Page 6 of July (New Orleans #7)

“I heard you were here late yesterday,” Willa said.

“Yeah, my sister forgot to pick me up,” Juni replied.

“She did? I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“She’s not my full sister. Mom had her and then met my dad a bunch of years later and had me.”

“I see. So, she’s your half -sister?” Willa asked.

“I guess.” Juni shrugged a shoulder.

“Are you two close?”

“No, she’s a grown-up,” Juni replied.

“I see.”

Willa picked up the green crayon and colored in the land on the Earth worksheet that Juni was working on with her. Juni had the blue crayon, coloring in the Pacific Ocean.

“What color should we make the desert?” Willa asked.

“Brown,” Juni said as if it were obvious.

“And what about the mountains?”

“White because they have snow on them.”

“Should we maybe outline them a little, though, so that we know what they are?”

“Yeah, with gray and black, maybe,” Juni said.

Willa passed Juni the gray and black crayons and stood up from her kneeling position.

She liked to use this time of day, after lunch, to let the kids get creative while still learning before they went back into their regular coursework.

She’d also heard from one of the other teachers that Juni had been here late because her mother hadn’t picked her up, so Willa wanted to check on the girl.

Juni’s mom was usually always on time and had been early at least once a week.

Willa had met the woman once, and she’d been nice enough, but something had been a little off about her that Willa hadn’t been able to put her finger on.

Juni didn’t seem to be bothered by it, though, so Willa decided she shouldn’t be, either.

“Okay. Let’s finish up what we’re working on, and we’ll start math,” she said and received a few grumbles in response, which made her laugh a little.

Then, Willa returned to her desk and checked her phone for any messages.

She didn’t have any, which wasn’t unusual.

Dinner with her sister last night had been fun but also short.

Wallis had gotten called in on a case during their entrée, but she’d at least paid the bill before she had to run out, leaving Willa to finish the steak that she’d ordered for herself slowly to savor the only good meal she’d have for the next week or so.

She’d gotten home a little later than she had planned because she had decided to take a walk around the city.

Knowing it was dangerous to be alone at night, she had been extra cautious, and the entire time, her finger had been on the small pepper spray she carried on her key chain.

She’d needed the fresh air, though, and she’d been grateful for it by the time she’d gotten home to soak in her bathtub.

She couldn’t afford fancy bath stuff, but she had gotten some bubble bath at the dollar store a few weeks ago, and it smelled like vanilla.

It did the trick and relaxed her enough whenever she used it.

After their math lesson, it was time for social studies, and the last class of the day was English, which was probably Willa’s favorite class to teach because she loved it when they learned new words and read them aloud correctly for the first time.

The looks on their faces were always half-surprised and half-proud.

She also loved the stories they came up with and wrote down for her to read and grade later.

Sometimes, there were aliens living on farms. Other times, there was a ghost in their bedroom that was their new best friend.

After Freddy told the class a story about how he used to have a pet dinosaur, which seemed unlikely, Willa finished the day by telling them all to have a good night and do their homework before she walked them outside, where parents would be waiting to pick up their children.

It was her day to watch them until all the kids had been picked up, so she was hoping Juni’s mom would be on time today.

She had the parent-teacher conference that night to prepare for and didn’t have time to waste.

They did this only once during the summer as opposed to twice during the regular school year, but she still had to be here for four hours tonight, offering her time to chat with the parents about their kids, and she was supposed to decorate her classroom with the supplies she’d bought herself to make it look as nice as she could.

Eight of her students were picked up within five minutes of dismissal, thankfully, but Juni was still sitting on the stairs after they’d all gone home.

Willa waited another five minutes before she decided that they should wait back inside so that she’d be near the phone to be able to call Juni’s mom if she was much later.

“Hey, want to go inside and color until your mom gets here?” she asked.

“Jill is picking me up today,” Juni replied as she stood.

“Who’s–” Willa stopped. “Is Jill your sister?”

“Yes, she is. Hi. Sorry.” A woman came from inside the school, pushing the heavy, screeching door open as she waved a hand. “I parked out front.”

“Drop-offs are in the front,” Juni told the woman as she turned toward her. “Pickup is in the back.”

“Sorry,” the woman Willa assumed was Jill said.

Jill looked to be in her mid-twenties, which was older than Willa had assumed she would be. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes, and because no other words entered Willa’s mind at that moment to describe her, she was beautiful.

