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Fiona stops me outside the closed passenger side door and takes one of my hands in hers and cups my cheek with the other. She has tears in her eyes, but she isn’t letting them fall. This is something she seems to have perfected over her years of raising kids.
“Dear boy, your mother would be so proud of you. You have a good job that means something to you, you have a beautiful home, a beautiful heart and most importantly you are a good man. We love you so much and if you need anything, even just to talk, you know that we’re all here for you.”
“I know, Mrs. F.”
Letting go of my hand and my cheek she pulls me in for a hug and whispers in my ear. “You stay safe out there, honey. Go get your girl and once you have her you better bring her home to meet me. Now give me a kiss and let this old lady go so I can cry in the car.”
I kiss her on the cheek as I let her go.
“Love you, too. Safe flight home,” I say quietly.
She nods, gets in and Robert reverses out of the drive to head to the airport.
Frances and I watch until we can no longer see their car.
10
Emily
It’s been a week and Jesse still isn’t back in class. I sure hope that I did the right thing. It worries me that he hasn’t been back. It’s been keeping me up at night that he hasn’t returned and I don’t know what to do. I’m a member of the staff here and it wouldn’t be professional for me to reach out, but I am going to make a point to stop by the office today and see if they will tell me anything at all. I’m sure they won’t as it’s all confidential, but it’s worth a try.
In the meantime, I need to focus on the kids that are here in class today, one of those kids being Austin. He seems to have a bit of hero worship going on since I helped Jesse. Some of these kids don’t have the support that they need at home, so the fact that an adult actually took his concern to heart and acted upon it means a lot to him. I think it helps him to feel as though he has somebody on his side now, but I’m afraid that he’s starting to feel a bit too close to me.
“Hey Austin, how’s it going? Any missing assignments?”
“Nope, I’m all good Miss Jacobs.”
“Good, need any help with math this week?”
“Nope, not so far.”
“Hey, you heard from Jesse?”
“I haven’t talked to him myself, but from what I hear he’s ok. His dad’s in jail and he was staying with his aunt, last I heard.”
“What do you mean was?”
“I think he’s back at his house with his little brother. He turned eighteen this weekend and I think it was cool for him to go home.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear he’s okay,” I say to Austin, but it does concern me he and his brother are home alone.
Class is over in the blink of an eye and my day here at school is done. I don’t stop by the office after all, now that I have a bit of an update from Austin. I decide to let it lie for the time being. I head to my car and notice there’s a note under my windshield wiper.
Watch your back bitch!
What the hell?
A chill runs down my spine as I hold the note in my now clammy hand. I scan the school parking lot to see if there’s anybody around, but I don’t see anybody. I jump in my car and head out of the parking lot much faster than you are supposed to in a school zone, and I haul ass to Ireland’s school. I know just giving her a squeeze will calm me down, and knowing she is okay is all I can think about.
I pull into the school parking lot, park haphazardly and rush from my car to the front doors of the building. At first, I don’t see her playing in her usual spot over by the dollhouse, but after a quick look around, I see her in the back sitting on a teacher’s lap. She looks lethargic and her cheeks are rosy.
“Hey baby girl, what’s wrong?” I ask moving her hair off of her face.
“I don’t feel good, momma,” she whimpers.
I know when she calls me momma there’s something wrong. I’m usually mom or mommy but when she’s sick, tired or pouting she pulls out the momma card and it gets me every time.
“She had a temp of a hundred and one when we checked about five minutes ago. We knew you would be here any minute to pick her up so we hadn’t texted you yet,” her teacher explains.
