Page 126 of Johnathan

Whore.

“Fuck.”

“I’m asking this officially now. Has anything strange happened lately?”

Abby looked at John and nodded. “My tires were cut on my car the day I moved in here. There was a note.”

“It was the same tone in that note. And the phone call the other night. It’s been this same message over and over again.”

“Right. I remember you telling me about that. Shit. Alright.”

“Hank, I’m going to need the paperwo?—”

Hank held up his hand and nodded. “You’re officially on leave from this moment until we figure out what’s happening here.”

Abby’s eyes bounced between him and Hank. “You can’t be on leave. What are you talking about?”

“Baby, someone is targeting you. I was afraid that the thing at Sal’s wasn’t an accident. That person didn’t just hurt you because you were randomly in their path. And then when the tires happened, and that phone call, I talked to Hank about it all. The most important thing is that I’m not letting you and Katy out of my sight until we figure this all out.”

Thirty-Eight

“Iknow you’ve been so stressed about this, but the winter carnival is going to be great, Abby.” Mary Beth spread out the green table cloth, smoothing it down before Abby set down the bin with all the supplies they’d need to make cereal wreaths. Shoot, she really hoped John remembered to grab the butter out of the fridge like she asked.

Mary Beth’s partner, Mac, was outside the classroom with a few of the other parent volunteers and John setting up the carnival activities. There was a snowflake ring toss, snowman bowling, a winter wonderland bubble race, and a cute photo backdrop that Mac had really gone above and beyond to make. She was thrilled with how everything came together and couldn’t wait to see the excitement from her students when they got back from music class.

“I hope so. I just want the kids to have a really nice time, and to be excited for everything we are going to be doing leading up to the holiday break. Which reminds me, did you get the songs to Ms. Naomi for the kids to start practicing?”

“I emailed the choices to her last night. She told me when I dropped the kids off that they would start practicing them next week.”

“Oh, good. I really want them to be confident with it by the end of next week. I mean, the presentation for parents is only two weeks out.”

“One thing at a time, Abby. Stress about today is fine, no use getting yourself spun up about everything that is left to do before those two glorious weeks off.”

Abby took a deep breath as she started to portion the cereal into bowls.

“Very true. One thing at a time.”

The carnival went by in a blur of laughter and smiles from her kids. Now, thoroughly exhausted, her class was plopped in front of her projection screen, waiting for a cup of hot cocoa and small snack to go with the movie they were watching.

“It seems like Katy and Honey are really attached to each other.” Laura set the box of hot chocolate mix on the table next to Abby.

“I think they are. They hold each other’s hand to gym class and out to the playground. It’s very sweet.”

“Well, we should set up a playdate for them. I mentioned it before, but with the holidays coming up, it might be nice to get them together before the long break. Maybe next week sometime.”

“Oh, you’d have to ask Katy’s dad about that. I’m not sure it’s something I can help with.”

“You’re dating him, aren’t you? I mean, the two of you aren’t really subtle about it. The way he was looking at you a few minutes ago… let’s just say I was happy the kids were all focused on the movie.”

“I don’t think this is an appropriate conversation to be having, Laura.”

“Why not? Clearly Katy knows something is going on. She’s called you ‘Mom’ in class before.”

“Excuse me?”

“Honey has come home on quite a few occasions and told me about the mistake.”

“Honey has also called me ‘Mom’ before in class. It’s a very common mistake for kids their age and is nothing to be concerned about.”

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