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“You asshole!”
Aero stood from the ground where he had been packing the bottles into their cases and surveyed the crowd to see who was shouting.
“Kelly, go home. This isn’t the place.”
Sam cringed at the sound of Mike’s raised voice. She saw the top of his head among the crowd, which parted slightly as people moved behind their tables or got out of the way of the quarreling couple. She could see Mike’s back now and Kelly’s wild eyes as she confronted her husband.
“Why not? This was a perfectly good place for you to have sex with her!” Kelly shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Rachel, who was standing by the concession stand with a bored expression on her face, as if this were just a typical afternoon.
A collective gasp rang out, and Sam cringed.
“Kelly. Enough,” Mike barked, his voice firm. “You’re making a scene.”
“I’m making a scene because you’re a cheating bastard!” Kelly said, tears pooling in her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you embarrassed to be exposed in front of all your colleagues? You weren’t too embarrassed to get it on in the teacher’s room! How exposed were you then, huh?”
Sam’s stomach felt like it was full of concrete. She stepped behind Aero, grasping his shoulders with white knuckles and praying that her name wasn’t brought up during this altercation.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Mike asked, feigning ignorance.
“Sam saw you! Both of you,” Kelly said, flinging her hand out again in Rachel’s direction. “Back in October. How long, Mike? How long have you been unfaithful to me?”
Mike was silent, arms crossed over his chest, as he stared down at his scorned wife in front of his co-workers, superiors, students, and their parents. He didn’t have the good sense to look embarrassed, ashamed, or apologize. He cleared his throat and said, “We’ll discuss this at home.”
With that, Mike turned on his heel and marched across the field, people stepping out of his way and letting him pass, a deafening silence covering the soccer field that had once been a cacophony of music, laughter, and merry chatter.
“All right,” Mr. Barnes, the superintendent, said, stepping in front of Kelly and blocking her with his body as he addressed the crowd. “Shows over. Everyone, please head home or help clean up the booths if you would. Thank you for coming, and, ah, have a good evening.”
Mr. Barnes turned and tucked a now distraught Kelly under his arm and escorted her toward the building, the school nurse, Betsy, on their heels.
The crowd stood around in silence for a few heartbeats of time, several people staring over at Sam, who was trying her best to disappear into the ether. Aero removed her hands from his shoulders and gripped them tight.
“Sammy. Look at me.”
She was shaking, her eyes fixed on the front of his shirt, her face devoid of any color.
“Sammy,” Aero said more forcefully, tilting her chin up. “Let’s go.”
She let him wrap an arm around her waist and guide her up the hill toward a side door to the building. He swiped her key card and held open the door, letting her inside and shutting out the world. They traveled down the empty, silent hallway to her classroom and entered, locking the door behind them.
Sam bypassed her desk and chair, heading into the far corner by the bookshelf, where she had a pile of beanbag chairs and pillows for her students to use while reading. She flopped onto them, face down, and sobbed into a pillow shaped like a turtle.
Aero followed, sitting on the floor beside her and rubbing a strong hand up and down her back. “Shhh, honey, it’s all right,” he cooed softly to her, unsure of how to comfort her.
“I’m gonna lose my job,” she sobbed.
“No, you’re not,” Aero murmured. “They can’t fire you for this. You didn’t do anything.”
“B-b-but, I didn’t tell anyone about them ha-having sex in the damned closet,” Sam stuttered.
“So?”
“That’s bad, right?” Sam asked, rolling over slightly to peer up at him.
Aero sighed. “I don’t know, Sammy. But—”
There was a knock at the classroom door, startling them both. A female voice called, “Sam? Are you in there? It’s Jill.”
Sam groaned, flopping back onto the turtle. Her voice was muffled as she told Aero to let her in.
