself. It had changed a lot—I remembered these horribly ugly alphabet plushies hanging on the wall that haunted my dreams, but thankfully, they were long gone. This room looked cozy, almost serene, with pink and purple accents everywhere. Right up Finley’s alley.
She was momentarily speechless as she took it all in. I could tell she didn’t know what to check out first. Finally, when she spotted a fuzzy pink beanbag chair in the corner, she gently tugged me in that direction. “Wow, Fin, look at all those books,” I said, nodding toward the bookshelf. “Think you can read them all this year?”
She pulled a mermaid book out of a bin from the shelf and made herself at home in the beanbag chair with it. Chuckling at her, I turned to look around the room at all the other parents filtering in, wondering if I’d gone to school with any of these people. Woodvale was a small town, after all—I’d be shocked if Finley didn’t have any of my former classmates’ kids in her class.
My eyes stopped when I spotted a blonde woman in a purple skirt on the other side of the room.
And my heart stopped, too.
It was Kendall.
I spent the next three seconds scanning the area around her—which one of these kids belonged to her? That’s when I noticed the lanyard hanging from her neck and heard the words coming from her mouth: “We’re going to have so much fun this year,” she was saying to the little boy in front of her. Oh, fuck.
At that exact moment, she lifted her eyes in my direction as she tucked her hair behind her ear. She immediately froze, her hand hovering near the side of her head. Though she quickly composed herself, the initial shock of seeing me was evident in the way her eyes darted from me to Finley and back to my face. Was her heart beating as fast as mine right now?
Swallowing, I whipped back around to look at Finley, who was deep into a book review for her fake YouTube audience. I heard her ask me a question, but the words didn’t quite reach my brain. All I could think about was the sultry photo Kendall sent no more than one hour ago—I’m not sure you can handle all this ass—and now I realized she had definitely, absolutely, taken that photo somewhere in this school.
Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Eventually, I was going to have to turn around and speak to this woman face-to-face, and that made me want to throw up.
As Finley made her way to a different section of the room, I watched Kendall in my peripheral vision. She was busy welcoming other kids and their parents and handing out papers. The longer we waited to approach her, the sweatier I got.
When Finley made her way over to the fish tank directly beside Kendall, I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing, I told myself. With my hands in my pockets, I joined Finley next to the fish tank within arms’ reach of Kendall. The mom she was talking to wandered off, meaning she had no choice but to direct her attention toward us. Only the shelf holding the fish tank separated us.
“Here fishy, fishy, fishy,” Finley was saying, pressing her face against the glass. I looked up from her at Kendall’s face, meeting her gaze. I was taken aback by how big and bright her eyes were, momentarily getting lost in them until I remembered the predicament I was currently in.