“I’m her sister,” Jill added before her face scrunched up in confusion. “Are you–” She paused. “Were you… in the Square yesterday?”

“We had a field trip,” Juni answered for Willa.

“You’re Juni’s teacher?” Jill asked.

“For summer school, yes,” she replied. “Willa Mailor.” She held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Jill shook her hand and said, “Yeah, you too.”

“You saw us in the Square yesterday?”

“Yeah, I guess I did.” Jill smiled.

Willa looked down and saw the logo for NOLA Guides on the woman’s polo shirt. Jill’s eyes followed hers, which had landed just above Jill’s breasts. Willa quickly looked up again, trying to pretend like her eyes hadn’t been where they’d been, even though the glance had been an innocent one.

“I’m a tour guide,” Jill explained.

“That seems like a fun job. You could’ve done a better job walking them through the Square than I did, I bet,” Willa noted.

“She doesn’t give tours to kids,” Juni said.

“Yes, I do,” Jill corrected her. “Not just kids, though, like a teacher. They’re with their parents.”

“Can we go home, Jill?” Juni asked.

“Uh… Yeah,” Jill said, still looking at Willa and smiling at her.

“Will you be joining your mom at the parent-teacher conference?” Willa asked because, for some reason, she was not ready to say goodbye to Jill just yet.

“There’s a parent-teacher conference? When?”

“Tonight. In about two hours. Your mom has the seven o’clock slot, though. Before that, there’s just a presentation to all the parents in the gym. I think they’re serving cookies and juice, too.”

Jill looked down at Juni and asked, “There’s a parent-teacher thing?”

“Mom didn’t tell you?”

Jill opened her mouth to say something but seemed to think better of it, which was interesting to Willa.

“Juni, can you go inside for a second and wait for me there? I’ll be right in.”

“Fine,” Juni replied, clearly not happy about it.

Jill opened the door to let her sister walk through and then checked to make sure she remained standing there, waiting for her, before she closed the door, leaving the two adults outside.

“Everything okay?” Willa asked.

“Juni doesn’t know.”

“Doesn’t know what?”

“So, our mom is helping our grandparents, who are sick – Juni knows that part – but she was supposed to pick her up yesterday before she left, and she didn’t. I got the call when I went to babysit.”

“I see. So, your mom won’t be joining us tonight?”

“No. She’s in Florida right now. I got a text from her this morning saying that she was fine and that she thought she told me to pick Juni up. It’s a long story, but I get the impression that her mind was elsewhere yesterday.” Jill sighed. “Is it a big deal, this parent thing tonight?”

“We go over where the students are and what they should be focusing on. It’s not a huge deal, no, but we find it helpful to have the parents involved, especially in summer school when the students need to pass to move on.”

“Or, to keep the underqualified older sister involved?” Jill asked.

Willa laughed and said, “That too. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve had aunts and uncles attend. Grandparents and guardians, too. Not everyone has a mom or a dad to show up.”

“Or two moms,” Jill said.

Willa lifted an eyebrow at that comment.

“Sorry,” Jill added. “Just meant that–”

“No, it’s okay. I get it,” she interjected. “And yes.”

“So, I should be here, then, right?”

“If you can,” Willa said.

“Is there anything I should know before I show up? Does Juni come with me? I don’t have anyone else to watch her. I suppose I could ask Rory, but I think she’s busy tonight.”

“You can bring her. She would sit in the hallway or in another classroom while you and I talked.”

“Okay,” Jill said.

“Who’s Rory?” Willa asked for some other unknown reason.

“Rory?” Jill seemed taken aback by the question. “Oh. She’s a friend. We work together. She’s also a nanny, so tons of experience with kids, unlike me.”

Will laughed and asked, “How long will you be on kid sister duty?”

“At least a week. I guess my mom normally packs her a lunch because the cafeteria isn’t open during the summer here, but she didn’t go shopping, so there was nothing in the fridge to pack this morning.”

“That’s why Juni had a lunch from Starbucks today,” Willa said, laughing.

“I got her a hot chocolate, so no coffee, at least, and it was a protein pack thing. Kids need protein, right? Helps them grow and whatnot. There was a juice box. Does that make it better?”

Willa laughed again and said, “I saw the juice box.”