Page 50 of Oh, Hell No

Twenty-Three

Winslet

I arrived at school on time, but barely. There had been no wine consumption, like on Saturday night, but I’d noticed two things that caught my attention. It had caused me to stop and think. When had I done that? Which, in return, got me behind and off my morning routine.

The entire ride to school, it was still bothering me. They weren’t bad things, and it was probably something as simple as me being tired last night and working on autopilot with my thoughts elsewhere. I mean, I tried to always hang up my towel after my bath so I could use it twice, but last night, I couldn’t remember doing it.

I’d walked into the bedroom, looking for my phone, with it wrapped around me. My phone wasn’t in there, so I went to the kitchen. It had been left on the counter. The glass of water I’d made to put beside my bed was there too. I decided to come backand get it after I was dressed and turn on the dishwasher too.

I went back to the bedroom, took off my towel, put on pajamas, and got distracted with my phone. Marley had texted me about going to see Perry. I knew if I didn’t go, she would be too nervous. I also did want to see my brother. As angry with him as I had been when I realized what he’d done, he was still my brother. I loved him.

I thought I had gone and gotten in bed then and responded that we could go on Saturday. She was chatty after that. I went back and forth with her, trying to be engaged, but I was tired. I did not remember getting up again.

But this morning, when my eyes opened, there had been my glass of water on my nightstand. Taking entirely too long staring at it, confused as to when I’d brought it in there, I’d decided it must have been in the middle of the night.

Once I got to the bathroom and began doing my morning rituals, I’d turned to dry my face and found my towel on the rack. At first, I didn’t think anything about it, but while I was in the middle of using it to pat my cheeks dry, it dawned on me that I’d taken my towel off in the bedroom last night. That had sent me down the rabbit hole of a slight panic as I went through the apartment, examining anything and everything for something out of place.

Was I walking in my sleep? That was the only explanation I’d managed to come up with by the time I walked into my classroom.

When the kids arrived, it all got pushed aside as I focused on my daily lesson plan. There was no break in my morning this year. I had the students until lunch at twelve fifteen. After, they went to PE, then on to music. Leaving me free to get things copied for later in the week, laminate anything that might need it, get another cup of coffee from the teachers’ break room, and do some straightening on my desk.

I was stepping into the hallway, closing my door behind me, on my way to the teacher workroom to print out the worksheets for the rest of the week when Toby opened the entrance from the parking lot and walked inside. I realized I hadn’t seen him but a couple of times in passing at a distance this week. Normally, he went out of his way to be in my path—or at least it felt like it. Since he hadn’t been texting me anymore, it did feel somewhat awkward, but I was relieved he’d taken the hint.

Smiling at him, but not wanting to appear too friendly and give him the wrong idea, I waited until he drew closer. “Good afternoon,” I greeted.

His eyes were hopeful yet confused. I didn’t have time to stand here and figure him out.

“Hey,” he replied. “I, uh…I’m just getting here,” he informed me.

“Oh.” I didn’t want to ask why, but I also felt as if he was standing there, waiting for me to ask.

“Must have been a dentist or doctor appointment day,” I said lightly as I began walking toward the workroom. Since he needed to go in that direction to get to his class, I didn’t think it was rude.

“No,” he said with a frown and a shake of his head. “I went outside this morning to head to work, but I had four flat tires. I did some inspecting because it’s weird for all four to be flat. And they had been slashed.”

My head snapped around to look at him. “What?” That sounded scary.

He shrugged and nodded. “Yeah. After, I got a tow truck, which cost money I had been saving for a boat—not to mention the four new tires I had to buy. Those aren’t cheap.”

“My apartment has video surveillance. Did you check with the office at yours?”

I knew he lived in an apartment because I’d had to hear allabout the land he’d bought, and after he got the boat he wanted, he was saving to start building his dream home. A log cabin–style thing. I’d zoned out during that long story.

“Mine does too. And there was nothing. All night. Nothing. No strange vehicles, no one. The only person who got near my car was Mrs. Rochelle, who is eighty-three and tells meGod is goodevery time I see her. There is no way she had the strength to shove a knife in my tires and do the damage that had been done. She had a walking cane in one hand and one of her numerous cats in the other. I mean, I couldn’t have driven over anything that did it. Even the man at the tire place said that it was vandalism. But”—he let out a heavy sigh—“how could it be?”

I stopped at the door to the workroom. “That’s crazy,” I replied. Although it sounded a little far-fetched to me. Like maybe he was lying because he’d needed to come in late for another reason he didn’t want to share.

He let out a humorless laugh. “Yeah. Unless the manager at the apartments has it out for me. He could have paused the cameras and slashed them. Although I don’t know why he would do something like that. I’ve never done anything to make him dislike me. Especially to the level of hate that would have taken. But he is the only one who had access to those cameras last night. He is also severely obese and gets winded when he stands up out of his chair. The idea of him walking out to my car and slashing my tires—I don’t think I could even get a blade in one myself.”

I scrunched my nose, not liking the way he had described the manager. That was rude. Maybe the manager did have a reason to slash his tires. Toby wasn’t a doctor. He didn’t get to label someone obese. Sometimes, I’m so tired after a long day that getting off my sofa makes me winded. Jerk.

“Sounds like a conundrum,” I replied and opened the door. “I gotta go get some work done.”

He nodded with the perplexed look still on his face. “Yeah, uh, are we good?” he asked.

I nodded. “Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?” Was this still about the migraine?

The crease between his eyes eased some. “Well, I know you weren’t feeling well, and I probably sent too many texts. I’m sorry about that. I can be like a dog after a bone sometimes.”

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