Page 23 of Love Me Fierce

I need to stop running into Everett, but since Ava and Hutch’s wedding, it’s like I can’t escape him.

Thankfully, I can throw myself into work for the rest of the day thanks to the never-ending administrative duties and the steadystream of sick kids needing to go home. Not surprising given we are still in the first month of school.

Just before the final bell rings, I slip into the supply room to grab a new box of latex gloves and tissues when I overhear Shawna talking to one of our counselors, Taffy McGuire.

“Do you think his son knows what happened?” Shawna says in a half-whisper.

I try to block her out. Office gossip isn’t my thing, but after a pause, Taffy says, “I mean, Everett dropped everything, so it must have been bad.”

Wait, this is about Everett?

“That he became a cop isn’t a surprise,” Shawna says. “I wish he’d talk about it with me, though.”

The phone from inside the counselor’s office rings and Shawna hurries out the opposite door.

After finishing up in the supply room, I grab my raincoat and lunchbox and leave the office building from the side door. Shawna’s words rattle around in my mind.Does his son know what happened?What is she talking about? I also didn’t miss her overfamiliarI wish he’d talk about it with me.Why would he? Are they close?

I shake my head to stop this train of thought because I don’t care who Everett hangs out with.

The morning’s steady drizzle and last night’s wind has turned my shortcut past the soccer field into a spongy mess slick with fallen leaves. When I descend the hill to the elementary school’s parking lot, the curb is packed with parents waiting in pickup trucks and station wagons. The school’s broad entryway is also clustered with the parents who walk their children home.

When I join them, Jesse breaks from a small group of dads standing by the flagpole and walks over. I haven’t seen him since the wedding, but his daughter Skye and Mateo are in the same class and have become close.

“How was the middle school today?” Jesse asks.

“Busy.” Mostly the middle school nurse position is answeringemails and administering medications. Logan Rumsey’s fight today was my first. I hope Everett doesn’t come down too hard on him. The school suspension is firm enough. Logan was just defending that poor girl. I don’t condone violence, but a part of me wants to give the kid a medal.

Jesse nods, then his bright blue eyes light up. “Hey, I got a couple of really great shots of you and Matty at the wedding. Do you want me to make you a few prints?”

The final bell chimes from inside the school just as two of the administrators exit the main entrance to run the car line and the crosswalk.

“Gosh, that would be great,” I say to Jesse as the classroom doors burst open and kids file onto the concrete walkway.

“Cool.” Jesse tucks one of his wild curls behind his ear, his gaze so steady and kind that I’m tempted to step back. Jesse asked me out once, but I turned him down. That he’s offering this gift makes me wonder if I wasn’t firm enough. Or maybe his offer is genuine? It’s confusing. It’s not that I don’t long for friendship, I just never imagined the people of Finn River to be so welcoming, especially to an outsider like me. I moved here to live a quiet life and raise Matty far from the life we fled. Far from the person we escaped.

Mateo and Skye come racing over, both holding some sort of art project.

“Mom!” Mateo says, his smile so bright it could melt the last of the clouds away. “We did Sunflower Jackpot today and I won!”

“How exciting!” I say with a laugh while Skye rattles off something to Jesse, her uneven pigtails bobbing, and a sign that Jesse plays both parenting roles with his daughter, just like I do with Mateo. It makes me think of Everett, too, shepherding a troubled Logan from the nurse’s office earlier. From Sepp, I know that Everett’s on his own, too. We should form a club.

I shake my head.No. What is wrong with me? First I get hot and bothered at the wedding when Everett grabbed me around the waist, then my ovaries practically combust the moment I saw him insideGlory Holes, and now I’m captain of the Finn River Single Parents Club?

“Bye Matty!” Skye says over her shoulder as Jesse leads her toward the road.

“Bye!” Mateo replies as he slides his hand into mine. We walk in the opposite direction, back to where I parked at the middle school.

“…and we got to do math for an extra ten minutes,” Matty rattles off. His missing front tooth adds the tiniest lisp to his speech. I should record him talking, so I can keep it forever. “And I got a daffodil bulb to plant, can we?”

“Sure.” There’s a little creek that runs alongside the edge of the trailer park. We could find a spot there maybe?

“Mr. Tanner taught us a song about apple picking,” Matty says. “Want me to teach you?”

“You know I do,” I reply, swinging Matty’s hand as we walk.

By the time we get to the car, I’ve managed to get the chorus down. Matty smiles up at me. “You’re almost as good as Skye, Mom!”

I ruffle his hair. “Thanks, bug.”

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