by Parker, Ali
“It’s perfect. Thank you.” She grinned at me. “What do you want to have a go at next?”
The three of us continued around the carnival, taking in all the stalls, even as the sun started to dip a little over the water behind us. It was a tiny bit cold, and I draped my jacket around Autumn’s shoulders as we rounded the last line of stalls and walked back toward the entrance. Hunter glanced up at me, and he seemed satisfied by my choice as if he liked it when I made an effort to be romantic. Well, he had to learn that shit from someone, didn’t he? I wanted my son to be a gentleman when the time came.
“Man, I’m tired.” Autumn stretched, the teddy bear tucked under one arm haphazardly. “You think we should be heading out of here? I could use something real to eat at your place.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” I agreed. I had noticed that Hunter had fallen a little quiet in the last ten minutes or so, and I knew him well enough to suspect he was getting tired and could use the break himself.
“Come on then.” I grabbed Hunter’s hand, and the three of us turned to head back down to the car. Hunter was tired enough that he didn’t try to pull away from me as he might have usually, and I felt a little swell of happiness holding his hand like this. It reminded me of when he had been really little, when he had really needed me, and I missed that so much sometimes. Autumn took my other hand and bumped her hip against mine as we walked, and warmth spread across my chest knowing that the whole family was together. I could have done this all day, just walked with them anywhere they wanted to go. It felt so right, the three of us all together like this, and I couldn’t imagine it ever getting old.
As we reached the exit of the carnival, I saw her, and I froze to the spot.
For a second, I tried to convince myself there was no way it could be her, no way she was actually here. She had to have skipped town by now as soon as she’d realized I wasn’t falling for her scheme. I hadn’t heard from her in a while, and I’d assumed she made a break for it again, but there was no mistaking her. She was facing away from me, half-turned with her eyes narrowed in the opposite direction, but it seemed like she was looking for something. Or someone. Us?
“Holden, what’s wrong?” Autumn asked, peering off into the direction I was staring, trying to make out what had caught my attention. I shook my head.
“Nothing,” I muttered. “Come on. Let’s get home.”
I ducked my head down low and prayed to all things holy that she hadn’t noticed any of us. How long had she been in there? The place was beginning to clear out now, and she could have spotted us earlier. Maybe the reason she was hanging by the exit was in the hope that she could intercept us and catch us before we got out of here. But to what end? What was Karla doing here? Was it coincidence, or had she followed us?
I hurried out of the carnival and back to the car, my heart pounding in my chest. I felt like I had seen some ghost from my past, someone raised from the dead to spook me beyond belief. As soon as we were all back in the car, I gripped the wheel and let out a long sigh. Hunter had his eyes closed and his head pressed to the window, so I don’t think he even noticed my reaction, but Autumn sure as hell had.
“What was that about?” she asked quietly, and I shook my head.
“Nothing,” I replied quickly, my voice harder than I had intended. “I just… I’m sorry. I’m tired, that’s all. It’s been a long few days.”
“Let’s get home, shall we?” Autumn smiled at me, placing her hand on my forearm. Her touch was enough to bring me back down to Earth, to remind me that Karla hadn’t seen any of us and that we had made it out of there unscathed.
“Yeah, let’s go home.” I pulled out of the parking lot and started back toward the house, Autumn’s hand still on my arm. It was at that moment that I realized she had referred to my place, for the first time, as home. That was enough to lift the stress of what had just happened long enough for me to get out a smile.
60
Autumn
“Well, well. You made it back in time, I see,” I remarked as Zoe slipped into the room. She looked exhausted but satisfied, and she flopped into the tiny chair opposite my desk as soon as she was through the door.
“Did you have a good time?” I asked her as she pushed her fingers through her slightly messy hair and yawned.
“Oh, yeah,” she agreed at last. “I had an incredible time there. But I lost all my savings.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I exclaimed. I hadn’t heard much from Zoe since I had left with Holden a few days before, but I had assumed she had been hanging out with that hottie she had been hooking up with, not dropping all her cash.
“Oh, cool it. I don’t remember doing it, so it doesn’t count.” She waved her hand and flashed me a wicked smile. “Besides, I’m pretty sure my new man was worth it.”
“So you’re actually dating now?” I asked, and she shrugged.
“Honestly, I have no idea, but I don’t really care,” she replied. “He lives a hundred miles or so from Portland, and he says he’s going to come into town to visit as soon as he can. I’m really looking forward to it if you know what I mean.”
“You can’t wait to have sex with him again?” I filled in the blanks for her, and she pointed at me.
“Exactly.”
I smiled at her. “Well, I’m glad you had a good time. How do you feel about being back?”
“It’s nice to come back to reality,” she confessed. “I loved all that stuff in Vegas, but I’m happy to be home too. What about you? How’s it been since you guys got back? You officially back together now?”
“I would say so.” I nodded, a smile on my face. “I mean, we spent the whole week together, all three of us, and I stayed over at their place the whole time, so I sure as hell would consider that getting back together. Wouldn’t you?”
“Oh, I’m so happy for you.” Zoe tapped me on the arm excitedly. “You guys make such a lovely couple. And Holden seems really sweet.”
“You barely got to spend any time with him,” I pointed out.
“So you’re saying I got the wrong impression?” Zoe cocked an eyebrow, and I giggled and shook my head.
