Page 21 of Legal

Luck was in my court. I didn’t want to be rude, so I chatted a bit, but for the most part, I was out of there quickly after hugging Emily good-bye.

Thirteen minutes later, I was adding my car to the collection of others in the parking lot. In the time since I had left and driven Emily home, every kid in the area had swarmed in. I surveyed the blur of activity in the playground area, and my head dropped. If my phone was still there, it was probably trampled.

I jogged over, expecting to see the worst. Scanning the ground beneath the swings and the surrounding grass netted no results. I retraced my steps, going to the bleachers and back again. I feared some kid had walked off with it and was using it for a toy. Had I remembered to lock it? I groaned. My goal of bringing more fun into my life was only inviting more complications.

I noticed a couple women on a nearby bench. “Sorry to interrupt, but have you by chance seen a cell phone lying around?”

“No, sorry.”

Damn. “Okay, thanks.”

A girl in a baseball hat darted past, ponytail swinging wildly. I watched her make a beeline for the slide and to where, I assumed, her mother and younger sister were playing. I went over; it was worth a shot.

“Excuse me.” The woman lifted her head while the child continued drawing a picture in the dirt with a stick. “Have you been at the park the whole time since practice ended?”

“Yes.”

“I was here earlier, and I think I dropped my phone. Have you noticed one… anywhere?” I lifted my eyebrows, awaiting her response.Please, please, please—

“I wish I could tell you I had, but no.” My shoulders dropped. “But you can check in the office.” She pointed toward the school. “They’re open till one. If anything is unclaimed after practice, they’ll bring it there. I didn’t see anything, but maybe someone else did.”

“Thanks so much. I’ll do that.”

I raced to my car. It was close enough to walk if I wanted to tread through clumps of trees and waste more time, but I had to hurry and get to the office.

It hadn’t even dawned on me until I was rushing up the steps—who exactly takes the lost items to the office? Cassie mentioned something about bringing equipment to a school. I pulled open the doors and stepped into the building. It was nothing I could worry about now.

The office was directly across from the front doors. Unfortunately, no one occupied it. I glanced around. The place was so tiny I could see to the end of both hallways simultaneously. There were sounds of life coming from various classrooms, but for the most part, it was deserted. What did I expect? It was a Saturday in late June.

“Can I help you?”

I swiveled around to see an extremely petite woman holding a stack of papers that appeared almost as tall as her. She dropped them to the floor and began shoving pieces into individual slots lining the wall. I wondered if she had been in the office the whole time, and I just hadn’t seen her.

“Yes. I’m hoping someone dropped off a phone. I left it at the park during softball practice.”

“Not that I’m aware, but I’ve been in and out. Why don’t you check with Mr. Nolan?”

“Ah, I’m not familiar with this school. Where is—”

The front door opened, and an attractive older lady walked in. She waved and headed down the hall.

“Mrs. Freemont, can you please show…” The small woman looked at me.

“Jillian,” I said.

“Can you show Jillian the way to Mr. Nolan, please?”

The lady smiled warmly. “Of course.”

I approached her, and she held out her hand. Her hair was fully gray, but it worked for her. “Hello, Jillian. I’m Linda. Are you new to the school?”

“Oh, no. I forgot my phone at the park, and I was hoping someone dropped it off here.” How many times had I said that today? I was a warped record.

Linda nodded, and we took a few more steps. “Well, here we are.” She gestured to the closed door. “My granddaughter’s finishing up her lesson. We’ll go in when they’re finished.”

I couldn’t hear anything and was about to ask what time the lesson ended when the pluck of guitar strings snapped me to attention. Seconds later, the door opened.

His eyes widened, and I wished that’s all mine did. I think they actually popped from my head at one point and rolled down the hall.

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