Maybe This Time (The Educators Book 3) (13 page)

“Fuck you. They caught the girls who were a bad influence on her so she’s not in danger anymore. And I’ll conduct my life however I see fit.” Turning abruptly, she stormed back into the room.

Gage went back to Steph’s room and pounded harder on the thick wood. Finally, the music went off and she opened the door. She seemed surprised to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to your mother, but obviously, she’s indisposed.”

Steph crossed to her bed and sat where she’d obviously been on her laptop. He followed her, and when she started to pick it up, he said, “No, don’t Steph.” He sat down on the mattress and grabbed her hand. This time she didn’t move away but held tight to him. “I want to talk to you about this.”

“What’s to talk about? I’m not a baby. I know adults screw each other.” Still, she bit her lip.

“Well, yes, adults have sex, but doesn’t it bother you that she has men over when you’re home?”

The sulky mask dropped and she was his little girl again. “Yeah, it does. It’s kind of skeevy, you know?”

“I know. I really do know.” What the hell, he pulled her close. She went willingly and he smoothed down her hair. “I’m sorry you’re going through this. Something has to be done.”

For a moment, she burrowed into him. When she pulled back, she said, “Yeah, what? You know Mom. She does what she wants, when she wants. Besides, she’ll go back to Europe or down south soon enough.”

“I’m not excusing her actions because of her condition any more. It’s time to mix things up a bit.”

“How?”

“Let me think about it. Meanwhile, pack a bag. You’re coming home with me.”

Delight etched out on her face. “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

o0o

Stephanie glanced at the clock in Delaney’s room. “It’s time for me to go. Dad will be here in a few minutes.”

Delaney looked up at her. There were dark circles under her eyes. “It sounds like things are going better with him.”

“He’s home a lot and asked to have me more. Mom agreed because I think I’m cramping her style with this new guy she’s seeing. Anyway, me and Dad are doing better.” She brightened. “We’re going for pizza tonight. Wanna come?”

“No, thanks. I have work to do.”

Steph cocked her head. “Something’s not right. You been weird all day. And we’ve stayed at school when I’m with Dad so you haven’t been back to our condo.”

Delaney wanted to say,
I’m having your father’s baby and I’m tired. I’m also not sleeping because I miss him so much I can’t stand it.

“I’m fine. I’ve been up late correcting the projects my seniors turned in.”

Steph stood and began filling her backpack. Dressed in jeans, a simple white shirt and sneakers, she seemed heartbreakingly young. Suddenly, the desire to be the girl’s mother, which Delaney ruthlessly kept from rising to her consciousness for months, surfaced.

Steph asked, “You sure you don’t want to eat out with us?”

“No thanks.”

“Then come and say hi to Dad with me.”

“No, Steph, I don’t want to!” Oh, Lord, she hadn’t meant to snap. “I’m sorry, honey, I’m more tired than I thought. I’ll finish up grading this project, go home and get some rest.”

“No worries.” Steph walked to over to her teacher and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Hell, her eyes got wet. “Ms. Dawson?”

“I’m fine. I get weepy when I’m tired. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Confused, and worried, Steph left the room and walked all the way down to the gym exit, where he father would meet her. It was six at night. She heard players in the locker room but there wasn’t anybody else around. Ms. Dawson shouldn’t be alone in school at night like this.

She was waiting outside when her father pulled up a few minutes later in his Lexus. She slid into the car.

“Hi, Steph.”

“Hi.”

“Good day?”

“Uh-huh.”

They drove away from school.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. Just tired.”

“Me, too. Let’s pick up the pizza and take it home.”

“Sure, whatever.”

They got about three blocks from school and Steph looked over at her dad. He’d been trying hard with her, coming home earlier when he could, talking to her until she talked back. It felt good. So she took what Ms. Dawson had called a leap of faith. “Something’s wrong with Ms. Dawson, Dad.”

Her father’s shoulders tensed. “Oh?” He cleared his throat. “Why do you say that?”

“For one thing she snapped at me when I asked her to come to dinner.”

“She gives up a lot of her time for us, honey.” She liked her father had picked up calling her honey, like Ms. Dawson. “She probably needs the time alone.”

“She got tears in her eyes when I kissed her goodbye on the cheek.”

