Page 81 of Breathing Under Water

“Well, hopefully your luck is about to turn,” she answers. “I heard all about the way you’ve been counseling our Leo, and I’d like to think we’ll be able to offer you some help in return, or at least some good Karma.”

“Counseling?” I look from Yvonne to Beck.

Beck stops his chopping. “When Leo was missing, my parents got access to all his texts. They know you were the one who convinced him to take the teaching position at the STEM place. And then you got him to talk to Tatiana. Plus that stuff you told me about the drone racing league.”

“Yes, darling,” Yvonne pipes in. “Now they’re going to loveyou until your dying day, and nothing you do can ever change that.”

It’s a nice thought. Having people who will love me until the day I die.

“And I’ve been feeling pretty terrible about the way I acted with you,” Beck adds. “I was quite the asshole.”

“Darling, language.”

“Sorry, Auntie.” He grins at her. “But I really was a prick.” Then he looks back at me. “All I wanted was to protect my brother. I’m sorry you had to bear the fallout of that. You didn’t deserve it, and I should’ve realized my first instincts about you were the right ones.” He keeps his eyes on me, waiting for my response, but I’m not sure if I want to open myself up to him again.

“I have to go visit my grandmother,” I say. “Do you think I could throw a little laundry in the machine before I go?”

“Have at it,” he says. “And don’t be surprised if my mom has everything folded and ironed by the time you get back,” he calls after me as I head out to my car. “You’re a hero in this house.”

Nobody has folded my laundry since before my mom died. I feel my eyes start to well up at the idea. I’m being ridiculous. It’s just laundry.

As I grab the bag of dirty clothing from the backseat, I picture the ways my life is about to change again. We have proof I didn’t do the awful things people said. I’m going to clear my name with the school, my coach, my team. My friends will realize they never should have ghosted me, and I can finally get back the life I had before.

But as I walk back into the house and head toward the laundry room, I start to wonder: Do I even want that?

40

Berry

April 2024

I convinced McKenna to come back to the house for dinner after her classes so she can tell us all about her great comeback at the school. I want to hear every last detail about the coach apologizing to her, the scholarship committee giving back her financial award, and the housing they’ll be offering her. I assume they’ll be setting her up with something pretty quickly. Except it’s only eleven a.m. when I get the text from her saying no one from the committee is available to meet with her until Wednesday.

Well, you’ll have to stay with us until you get everything worked out, and I won’t take no for an answer, I write back.

I’ve just left a fifth-grade classroom, where I was watching Ms. Kaplan finish her lesson on geography. Each child in the class is being assigned a US state on which to do an in-depth project, and they’ll share their findings with the class through presentations in a week. It’s an old-fashioned assignment, something I remember doing at my own elementary school, but these kids are going to include interactive digital presentation tools, AI research, and social media travel blog simulations. It’s a relief to see everything running smoothly despite my absencewhile we searched for Leo. Piotr Tomashefsky says it’s the sign of a good administrator when the people on your team can run the show without you, and I’m beginning to believe he’s right.

Which is why, when I received an email from Leo’s guidance counselor earlier this morning asking for a meeting, I didn’t request a telephone conference instead. Nor did I stress about missing a couple of hours at Stillwell. I’m more capable of multitasking than I ever realized, and with each passing day, I’m learning that I have, in fact, taught people in my life to get along just fine without me. I don’t need to be physically present in order for my people to succeed.

As I drive the few miles over to Leo’s high school, I wonder what I’m walking into. After Leo’s little sojourn to the South, his school might be worried he’s an ongoing flight risk now, that they could be liable if he disappears again. Or there may be some other scenario they’re complaining about that I’m not creative enough to dream up on my own.

The eleventh-grade counselor is Amara Links. She’s a beautiful young woman who’s always dressed meticulously, and if she didn’t remind me so much of Yvonne with her seemingly effortless well of coolness, I’d probably hate her.

“Thanks for coming in,” Amara says as I take a chair in her office. It’s always a strange feeling for me to be on the guest side of the desk in school settings.

After we exchange basic pleasantries, she says, “I know you’ve had some recent excitement with Leo, but I hope that hasn’t changed your mind about him applying to college programs.”

“No, not at all. If anything, I think he showed us all that he can navigate more of the world than we realized.”

“I’m glad we agree on that. I’ve been noticing he’s grown somuch even since the start of school this year. He’s more social, even interacting a little with other students in his classes, and he just seems more comfortable in his own skin. I hope you don’t mind, but before his recent adventures, I reached out to a former colleague who’s an administrator at Whitby College. She finally got back to me, and she thinks Leo would be an excellent fit for their college support program.”

When I get home, I’m still floating on excitement over all the possibilities I can now see in Leo’s future. It’s true, Leo has gotten so much more comfortable with himself even in just the last few months. I know so much of his growth is because of his relationship with McKenna. When I read over all their old text exchanges, I was stunned by the way she communicated with him. It was as though she could really see him in a way no one else has, not even me. Instead of coddling him, she challenged him, and it brought him to a new place where he believes in himself in ways he never did before. I will be grateful to that girl until my last breath.

I find Leo in the kitchen with Phil. They’re standing at the oven pressing lots of buttons.

“What’s going on, guys?” I ask.

“Dad is teaching me how to use the oven.”