She hasta-la-vista-ed me over a decade ago.
Drew moved to block my exit.“You best stick with girls that run at a slower speed since you can’t keep up with a woman like Erika.”He gazed in the direction the truck had disappeared.“She’s a whole other level of fine.You had your shot.Now it’s my turn.”
“You can’t handle her.”It came out bitter.
“Do you think you can?”
“It ain’t my business to try.”
Drew shook his head and chuckled.“You screwed it up on purpose way back then.It was crazy.I know you regretted it.Total win for me.Now’s my turn.”
ChapterFour
ERIKA
Even though I’dditched the coveralls in the work truck before I returned it to the clinic, I still reeked of cow manure when I marched into Vision Elementary.The accusatory glare of the receptionist confirmed I fully polluted her lobby with my stench.
I read the name placard in front of her.“Madison, I’m here to pick up Vinny Chomping from afterschool care.”
“Who are you?”The receptionist couldn’t have been much older than me.She tucked a strand of platinum-blonde hair behind her ear like she was bracing for nonsense.
“His sister.”
The school still smelled the way all schools do—moldy sadness mixed with aggressive mint cleaner.The doors were heavy and prison-like, designed to lock kids in and keep adults out, which felt backwards and unsettling.
Madison’s eyebrows climbed straight into her bangs.“I don’t think you’re on his approved pickup list.I’ll need to see some I.D.”
I slid over my license, plus the temporary custody paperwork the lawyer’s receptionist had printed on what felt like the world’s thinnest paper.
She read it.“Erika Chomping.”Then she looked up, eyes softening.“Oh.I’m so sorry about Vinny’s parents.Well, your parents.”Her gaze flicked over me.“Wait, are youtheErika who did that awful thing to Dr.Hurst at the baseball championship?”Her eyes brightened with the tease of new gossip to share with her officemates.Her voice lowered.“What did you do to him to make him show up naked?”
I lowered my own voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “Technically, he had on some clothes, if underwear counts.”
“Don’t worry, hon, he’s been in good hands since you were so mean to him.”Her grin implied she’d been heating up his sheets.
Mean tohim?
A few pranks in payback for shattering me right before senior prom hardly seemed enough to qualify as “mean.”I pushed the ignored guardianship document closer to her across the counter.“Do you need to see the legal documents?”
She snapped the paper to her side of the desk.“We might need a copy on file.”She lifted a phone and said, “Vinny to the front please.”
While we waited, Madison said, “You’ll need to set up appointments with his teachers.”She started scribbling.“Here’s his third-grade teacher, his counselor, and his learning therapist.”
A chill slid down my shoulders.The wordslearning therapistcracked open a trapdoor in my brain.Weekly sessions.Flashcards.Me, sweating through spelling tests while everyone else breezed past.Nothing like being pulled out of class in front of your peers to make you feel broken.
Minutes later, a short, skinny kid with dark hair and a spray of freckles across his nose appeared in the lobby.He stopped short when he saw me, his expression hardening like I’d personally ruined his entire day.
“Hey.”That sounded under-qualified for motherhood, guardianship, or whatever this arrangement qualified as.“I’m Erika.”
“I know who you are,” he snapped, brushing past me toward the door.
Okay.Not personal.Probably.
Once we were in the car, I pointed toward the front seat.“That’s Tracker,” I said.“He’s harmless.”
The kid didn’t even glance at the dog.He buckled his seatbelt with sharp, efficient movements, then wrinkled his nose.“Why do you stink?”
I decided honesty was safer than dignity.“I helped deliver a calf right before I picked you up.”