“That’s not good.”

“And it’s six at night and she’s alone in her wing at school. I don’t know, it made me worry.”

He swerved the car to the side of the road. “What do you mean?”

“The janitors are working, but I didn’t see any of them down her hall. The gym is at the other end of the school, where the jocks are practicing. I just got this weird feeling, like something bad was gonna happen.”

Checking the mirror, her father pulled out and made a U-turn in the road. “What are you doing?”

“That doesn’t seem right to me either. Let’s go check on her. Maybe we can at least talk her into going home now.”

They headed back to school. She reached over and touched his arm. “Thanks, Dad.”

“I want her to be safe, too.”

“No, I meant thanks for listening. It makes me feel really good.”

Chapter 11

Completely drained, Delaney rested her head on the desk. She’d been emotional since Stephanie left because she wasn’t sure she could spend time with the girl anymore. It hurt too damn much. Plus, she had to make a decision about leaving Crystal Corners. She wondered if she had enough strength to do either.

She heard the door open and sat up just as someone spoke. “What do you have to cry about, Teach?”

Delaney stiffened and her head snapped around. In the entrance stood Schmooze.

With a gun in her hand pointed at Delaney.

“W-what are you doing here?”

The girl leaned against the doorjamb and waved the weapon. Her hair was teased and messy and her clothes wrinkled. “That’s pretty obvious.”

Delaney’s throat constricted. “This isn’t going to help your case, Schmooze. You’re only out on bail and you’re compromising your position by carrying a weapon.”

Schmooze smirked. “My ‘rents are paying five hundred bucks an hour to get me off the thing with Speranza.”

“There you go. You’ll be home free if you don’t do anything to me.” Delaney couldn’t believe she sounded so calm. Her heart was pumping in her chest.

“Maybe I don’t want to be home free.” She pushed the door to close it, but the lock stuck sometimes and it stayed ajar. Schmooze walked toward Delaney and when the girl got closer, Delaney could see her glassy eyes. Shit. Schmooze was high. She fished in her pocket with her free hand, pulled out a pack of Marlboros and matches and handed them to Delaney. “Light one for me, would you, Teach?”

Shakily—Delaney couldn’t remember the last time she was this scared--she took the pack and lit a cigarette. It tasted foul and her stomach roiled. When she handed it over, Schmooze took a long drag.

“Why me?” Delaney asked. She realized she had to keep the girl talking.

“Because Little Miss Narc digs you; that’s enough of a reason.” She took another drag and flicked ashes on the floor.

“Besides, you think you know everything. What’s right for her, for all the kids in your classes. You’re a know-it-all, and I hate you.”

Delaney thought of her words to Gage the other night.
Teachers like me and Brie and Annie, administrators like Dylan always know more about what kids need than their parents do.
“Maybe you’re right. But I can be better.”

“Too late. For you and me.”

For a moment, Delaney got a glimpse of loneliness in the young girl’s made-up face and remembered how
she’d
felt desperate and isolated at seventeen. “Schmooze, I was a lot like you when I was young. But I got out of the depression and loneliness and you can, too.”

The girl sighed. “No, it’s too late for me.”

“It’s never too late. I can help.”

She waved the gun again. “After this, I’ll go to jail.”

“Not if I don’t tell.”

“Yeah, if I believe you on that one, I’m more of a fool than you are.”

Behind Schmooze Delaney caught sight of someone through the glass in the door. Gage. Oh, my God. He’d be in harm’s way. She had to handle Schmooze right. She forced herself to focus on the girl, but seeing Gage gave her an idea. “I’m pregnant, Schmooze.”

The cigarette stopped halfway to her mouth. “The hell you are.”

“I am. About six weeks. I’ve got a tiny baby inside me. You don’t want to hurt her, do you?”

“It’s a girl?”

“Yes.” A second lie. She had no idea what sex the baby was.

Schmooze snorted. “You’re shittin’ me and I’m not buying it. Now turn around or I’ll shoot you in the face.”

“Schmooze, please.”

“Now!”

Delaney glanced at the door again. It was opening slowly. Gage was coming inside. At least she could give him an edge. Slowly, she turned around then suddenly dropped to the floor as if she’d fainted.

