“Isn’t it great?” Miss Simpkin’s voice was piping and excited as she glanced down at Amelie. “I wasn’t aware that Lex had a child. And now she gets to live with him. Mrs. Jones, the school principal, said Amelie is staying for now. Maybe forever. I just love it. Don't you?”
It might have been a comment, but it was also an invitation to gossip, an attempt to find out just what Scarlett had known before Amelie’s arrival. What Scarlett knew about Amelie's future. Nothing, Scarlett thought, she knew nothing. But her smile said she wasn’t surprised at all. Lies. The lying, lying smile that she hoped hid the tumultuous thoughts and feelings behind her expression.
The girls were chatting, but the look in Amelie’s eyes was stressed. Ella and Luna had ignored the teacher to climb into the car and were enticing Amelie to come along. Scarlett simply shrugged and said, “Hey ladies.”
The girls provided just enough distraction for Scarlett to mask her face. She then turned to the teacher, saying, “It’s always hard not to have our children not with us full-time.”
The automatic agreement made Scarlett grin before she schooled her face back to slightly interested, waved two fingers, and pulled away before those prying gossip eyes were able to see what Scarlett actually felt.
Amelie’s stressed expression was haunting Scarlett. The poor kid didn’t know Scarlett, was new to town, had her first day in school. Lex should be here. He should be talking to Amelie, if only for a few minutes, but Scarlett could still hear the echoes of those excited crows in her mind. He also had a job to do. A job he couldn't just hand off.
Scarlett said brightly, “So, snacks, homework, and then we’ll find something fun to do.”
Scarlett met Amelie’s gaze in the rearview mirror and then pulled out the phone to call Lex. He answered immediately, but Scarlett put the phone on speaker and told Amelie, “Your dad is anxious to hear about your day.”
The way Amelie’s gaze brightened bothered Scarlett even more. The poor kid must be worried about how she'd just shown up at Lex's and if he wanted her. Scarlett felt so bad for the kid. She turned the car towards Maeve and Phoebe. Maye—Scarlett’s mom—had asked Scarlett to get the older girls, so Maye could take care of some things.
Scarlett pulled into the middle school where Phoebe and Maeve were standing next to a man in a suit. Scarlett met Maeve’s gaze who shrugged once. Given that middle school kids weren’t coddled like the grade school kids, Scarlett had to assume that Maeve was in trouble yet again.
“Get in the car, girls,” Scarlett said, pulling over and getting out of the Suburban to talk to the teacher.
Maeve whispered, “Mr. Lighton,” as she passed Scarlett and then said just loud enough to be heard, “Sorry.”
Mr. Lighton pretended to not notice and glanced Scarlett over, far too aggressively before he demanded, “Did you know that Maeve has been skipping school a lot lately?”
Of course Scarlett knew, she transported Maeve nearly as often as she wanted to be picked up.
Scarlett replied mildly, “Are you really surprised given what she’s been through?”
“She’s a smart girl, Ms. Oaken, but skipping like this will set her up for failure. I am surprised honestly. She did a lot better under her sister’s care than under your mother’s.”
Scarlett paused, shocked. He made it seem like their mom was responsible for what was happening instead of the fact that Maeve had been through so much lately. “Are you surprised that Maeve is struggling?”
“I’m surprised that your mother doesn’t have a better handle on Maeve. She’s got promise, but I think you flighty druids aren’t taking her seriously. Her or her needs.” He crossed his arms over his chest and ignored the sidelong looks of other parents who were grabbing their kids and heading out.
Scarlett hadn’t expected the attack. She didn't particularly enjoy the way they were going to be fodder for the town gossip mill. Especially given this would be better dealt with in an office with an appointment. But even more, Mr. Lighton talked like druids were trashy. Generally speaking druids were considered grounded and responsible. Of druids—it was Scarlett and only Scarlett who’d been considered flighty. She’d taken off after high school with a normal guy, leaving behind the grove, and her people to travel the world. Druids just didn’t do that. Except Scarlett.
Lighton’s face was disapproving and the way he stood too close told Scarlett that he was trying to intimidate her.
