Oracle

by Amy Reece

Jack gave the first toast and talked about how Mat was so much more than a cousin: he was his best friend and a brother. He was glad Mat had the good sense to marry Tara, his own wife’s best friend. We all had a laugh as he tried to sort out his pronouns, but he ended by claiming all the credit for getting them together by setting them up on a blind date. When it was my turn, I claimed the credit for them getting together, completely discrediting Jack’s matchmaking attempts and retelling the story of their disastrous first date. Everyone laughed and I ended by offering my toast and leaning over to kiss my own husband. Even I had to admit it was pretty adorable that the best man and matron of honor were married.

  Tara and Mat were spending their wedding night there in the hotel before leaving the next morning for a week in Cancun at an all-inclusive resort, which sounded like something Jack and I definitely needed to check out sometime. The thought of having a vacation that didn’t include anything Seer-related seemed like a dream come true.

  “What are you smiling about?” Jack pulled me close and twirled me as we danced again.

  “I’m just imaging you and me on a Mexican resort beach, that’s all.”

  “Mmm, sounds great. Do we have clothes on?” he whispered in my ear.

  I laughed. “It’s not that kind of beach, Jack!”

  “Shoot. Well, it sounds pretty good, anyway. Maybe next summer we could do that.”

  “Let’s definitely keep it in mind. We better get Megan home soon. You have to get up pretty early too.”

  “Yeah, she’s starting to droop and I’m ready to have you to myself.” He nibbled my ear as he finished. “You look amazing tonight. I don’t think I’ve had a chance to tell you that yet.”

  “Thanks. You look pretty spiffy yourself in a tux. I hope the pictures we took with Megan earlier turn out well. Our first family picture,” I mused.

  He leaned down and kissed me fully, something he didn’t often do in public. “Thank you for saying that, querida. You have no idea what it means to me.”

  “I kind of think I do, but that’s not why I said it.” I laid my head against his chest and we finished the song.

  ***

  He tried to go without waking me the next morning, but I felt him leave the bed and I got up to see him off, assuring him I would go back to sleep as soon as he was gone. That proved impossible and I sat on the back patio drinking coffee until Megan woke up. We spent the day moping and watching Disney movies, already missing Jack. We finally roused ourselves late in the afternoon because my mom had invited us for dinner.

  “So, what have you heard about your student teaching?” my mom asked as she cut Elijah’s chicken for him.

  “Where Jack?” my little brother demanded. He was not even slightly interested in his dinner and was squirming to get down from the table. Jack was his favorite, mainly because he played rougher with him than any of the rest of us, tossing him in the air any time the toddler tugged at his pant legs. Jack had endless patience with him, probably because of all the practice he had with the multitude of young cousins in his family.

  “I told you, Eli! He’s at the army.” Megan rolled her eyes at me. Elijah had been demanding to know where Jack was since we walked in the door.

  I smiled at her in sympathy before answering my mother. “I got a placement, finally. I’ll be at Eldorado High School. I go later this week to meet with my cooperating teacher.”

  “Oh, good. I was starting to get worried. And what about you, Miss Megan? Have you met your teacher, yet?”

  She shook her head. “When do we go, Ally?”

  “Tuesday. We’ll go in the morning and then we can go shopping for all your school supplies. What kind of backpack do you want this year?”

  She shrugged and appeared to think about it.

  “You may need to take out a loan to pay for school supplies, you know. I can’t believe how long the lists are these days,” Brian grumbled. “Elijah’s preschool list was ridiculous!”

  “Well, if the state would stop cutting funding to the schools—” my mom began.

  “Great, Brian. You had to get her started,” I said.

  “When you have your own classroom you’ll care about funding too,” she argued.

  “I know, Mom, I know. This is great macaroni and cheese. Is it a new recipe?” I desperately tried to change the subject away from one of her favorite rants.

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Nice try, Ally. Fine, I’ll keep my unwanted opinions to myself. Who wants dessert?” She stood up and stalked to the kitchen. Brian and I met each other’s gaze guiltily.