The door burst open. She heard a scuffle. A shot. Then a loud thump. She scrambled around to find Gage, blood on his shoulder and arm, on top of a very still Schmooze.

o0o

Excruciating pain radiated from his shoulder. Gage cleared his mind enough to see that Schmooze hit her head hard when he tackled her to the ground; for now, she was unconscious. Just as he heard Delaney call his name, men rushed through the door, with Steph behind them. From his daughter, he heard, “Oh, my God.”

The men were security guards, he saw, as he rolled off Schmooze. They grabbed her when she started to rouse. Two escorted her out the door.

Delaney crawled to him. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, the bullet just grazed my shoulder.”

A third guard bent down. “I’ll go get a first aid kit.” He took out a handkerchief and handed it to Delaney. “Meanwhile, put this on his arm. After your daughter found us, we called the police and I’ll phone the medics now.”

Stephanie dropped to the floor on the side of him opposite Delaney.

“I’m all right, Steph. Help me up.”

“No, stay there. You’re bleeding.” Delaney pressed her hand against handkerchief covering his wound. “Steph, grab the sweater I keep in my desk and put it beneath your dad’s head.”

Steph, crying now, did as she asked, then grabbed his hand. He squeezed it. “I’m not hurt that badly, honey.”

“Oh, Daddy.” She hadn’t called him that in years. “You were so brave.”

His vision was getting a little fuzzy. Delaney, on the other side, cleared her throat. When he looked at her, he said, “I was so worried. Are you okay? Both of you?”

She put his hand on her stomach and nodded. “Yeah.”

“I’m so sorry for what I said to you.” He could see, just barely. “It was terrible and I didn’t mean it.”

Through her tears she whispered, “Me, too. I threatened you and shouldn’t have.”

Stephanie gulped, “What’s going on here? I don’t understand.”

o0o

Delaney and Steph followed the ambulance to the hospital but Steph didn’t say a word to her. Delaney was too overwrought to comfort the girl and besides she didn’t know exactly what to say.

They rushed inside and watched as Gage was wheeled into the emergency treatment area.

A nurse told them to take a seat. They did. After a few minutes, Delaney knew she had to explain things to Steph. “I’m involved with your father.”

“Yeah, I got that. So…” She tried for bravado but it failed her and she was just another scared kid. “…that’s why you paid attention to me. It wasn’t because you cared about me.”

“Don’t do that! Don’t sell yourself so short!”

Stephanie recoiled.

Gaining control of herself, Delaney got up, sat on the table in front of Steph and took her hands. In her eyes she saw sadness, tinged though with hope. Delaney realized that Steph wanted to be convinced. “Honey, I’m going to tell you some things which are going to be too much information for you about your dad and teacher. We didn’t tell you all this before because we were afraid you were going to have the exact reaction you just did.”

Biting her lip, Steph said, “Go ahead.”

“I’ve known you since September, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And when do think we got close? Beginning of October?”

“Yeah, through the journals. Then you let me talk to you sometimes after school. I thought you liked me.” Tears again.

“I more than like you. I love you.”

The words seemed to calm the girl. “Really?”

“Uh-huh. Really.”

“So what about Dad?”

“Steph, sometimes adults do impulsive things. Things maybe you think are immoral. Maybe they are immoral.”

“What’d you do?”

“Remember when I got stranded in Atlanta?”

“Yeah. You met my dad in the airport.”

“Um, we did a little more than meet.”

“I don’t--” Her brows skyrocketed. “Holy crap, you knocked boots with my father?”

“I did. We spent the day together, it was my birthday…” She shrugged, feeling like a complete failure having to explain this to her student. “It just happened. Because of that, I’m not a good role model for you.”

“Screw being a role model. So you didn’t meet him until then?”

“Nope. Long after I came to care about you deeply. You have to believe that.”

“I guess.”

“When we got back here, and I found out he was your father, we decided not to see each other again.”

“Didn’t you connect the name? Grayson?”

Jesus, this was hard. And embarrassing. “I, um, didn’t know his last name.”

Lowering her head, Steph put her hand over her mouth and Delaney thought she was crying again. But she wasn’t. She started to giggle. “You shacked up with a man and didn’t even know his last name?”

“As I said, I’m not a good role model to follow.”