Page 24 of Single Teddy
“I’d rather talk in person if possible. Are you free by any chance?”
I nodded before I remembered he couldn’t see me. “I’m on my way,” I said and hung up.
Azrael watched me and started the engine before I could say anything.
“What about the stakeout?” I asked.
“I’m sure it will be fine for twenty minutes. This is more important.”
I didn’t know if Goodman would agree, but I kept my mouth shut and sat back as Azrael drove me to the elementary school and dropped me off.
“Let me know how it goes. You still have my number, yeah?” he asked before he sped off back to the house on Aster Lane and I was left alone to face this new unknown. I tried to stop the horror scenarios running through my head, but it was simply impossible.
I made it inside and navigated—successfully this time—to Wesley’s classroom and knocked on the door.
I watched him through the glass panel as he got up from his desk and approached to let me in.
“Thank you for getting here so fast,” he said, offering me an adult-sized chair.
I sat across from him and a waft of lavender assaulted my nostrils, barely managing to calm my nerves but making me take pause and study Bear’s teacher closer.
The lens of his glasses reflected a soft glare from the windows making his kind green eyes brighter as he stared back at me. His soft smile almost…sizzled against my skin, making me feel warmer. After a moment, my insides stopped tossing and turning violently, and I cleared my throat.
“Is Bear okay?” I managed to ask.
“Yes. Bear is okay.” His smile deepened, and I smelled lavender again.
It was intense one moment and almost nonexistent the next. I couldn’t quite place where it was coming from, but something told me it was him.
“I’ve been meaning to catch up with you all week. And…” He looked down. “There was an incident in class today.”
“What happened?” I leaned forward and searched for his gaze, feeling almost untethered without it.
“Nothing serious, really! Bear had an argument with two boys during brain break.”
I frowned.
“Brain break?”
Wesley looked up, his serious expression softening with a chuckle.
“Oh, that’s a mini recess between lessons, but it takes place in the classroom. I try to give them creative tasks that will keep them interested while also not being too demanding on their little brains.” He chuckled again.
“I see.”
The way he spoke so elegantly, so gently, was comforting. It was endearing too. And it gave me some confidence that he was a great teacher for Bear to have. Someone who cared.
“So what happened during brain break?”
“It was nothing, really. A miscommunication that got a bit out of hand. One of the other kids pushed him, and he tried to hit him, but I stepped in before anyone was hurt.”
He rubbed his wrist and focused on the desk again.
“I thought it’d be a good opportunity to check how you guys are getting on at home. How are you two adjusting to this new…chapter in your life?”
I shrugged and sat back in the chair, taking a deep breath.
“I mean…it’s only been a couple of weeks or so. It’s going as well as it c—” I looked around the classroom as if I’d find the right answer on its walls, but then my gaze landed on his wrist, which he had freed from his hold.
