Mr. Lawrence had gone very still beside me. Before I could say anything further, his phone rang. Every child in the hallway changed instantly, the reactions subtle but immediate. CJ’s shoulders stiffened. Bianca looked at the floor. Billie stopped spinning.
Mr. Lawrence pulled the phone from his pocket and grimaced apologetically. “I’m so sorry. I need to take this.”
“It’s quite all right.”
“It’ll only be a minute,” he promised.
He stepped into a nearby room and closed the door behind him halfway, though not completely. Even from down the hall, I could hear the shift in him as he answered. His voice became firmer, more professional. Whatever softness existed around his children tucked itself away immediately.
The hallway was silent. Then Bianca nudged Billie. The little one looked up at me with sudden excitement. “I have a present for you.”
Alarm crossed CJ’s face.
“Oh?” I crouched slightly to her level. “How generous.”
Billie shoved her clasped hands closer to my face and slowly opened them to reveal a spider.
Ah.
All three children watched me expectantly, probably waiting for me to scream or perform some other theatric like some women would do when confronted with an arachnid. It was the reaction they, no doubt, had received from their previous nannies.
Instead, I leaned closer. “Ah,” I murmured. “Parasteatoda tepidariorum. However, it was previously classified asAchaearanea tepidariorum. Part of theTheridiidaefamily. American house spider.”
Complete silence.
The spider crawled calmly across Billie’s palm.
“Thank you for showing your pet to me,” I said, extending one gloved finger beneath the tiny creature and allowing it to climb onto my hand.
Billie gasped, and CJ nudged Bianca, who looked genuinely stunned.
The tiny, delicate spider wandered across the black fabric of my glove. Humans feared spiders so intensely, despite how vulnerable the creatures were. With their small bodies and fragile legs, they were mostly harmless and simply trying to survive in corners where larger creatures wouldn’t crush them.
After a moment, I returned the spider to Billie’s waiting hands. “There you are.”
Billie stared at me. “Cool,” she whispered.
CJ recovered first. “You know spider taxonomy?”
“I know many things.”
Bianca stepped closer now, her fascination temporarily overriding her suspicion. “How?”
“I read a lot of books.”
“What else do you know?” Billie asked immediately.
“A ridiculous amount of things.”
When she grinned, her entire face changed.
That explained quite a lot about this child. People likely dismissed her constantly because she was loud, reckless, and strange in ways adults found exhausting. Children noticedimmediately when someone took their interests seriously instead of merely tolerating them.
Interesting little creature.
The office door opened behind us. Mr. Lawrence stepped back into the hall. “No, move the meeting to Tues?—”
He stopped talking, then swiped his phone screen and stuffed the device into his pocket. All three children had gathered close around me now. CJ looked engaged instead of charming. Bianca looked openly curious. Billie looked moments away from proposing I adopt her.
