Page 42 of Sweet Poison

Jeesh, he was popular. I almost rolled my eyes.

“I’ll go join the other kids now,” I said. “See you tomorrow, Anya.”

“No, later tonight. We’re coming for dinner, remember?” she reminded loudly.

Ouch! She wasn’t supposed to have said that out loud for the other parents to hear and speculate about. I hoped they didn’t hear. The last thing I needed was to be the butt of their gossip sessions over coffee.

“Right of course,” I said awkwardly.

“It’s time to go home now,” her father said and tugged on her hand.

“See you later, Miss Moore,” she called.

Just as the other women arrived, her father gave a wave and kept going. Marilyn, however, refused to let it go and instead went after him.

Chapter 25

Cole

“Mr. Swift?” the woman Marilyn called, and even though I tried to walk away as fast as I could to deter her, she just came even faster.

“Mr. Swift.”

There was no way I could avoid this, so I stopped and turned. Behind her, the other women I had hoped to avoid were trundling towards us like a snowball.

“Sorry, we’re in a bit of a rush,” I muttered.

“Of course, you are. A man like you must be so busy.” She smiled smarmily before the other women ambushed us.

“We wanted to invite you to a little parents' welcome meeting,” the leader gushed. “We have a little group here and would, of course, we’re a friendly bunch and like to welcome all newcomers to our town.”

I looked at them. Yeah, this group of nosy busybodies was perfect.

“That’s great. Let me know when, and I will do my very best to make it.”

“Oh wonderful,” she cried. Excitedly, she pulled out her phone and, so I noticed, did a few of the other women. “Can I have your number then? I’ll let you know when the plan has been set in place.”

I charmed her with my smile. “I’m not always on my phone. Let me give you my email address instead. That way I’ll definitely get your message.”

“Alright,” she said, but I could see the disappointment on her face.

I spelled my email address out and she put it into her phone. Afterwards, each woman introduced themselves; Nancy, Mary-Beth, Rebecca, and Megan.”

“There are a few more of our group you haven’t met, and not all moms. A few are dads, but we’ll be sure to introduce you to them soon so you both feel more at home here.”

“Thank you kindly,” I said.

She beamed happily. “Not at all. It’ll be a pleasure.”

“Have a great day,” I said and tugging my daughter’s hand, walked away.

Women were always drawn to me and their attention was more often than not a nuisance. I never wanted it, but maybe now it would form a protective net around me. The issue of Paganini appearing in this town loomed over me. I had to remain as vigilant as possible, but maybe these people would act as my early warning signal.

As I got in my car, I couldn’t help sneaking a look at the one woman I wanted a lot more from than just an early warning signal. I could never in a thousand years have imagined she would end up as my daughter’s teacher. But now that she had been put in that role, I was even more impressed by who she was.

I turned to Anya.

“Why did you frown when Marilyn said hello to you back there?” I asked. “You didn’t seem very happy to talk to her.”

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