by Vicky Jones
“It’s OK. Baby, I know you would never have done that. I know. We’ll be fine. We don’t have to see her. David won’t be in her class forever. Please, Shona, calm down.”
Shona’s whole body was shaking.
Chapter 33
Lucy had spent the weekend in a similar state of shock. She sat in deep thought at her desk in her classroom the following Monday morning trying to make sense of it all. How could Shona be here? Of all the places she could have gone to after she left Mississippi, she had ended up in Sunnybrook, only ten miles from Monterey, where Lucy had moved back after that terrible night at Dorothy’s house.
Lucy had always wanted to teach, but when she’d enrolled in college back in Mississippi eight years ago it just didn’t feel like the right time. On her arrival back in Monterey, she’d been escorted down to the local college by her mother and enrolled at the next intake. Now that she was doing the job, she’d realized it was all she’d ever wanted in her life.
“Excuse me, ma’am, do you mind if I finish cleaning in here?” Bennett said after popping his head around the door.
Lucy snapped out of her thoughts. “Um... Yeah, of course, Henry. Go right ahead.”
Bennett swept his brush across the wooden floor, then ran his polishing cloth over all the tiny chairs. He poked the edge of his cloth into the corners of each window after wiping them until they sparkled.
“All done, Miss Adamson. Sorry again to disturb you,” Bennett announced, tipping his cap.
“Well now, Henry, what a brilliant job you’ve done there. Those windows are shining like a new penny. Thank you so much,” Lucy replied, a genuine smile on her tired face.
“You’re welcome. You have a great day now.” Bennett collected his things, then closed the door again behind him. Seconds later, another knock came at the door and in stepped Principal Miller, a pensive look on her face.
“Good morning, Margaret. How was your weekend?” Lucy asked. Her smile eased off when she saw Miller’s hard stare.
“Fine. How’s that boy David getting on? Is he causing you any trouble?” Miller walked over to Lucy’s desk.
Lucy’s skin prickled. “He’s doing great. Really great, actually. Why do you ask?” Her eyes focused on Miller a little too keenly, causing Miller to raise an eyebrow.
“Just the way that Shona woman was eyeballing you like she hated you. Almost as if she knew you or something, but they’ve just moved here from Alabama, haven’t they?”
Lucy felt the corners of her mouth twitch. “I don’t know… Don’t worry, Margaret. I’ll be sure to let you know if I get any trouble.”
“See that you do. This is a respectable school. I don’t want any fuss, OK?”
“David, can you come over here a second?” Lucy called out as her class was running off to morning break. Holding the paw of a brown bear he’d found in the homeroom box, he trotted over to her desk and stood wide-eyed, looking up at her. She pressed her hands together and placed her fingertips on her lips. “How’s things at home now? I heard your momma was sick.”
“It’s OK. Mommy gets tired a lot, but Shona plays with me when she’s sleeping,” David replied, wiping his nose with his free hand.
“Shona’s your aunt, right?” Lucy probed.
“Um... I just call her Shona. That’s what Momma said to do.” He cuddled the bear into his chest. “Can I go now, miss? I gotta get my cookie.”
Lucy smiled and nodded. Five minutes later, after snapping out of her racing thoughts, she looked up at the clock on the wall. “Shit.” She jumped up out of her chair and set off down the corridor and into the yard just in time to catch the last five minutes of her break duty and a stinging look from Principal Miller who’d been covering her absence.
“You’re late, Lucy.”
“I’m sorry, Margaret. It won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t. You seem to be distracted today.”
Lucy felt her cheeks redden.
“Anything I need to know about?” Miller stepped closer to her.
“No, nothing new to report,” Lucy said.
“Well, OK then. Your annual review is coming soon. Just to remind you,” Margaret said pointedly before walking off.
“Are you coming later, Shona?” David asked, in between shoveling spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth.
“What’s that, bubba?” Shona replied as she tied up her bootstraps.
