Not Evan's girlfriend. I don't want any labels that give her something to measure herself against. Her eyes drop briefly to the set of keys hanging from my fingers.
Evan’s spare car key sits hooked beside the little silver penguin keychain Elle gave me, and her attention moves and sharpens on the sleeve of my hoodie for half a second. Evan’s spare FD hoodie. Her eyes snap back up to mine, and she studies me more closely now, recalculating.
“Elle,” she repeats softly. “She’s gotten so big.” I don’t fill the silence, and she tilts her head slightly. “You been with them long?”
“Long enough,” I say.
There’s another tiny pause, and her smile thins.
“Well,” she says, stepping back half a pace. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”
“Maybe,” I answer.
I don’t linger. I walk back to the car on jelly legs and only let myself breathe properly once the door shuts. Inside, I call Evan before I’ve even reversed out of the parking space, and he answers on the first ring.
“Pen.”
“It’s her,” I say.
A silence drops heavy.
“She was loitering by the school gates,” I continue, forcing my voice to stay level. “Watching us. And she approached me, said her daughter Elle goes there.”
His exhale is controlled, and I assume it’s similar to the kind he takes before stepping into something volatile.
“I’m calling the school now,” he says, voice shifting into something focused. “They’ll flag her at the office. She doesn’t get near Elle without going through me.”
“Okay.”
“Can you pick Elle up a bit early today? Be there before they get let out.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll see if Beck can let me off after lunch.”
There’s movement on his end—a door closing, boots on concrete. He’s already moving.
“I’m sorry,” I add.
“For what?” His tone sharpens. “You did everything exactly right.”
Another beat passes, and I worry my lip.
“You okay?” he asks, softer now.
I glance back at the street, and the woman is gone.
“I’m fine,” I say. “She looked… sober.”
“I don’t care how she looks.” His voice is too sharp, too immediate. I hear him exhale roughly, like he knows it too. “Sorry,” he mutters. “I just—she’s fooled people before.”
There’s more movement on his end, another door shoved open hard enough that it echoes.
“We do this my way, okay? School, pickups, everything. Until I know what the hell she’s doing here.”
“Okay,” I whisper, and the line goes quiet for a second.
“Just… be careful, alright?” His voice is softer now. “I need you both safe.”
