The Teacher (19 page)

He shifted on his feet.
“Well, I was hoping that, um,” he stammered ever so slightly. “You see I’m
looking for someone to work with Brayden this summer.”

“Oh,” said Emma.

“And he will need someone to
take him to his therapy appointments.” He was watching her and she realized he
was asking not telling her this.

“Oh,” she said again, with
greater understanding. “You’re looking for a nanny for Brayden.”

“Well, sort of,” Marcus
said. “Would you be interested in working with Brayden? I will pay you, of
course.”

“You want me to be Brayden’s
nanny for the summer?” she clarified, placing a hand on her own chest.

“Um, yes, I guess it would
be a nanny, but more like a tutor. You’re just so good with him,” Marcus said
as Emma started to consider the possibility. It sounded doable. She and Brayden
were getting along well and it would be easy enough to spend a few hours each
day with him. It might be good money. She was about to say yes when he dropped
a few more details.

“It would be for ten weeks,”
he added and she nodded, that sounded good. “We leave for Seattle, the same day
school lets out and we’ll be back by the middle of August.” Marcus stopped as
soon as Emma started shaking her head.

“Seattle?” she repeated,
rethinking this whole proposition.

“Yes,” he said,
straightening up and changing his tone, all of his poise and command returned.
“I will be working out of our main office in Seattle and I need someone I can
trust and rely on to look after Brayden. It’s all lined out right here.” He
crossed the floor closing the space between them and handed her an envelope. “I
have drawn up a complete contract for you. It will explain all my expectations
and your compensation.”

“Oh,” Emma said taken aback by
his confidence that she would take the job and brought a contract for her to
sign here and now. But there were a lot of things for her to consider, like the
expense to get to Seattle and finding a place to live for the summer. “I’ll,
um, I’ll think about it,” she said quietly.

Marcus nodded at her curtly
and then spun on his heel. He took two steps toward the door before walking
back to her desk, where he’d been standing when she first walked in. “I almost
forgot,” he said, picking something up. “Brayden said this was for you.” He
reached out and handed her the same bag she’d sent home with Brayden on Friday.

“But this is…” she began to
say, holding the bag in her hands.

“He said he wanted to give
it to you, because you are special to him.” Marcus turned and was out the door
before she could respond. She felt her heart melt thinking how thoughtful it
was of Brayden to want to give her his gift, but then it hardened as she thought
about how Marcus may have used it as a tactic to get her to take the job he was
offering her—in Seattle. She was angry that he would use her emotions against
her like that.

Emma shoved the envelope and
the gift into her bag before turning off the classroom lights and locking the
door.

Her mind raced through her
conversation with Marcus as she pushed through the front doors of the school.

“Ms. Hewitt, Ms. Hewitt,”
Brayden called, running back up the sidewalk to her. His backpack bounced with
every step. Marcus turned but didn’t approach her.

“Hi Brayden,” she said with
a smile.

“Dad said he gave you my
present. Did you like it?” Emma looked at Marcus, but he was looking down at
the cracked sidewalk. She looked back to Brayden and put a hand on his shoulder.

“He did give it to me and I
love it.” She squatted next to him and lowered her voice. “Are you sure you
want to give it to me? I thought we talked about you giving it to your dad.”

“No, I made it for you,
because you like red flowers. Dad doesn’t like red flowers.”

Emma smiled, “Thank you so
much for the present Brayden.”

He smiled at her before
skipping off toward his dad again. Emma followed them down the sidewalk and
turned in the direction of her apartment while they crossed the street and
climbed into Marcus’s Mercedes.

*     *     *

After Emma’s dinner of a
grilled turkey Panini and fresh fruit, she pulled the white envelope from her
bag. Brayden seemed genuine about wanting to give the Mother’s Day gift to her,
so she started to rethink Marcus’s proposal. She unfolded the tucked flap and pulled
the contract from within.

It all looked so legal, but
then Marcus was an attorney and this probably came second nature to him. Her
name was typed at the top. The dates of “desired” employment were listed as well
as a wage offering. Emma’s eyes popped as she looked at the number, wondering
if there was a typo, maybe one too many zeros. This was more money than she
made in two months of teaching.