“There’s a thing on at school. Momma said I get ice cream afterwards if Miss Adamson says I done good.”
Chloe bustled into the kitchen holding a hamper and began sorting out the whites from the colors. “I didn’t think you’d want to go, not with…” she paused as Shona ran a hand through her hair and picked up her satchel. “I’d love you to come, but I understand why if you don’t.”
“I don’t want to cause a scene. This afternoon’s about David. We don’t need any more attention on us. But I’ll think about it. See you later.” She leaned over and planted a kiss on David’s head, then one on Chloe’s cheek.
It was three thirty and Lucy’s eyes had been fixed on the entrance of the school hall for the last half an hour. Parents had begun to file in and were shepherded over to their respective teachers’ classrooms to discuss their children’s progress. Her heart thudded at the prospect that at any moment, around any corner, she could bump into Shona.
As she smiled at parents and gushed over their child one by one, Lucy kept one eye on her watch. It was almost an hour into parents’ night and still no sign of Shona. Then, fifteen minutes before the end of the time slots, Chloe walked into her classroom and up to her desk.
“Good evening, Mrs. Clark. How are you?” Lucy said. She held out her hand for Chloe to shake, then they both sat down. Lucy, feeling the weight of Chloe’s stare upon her, began straightening the paper on the desktop and lining her pencils up. She plucked up the courage to look Chloe in the eyes. “So, David is doing really well at the moment. He’s mastered his alphabet and is now writing his name in very neat handwriting. He gets along with everyone in his class and hasn’t been in any trouble whatsoever since he started here.” Normally by now the mothers she’d spoken to that evening would be gushing and holding their husband’s hand, both proud of their parenting skills, but Chloe remained motionless, as if she hadn’t heard a word Lucy had said. “This is an example of his handwriting. I asked him to write down the names of the people in his family.”
Chloe looked down at the piece of paper Lucy had pushed towards her. Every name was present and correctly spelled. David had even drawn yellow hair around the ‘o’ on Shona’s name.
After a few more stories about David’s progress, Chloe picked up her handbag and stood up. “Well, thank you, Miss Adamson, for the glowing report about my son.”
“You’re welcome. Goodbye, Mrs. Clark.” Lucy stood up and held out her hand for Chloe to shake, which she did, more firmly this time. Their eyes locked for few seconds before Chloe departed, nodding to Principal Miller as she passed by.
“Who the hell does that bitch think she is, huh?” Chloe raged as she stormed through the front door and threw her handbag onto the couch next to Shona, almost hitting her.
“What? What happened?” Shona replied, shocked at her near miss.
“All gussied up like she’s going on a date with Elvis himself. The gall of that woman. She’s so smug. Thinks she’s the best teacher in the whole damn world. ‘Oh, your son is doing so well here,’ she was droning on. God, she’s a piece of work.” Chloe’s breath finally ran out as she reached the end of her tirade. She stood in the living room, hands on hips, staring open-mouthed at Shona who jumped up and wrapped her arms around her.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” Shona whispered in her ear.
“I have half a mind to tell that principal exactly what kind of a woman she has on her payroll. After everything she did to you, she deserves it.”
“No, you can’t do that,” Shona replied. “How would that make us look, huh? Think about it. You
’d be outing us to the whole town. It wouldn’t take a lot of digging to uncover our secrets. That’s exactly what we’ve been fighting against happening all these years. Since we got that room converted into two and David back, the townsfolk have left us alone to get on with our lives. If we tell them who Lucy is, then it will all come out.”
“OK, but if she comes near you or does anything to hurt you again, I’ll tear that bitch’s hair out. You should have nothing to do with her, is that clear?”
Shona recoiled, having never seen Chloe so incensed. “I don’t want her anywhere near me. You don’t have to say all that.”
“I know,” Chloe replied, running her hand through her loose brown curls and taking her coat off. “I’m sorry, honey. She’s just really got my goat tonight.”
“Well, there won’t be another parents’ night for the rest of semester so we can stay out of her way. You should get some sleep. It’s late.”
