Page 4 of Murphy's Laws of Attraction
“Seriously Finn, trying to use the guilt trip on me. The world isn’t going to end if I’m not there today. She’ll forget I wasn’t even there once she gets to school. Hell she’ll probably be so busy fending off boys she won’t have time to think about anything.” Was she serious? Just thinking about boys trying to date my daughter makes my heart clench. We aren’t there yet, she’s not ready yet, I’m not ready yet.
“She’s there to learn not to fend off boys Savannah. I need you to do this for her, she needs to know her mom cares.” There’s a loud sigh on the other side of the line.
“Hold on.” I can hear whispering through the phone; there’s a man's voice mixed with hers. Was she seriously about to blow off her daughter for a fucking guy? I don’t give a shit what she does to me, but Paisley deserves better.
“Five minutes, I’ll stay for five minutes and then I have to leave. I got shit to do Finn and I don’t have time to babysit ourdaughter.” Counting backwards from a hundred keeps me from screaming obscenities through the phone at her.
“Thank you.” I manage to get through my clenched teeth as I remind myself that I am doing this for Paisley.
“I’m about to get her up so she can start getting ready, give us about an hour. If you have time you are welcome to drop her off.” Savannah lets out another exasperated sigh.
“I will be there in an hour; I’m staying for five minutes Finn no more. Don’t push your luck.” Before I can reply she hangs up, leaving nothing but silence in her wake. I don’t know what’s happened to the woman I married, but this new Savannah is a fucking bitch.
The rest of the morning goes off without a hitch. I wake up Paisley, and while she is getting ready, I start breakfast. Pulling out what I need to make pancakes, I start to mix everything in a bowl. Learning how to cook for me and Paisley has been an interesting journey. There have been more than a few pizza nights thanks to dad burning dinner. Luckily, I’m a fast learner, because we would probably be living off take out if I wasn’t.
Being forced to learn how to cook really made me appreciate all the cooking Savannah did. Not that she did anything fancy, but she kept us fed. When I wasn’t deployed, we’d sit down every night for dinner together and talk about our day. I don’t know what happened to that woman, maybe my accident really was too much for her to handle. Then again, she admitted to cheating on me while I was deployed before my accident.
Was she really that unhappy our whole marriage? If she had been then she fooled me for years. She never complained, never acted like she was unhappy with the way things were. I know we had Paisley really soon after we got married, but she seemed happy staying home with her. Once Paisley was in school, I evensuggested she might like to start going to college, but she never tried.
I’m so lost in my thoughts that I jump when Paisley slams her book bag on one of the kitchen chairs. Turning around I take in her first day of school outfit. Thank goodness she is in normal clothes, just a pair of jeans, a blue comic book character t-shirt, her blue shoes with the straps, and her black hoodie. I can’t believe my baby girl is going into high school, it feels like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.
“Pay attention dad, you’re burning the pancakes. Ugh! Mom is going to be here any minute and breakfast isn’t done. Don’t mess this up for me dad, I want a normal first day of school breakfast.” Shaking myself out of my stupor I turn my attention back to the food.
“Sorry, I zoned out there for a minute. Give your old dad a break, his little girl is going into high school today. I’m feeling old before my time.” I can hear her sigh behind me, and I know she’s probably rolling her eyes into the back of her head.
“You are old, get over it. What time did mom say she was going to be here?” Throwing the bacon in the skillet I start a new set of pancakes. Looking at the clock I know it will be tight to get everything on the table by the time her mom gets there. If her mom shows up on time that is.
“She should be here in a few minutes, I told her to give us about an hour so you could get ready and I could cook breakfast. Can you set the table for me?” I’m starting to stack pancakes on a serving plate when the doorbell rings. Paisley runs to answer the door while I finish plating the food. Taking a fortifying breath, I prepare for the inevitable confrontation that’s about to go down.
Savannah walks in wearing barely any clothing, some kind of skimpy dress and sky-high heels, like she just left the club. Hereyes find mine as soon as she enters the room and the death glare I am getting makes me wonder again if I ever really knew the real her. Paisley is chattering away about her mom taking her school after breakfast and Savannah’s eyes narrow on me. I just shrug my shoulders in response. It’s not like I told Paisley that she would take her to school, Paisley just assumed, and I wasn’t going to correct her.
“Honey, I’d love nothing more than to take you to school, but I have things I need to do today. I’m sure your dad can take you instead.” Looking out the window I notice a shiny sports car sitting in my driveway, along with a shiny new man sitting in the driver's seat. I’m tempted to ask her if the thing she has to do wants some pancakes, but I bite my tongue.
“No worries Paisley, I’ll drop you off.” Paisley looks disappointed, but quickly plasters on a smile for her mom.
“I understand. I’ll come over this weekend and I can tell you all about my first week.” Savannah visibly cringes, but nods in agreement. I can already tell she’ll be making an excuse as to why Paisley can’t come over to visit this weekend. Leaving them to talk in private I make my way down the hall to get ready. Maybe some time alone together is what Savannah needs to reconnect with our daughter. Paisley needs her mom in her life, and I’m bound and determined to make that happen for her.
Chapter Four
Mira
First day of school is always hectic, especially for the school nurse, and today is no exception. I’ve already had three fevers, two toes squished by books, a kid having a panic attack, and let’s not forget the one kid who whacked himself in the head with the locker. That last one I called mom to come get, because I’m pretty sure he has a concussion. Thankfully, it was almost my lunch hour, I needed a break to regroup before the second half of the day started.
Just as I’m about to grab my lunch box a girl walks in with her hoodie tied around her waist, her books firmly planted in front of her, and tears streaming down her face. She looks so broken, like she’s lost her best friend, and I instantly have the urge to give her a hug.
“Hey honey, what’s wrong? Come sit down here and tell me what’s going on.” She shakes her head at me when I tell her to sit.
“I...I can’t sit, it will make it worse.” She whispers with her head down.
“Okay, what will be made worse? Is it your stomach?” She has a death grip on her notebooks in front of her like a shield.
“They all saw it…all of them. I can never show my face here again.” Now I’m totally confused, whatever this kid has going on doesn’t sound like she needs a nurse.
“Alright, I’m sure whatever happened will be yesterday's news in no time. Don’t worry too much, people tend to forget quickly and move on to the next thing. Do you want to stay here until yournext period?” At that question she starts sobbing. Did I break her? I give into my first instinct and wrap her in a hug, letting her cry it out. Whatever has her upset, she needs a shoulder to cry on right now. I remember going to this same school, needing that same thing ages ago only there was no one to give it to me.
“You just let it out honey, I’m here. Ms. Gordan isn’t going anywhere until you are ready.” A torrent of tears and sobs erupt from her tiny body and my heart breaks for her. Eventually her sobs before nothing more than sniffles and she steps back.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to blubber all over you.” Giving her a smile I step behind my desk once again.