A job description was listed
and everything matched exactly as Marcus had described it. Stipulations were
included about how some additional evening and weekend time may be needed, but
otherwise evenings and weekends were her free time. The section on lodging
explained that the house was large enough for Emma to have her own private
suite and no rent would be charged. Meals would be provided as well as all
expenses incurred for traveling.

Emma blinked at the pages.
She scanned them again, wondering if she had missed something. This offer
seemed too good to be true. Could she really make this much money by going to
Seattle and spending time with Brayden? There had to be some loophole, but she
couldn’t find it. She thought about calling Audrey, just to go over it with someone
else, but every time she talked to her sister in the last month, she’d been
distracted and quick to get off the phone. Emma looked at the clock and decided
it was too late to call now anyway, Audrey and Finn would be getting the girls ready
for bed.

She would make this decision
for herself.

Chapter Twenty-four

“Marcus, do you have a
minute?” Dennis called from down the hall as Marcus stepped out of the
conference room.

“What is it?” Marcus asked
meeting the associate halfway.

“I need a signature on
these,” Dennis explained, opening a file folder.

Marcus took the pages from
his hands and started toward his office. Dennis trailed slightly behind. Marcus
skimmed the documents as he walked, but stopped when he approached the
reception area. There were voices, Gretta’s and someone else’s that sounded
familiar. He looked at Dennis who just looked back at him waiting for his signature—unaware
of the voices. Marcus strained to listen.

“Can I just leave this for
Mr. Lewis?” It was Emma. Why was she here? And what was she leaving for him? He
took the final steps down the hall and rounded the corner into the reception
area, brushing his shoulder past the potted palm. The leaves rustled and both
women looked up in mid exchange of the white envelope. His eyes were drawn
right to it, recognizing it as the one he’d left with her only a few days ago.

“Ms. Hewitt,” he said.

“Hi,” she said, pulling the
envelope back into her possession. “I was just returning this.” She lifted it
slightly.

“Is it vetoed or can we
discuss it further?” He spoke vaguely, afraid the answer was she would not be
joining him in Seattle and he didn’t want to face that rejection in front of his
colleagues. He had found a therapist for Brayden and already accepted his
father’s proposal. It had been premature without having Emma in place, but he’d
been counting on it. Counting on having her there with him.

“I would like to discuss it
with you, but Gretta says you are very busy this afternoon. I don’t want to
keep you from your work. Another time would be fine.”

“Now would be fine,” he
reassured her and saw her gaze fall to the right of him. He glanced and saw
Dennis quietly hovering behind him like a ghost. “I’m almost finished here and
then we can talk. I’ll meet you in my office. Gretta would you please show Ms.
Hewitt the way.”

“I remember the way,” Emma
said, waving Gretta off.

Gretta looked from Emma to
Marcus, the corners of her mouth turned down.

Marcus nodded to Emma who
proceeded down the hall. As he turned to follow her Gretta called out, “Mr.
Lewis don’t forget you have a conference call in ten minutes.”

“I remember,” he said over
his shoulder and returned his attention to the documents. He stopped in front
of Dennis’s office door where he flipped through the rest of the file. Three doors
down he watched Emma enter his office. He scrawled his signature on the appropriate
lines and handed the file back to Dennis.

Inside his office, he found Emma
in one of the leather chairs, one leg crossed over the other with her bag propped
up against the chair. It wasn’t her usual bag, the one he’d scooped off the
sidewalk that drizzly fall night. It was bigger, the soft brown leather
exterior and detailed stitching looked soft and new.

He slipped into his leather
desk chair and she pushed the envelope across the desktop to him. Both of them
stared at it, neither one ready to start the conversation.

“I’m interested in taking
the job,” Emma finally said with a lift of her chin. “But I need to make a
couple of changes to the contract.”

“Okay,” Marcus said as he
folded his hands, curious about her conditions.

“I won’t be able to leave
the same day school gets out. I’m still under contract with the district
through the next Monday and I would like a few days to regroup from the school
year before taking off for the summer.”

Marcus nodded, “Very well,
that will be no problem.”

“Okay,” she said, a sigh of
relief escaping her lips. He wondered what she was relieved about, her request
was reasonable and he felt bad he hadn’t considered her schedule a little more.
A week off, especially that first week when his parents would still be around,
would be easy enough to accommodate.