Shona led Chloe’s weary, spent body into the bedroom.
“Momma, can I stay behind after preschool tonight? Miss Adamson’s started an art club,” David asked as he pulled his sneakers on the next morning.
“Since when?” Chloe replied, then kneeled down to tie his shoes.
“She told us all yesterday to ask if we could stay until five and that she’ll tell Mr. Bennett to bring all the kids home on the school bus afterwards. Bobby’s going. Can I go, Momma? Please?” His pleading face was too much for Chloe to refuse.
“OK, baby, if you’re sure you wanna go?” She scooped him up off the ground to his feet and smoothed his hair down. “You know your momma paints, don’t you?” For a moment she became lost in the memory of the day last week when Shona had sat for her. She looked up at the stunningly detailed portrait hanging on the hallway wall, stifling a blush at what she remembered happened afterwards.
“Momma?” David repeated.
“Why, of course you can. You’ll be even better than me, I bet.”
David grinned and grabbed his school bag, then held his hand out for Chloe as they set off on the walk to Fairview.
Chapter 34
It was half past eleven on Wednesday morning, and Lucy sat at her desk deep in thought. The letter she’d decided to try and write to Shona was covered in scribbled out sentences as she tried to find the words to explain. She was jolted out of her daze by Principal Miller who burst through her door.
“Lucy, this is getting out of hand now. I cannot believe you’ve let it happen again.” Miller’s face was the angriest Lucy had ever seen it. Her hands were clamped on her slim hips, strands of wispy hair out of place in her haste to get to Lucy’s classroom.
Lucy looked back at her, then jumped up out of her seat. “Oh, damn.” Seconds later she’d almost barged past Miller and was running down the corridor towards the playground, ten minutes late for her duty twice in as many weeks. Only a few feet from reaching her post, she heard an ear-splitting scream which filled the air. She looked over to the climbing frame twenty yards away at the other end of the playground.
Running over, Lucy fought her way through the crowd of children that had assembled around a boy who’d fallen from halfway up the climbing frame, landing in a heap on the grassy bank next to it. His face was streaming with tears, both hands clutching his knee. Lucy felt faint when she saw it was David.
“Oh my, now what happened here? Are you OK, sweetie?” Lucy crouched down to roll up David’s pant leg. The wound was smaller than she’d feared, only a tiny graze and, after checking the knee joint was still bending fine, Lucy lifted him up off the ground and brushed the dirt and leaves off his legs. “There, there, all better now. How about we get some ice for that knee? I think I’ve got some cookies left too.” Lucy smiled, hoping that this would stop the tears that were still flowing down David’s bright red face. At the mention of the cookie, he sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his grassy hand.
Principal Miller, after following Lucy outside, had seen the whole thing. Her face thunderous, she cast a look of pure disappointment at Lucy as she passed her on the way to the medical room with David.
“My office, ten minutes,” Miller barked.
By the time Lucy had patched up David and made her way to the principal’s office, Chloe was already at the school and sitting in there with Miller seated at her desk. They both stared at Lucy as she pushed open the door. Before she could say hello, David rushed past and into his mother’s arms.
Chloe caught him and sat him on her knee. Her face hardened as she looked back at Lucy. “So as I was saying, Principal Miller, I’m not at all happy my son wasn’t supervised. He could have been seriously hurt.”
Miller laughed nervously. “I’m sincerely sorry this happened, Mrs. Clark. You can be sure I will be treating this matter with the utmost care. Lucy, would you like to explain what happened today to Mrs. Clark?”
Lucy struggled to find her voice. Moments later, the tension between them was broken by David tugging on his mother’s sleeve.
“Momma, it’s OK, my leg don’t hurt that much now. Miss Adamson put something cold on it. It’s all better now. And I got a cookie. Can we have macaroni and cheese tonight?”
Chloe gave a tight smile to Miller and lowered her lips to David’s head, breathing in the scent from his hair. “Of course we can, baby. You sure your leg’s OK?”