  “Where Jack?” Elijah demanded yet again, oblivious to the adult tension in the room.

  Ah, family. I loved mine fiercely, but nothing could frustrate me more at times.

  ***

  Megan surprised me by eschewing the plastic Disney backpacks and choosing a regular one with multicolored polka dots. “Mikayla and I decided we should be more grown up this year. We are 5th graders, you know,” she said seriously.

  I valiantly held back an indulgent smile and agreed with her solemnly. “You probably want a grown-up lunchbox too, huh?”

  “Definitely. Will you help me find a good one? I don’t want to look like a baby this year.”

  “Of course I will.” We had attended the meet-and-greet with her new teacher earlier that morning and then headed off to shop for all the school supplies on the lengthy list.

  “This stuff costs a lot, huh?” Megan asked worriedly. “I don’t need a new lunchbox.”

  It had all added up quickly, but Trina and Brian had both slipped me some cash to help pay for all of Megan’s school expenses, plus my dad still deposited a healthy sum into my account each month. Jack got a stipend from the army and worked as many hours as possible at the body shop, so we were doing fine financially. We had decided it would be better if I didn’t work while I was doing my student teaching, especially since Megan was with us now. We didn’t want her to spend hours in after-school care every day.

  “Oh, Meg, please don’t worry about it. It’s fine. Of course you need a new lunch box. Let’s check at Home Goods. I saw some there last week. We have just enough time before we meet Grams for lunch.”

  Grams was waiting for us when we arrived at Savory Fare, a local lunch spot specializing in fresh salads and interesting sandwiches. Grams and I ordered the salad of the day, fresh greens with crispy goat cheese medallions, while Megan settled on grilled cheese, her all-time favorite, with tomato-basil soup.

  “Now, catch me up on everything that has been happening this summer,” Grams commanded. “I haven’t seen near enough of you since you and Jack got married!”

  “I’ve missed you too, Grams. I want to have you over for dinner, maybe later this week?”

  “That would be lovely,” she replied, so we planned to have her come for taco night Thursday, which was Megan’s other favorite. It was hard to mess up tacos, especially if Megan helped me cook.

  ***

  I dropped Megan at Mikayla’s house the next morning for a few hours of playtime while I drove to the high school to meet the supervising teacher I would be working with for the next school year. I was nervous, knowing this first impression was important. The parking lot was overflowing due to student registration, so I had to park quite a distance away and was afraid I was running late for our meeting. It took several more minutes to find my way across the unfamiliar campus to the classroom I was looking for in the H building. I arrived at room 7, breathless and sweaty, and knocked on the open door before walking in and approaching the teacher’s desk.

  “Mr. Harris? Hi, I’m Ally Moran. I mean Ruiz.” I was nervous and stuttered over my new last name like an idiot. I had considered hyphenating instead of totally changing my last name to take Jack’s, but in the end it seemed like a lot of trouble.

  The man behind the desk looked to be maybe in his late forties, with a gorgeous head of silver-black hair. He glanced up and smiled distractedly, yet kindly. “Nice to meet you. Are you going to be
in my AP lit class this year? You’re here for the reading list, of course.” He began shuffling through piles of papers on his messy desk.

  Yeah, I get that a lot because of my height, or lack thereof. I had tried to dress professionally this morning, but I guess it didn’t help. “Um, no. I’m actually your new student teacher.”

  “Oh, of course. Forgive me. Miss Ruiz, was it?” He stood up and came forward to shake my hand. “Sorry about that.”

  I shook his hand. “It’s Mrs. Ruiz. Ally. Nice to meet you.”

  He looked surprised, but at least tried to cover it. “Nice to meet you too. Have a seat and we’ll get you set up.” He had cleared a spot for me at a table near his and provided me with a syllabus and copies of the textbooks he used. “I have two sections of Advanced Placement Language and Literature this year and three sections of regular English 12. Here’s the reading list.” He handed me a sheet of paper with a lengthy selection of novels, short stories, and poems. “Any that you’re not familiar with, you should get started reading. I’ve got copies of all the novels.”