Perhaps because she was a druid he thought he could get away with it? He really didn't have any idea about Oaken women if that was the case. They had the strength of ancient oak trees with roots that ran deep into the soil.
Scarlett smiled, but it was the cold, predator’s smile. “My sister,” Scarlett began.
“Your sister?” The doubt in his tone said just what he thought of the adoptive relationship. But he wasn’t the slightest bit ashamed to add, “Not really.”
Scarlett stepped even further into his body space. He would not intimidate her. He would not cast doubt on her love for Maeve. He would not scold Scarlett.
“My sister,” Scarlett’s tone was cold and dark, “witnessed her sister gunned down. She’s dealing with grief unlike you seem capable of understanding.”
He cleared his throat and started, “Be that as it may…”
“Shut your mouth,” Scarlett said. She dug her index finger into his chest and said, “That is not something you just shrug off. And if I hear tell of you intimidating Maeve, my mother, or any other druid, I will see you regret your actions.”
“What are you going to do flower witch?”
Oooh, that snide tone was back. Scarlett laughed, thinking that Mystic Cove should be smarter about druids. They were not witches. But there was a power in flowers, in the wind, in the ocean, in the earth, in the trees—-a power that other supernatural creatures could only skim. Her irritation rose and with it the east wind.
“Get yourself under control, Ms. Oaken,” he said snidely, scolding her.
She grinned at him, that furious grin and said, “The east wind is a bit more concerning than daffodils isn’t it? Are you sure you want to keep pushing me?”
He backed up just a bit, and she grinned even wider. The few leaves left on the trees around the parking lot were swirling around them, rushing up the sidewalk outside the school, and skittering by. They somehow missed Scarlett, but several were plastered against Lighton’s chest and legs.
“Enough,” he snapped. "Contain yourself and your magic."
“Let me be clear,” she waited until he met her gaze.
“You will stay away from my sister and her friend. You will never talk smack about druids to Maeve again. And should you attempt to intimidate an Oaken woman—or for that matter a druid—I will teach you what we’re capable of.”
“Are you threatening me? I’m talking to you about Maeve because I’m concerned.”
She laughed in his face and then tucked a stray hair behind her head as the wind rose and snapped to silence and rose again.
“Concern doesn't come out as bullying, Lighton.” Scarlett was angry with him. But she suspected that part of this was that he was an easy victim for the anger she felt with Lex. Let alone her dad. She had all this anger built up, but those relationships had her holding back. She needed to evaluate how she felt before she rained destruction down on her and Lex or her and her dad. She didn't care about Mr. Lighton though.
She’d have felt bad for lashing out at Mr. Lighton, but Maeve was one of the people that Scarlett would go protective over, so she’d have lashed out at Lighton regardless of her personal state.
“I think we got off on the wrong foot,” he said, his tone completely altering, but then again…Carol Stricken, the school principal, had walked up.
“Everything all right?” Carol asked Scarlett, but Scarlett didn’t look away from Lighton other than to glance at the principal and back.
Scarlett just carried on with her fury as she said, “I assume you’re referring to the foot
where you doubted my relationship with my sister? Or perhaps the foot where you downgraded my mother?”
Lighton winced as Scarlett started, but his regret didn’t stop her. She was already too angry to just let it go.
“Or the foot where you referred to me as a flower witch? Or the foot where you totally ignored the fact that Maeve has been through serious trauma and you think she should just shrug it off?”
He cleared his throat while Carol Stricken’s gaze fixated on him and her eyes narrowed. Given the utter lack of surprise on the principal’s face, Scarlett assumed she was not the first person to complain about Lighton. Given that Carol had joined them, Scarlett assumed this was not the first time Lighton had trapped some unsuspecting family member to discuss the child.
“Maeve will be taking a skip from whatever class you teach her in, and you’ll avoid her in the future. She can do independent study or be a teacher’s aid.”
Scarlett’s gaze was directed at the principal. Their eyes met and the principal nodded once.