David nodded and jumped down. He walked over to Lucy and held his hand out to shake hers. “Thank you, Miss, for looking after me.”
Lucy blushed and shook David’s hand. “You’re welcome.”
Chloe glared back at Principal Miller. “I want something done about this.” She took David’s hand, almost dragging him away. The look she gave Lucy as she passed could have killed her stone dead.
“Sit down, Lucy. We need to talk,” Miller instructed after Chloe had closed the door behind her.
Lillian Adamson laid a tray loaded with a coffee pot and two cups on the table between her cream leather couch and the armchair Lucy had sunk into after returning home from work.
“So, are you going to tell me what’s bothering you, or do I have to keep asking?” her mother began. She poured them both a cup of strong black coffee and dropped two cubes of sugar in her own.
“Nothing’s bothering me. Just tired from work, that’s all,” Lucy replied, stirring her coffee. She sat back in her armchair, her eyes glazed.
“Well, there’s obviously something on your mind. You’ve had that look on your face for over a week now. Is the job not going OK?”
“It’s going fine, mother. Please stop asking.”
Lillian rolled her eyes, then offered Lucy a sympathetic smile. “I know what it is. You’re missing Ray, aren’t you?” She reached over to tap her daughter’s hand. “Are you regretting splitting up with him, honey?”
Lucy shook her head. “He was a loser, mom. I’m happy to be rid of him.”
“He was a lawyer, darling. He had really good prospects. Oh, I know he wasn’t the most tender of men, but you can’t have it all. You can’t be single all your life, Lucy. You’re almost thirty years old. Time you got yourself a husband.” She sipped her coffee. “I got a call from Margaret Miller today.”
Lucy looked up. “What? Why, what did she tell you?” The hand holding her coffee cup began to shake.
“She said you hadn’t been concentrating on your job lately. She’s worried about you. As am I. Margaret and I go way back, what did you expect? Are you mixed up in some kind of trouble, Lucy?”
“Mom, please. Just leave it, OK? There’s nothing wrong.” She let out a long, frustrated sigh. “I’m gonna go to bed, I think. My head hurts.”
Lillian looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. “It’s only six o’clock. I’ve got dinner in the oven.”
“I’m not hungry,” Lucy called over her shoulder as she disappeared up the stairs to her room.
Chapter 35
Shona had been twisting her wrench around a stubborn bolt for the last five minutes until it finally loosened, but in
the process, she lost her grip, dropping it to the concrete.
“Damn it, that’s gonna be hard to reach.” She wriggled underneath the truck, reaching out to grab the fallen wrench which was now only millimeters from her grasp. “Come on, nearly…” Placing the very tips of her fingers on the leather grip she at last got a good hold on it. She was about to slide out when something in the corner of her eye made her turn her head. A pair of white pumps had appeared, just about visible between the truck’s front two wheels. Face down, Shona pushed her arms against the concrete to move her body backwards and out from underneath the truck. Now sitting on her haunches, she looked up at her customer. Her expression darkened immediately.
“What the hell are you doing here?” The wrench weighed in Shona’s clenched hand as she spoke.
The hard swallow in Lucy’s throat was clearly visible.
“I don’t want you here. Get out,” Shona continued. Her face creased into the most disgusted look Lucy had ever seen. It pained her like a slice through the heart.
“I came… I came to…” Lucy stuttered, then licked her dry lips and tried again after clearing her throat a few times. “I needed to come over here. I never expected to see you again. I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to explain to you about what happened that night.”
“And you won’t never get too neither,” Shona interjected. “Get the fuck off my property or by God I’ll…” She stepped forward, her face reddening with eight years of pent-up confusion and anger.
Lucy took a step back and looked down at her white pumps. “Shona, I don’t blame you for being angry with me. I would be too. But please, you gotta let me explain. Please.”
Shona curled her lip and walked back to her tool chest at the far corner of the garage.
