Page 5 of Chalk It Up

Mostly.

Mr. Von is undeniably gorgeous. I've only seen him a few times and met once before, but anyone with half a brain and a working pulse would be irrevocably undone by the sight of this man.

I don’t know much about him, except that his family owns the logging company that keeps Pine Lake going. I believe he’s more on the tech side of the company. It’s impossible to not notice, during my completely objective assessment of him, that he is in such incredible shape.

Oh, Evie, always admiring the ones you can’t have.

My brain knows we're making an objective assessment, but the pull in my lower stomach doesn't seem to be on the same page. I'd attribute a large portion of his good physique to the food he eats. I've seen the lunches he packs for Adeline and either he's an amazing cook or they find a five star restaurant to eat at each night.

His outfit definitely seems tailored to accentuate his muscular figure even though he’s only in basic dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and what has to be a custom made cream leather jacket because it just hugs all the right spots.

I’ve never met Addie’s mother, but Addie must take more after her, with her sunny blonde hair, but shares the same vibrant green eyes with her father. You’d think Pine Lake was named for this family’s eye color because it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.

The conference continues on in a very similar manner. He asks curt questions, and I give kind, thoughtful answers. I have to remind myself to be thankful that he showed up anyway.

Some of my kids have parents who don’t even take the time to come out. I understand some can’t take off of work, but others can and still choose not to.

I attempt to stay professional, but during the conference I can’t stop admiring him. He’s so classy looking which you wouldn’t expect in a small town like Pine Lake. Since meeting him at Open House, I really can’t stop thinking about him, but that feels extremely inappropriate given our parent-teacher dynamic, so I tragically keep all those thoughts to myself. And it might be wishful thinking, but I’m fairly certain that he keeps glancing up at me through his lashes more than necessary.

I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t make me feel very good about myself.

Taking what’s probably an unprofessional sip of my iced coffee, I wait for him to finish flipping pages. He stands abruptly with Addie’s file in hand, I’m assuming readying to leave and I follow suit.

“Thank you so much for all of this. I’ll pass these along to her pediatrician,” he states while simultaneously turning to leave.

“Sorry, Mr. Von. I actually need to keep her file but I’ll happily make copies for you and her pediatrician, and send them home with Addie tomorrow,” I offer.

“Great.” He drops the folder on the desk, and without giving me a second look, spins, and leaves my classroom, closing the door behind him. But not before I get a chance to commit him to memory.

The straight jacket constricting my airflow and the weight that must’ve been sitting on my shoulders seems to evaporate with the click of my door.

I slouch down in my chair, tapped out.

I glance at my clock on the wall that has the face of a schoolhouse and arms of pencils—9:45A.M.

With a sigh, I drop my head back on the cushion of my chair. I give myself five minutes to recenter and refocus, and turn it all back on for my next parent.

Because, as hard as it is for me to believe, August Von was only my first meeting of the day.

chapter 2

August

I couldn’t get to my SUV fast enough. I email Addie’s teacher consistently, met her once at Open House, and have seen her around town a handful of times, but being in her proximity was a shock to all of my senses. Again. Just like it was at the open house. Ms. Jake smells like peaches and cinnamon, walks around town like a ray of sunshine, and grinds my gears.

I can’t handle when someone tries to pretend like they understand what it’s like to worry about a child, when they don’t have kids. No one else could fathom the depth of fear and pressure that suffocates me, making sure Addie has the best of everything, and that includes her education. I might have failed her terribly in choosing the best mother for her, but I won’t drop the ball on Addie again, even if that means being just a little pushy with Ms. Jake.

Honestly though, I really enjoy being pushy with Ms. Jake. Something about her just makes me want to be argumentative. Like I just want to rile her up and see some feisty side come out. She’s all professional, but I can tell there’s a playful side to her. I shove all of that way down though because my sole purpose and focus is Addie. I don’t need to give her mom one more thing to complain about even though she’s contributing next to nothing to Addie’s upbringing, let alone education.

Pulling my door a little harder than necessary, I pull out my phone to start my favorite playlist of acoustic early 2000’s covers in an attempt to calm myself down on my way to work. Missing the beginning of the work day was less than ideal, but I needed Addie’s teacher to understand how serious I am about filling in the gaps of her education.

Tapping my fingers in beat on my steering wheel, I head out of our disastrously small town to the logging company my family established when we immigrated from Germany. I was only two years old, and even though that was almost thirty years ago, my parents quickly made our family an integral part of the fabric of Pine Lake, much to my chagrin.

While I may not love living in “Small Town, USA,” nothing beats the drive to work as I head out of the city limits to the base of the mountain where our company, Von Logging, is situated. A gorgeous two lane highway, framed with evergreens, should be distraction enough from my meeting this morning but it fails and I’m confident my employees will end up getting the butt end of an attitude they didn’t cause.

I honestly hate myself for already knowing the brute I’ll be when I walk in the doors. I’m self-aware enough to know I have a temper, but jaded enough to not do anything about it. Luckily for my employees, I mostly work solo.

The logging industry has taken a new shape in the last few years and I personally made sure Von Logging was at the front of innovation and competition. I developed what is actually a sister company of our business that focuses on drones in forestry.