Page 51

“What do you really want with me, Thomas?”
“I'm still trying to find out.” I was sincere, even if I didn't think it was exactly what she wanted to hear.
“So tell me when you know.” She disappeared at the entrance to the building, and I didn't go after her.
As much as it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for that evening, the moment helped me to reflect a little and think about the choices I had made and those I was yet to make. It had beenyears since I had sat down with a woman and simply talked to her without sex or business involved.
After standing there for a while, watching nothing, I went to my car when I realized that some of the neighbors were noticing me and drove back home. It was late when I arrived, and the girls were asleep.
I wasn't going to say anything to them about my meeting with the teacher because I knew I might raise their hopes about something I wasn't sure would come true.
Chapter twenty-one
The weekend was strange. I never saw or spoke to him again, and as the hours passed, I had the feeling that our moment on Friday had been a crazy dream of mine.
I had reason to hate him because he had offered me money, but I still couldn't stop thinking about him. We had something in common that we both liked very much: the twins; even if it wasn't a reason to bring us together, it was something that brought us closer.
I had often wondered how someone like him could be the father of such lovely girls, but during a more friendly conversation, I could see that father and daughters had more in common than the color of their eyes and hair.
“Fesora!”
I was forced out of my thoughts when one of my students started tugging at the hem of my apron.
“Hi, Lion!”
“Look!” He lifted the sheet as high as he could, and I noticed what he had done. It was a smudge of his hand with several colored droplets around it.
“How cool is that!”
“Right!”
“You're an artist.”
“You?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Bligado!”
“Why don't you try a more colorful and fun one now?” I loved encouraging my pupils because it was at that stage that they developed their main skills.
“I'm going!”
“That's it!” I gave him a clean sheet of paper, which he promptly got dirty with his stained fingers, but instead of getting upset, the little boy laughed.
I went to the back of the room while I watched all the children paint.
The twins were concentrating on their paintings, and since they had arrived, they had acted the same way towards me. I assumed that their father hadn't said anything about our brief moment. It was better that way, and I didn't want them to start imagining anything or cultivating any hasty thoughts about everything.
It wasn't because we'd eaten a greasy burger together that anything would happen between us.
“Plofessola!”Another of my students called me over to help distract me from my thoughts.
Was I supposed to hate him? He was an asshole. Or should I? Helena!
I'd better stop thinking about all this.
After the lesson was over, I helped the children collect their backpacks and lunchboxes and took them to wait for their parents at the usual place. As usual, Holly was at the gate, recognizing the family members and handing the students over to those who had permission to pick them up.