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“Thank you.” She sniffs.
I reach over to the tissues that sit on the edge of the desk. Grabbing her a few, I hand them to her and wait for her to delicately wipe her eyes. I mean, that’s how every other woman I’ve ever met would handle it. Not Avery, though. She wraps that tissue around her nose and blows with all she is worth. Then she reaches for more and wipes her eyes with those.
By the time she finishes, I know she is actually the perfect woman. My perfect woman. Not concerned with how she appears in a moment of crisis, she actually wants to take care of herself.
If it wasn’t so weird, I’d admit to being turned on by it. Instead, I lean forward and balance on the desk in front of me, waiting to hear what Avery has to say about her call.
“You wanna tell me about it?”
My question lights a fire in her eyes that hadn’t been there a moment before. Inner strength that she fully harnesses in order to do the best thing for her student.
“Lucas Zucker,” she says quietly. “Karen’s son.”
I have a pen in hand and my notebook, writing down everything she says for my report later. “Go on.”
“Ciara Moore came to me at lunch and told me that she saw bruises on his back. He told her that his mother hurt him.” Avery looks down at her hands. “Her description and the emotion in her eyes… I can tell that she isn’t lying, Carter. And Lucas, he’s been acting out and there’s just been somethingoffyou know? I arranged for the two of them to work together for the sixth grade formal. To plan it. I thought that if they got along, that he might have an easier time in class. I never, not once, thought that his mother was hurting him.”
I let her go on, because those details, the tiny little seemingly insignificant details, are the ones that will help with a social worker.
“Chris called Bria,” Avery tells me quietly, like she read my min. “She’s the lead social worker for Birch County, and I wanted to have someone close, for him. You understand.”
I nod, still making notes and letting her talk. Clearly, she needs it.
“Has anyone talked to Lucas yet?”
When Avery doesn’t answer my question, I look up at her to see sorrow in her eyes. “No. I was going to have Chris bring him. But he said he’d stay with the class. And I wanted you to talk to Ciara first. Her mom is waiting to take her home already. I thought she should be at home. Just in case Lucas reacts poorly and tries to lash out at her for telling anyone his secret.”
Color me impressed. Avery did it exactly the way I would myself. Get the bystander’s report first. Make sure that the victim has a safe place to go to, and then step in. She really is perfect and amazing at her job.
“Okay,” I tell her softly. “Is she in with the principal and her mom?”
Avery nods, and I stand up. When I walk by her toward the older man’s office, Avery surprises me by reaching out and taking my hand.
“I meant it, Carter.” I look down into grateful eyes. “I really am grateful you came.”
“Avery.” I bend in half and kiss her wrist gently. “I would go through Hell for you if you needed me to. I might be a jackass and say the wrong things when I haven’t had a chance to think about it, but I’m always going to be here for you when you need me.”
Her eyes flash, and I can’t quite figure out what the emotion is before it vanishes. “You can take me out to dinner, but you better make it good. I like steak and ice cream.” I’m already nodding in agreement, and then she opens her mouth and makes my fuckin’ day. “And back rubs. You’ll have to give me back rubs, too.”
Even in the middle of the devastating day we are both about to share, Avery makes it better without trying.
When I leave the principal’s office ten minutes later, she has vanished, which is probably for the best. Both Ciara and her mother are bawling their eyes out, and Ciara is headed home, no doubt for cuddles with her mom.
“Thank you,” Ciara stops in front of me to say. “For listening to me and making me feel like an adult.”
Her mother, Sarah Moore, sobs behind her and then guides her away with a hand on her shoulder. Only turning back to say, “I’ll call you if she tells me anything else.”
I nod, and they walk out the door.
“This is going to be one giant clusterfuck.” Mr. Jameson, the principal, says from my side. “Lucas Zucker’s a good kid, but his mother… is a piece of work. She has been ever since the day she hit puberty.”
I snort in response. If anyone knows the history of all the residents in Birch, it is him. He’d taught more than half of us, and he’s been principal for the last fifteen years at least.
“Bria Keller is going to take his case,” I tell him. “She’ll make sure he’s taken care of.”
Mr. Jameson crosses his arms over his chest. “You must not know Avery James as well as you think you do. She was already on the phone with the head of the Department of Health and Human Services before you got here, getting emergency approval to house him.”
I have nothing, absolutely nothing to say to that. Avery won’t have a clue how to take care of a sixth grader. At least, not one who has been abused and treated like he has. She won’t know how to deal with that anxiety or stress or the late nights.
