Page 30 of Hot Four Teacher (The Lawson’s #4)

Chapter twenty-nine

Tuesdays are for Roman Orgies

Dane

“ U ncle Dane!” My niece, Ashley, comes running toward me.

As soon as she’s close enough, I sweep her into my arms. “There’s the birthday girl!”

Her dark hair is piled up into a tiny ponytail on top of her head, and her big blue eyes sparkle.

“What have you been doing?” I ask her.

She plays with the ends of my beard. “Nuffin.”

“Have you been driving your mom crazy like I taught you?”

She grins, showing off her dimples, and excitedly nods.

“That’s my girl.”

“Uncle Dane, do the thing!” She pleads.

“What thing?”

She bends her head backwards. “You know!”

I do know. I just like giving her a hard time. Without warning, I flip her upside down, holding her by her ankles. I walk further into the house until I run into my sister in the kitchen.

“I found this little girl,” I tell her. “Does she belong to you?”

“Nope. Never seen her before.” She smiles.

“Well, I guess if no one wants her, we’ll just have to throw her away.”

I dangle her over the trash can as she giggles even harder.

“No!” She squeals through the laughter. “Mommy, help! Don’t let him throw me away!”

“Oh, alright, alright.” Jenny grabs her from me and tickles her before setting her down. “Why don’t you go watch the front door and wait for Grandpa?”

As Ashley starts to run away, Jenny calls after her, “Stay inside! Don’t go out the door!”

I look at my sister. “Worried she’s going to make a break for it?”

“With that child, nothing surprises me. I swear she gets her wild streak from you.”

“Ha!” I exclaim. “That’s a good one.”

She grins. “Okay, maybe I was the wild one, but I never fathomed that my daughter would be just like me.”

“I think that’s called karma.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She punches me in the arm. “You love me, and you know it.”

“You’re my sister. I’m obligated to.”

She rolls her eyes and keeps icing cupcakes.

“Where’s Mark?” I ask. “Did he finally get sick of you?”

“He went to grab ice. For your information, he thinks I’m an absolute delight.”

I love giving Jenny crap. She makes it so easy.

Before our conversation can go any further, our dad walks in with Ashley in his arms.

“Grandpa’s here!” Ashley announces.

Dad nods. “The party can officially begin.”

Ashley claps. “Yay!”

I lean over and mutter to Jenny. “Does she realize this is her birthday and not a party for grandpa?”

She whispers back, “Anything concerning Grandpa is a party to her.”

Louder now, she asks, “How are you doing, Dad?”

“Well, I’m not dead or laid up in a hospital bed, so I guess that means it’s a good day.”

“That’s a great way to look at it,” I say while Jenny purses her lips together in annoyance.

She says, “Ashley, why don’t you go in your room and find all those pictures you colored for Grandpa?”

“How come I never get any pictures?” I ask.

Dad looks at me. “Because you’re not Grandpa.”

He sets Ashley down, and she scurries off to her bedroom.

Dad walks over to a kitchen drawer, grabs a spoon, and comes to dip it in the bowl of icing.

Jenny shoots me a look, silently telling me that she’s wanting to have this awkward conversation with him.

“Now?” I mouth.

She nods.

I do a weird gesture, telling her to go first. After all, she’s the one who wanted to do this whole song and dance. Not me.

Dad takes a seat on a stool on the other side of the counter. “Why don’t you two tell me what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You two look like the cat who ate the fucking canary. You have the same looks you had when one of you scratched my mustang but acted like neither of you knew anything about it.”

Jenny and I exchange a look but don’t comment on the second part of his statement at all. What happened to the mustang is a secret she and I will take to our graves.

Jenny instead gets to the topic she wanted to discuss. “I wanted to talk to you about the other day…when I came to see you.”

He sets the spoon down. “Yeah, I’m going to pass.”

“You can’t just pass,” she argues.

“The hell I can’t. I don’t want to discuss my sex life with you two.”

We both visibly shudder at the mention of his sex life.

Jenny says, “I think it’s important to talk about this woman. Is she your girlfriend?”

“Why would you assume that?”

“Because you were balls deep in her!” Jenny cries.

My features cringe in disgust. “Ew! Jenny!”

She holds up a hand to quiet me.

Dad says, “Just because Leanna and I had a decent fuck, that doesn’t mean she’s my girlfriend.”

Mortified, I ask, “What is happening?”

Jenny questions, “Then, who is she?”

Dad shrugs. “She’s just a woman I hang out with sometimes. We occasionally sleep together. It’s not a big deal. She’s not the only woman I do it with.”

Jenny’s voice gets so high I imagine all the dogs in a ten-block radius are going crazy. “What? So, you’re some sort of playboy?”

“Oh, don’t be a prude, Jennifer. Everyone in the facility does it.”

“Great!” She squeals. “Monday is movie night. Tuesdays are for Roman orgies!”

Dad laughs. “Don’t be ridiculous, Jennifer. The Roman orgies are on Friday.”

At this point, I fear my sister may have an aneurysm, so I step in. “Okay, everyone just calm down."