  I was happy to see that most of it was familiar; the only drama I hadn’t studied was Antigone and the only new novel was a Willa Cather story, O Pioneers!. I looked up from my perusal of the list to find him leaning against his desk and smiling apologetically at me.

  “I’m so sorry I confused you with a student. I didn’t mean to get us off on the wrong foot. I was expecting you, but then I got caught up in my work and you took me by surprise. Plus, you do look really young. Sorry, you probably hate that, but it’s true. Can I ask how old you are without completely offending you?”

  I laughed lightly. “It’s fine. I get it, Mr. Harris.” I shrugged. “I’m 20.”

  “Charlie, please. We’re colleagues. Wow, you are young. I have children older than you. And you’re married? Do you have kids?” To his credit he winced as he said this, as if he didn’t mean to ask if I got knocked up and had to get married.

  “No, but my husband and I are raising his ten year old sister.”

  “Oh my goodness. You have your hands full. Well, let me introduce you to some of the other English teachers around here.” He walked me around to the nearby classrooms to meet the rest of the teachers in our department, then took me around the corner to what was obviously the foreign language department, judging by all the posters and signs in French, German, and Spanish. He led me to a room that had ‘Madame Harris’ on the door. “I want you to meet my wife.” We walked in to find a lovely woman about Charlie’s age, standing on a stepladder to hang some posters. “Let me do that, Camille.” He held out his hand to help her down. “Come down and meet Ally, my new student teacher.”

  “Ah, Charlie, you are always so sweet!” She was obviously French and greeted me with “Bonjour” and a faire la bise, kissing my cheeks like Rémy always did.

  “Bonjour,” I said, returning the kisses. “Comment allez vous?”

  She looked surprised, yet delighted, and lobbed a couple more phrases at me. Realizing I was fluent, she launched into a full-on conversation in French, while Charlie stood by, looking bemused.

  “Well, you’ve made her day,” he commented as we returned to his classroom. “She doesn’t get the chance to speak French here in Albuquerque as much as she would like. Where did you learn to speak so well?”

  “I spent last year in France on an exchange, plus I’m minoring in it.”

  “Well, you should get your certification in it, as well. Make yourself as marketable as possible as you begin your job search,” he advised. “It’s not always easy to get a job as an English teacher, unfortunately. It seems like math and science teachers are all that’s wanted these days.”

  “Tell me about it! My husband is studying engineering and he’s had all kinds of offers of jobs. It doesn’t seem fair.”

  He chuckled. “No, it certainly doesn’t. How much longer does your husband have until he graduates? Has he thought about where to work?”

  “He graduated in May but he’s starting his master’s degree this fall. He’s in the army, so he will owe them a few years after his graduate work,” I explained.

  We wrapped up our initial meeting as I realized I was due to pick Megan up soon. He told me he would see me the following Tuesday, when school started.

  ***

  High school started at 7:30 a.m. while elementary school didn’t start until 8:00, so Trina would be taking Megan to school until Jack returned. I finished at 2:30, so I should be able to pick her up each day. My first day of student teaching included introducing myself to each of the classes and then sitting and observing how Charlie got the school year started. I took copious notes, knowing I would have assignments based on them as soon as my classes started at the university. There had been an orientation meeting for all the student teachers and we had a companion class this semester. I also had a couple other classes to wrap up the rest of my degree and my French minor, so it would be an intense semester. I was walking into the teacher’s lounge for lunch when I was stopped by another teacher and informed that students were not allowed inside. Sigh. I patiently showed her my faculty ID tag and explained that I was a student teacher. She was embarrassed and apologized, but I realized I would face this kind of thing a lot in the foreseeable future. The teachers were welcoming and I found a group of younger teachers that I connected with pretty well, so I was hopeful that this year would be at least somewhat fun.

