“It is. There are no magic fixes for these kids, and I find sometimes you just have to wait them out. Let them do their thing until we find the right balance. A little routine and good food is a start.”
“You have dogs.”
“Four.” I laughed, pushing the gate open. “They sleep in their houses but roam around the property during the day. We’ll walk them tomorrow; that’s always fun. Now, here we are. This is the main school building, to the left is the kitchen block, then the teachers’ accommodation is across the courtyard, and our student houses are further up here. Greenhouses at the back…”
“Fox, I can’t see a bloody thing.”
“Welcome to Scotland. Pitch dark.”
“You sure there are no ghosts here?” I kind of got his point, entering the dark school building, the creak of the large wooden door not helping my argument. I knew this building like the back of my hand, and I never really bothered getting the lights on at night. Just lit my way with my phone, up the stairs, down the hallway past my office and pushed the door open. Where all the lights were on and…
“Hi!”
Okay. This was…unexpected.
“Butcher, this is my private accommodation.”
The kid didn’t even look guilty, curled up on my sofa with an iPad. School issue, so at least he wasn’t accessing anything he shouldn’t.
“Well, you weren’t here, and there are too many people at Spring House. It’s chaos. It was nice and quiet here, and your door was open.”
“Doesn’t mean…” I started, then turned around and sighed.
“Noah, this is Butcher. Bailey Butcher. Butcher, this is Mr Fairweather.”
“I hate that name, don’t call me that.” That was the kid, and Noah tried to hold back a laugh.
“It’s what we do here, we use our last names. It’s polite.”
“Well, I’m changing mine. I hate it. Is Mr Fairweather a teacher too?”
“No, he’s my friend; he’s visiting for the weekend.”
“Fairweather. Weird name.”
“I know,” Noah said, looking like he was enjoying this far too much. “I always thought so. They used to call me Badweather at school.”
Noah. I loved him. In my head? I’d already made that part clear. Standing here all relaxed like this wasn’t an…issue.
“Butcher, I’m going to take you back to Spring House now because it’s way past your bedtime.”
“It’s the weekend.”
“Yes, but I want to spend some time with Mr Fairweather.”
“I’m no trouble, I’m just sitting here.” The kid? Oh God. Now he was getting on my nerves.
“Come on,” I urged, then turning to Noah, “Sorry. Just taking him back, and I’ll be five minutes. Make yourself at home.”
“Not fair,” Bailey grumped, moving at the speed of a slug. A very sluggish one.
“Chop, chop.” I sounded like Mrs Cook.
“You can’t just go into my private accommodation,” I said sternly as we traversed the courtyard in the dark. Bailey wasn’t wearing shoes. Another thing that gave me guilt trips galore. His poor, socked feet made weird noises against the sharp gravel as he stumbled along next to me.
“You said I could come see you, any time,” he retaliated. Truth. I had said that.
“We need to make some rules then. About when you can come see me and when you can’t. Night time is a no.”