“I think that sounds reasonable,” Carol, the principal, said. The way her gaze fixated on Lighton said their conversation would continue after Scarlett left.
Lighton hedged, cleared his thought and then said, “Let’s not overreact. This was all overly emotional.”
“Perhaps,” I told both of them, “You should have taken more seriously the trials that Maeve has been dealing with. In a short time, she lost her mother, her town, and then her sister, Bridget. Maeve witnessed that murder and was forced to flee for her life and hide. She was hunted by criminals. Giving her a break and allowing her the space to…I don’t know….grieve, process, and choose a new path is more than understandable. Attacking my mother for not doing things the way you would is unacceptable.”
“She can’t have a pass for forever,” Mr. Lighton said.
“Lester,” the principal snapped at Mr. Lighton. “Maeve can have as long as she needs."
“Be that as it may,” Scarlett said, “Maeve’s hardly passed the stage of grieving.”
“You can’t just have her wandering groves to get better…”
Scarlett’s head cocked, and her eyes narrowed tightly, and she hissed, “As a druid…”
“Being a druid doesn’t make her exempt from life.…”
Scarlett cut in and said, “As a druid, spending time working magic in groves is therapeutic. Of course, she also has a counselor.”
Lighton’s brows rose and he said, “Not through the school. I have checked. I am worried about your sister.”
Scarlett adjusted her keys and wondered why she was even bothering to explain. So Maeve didn’t have to, Scarlett reminded herself as she said, “We’ve elected to hire a counselor rather than use the one offered by the school. Maeve does, however, have a counselor because her mental and emotional well-being is important to our family.”
Lighton cleared his throat and adjusted his tie, expression stating that he wasn’t sure he believed Scarlett. The principal nodded and said, “Of course it is.”
“And perhaps,” Scarlett said to the principal, “You’ll want to evaluate Lighton’s relationship with the druid children in his class. Or maybe he has more than one of the races he likes to push around…either way,” she turned to Lighton, “stay away from my sister.”
“I think we’re all overreacting here,” Lighten said, “Let’s just take a moment and…”
“Be grateful,” Scarlett told him, “that it was me and not Harper who picked Maeve up. If you think I’m irrational—”
He tried to shake that off, but Scarlett held up a hand and cut in, “Please, I can see that you do, but Harper is worse. Far, far, worse than me. And she adores Maeve.”
“We’ll need to talk about the credits Maeve will be losing,” the principal said.
Because Scarlett was furious she said, “I’ll tell my mom. Or my Gram.”
Both Lighton and the principal flinched at that. Scarlett’s Gram, Sasha Oaken, was well-known for being a spiteful old biddy in Mystic Cove, but Scarlett considered it all as karma for the school that had stopped being a safe place for Maeve.
Scarlett walked back to the Suburban shaking her head. She didn’t have time for this. She had a bakery to get back to running, a murderer to find, and a decision to make about Lex. She was starting to suspect that by not kicking him out of her life as soon as she knew he'd lied that it was too late.
Not because she couldn’t do it now but because she had to recognize she didn’t want to. Maybe the reason she hadn’t pushed him out of her life was because she couldn’t abide the idea of him not being a part of it anymore. Yet…she wasn’t—was not—making the same mistakes again.
Was she at an impasse? Perhaps knowing she’d eventually fall in love again—and be loved—that she was clinging to something that wasn’t there. Her grandmother might have caught glimpses of Scarlett's future in the trees, but that didn't mean that the future love had to be either Lex or Gus. Surely face-planting into love was something that happened all at once.
She took a deep breath as she opened the car door and said, “Lighton is a jerk. You’re not going back to that class.”
Maeve cheered while Phoebe frowned.
“I’ll tell your mom what happened, Phoebe, but what happens for you is her decision.”
“Ok,” Phoebe said, but Scarlett could tell it wasn’t. She just couldn’t care as much. If she could have gotten Phoebe out of that jerk’s class, Scarlett would’ve done it. But she wasn’t going to mess with another mom’s kid.