  After I finished my day I drove by Megan’s school to pick her up, pulling my SUV into the long line of parents waiting to pick up their kids. I thought back fondly to the first time Jack and I spoke, in our junior year of high school. He had helped me when I had my first-ever vision and then had driven me home in his Mustang, stopping to pick Megan up at this same school. This would be her last year here, and then she would have to brave the horror of middle school. I spotted her as she walked out, looking adorable in the outfit we had chosen for her first day. She walked beside a blonde, curly-headed boy, probably a classmate, chatting and laughing, which pleased me because she was usually so reticent. Maybe she had made a new friend. I looked closer at the boy as they neared the line of cars. He was shorter than Megan, who was not at all tall for her age, and appeared solemn. He had such a serious, almost sad, look on his face and it struck me for some reason. Had I seen him before? I got one of those feelings I get that he was going to be important somehow. I shivered slightly, realizing that it wasn’t an entirely positive feeling. I’d had a similar feeling the first time I ever saw Jack, but it had been completely positive in his case, accompanied by a healthy dose of attraction, which had caused me to choose an empty desk in front of him, rather than in the front of the classroom, which was where I usually sat.

  “Who was that?” I asked as she climbed in the back seat. She had at least two more years until I would allow her to ride in the front seat with the airbag.

  “That’s Kai. He’s new this year ’cause he just moved here. Some kids were making fun of him ’cause he talks kinda funny, so I told them to stop. Kai’s my friend now,” she stated flatly.

  My heart melted at her defense of a new boy who apparently had a speech impediment. She was so much like Jack sometimes; chivalry ran deep in the Ruiz veins. “That’s great, Meg. Maybe you can invite him over some afternoon.”

  “Thanks, Ally. I’m glad you and Jack got married. I like living with you.”

  “Ah, sweetie, thanks. I like living with you too. Now, you buttered me up really good, so why don’t we stop for gelato to celebrate our first day of school?”

  She giggled and agreed.

  ***

  Jack was due back in less than an hour and Megan and I were frantically trying to put the finishing touches on the welcome home picnic we had planned. We were setting out tiki torches and stringing lights on the back patio; I knew he was always exhausted when he returned from these two-week training exercises and I liked to have dinner waiting for him. It was tempting to farm Megan out for the night so we could ha
ve some alone time, but she had missed her big brother too.

  He let himself in forty-five minutes later and Megan launched herself at him. “Hey, Squirt.” He picked her up and gave her a tired hug. I took her place and kissed him tenderly. “God, I missed you both so much.” He sighed into my hair.

  “We missed you too. You look exhausted, Jack.” I pulled away and led him toward our bedroom. “Get a shower and then we have a surprise picnic dinner for you outside. I’ve had a steak marinating for you all day.”

  “That sounds great, babe. Thanks. The food really sucked at camp this year.”

  He joined us on the patio ten minutes later, freshly showered but unshaven in a sexy, scruffy way I loved. I handed him an ice-cold beer and directed him to sit; he was not allowed to do any of the cooking tonight. Megan set out the side dishes while I grilled a giant steak for Jack, a much smaller one for Megan, and a portabella mushroom for myself. I might be a vegetarian, but I could manage to cook a decent steak as long as I paid attention and didn’t walk away from the grill. The picnic was a great success and we all watched a movie together afterward, although Jack snored lightly through most of it.

  Later, once Megan was asleep, I grabbed a quick shower and then joined Jack in our bed, where he was catching up on Facebook on his iPad. He set it aside as I lifted the covers to crawl in and pulled me next to him.

  “This is what I’ve been looking forward to,” he said as he kissed me deeply.

  “Are you sure you’re not too tired?” I asked, skimming my hands across his scruffy jaw.

  “I’m never too tired for this.”

  ***

  We enjoyed the weekend together, the three of us, lounging around and then spending Sunday afternoon with Jack’s extended family at Manny and Trina’s, celebrating the end of summer. The university had another week until it started, so Jack worked at the body shop all week, getting in a good number of hours before his graduate classes curtailed his work schedule. I was getting settled in with my student teaching and Megan seemed happy with her teacher and her new classmates, once she had put them in their place about making fun of Kai’s speech impediment. She was a quiet kid, but I could tell that she was viewed as a leader among her peers.