Page 70 of Samuel
“I have a spare passport photograph in here I think.”
After a couple of seconds, he pulled out the small picture and passed it to the clearly stressed young teacher. She took it from him with a slight shake in her hand and reached for the stapler on Mrs. Rowntree’s desk, attaching it to her list.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“Miss Carmichael, we don’t blame you.”
She looked up at me and her eyes were suddenly full of emotion. “I should have checked, especially as Frankie wasn’t sure he should go with him.”
Mrs. Rowntree gave a quiet groan, while Sam growled beside me.
“He didn’t want to go with him?” he asked, leaning forward and slamming his mug down on the desk.
“Frankie was a little unsure, that’s all.” The headmistress looked at her employee and blinked slowly. “That’s right isn’t it Julia.”
Miss Carmichael nodded vigorously and looked between me and Sam. Her neck was bright red and I could see a thin sheen of sweat on her top lip.
“He didn’t refuse or anything like that, he just said he wasn’t sure he should. Mr. Brent seemed genuine though, he told me and Frankie that Frankie’s grandmother couldn’t make it, so you’d sent him. I just thought Frankie was being cautious because he’d been expecting Mrs. West.”
“And you didn’t think that maybe it was because he didn’t actually want to go with him?” Sam’s nostrils flared as he shook his head in disbelief. “Did you not ask him why he didn’t want to go with him?”
Miss Carmichael bit her lip and shook her head.
“Mr. Cooper,” Mrs. Rowntree sighed. “We are where we are and have learned from it. We are going to change our process; we’re now taking photographs and the school secretary will contact the child’s main guardian every term to ensure that the list hasn’t changed. We are also considering issuing some sort of pass card too, but rest assured nothing of this nature will happen again.”
“All great ideas, Mrs. Rowntree,” Sam replied. “But the fact of the matter is, Frankie didn’t want to go with Brent and you still let him take our son.”
My heart tripped from its regular beat when Sam said the words ‘our son’, and it scared me how much I liked hearing it.
“I am so sorry, Mr. Cooper.”
Miss Carmichael was almost in tears now and while she’d helped to create the scariest experience of my life, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“I think we all could have done things differently,” I said and, for Miss Carmichael’s benefit, I copied Sam’s comforting move from the car and put my hand on his thigh “I should have ensured I told you that Josh was off the list, but you should have listened to Frankie, and taken note of his hesitancy.”
Mrs. Rowntree nodded and folded her hands in front of her on her desk.
“We apologise again, wholeheartedly. We can promise you nothing like this will happen again and hope you can both feel confident that Frankie is safe here.”
I nodded. “Yes, we do.”
Sam didn’t answer, but nodded with a sharp exhale of breath.
When Mrs. Rowntree pushed back her chair, Sam’s pushed to his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets. Anger was seeping from him, which in turn pissed me off. All of a sudden he was the concerned father. After eight years of nothing he now felt it was okay to go into my son’s school, the one I chose, the one that had served him perfectly well so far, and tell everyone what they’d done wrong. I then remembered the look of absolute fear on his face the night before and I understood. He’d fallen in love with his son and the thought of losing him had been too much to bear. At least it proved that I’d been right to let him into Frankie’s life – but whether that included me, well of that I wasn’t so sure.
Sam
the present
It had been almost a week since Josh had taken Frankie, and he had been charged and was awaiting sentencing. Maisie was adamant she didn’t want to go to court and find out what the bastard got. Initially I had wanted to but if I was honest, I’d probably have jumped into the fucking dock and punched him, so decided whenever his court date was, I’d be best staying away.
As for Frankie, well he seemed none the worse for what happened. Yes, he’d been worried when Josh picked him up and unsure whether he should go, but to all intents and purposes he’d gone on a play date and had some fun, his biggest concern being he’d upset his mum when he saw how upset she was. It amazed me how quickly kids bounced back and I had realised I had a lot to learn about parenting.
Over the week I’d see Frankie a couple of times, for a cinema visit and a trip to the Football Museum, but the kid was smart and at the cinema had actually said, “So what’s the deal, Sam? How come you’re doing things with me, are you wanting to take my mum out and daren’t ask me if it’s okay? ‘Cause you don’t need to spoil me, I’d say yes.”
I had to admit it floored me and I wanted to confess everything; that I was his dad and wanted a relationship with his mum, but I knew Maisie would have my balls if I did. Instead, I told him that I liked him and his mum and maybe in the future I’d like to take her on a date but for now was happy to be friends. He looked at me as though he didn’t believe a fucking word, but didn’t say anything, only nodding and then running off to the pick ‘n’ mix sweets.
I was now about to teach the swimming lesson and Frankie was already in the pool, seeing as I’d picked him up. We’d had a splash around, even though he’d wanted me to watch him do laps, but I wanted him to enjoy swimming too, so had insisted he wait for the lesson. He’d pouted but as soon as I splashed him, he soon decided he was happy to play.