Dad says, “Dane, while I appreciate you trying to play mediator, it’s not necessary. Both of you listen to me. When your mother died, I lost my soulmate. She was the only woman I wanted to spend my life with. She made me promise that if something happened to her, I would try to get back out there.”

Jenny asks, “So, why now? Why all of a sudden do you have all these friends?”

“It’s not now. I still had a sex life when you guys were living at home.”

Jenny shakes her head. “We would’ve known.”

“No, you wouldn’t have. Back then, you were more worried about your own lives than you were about mine. Hell, you still wouldn’t know if you had called the other day instead of just showing up unannounced.”

For once, my sister doesn’t have anything to say, so my dad adds, “I love that you look out for me, but I promise you I’m doing just fine on my own. Time to let this go, kiddo.”

Ashley comes running back with a stack of crumpled papers. Dad picks her up and walks out into the backyard with her.

Jenny snaps her head toward me. “Thanks a lot for all your support. You were a big help.”

After her sarcastic words, she storms out of the kitchen.

Great talk.

***

An hour later, I’m sitting in my sister’s back yard on her large swing that hangs from a tree. Presents have been opened, and cupcakes have been eaten. Now, I’m just waiting on a good moment to make my exit.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jenny walking toward me. I brace for impact, thinking she’s about to give me some hell. But the only thing she gives me is a beer.

“A peace offering,” she says.

“Is it poisoned?”

“If I were going to poison you, I would’ve done it with your cupcake. You inhaled that thing.”

She walks in the front of the swing to have a seat next to me. “Sorry I took my anger out on you.”

“Eh, I’ve been your brother for over thirty years. I’m used to it by now.”

She rolls her eyes but smiles. “I’m just not sure how to handle Dad.”

“Jenny, I get that you think you have to take care of everybody, but have you ever thought that Dad doesn’t need to be handled? Maybe it’s best to just let him do his own thing.”

“I know you’re right. But that doesn’t make it any easier. We almost lost him, and I don’t want that to become a reality.”

I pat her knee. “You know that no matter what you do, that will eventually be a reality. Why not let him enjoy the time that he has?”

She sighs. “I hate it when you’re right.”

“Really? Because I love it.”

“So, what’s been up with you? How’s everything since the move?”

“Pretty good. I like the house and my new job. And coaching is going alright.”

“How’s the love life?” She asks.

“Uh…you kn ow, it’s good.”

Her eyes light up. “Really? Who is she? Tell me everything!”

“There’s not much to tell.”

“So, tell me anyway.”

I take a long swig of beer. “Her name is Michelle. We started hanging out and having a really great time, but it turns out her daughter is one of my students.”

“Yikes. Did you end things?”

“Kind of. We keep trying to, but then, we hang out, and we…don’t end things.”

She smiles and nods. “Got it. Which one of you is trying to do the ending?”

“What does that matter?”

“Oh, it matters.”

“Well, she’s the one who wants to end it, but she’s also the one who keeps not ending it.”

“Really?” She looks perplexed.

“Yes, Jenny, really. You know, there are women who don’t find me revolting.”

“I know that. I’m just a little surprised that you aren’t the one trying to end things.”

“Why?” I question.

“Because I would imagine this relationship would put your job at risk. Aren’t you worried about getting fired?”

“To start with, we aren’t really public with it, so I’m not worried about people finding out.”

She stops me. “Dane, you’re not in Portland anymore. In small towns, everyone knows each other…and everyone talks. Your secret won’t be safe for long.”

“Maybe.”

“So, back to you potentially losing your job,” Jenny says.

I probably should be more worried than I actually am. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad.

“Jenny, I just had to find a new job when my old school didn’t open back up.

Even with the school year already starting, it didn’t take long to find a job.

There will always be another one. But finding someone who I’d want to have a relationship with?

I’m finding that quite a bit more difficult.

Michelle is the first woman since Cassie that I’ve entertained a real relationship with. ”

My sister grins. “Listen to you! It’s nice hearing you get excited about love again. I didn’t think you’d find it again after that bitch, Cassie.”

“Come on, Jenny. Cassie wasn’t a bitch.”

“Says you.”

Jenny never cared for my ex-wife. They never saw eye-to-eye about much. I think that Jenny secretly didn’t like that we got married so young, and I suddenly didn’t have much time to be a good big brother.

The blame for that should fall on me, but it was easier to blame Cassie. When we got divorced, Jenny didn’t have to play nice anymore.

Not that she was all that nice to begin with.

Jenny looks at me. “I just want you to be happy.”

“Back at you, kid.”

We look out into the yard where our dad is playing with Ashley.

“Will you look at him?” Jenny asks. “Having a make-believe tea party with his granddaughter. Do you ever remember him doing anything like that with us?”

“Fuck, no! But back then, he was still a hard ass. He would’ve beat my butt if I wanted him to play pretend with me.”

“Now, he would do anything in the world for Ashley. It’s crazy what a heart attack will do to change your outlook on life.”

I think about her words and try to make a promise to myself to not have a heart attack be the only reason I start really living.