Page 23 of Breaking Rules
“Vice Principal Harvey.”
“Lumen.” He smiled that smarmy smile that made my skin crawl. “I tried to catch you after the meeting, but you scampered out of there before I could talk to you.”
Yes, because I didn’t want to talk to you.
The words echoed in my head, but I didn’t say them. I might not have had much in the way of self-control when it came to Alec McCrae, but I definitely knew how and when to keep my mouth shut.
“I just wanted to ask how you’re doing.”
If I hadn’t interacted with the vice principal before, I might’ve thought that was genuine concern, but I knew how to look for the lechery beneath the mask. Still, I kept my voice professional. “I’m fine, thank you.”
“Are you sure? I mean, I can stay here with you all day, make sure you’re safe.” He came a few feet into the classroom.
I moved behind my desk on the pretense of checking my lesson plan book and hoped he didn’t realize I was trying to keep something between us. “I appreciate the offer, but it’s not necessary.” When he looked like he was going to argue, I added, “I think it might actually scare the children, having the vice principal in here during class time.”
He nodded, trying to pretend he wasn’t annoyed. “Oh, you missed Principal McKenna saying that there’s going to be a meeting this coming Saturday evening to address new security measures that’ve been put in place. Parents and the community are invited to come, but all faculty are expected to be there.”
“Okay. Thank you.” I turned my attention back to my desk and hoped he’d take the hint and leave.
When he cleared his throat, I sighed but was saved from having to hear him try to find reasons to stay in my room when two of my students appeared in the doorway, one with their father and the other with their nanny. Grateful for the excuse to ignore him, I immediately went to talk to them. After I was done with them, Skylar and his mother arrived, and Harvey finally figured out that he wouldn’t be alone with me any time soon. He left, leaving me free to focus all my attention on the people who mattered.
During the time I’d been with Skylar’s mom, a few kids had come in on their own. I went around to them and made it back to the door in time for Evanne to rush in and throw her arms around me.
“I missed you, Ms. Browne,” she declared.
“I missed you too,” I said, smoothing my hand over her hair.
Unable to help it, I glanced up at the doorway, half expecting Alec to appear, but he didn’t. I told myself not to be disappointed, and it mostly worked. I reminded myself that he’d taken nearly an entire week off work, and while he could work remotely on some things, he had to have been anxious about all of the things he hadn’t been able to handle while he’d been away. Besides, we’d spent time together yesterday.
“Did you have fun with your grandparents?” I asked as Evanne released me.
“I did. And then Mommy came, and that made it even better.”
Mommy?
Alec had said yesterday that Evanne had been with her mother, but he hadn’t mentioned that Keli had been with them all week. Based on what he’d told me, Keli had been overseas with a new boyfriend. It made sense that she was back. After all, her daughter had been through something possibly traumatic.
Any decent mother would’ve wanted to make sure their child was okay, and despite what she’d done by leaving Evanne with Alec, Keli was, at the very least, a decent mother. I just hadn’t realized that she’d been with them while they’d visited his parents. I’d assumed – foolishly, perhaps – that she’d been here waiting for them when they’d gotten back.
“She wanted to surprise me,” Evanne continued, “and it worked because I didn’t know she was coming to Grand-da and Grandma’s house at all. Even Daddy was surprised.”
Unless Alec had been playing along, that at least answered my question about whether or not he’d invited Keli to join them. It didn’t, however, ease the way my stomach was churning. I didn’t think Alec had cheated on me with Keli, but it bothered me that he hadn’t mentioned her. I didn’t want him to ever feel like he had to hide things from me, or that I’d be the kind of woman who wanted him to keep Evanne from her mother simply because Keli was his ex.
“Grandma and Aunt Paris and me all went shopping.” Evanne motioned to her outfit. “We had lots of fun getting me new clothes, and then we baked a lot. Mommy helped us make tacos. One day was really hot so we went swimming in Grand-da’s pool. Well, notreallyhot, but enough that Daddy said I could swim.”
“It sounds like you had fun.” I smiled. “We’re going to draw pictures in art class of what we did last week, and I bet you’ll have a lot of great things to draw.”
“I will,” she said, clapping her hands together. “I got to go see Mommy’s hotel yesterday, and she has a pool too. Does that count as what I did last week?”
“Of course.” I gave her shoulder a light squeeze. “Why don’t you put your things where they belong and then go have a seat, all right? I need to talk to these parents before class starts.” I motioned toward the couple patiently waiting with their daughter.
“Okay.” Evanne practically bounced to the coat hooks.
“Good morning,” I said as I turned toward another set of parents and fixed a polite smile on my face. “Are there any questions or concerns I can address for you?”
Even as I reassured students and parents alike, I couldn’t help worrying about what was going on with Evanne. From what I understood, Keli had never been neglectful or abusive, and while I might not be able to understand a parent choosing to do something that would result in them giving up complete custody of their child to the other parent, it wasn’t as if she’d dropped Evanne off at a group home or DCFS. Things could’ve been handled better, but Keli wasn’t really abadmother.
I couldn’t, however, bring myself to think of her as agoodmother, either. If she’d wanted to alter the custody arrangement, I wouldn’t have had such an issue with it, but she hadn’t simply shifted things so that she had a more joint-custody agreement. She’d left the country. Evanne had gone from living primarily with her mother and having visitation with her father a few days a month to suddenly living with her dad and not seeing her mom at all.