Page 19 of Poles Apart
1. Buy him coffee when we meet.
That could prove difficult as he didn’t know what the hell he drank.
2. Buy him cake.
Well, that one wasn’t difficult. He could get him a piece of carrot cake from Molly’s. He thought about what else Lindsay had written, but other than fucking skydiving, he was at a loss.
Point one he could address now. He picked up his phone and responded to the message.
Hi, apology accepted. I shouldn’t have put that all on you so soon. We’ll meet you there at 4.30. Perhaps I could make it up to you with a coffee? How do you take it? Jx
He purposely put a kiss at the end of the text. Let Dom take from that what he would. He was leaving it there. He’d work up to the next point on his list and not rush it. Slow and steady wins the race.
After finishing his beer, he put the bottle in the recycling, locked up the house and went to his room. On the way, he checked if Abby was OK and told her to turn off her light and go to sleep. They needed to be up early to get to school and work.
The next morning came round quickly and as usual they were in a rush, Jacob having to drive like mad to get them both where they needed to get on time.
He walked into the teachers’ room to find Colin waiting for him. “Any news? Lindsay was up until late, adding to her list. I hope you appreciate the effort she’s putting into this.” Colin poked him in the chest as he spoke. “She had no time for me last night, so you—owe me.” He poked him again.
“I get the point. No need to keep poking me.” He did the same to Colin, for effect. “I need to get to class again. Abby cannot get up early to save her life.”
Jacob walked to his classroom again and unpacked his laptop. Lisa was in the room, and she smiled as he walked in.
“How was the meet-up with your old friend?”
“It could have gone better,” he replied. “We both had things to say, but maybe we could have both been—he paused for a while, trying to think of the right word to use—“more receptive to each other.”
Lisa looked at him blankly. “What do you mean?”
“Well, we’ve both had things happen in our past that made us who we are today, and not all of it has been good.” Jacob wiped yesterday’s lessons from the whiteboard in the classroom and started writing the current day and date. “We could have listenedandcommunicated better.”
“Wow,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “That’s fucking deep for a Tuesday morning.”
Jacob laughed. “Let’s hope it goes better when I see him again later.”
“You’re seeing him again? Couldn’t have gone that badly then.” Lisa frowned at him.
“Oh, I forgot to mention. He’s Abby’s new dance tutor, so I’ll be seeing him a couple of times a week. At least for a while, anyway, until we can get her into group classes.”
As he finished speaking, the children started filing into the room. Ah, Noah had come with his mum today. He could have a chat with her about yesterday’s homework.
He walked across the room, smiling at Noah. “Hi, Noah. How are you doing this morning?”
“Good, thanks, Mr Greyson. How are you?” Noah smiled up at him.
“I’m good too, but I need to have a word with you and your mum if that’s ok? Don’t worry. It’s nothing bad, I promise.” Mrs Wilkins looked concerned, and he put his hand on her arm. “Honestly, it’s all good.”
He led them to the side of the room and gestured for them both to sit at one of the small tables. This was the only problem working in a primary school. At 5’10”, it was a nightmare, trying to sit on the tiny chairs at the tiny tables.
“So, the homework you handed in on Friday. Let me start by saying you’re a very smart boy, Noah, and I appreciate the time and effort you put into it. Your handwriting has improved, and your sentences are getting so much better.” He’d already put Noah’s book to one side, and he placed it in front of them now, so they could see what he’d written.
“The question was to name as many ‘sh’ words as you could in a minute, and I know either your mum or dad were supposed to time you.”
Noah’s mum nodded. “Yes, his dad did his homework with him. Is it not good?”
“It was good, and while I appreciate that s-h-i-t is a ‘sh’ word, it’s probably best not to put it in your homework book.” Jacob tried to hide the smirk that was threatening to break on his face.
Noah’s mum looked mortified. “I’m going to kill him.” Jacob heard her say under her breath.
