“I know.”
“He’s also had some pretty awful experiences with men in the past. The man has, pardon my words, terrible taste in partners.”
“Yes…” I could follow her train of thought here. “I am aware.”
“Don’t fuck him over, Fairweather. I’m warning you. Just don’t. If your plan is to just fuck him and leave him? I’ll turf you out myself, right now.”
“No such plans, Ms Blessing.”
“Emma. You’re not part of the staff. You’re bloody Mrs Riley now, Fairweather, so get with the programme. Our board of school governors has requested to meet you tomorrow, and their expectations are high. You’re needed on the PTA, the fundraising committee, and there is a coffee morning at the Kilmartin Hotel planned for the first of next month.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t say no. Agree to anything they say. And be pleasant and polite. Baronetess Daniels is not one you want to make an enemy of.”
“I will be on my best behaviour.”
“Also? Bailey Butcher…is now Bailey Fairweather. Go with the flow. Kid’s nuts, but he’s made that decision. We’ll all go along with it for now. Don’t let him down.”
“Okay?” Yes. I’d heard. And…
“I have demands of you, and I will be keeping you on a tight leash until I know your intentions here are in the right place.”
“I have my mother’s handmade wedding invites in the car, and my dad is eyeing up Scottish golf courses, and I haven’t told them about young Bailey yet because it’s all up in the air, but once I do, they will have bought a house in Kilmartin within a week.”
“Sounds…like a lot of pressure.”
I had to laugh. She did too.
“I don’t mind too much. They’re my parents, and…my mother will definitely take charge of the coffee morning, and take Baronette… What was it again?”
“Baronetess Daniels. Three hundred years old and has been on the school board since she was sixteen.”
“Damn.”
“Yes.”
“Also? I need to measure up.” She got up and walked over to the corner of the room. Pushed at the wall. “This here is a fake panel. We need to remove it and reinstall the door. Behind here is a storeroom, with windows. I am thinking, if we get the board to approve it, get the council on board, we will just make a slight adjustment to the layout, and you could have a second bedroom as part of this accommodation module. I would block off the door to the corridor and simply have the connecting door as the entrance.”
“And that would mean?” I already knew, and the butterflies in my stomach were definitely flapping around. Anticipation. Joy. Absolute joy, mixed with terror. If this was turned down? If everything went wrong? “Do you think we’ll succeed at this? Adopting Bailey?”
“Dude, don’t ask me, I’m just the assistant headteacher.”
“But you know…”
“I’m a single female. I don’t want kids. I’m extremely happy as is, and I get all my fulfilment in life from teaching these boys. My job is my happy place.”
“I see.”
“But I also know these boys. And I see how Fox is with Bailey. And Bailey is exactly what he is, he’s smart and brave and sometimes, yes. He’s bloody manipulative and scheming and can be foulmouthed when called for, but he knows what he wants. And I think, perhaps, it’s exactly what he needs. You just need to get yourself prepared to put some parenting skills in place and not let him ride all over you. I know Fox will be the soft one here, so that’s what I’m saying. Grow some balls, Noah Fairweather. Do this right. Because if you don’t?”
“I hear you loud and clear,” I said sternly. “And in return? Be my ally here. Be my friend. Talk to me, like this, and please, Ms Bless… Emma. Call me the fuck out when I mess up. Please. Because I don’t know what I’m doing. All I know is that Fox Riley is the best thing that has ever come into my life, and I need to do this. Whatever it takes.”
“He got drunk and broke into your terrace or something.”
“He did.”
“And then you had some kind of drunk…encounter.”