“Okay,” she said again and
pressed her hands onto her knees getting ready to stand.

“Is that everything?” Marcus
asked, standing with her.

“Yes, as long as it is okay
that I don’t start until a few days later then I think it will be fine.” She
pulled the strap of her bag over her shoulder. The phone line buzzed and Gretta
interrupted them.

“Your conference call is
waiting Mr. Lewis,” she said through the line.

“Tell him I’m still in a
meeting and I will be right with him,” Marcus instructed her. The light on his
phone vanished.

“I should get going,” Emma
said, turning for the door.

“Okay.” Marcus came around
from behind his desk. “Thanks for stopping by. I’ll get a new contract typed up
and drop it off for you on Monday.”

She turned, repositioning
the strap on her shoulder. “I won’t be there on Monday. I’m using up the last
of my personal days to go away for an extended weekend. I told the kids today,
so they know to expect a sub. You might want to remind Brayden, just so there
are no surprises for him.”

“Thanks, I’ll do that.” He
leaned against the front of his desk, crossing one foot over the other at the
ankle. “Have a great weekend. I hope you’re going somewhere fun.” He was
prolonging her departure by making small talk, but the relief that she would be
joining him in Seattle had boosted his mood. So much so that he wanted to keep talking
with her and completely blow off the call that waited for him. “That would
explain the new bag then, I thought maybe your little artists were lavishing
you with more great works of art that required a larger means of transport.”

“No, I’ve started recycling
those on Fridays.” She held her finger to her lips, like he might spill her
secret to her class and then glanced at the bag on her shoulder. “This is
something I probably shouldn’t have splurged on, but my friend insisted it
would be great for our trip this weekend.” She shrugged, “Oh that reminds me, I
realize you probably made a mistake or something when you filled out the wage.
I wrote in a range that would work for me. Whatever you pick within it will be
fine.”

“I’ll take a look at it.”
Marcus smiled. He was sure he had carefully typed in what he thought was a fair
wage, but he could have made an error.

The phone on his desk buzzed
again, but he ignored it.

“I’ll be going,” Emma said. He
held up a finger, signaling for her to wait a moment. He wasn’t ready for her
to leave yet, even though they seemed to have covered all of her concerns. He
pressed the intercom button on his phone.

“Yes, Gretta?”

“Your conference call is
still waiting,” she reminded him.

“I know. Tell him I’m still
in a meeting working out a few details for the Barclay deal.” He pressed the
button on his phone again and turned back to Emma.

“Sorry.” He smiled and
crossed his arms over his chest.

“I really should be going
anyway. I’m meeting my friend down in her office in a couple of minutes. We’re
leaving for the coast as soon as she’s out of a meeting.”

“Oh,” Marcus said. “So you
have a friend who works here in the building?” he asked, playing dumb.

“Yes, my friend Stacy works
in the real estate office on the twelfth floor. We’re headed out of town for a
girls’ weekend at her parent’s beach house in Seaside.”

“Sounds relaxing.”

She chuckled, “Probably not.
Stacy’s a bit of a mover and a shaker. I’m sure she’s got the whole weekend
planned, but it will still be nice to get away for a while.” She didn’t move
and he didn’t want her to. He enjoyed being with her, but he also knew he
couldn’t keep his father waiting much longer. He stood and walked her to the
door slowly turning the knob.

“Have a great time,” he
said.

“See you next week and
remember there’s no school tomorrow.”

“I remember,” he said. “I
check Brayden’s backpack every night now.” He smiled humbly at her. Ever since
she’d called him on his disconnect to Brayden’s schooling he’d worked hard to
remember to open and clear out Brayden’s backpack, looking for notes and
reminders.

“Right,” she said as she
passed inches from him. A faint smell of something sweet drifted in the air
when she passed. He took a step to follow her and when she turned back, they
found themselves nearly colliding. Emma quickly stepped back, but he could see
the color rise in her cheeks. She met his eyes for a moment and then looked
down, taking another step back.

“One more thing,” she said.
“Can we not tell Brayden about me going to Seattle with you until school is
out? I don’t want the other kids or families to catch wind of it. It could be a
little awkward.”

“Certainly,” Marcus agreed
with her.

“Okay, well, thanks for
seeing me,” she said and then turned and walked quickly down the hall.