“So….” Scarlett turned and said, “Milkshakes for you guys? Blended coffee milkshake cup of joy for me. Milkshake joy and a bag of chocolate covered coffee beans. Then, homework for you guys. And…probably if you let me work…whatever you want.”
“Here’s your phone, Scarlett,” Amelie said softly, “You don’t have to buy me a milkshake.”
“Do you like ice cream?” Scarlett asked, eyes pressing into the girl until she slowly nodded. “Then we’re all having ice cream.”
Scarlett drove back to the coffee stand, ordering everyone a drink and with the extra big coffee milkshake for herself. She hoped it would be enough caffeine to see herself through the day. She was having one of those days that felt like it was going to be epically bad—surely after finding a body she’d reached the end of the madness and yet…that niggling feeling inside of her said, No.
Scarlett was going to have to go extra long at work for days to feel like she hadn’t totally ruined her Thanksgiving season. She’d been giving a discount to anyone who didn’t mind frozen pies and ordered in advance. The number of pies she had to make was a little bit terrifying. As it was, she might have to work on her days off or keep the bakery open extra in the evening to meet the demand.
When she and the pack of little girls walked into the bakery, Belinda was making several coffees, Henna was chatting with two druids over the glass window while she made sandwiches and half the tables were filled.
“Scarlett,” Old Mrs. Lovejoy said, “When are you going to have loaves of bread? Today’s my loaf day. You’re throwing my whole system off.”
Amelie squeaked just a little bit and Scarlett squeezed her shoulder and then said brightly, “These things happen, Mrs. Lovejoy. I’ll make extra tomorrow.”
“I hope you’ll be giving discounts,” Mrs. Lovejoy snapped and Scarlett smiled, so she didn’t shriek. Knowing Henna or Belinda would probably do just that, Scarlett said nothing.
She crossed to the kitchens, hung up her coat, and put on her apron. Behind her, the girls were milling around as if they weren’t sure what to do. Scarlett had to hide the rush of fury she felt at seeing them mill about. She knew it was her bad day, and she really, really didn't want to lash out at them. They were her everything.
“Girls take a table. We’ll bring you soup and rolls in a bit.” She glanced among the five girls and said firmly, “Homework.”
Scarlett walked back to the working area behind the display counter, t
he register, and the espresso machine. She asked Henna, “Have you talked to my mom or Gram?”
Henna’s temporary silence was followed by a slight clearing of her throat that was a wordless yes.
“What’s going on?”
“Scarlett you need to talk to your mom.”
“You knew my dad, of course,” Scarlett said, trying to come at it from a different angle.
“Of course,” Henna said carefully. “You adored your dad. Followed him around. It was so sweet.”
“Until he left,” Scarlett said, remembering again the devastation of her dad leaving. “Why did he leave?’
“Scarlett,” Henna said, repeating her tone and the way she looked at Scarlett before, “You need to talk to your mom.”
Scarlett glanced around and then stared towards the table where her daughters sat. She loved them so much it hurt sometimes. So much it caught her breath with pain, with the joy of being their mother. She didn't understand how her ex-husband, Grant, could move beyond them. She didn't understand how her dad could have left her. Was she really so bad?
Scarlett also couldn't imagine a day when she'd spring her ex-husband on her daughters, knowing it would hurt them.
“I don’t understand what’s happening and why everyone is sidestepping me—” Scarlett finally said. “What secret is so big that only mom can tell it? What justifies him being here?”
Henna was rolling out pie dough next to Scarlett. Given the measured out bourbon, pecans, and corn syrup, Henna was stocking the freezer with some of the pecan pie orders. Scarlett was pretty sure the order was at 32 pies so far, and her goal had been to hit at least triple that of the pecan pies. Pecan, pumpkin, and sweet potato to start. Caramel apple, apple crumb, apple butter, and apple cheddar pies would all be big hits as well.
“You want to know what I think? I think your mom should have talked to you the moment she met your dad again. I think that this is all a mess, and I wish—more than antyhing—that I could make it better, but I can’t…I won’t tell you what was told to me in confidence. Not even if I love you. Not even though I love you.”
Hobgoblins and Homework Page 6
