Page 36 of Minor Trouble
She stopped at the sound of my voice, spinning around to face me. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she gushed. “I’ve been going out of my mind. Neither of them are answering their phones.”
In a few steps, she threw herself at my chest, wrapping her arms around me. I couldn’t help but respond by pulling her towards me, my nose buried in her hair, breathing in the soft, coconut scent of her shampoo.
Ainsley lifted her head, her green eyes blinking at me. “Sorry, that was selfish of me. You must be feeling much worse.”
Standing there, in Ainsley’s office, with her in my arms, I felt better, comforted,stronger. With her, it was as if anything were possible. Everything would be fine as long as Ainsley was with me.
“Ahem.” A female voice from behind us forced us to spring apart. “Sorry to interrupt and everything, but one of the tenth graders has just come to the office to tell me he thinks he saw Noah and Pepper in the greenway. You might want to go and check it out?”
Ainsley’s cheeks were red as she addressed the messenger. “Thanks, Joanna. We’ll go and take a look.”
Joanna struggled to mask a grin at the sight of her work colleague caught in an embrace with a strange man. “Apparently it’s a really cool place to make out without anyone seeing,” she suggested.
“Come on.” I grabbed Ainsley’s hand and pulled her out of the office. Remembering the door to the greenway from my own school days, I crashed through. Ainsley struggled to keep up.
“You might want to slow down,” she puffed. “Running in a skirt and heels isn’t easy, you know.”
I slowed my pace, not letting go of her hand, and we followed the trail, searching the grounds for Noah and Pepper. If I recalled correctly, there was a treehouse not far from here. It had been one of the places Hannah and I had hung out, well, made out. Joanna hadn’t been wrong about that.
“Let me check up here,” I said, when we reached it. Climbing up onto the platform, I peered inside to be met with the scared faces of Noah and Pepper. “They’re here,” I shouted down to Ainsley.
“Thank goodness. I’ll call off the search.”
“Hey, buddy,” I directed at Noah, trying to keep my tone even. There was no point going off on them until I knew the whole story. “What’s all this about?”
Before Noah could say a word, Pepper spoke. “He was only looking out for me, Mr. Hudson. My parents are splitting up, and my dad’s moving out tomorrow. I didn’t want to be around them, and I panicked. I wanted to run away, but Noah told me I should stay and try to work things out with my mom. That it’s better to have one parent who cares about me than none at all.”
A lump formed in my throat.Noah had really said that?I glanced over at Noah who stared resolutely at the wooden floor of the treehouse.
“He’s a wise kid,” I managed. “Particularly after everything he’s been through.”
“He knows you’re trying your best,” Pepper added.
“So, what do you want to do?” I asked. “Are you still running away, or…?”
Pepper pushed her glasses back up her nose. “I should go home to Mom.” She cast a look in Noah’s direction. “Thanks, Noah.”
Without looking up, he nodded, mumbling something I couldn’t hear.
“Let’s get you back then.”
The four of us trudged back towards the school, going back to Ainsley’s office, where a woman waited.
When we walked in, she rushed towards Pepper, ignoring the rest of us. “Pepper, what were you thinking? How could you run off like that? It’s not like you.” She spotted Noah out of the corner of her eye and turned to him. “I suppose this is down to you?” she accused. “Why am I not more surprised?”
Staring at her, I realized who she was. Pepper’s Mom was Kaley Johnson. Hannah’s best friend at school. She was a couple of years older, but they’d been on the cheer squad together and had formed a strong friendship. Once Hannah had been whisked away by her parents, Kaley and her crew had started a hate campaign against me for getting their friend pregnant and forcing her to leave town. No matter how many times I protested, saying I had nothing to do with their decision to move, they upped their crusade. If anything, it had been their fault I’d landed in with the wrong crowd, the only group to accept me without question.
“Kaley.” I kept my tone measured. “How are you?”
Her lip curled as she spat out her words. “My husband is leaving me, and my daughter wants to run away with your errant son. How do you think I am?”
“Mrs. Smart,” said Ainsley. “Perhaps you should calm down. I’m sure Pepper doesn’t want to see you like this.” She glanced across at the girl who shrank against the desk, trying to make herself as small as possible.
“I had no idea Noah was your son,” Kaley went on.
“Mine and Hannah’s,” I pointed out.
Kaley’s mouth pursed like a sour lemon, her lips practically invisible. “I would have kept Pepper away from him if I’d have known. What’s he doing here anyway? Why isn’t he with Hannah? Surely she’s not gone soft and let you be involved in his life.”
