I organize my already perfect stack of student files. I’ve printed sheets detailing each kiddo’s progress for the parents to take home. They’re in order of when the parents signed up to meet with me. I ignore the last one on the list. I wish he’d have picked the first time slot instead. I’d rather havegotten his meeting over and done with because now I have to dread his arrival all night.
Fortunately, I don’t have time to think about it any longer when my first parent walks through the door five minutes early. I grin at them, excited to talk about how well their daughter is doing this year.
The cycle continues as parents arrive and leave in a constant rotation. I usually only get a minute or two between each meeting. It’s exhausting, but it ensures I’m not here until midnight.
“Hey, we’re a bit early,” Holt Basil says, sticking his handsome face around the doorframe. His daughter, Leah, is also a favorite student of mine, and I always look forward to our meetings. With brown hair and light blue eyes, the man could be on the cover of romance novels. I had a major crush on Holt at the start of the semester until I realized I just longed to have a partner as genuinely kind as him. He’s become a good friend ever since.
“Hey! Come on in,” I greet him.
Walking behind Holt is his gorgeous girlfriend, Gia Miller. Her blonde hair and blue eyes give her the appearance of a ditzy Southern woman. In reality, she’s sharp-witted and a little spiky—in a protective way.
She’s one of those people you want on your side in any situation because you know she’d have your back no matter what. She moved to Pine Creek Falls back in February, and she’s now one of my best friends.
I give them both hugs before we sit down to catch up.
“How’s your night going?” Holt asks.
“It’s been long, but good. I haven’t had any parents get annoyed with me about their kid yet. I’ve still got four more to go.”
“I can’t imagine how hard it is to deal with this many parents.” Gia grimaces.
“Most of them are great, actually.”
Holt smirks. “Not including a certain grumpy cowboy.”
I roll my eyes but don’t confirm his statement.
“Who’s the grumpy cowboy?” Gia asks.
“Knox seems to have a bee up his ass around Farrah. We’re not really sure why, but he’s an even bigger grump around her than usual.”
Gia gets a gleam in her eye. “How interesting. We might have to do some digging.”
“No.” I point my finger at her. “That’s only going to piss him off more.”
She barks out a laugh. “Okay, okay, I won’t meddle.”
I realize we’ve been talking for most of our scheduled time, so I switch gears to update them on Leah. “She’s an incredible student. Her reading comprehension is phenomenal, and she’s a joy to have in class. I’m still keeping an eye on the student who’s been bullying her. He hasn’t tried to hurt her recently, and seems to either be keeping his actions hidden or he’s stopped altogether.”
“I’m hoping for the latter, but I’d imagine he’s just hiding it better,” Holt grumbles.
“Unfortunately, I agree with you. My guess is he’s found an easier target since he knows I’m paying attention to him. Finn has been sticking close to her as well. He’s become quite the protector in the last couple of weeks.”
“Knox may be a jerk most of the time, but he’s done an incredible job raising Finn,” Holt says.
I don’t respond to that comment. It’s not my place to say whether he’s done a good job or not to another parent, even if they’re my friends. “All in all, I think Leah is more than ready for first grade. If you guys keep working on her reading and counting skills over the summer, she’ll be able to hit the ground running on day one.”
Holt stands from his chair, folding Leah’s student sheetand slipping it into his back pocket. “That’s great to hear, Farrah. We’re going to miss seeing you every day next year.”
I stand as well to walk them to the door. “I’ll miss you guys too, but it will be nice to be regular friends instead of teacher-parent. Takes a lot of the weirdness out of it or me.”
They both laugh as they leave my classroom, saying a quicksee you lateras the next parent on my list arrives.
Three more meetings before Knox’s.
It feels like a ticking time bomb. He’s so mercurial, I’m never sure if this is the time he’ll explode or if I’ll be able to cut the right wire and avoid the blowback. I try to start every interaction with a smile—try to make it clear to him that I don’t hold his anger against him, even though I so do. Sometimes he ignores me altogether, other times he finds something rude to say that I somehow can’t help but respond to.
With my past, you’d think I’d be able to keep my mouth shut, but something about Knox pushes every button I have.
