Page 16 of He Doesn't Deserve You

When Gabriel returned to the kitchen, he found Ava drinking milk from her bowl and spilling it down the front of her dress. “Ava! Look what you’re doing,” he shouted in frustration.

Startled, Ava dropped the bowl, sending it crashing to the floor, and ran out of the kitchen in tears.

It took another twenty minutes to calm Ava, change her clothes, and get everyone into the car. They were going to be late again. As he drove to school, Gabriel couldn’t help but repeatedly replay his words to Emily in his mind: “You’re the adult. It’s your responsibility to get the kids to school on time.” Now, he had a newfound appreciation for how difficult the task was.

He pulled the car up to the high school, and Hunter put out his hand.

“What?” Gabriel asked.

“We need lunch money,” Hunter stated.

“Oh, right,” Gabriel said, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. “How much is lunch?” He asked, opening his wallet and pulling out a couple of bills.

“$3.50,” the twins said in unison.

Gabriel rifled through the money in his hand, “I don’t have any small bills.”

“This will work,” Hunter said, grabbing a ten-dollar bill from his father’s hand before hopping out of the car.

“I need money too,” Hayden said.

“Can you get five from Hunter?”

“We don’t have the same lunch period.”

Gabriel held out a twenty. “Here is your lunch money for the week.”

Hayden snatched the money from his father’s hand, saying, “Bye, Dad.”

Gabriel’s next stop was Ava’s preschool. He dropped Ava off with no problems, then let out a sigh of relief when he was back in the car. He was pulling into his office parking lot when he got a call from the preschool.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Dr. Anderson. This is Ms. Kathy, from Ava’s preschool.”

“Yes,” Gabriel said, trying to hide his annoyance.

“We can’t find Ava’s lunch. It’s not in her cubby.”

He parked the car and glanced into the rearview mirror, spotting Ava’s lunchbox lying on the back seat next to her booster seat. “I have it,” he said into the phone. “I just got to work; I can’t bring it now. What time is lunch?”

“Twelve o’clock,” Ms. Kathy said.

“Okay, I’ll have it there before noon,” he assured Ms. Kathy.

“Thank you, Dr. Anderson.”

“You’re welcome.” Gabriel ended the call.

He then turned off the car and removed the key from the ignition. He grabbed his briefcase from the passenger seat, removed Ava’s lunchbox from the back seat, and exited the car. He then long-legged it across the parking lot toward his building.

9

Roman parked the car down the block from the preschool, cut the engine, and turned to Emily. “Remember what I said. Get Ava and get out of there. Don’t stop and talk to anyone. The quicker you get out of there the better.”

“I know. Stop worrying. I got this.” Emily opened the door and placed one foot on the ground.

“I’ll be right here waiting for you.”

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