“No, I didn’t mean that,” I corrected myself. “I’m just saying I’d like you guys to get to know each other better, given that you’re both such important parts of my life.”
“Oh, you flatter me.” She planted a hand over her heart and smiled. “I’d love to spend some more time with him. Maybe we could double-date when Kieran is back in town?”
“Sounds great,” I said right as she checked the clock and jumped to her feet.
“Hey, I have to be getting out of here,” she pointed out. “Need to get things set up for all the kids coming back.”
“Good luck,” I told her, and she pulled a face at me. She knew as well as I did that trying to wrangle kids coming back from a time off was one of the hardest things a teacher could do. She headed out, and I turned back to the lesson plan I had for the rest of the day. I found that if you pushed toward a really packed schedule, the kids wouldn’t wind up too bored and antsy for their first day back.
A knock came at the door, and I glanced up, wondering why Zoe didn’t walk in like she normally did, but I saw a woman I didn’t recognize standing in the doorway instead. She was a little older than me with long dark hair and sharp eyes. I smiled at her.
“Can I help you?” I asked politely, and she glanced around and slipped over the threshold, pushing the door shut behind her.
“I’m really hoping you can,” she replied, biting her lip and widening her eyes. She looked like she was the right age to be a parent of one of the kids from my classes, but I knew most of the parents by sight at least now, and I had no clue who the hell she was.
“Can I ask what this is about?” I pressed her. I wasn’t sure why, but a rush of reprehension ran up the back of my neck, my body stiffening as she approached the table. I wasn’t sure what this was, but there was something in me telling me it was wro
ng, kicking me into fight-or-flight mode.
“It’s about…” She hesitated for a moment, sinking down gracefully into the seat in front of me before she spoke. “It’s about Hunter.”
My eyes widened. The pieces clicked into place before she explained herself.
“I’m his mother,” she told me. “Karla. It’s lovely to meet you.”
She extended a hand toward me across the desk, and I took it without thinking, but as soon as our fingers met, I felt like I had betrayed Holden in some way. He hated this woman, hated that she was trying to get her claws into his son, and here I was playing the hostess to her. But I couldn’t kick her out, could I? I didn’t want to cause a scene, and part of me was intrigued to find out what she had to say. Well, and to find out exactly how it was that she’d found me and whether she was here because I was Hunter’s teacher or because I was Holden’s girlfriend.
“I came to you today,” she sighed deeply and shook her head, as though she couldn’t believe she was having to ask me for this kind of help, “because I need your help in seeing him again.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I lied, deciding to play the fool in the hopes of her telling me her side of the story.
She sighed again, this time more irritated, and eyed me as though I was an idiot before she went on.
She flicked her tongue across her lips and took a deep breath. “I mean, I have been kept from my son for years now. For years. Do you have children? Do you know what that’s like?”
“No, I don’t,” I confessed, even though when she asked that question, Hunter popped up into my mind. Yes, he wasn’t my son, but something maternal had begun to grow inside me for him, despite the facts.
“Then you couldn’t possibly understand what I’ve been through.” She shook her head again, touching her fingers to her cheeks as though wiping away tears, but I couldn’t see anything. I shifted in my seat. This felt wrong, having this conversation without Holden here, but it wasn’t like I had a panic button I could press to send him running to me, was it?
“His father has kept me out of his life.” She leaned forward. “He’s hidden him from me, basically, unfairly kept my son away. And I’ve had to take drastic measures to get him back. Do you understand what I mean?”
“What kind of measures?” I asked her, playing dumb.
“I need you to let me see him,” she explained. “That’s why I came here today. I knew someone neutral like you would be able to listen to reason and see how unfair it is that I’m still being kept from my son.”
“I’m afraid we can’t let any unauthorized adults see the children in our classes,” I told her calmly. “Do you have a letter from Holden?”
“Holden would never let me see him, that’s the entire point,” Karla snapped back. This was clearly not going the way she had hoped it would, and I was having to bite back a little amusement at how frustrated she was getting over this. I knew it was cruel, but then, she was too. She was the one who had abandoned Hunter and Holden, and she was the one who had made her decision. She wasn’t allowed to walk back into her son’s life like nothing had happened. That wasn’t how this worked, and I wasn’t going to let her come flitting in here and trying to guilt-trip me into doing whatever it was she wanted.
“Okay, but we can’t let you see any of the kids until you have authorization,” I repeated myself. “Otherwise, anyone could come in here and claim any child they wanted. You see what I mean?”
“Can’t you tell I’m his mother?” She shoved her face at me across the table, and I scanned it for a long moment. I could say without a shadow of a doubt, I would never have known she was Hunter’s biological mother. Hunter had so much of Holden in him, not just in the way he looked but in the way he was, the way he moved, the way he spoke, the way he acted. This woman had clearly had nothing to do with that boy, and it showed. That only strengthened my resolve to keep her away from him at all costs as Holden had always wanted to.
“I’m afraid that until you can provide some legal documentation that confirms your relationship with Hunter, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” I got to my feet and pointed firmly to the door.
“I’m not going anywhere.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at me expectantly.
“If you don’t leave, I’m going to call the police,” I told her. “We have the safety of all our students to consider, and I can’t allow—”
“You have no idea who you’re messing with.” Karla rose to her feet, taking my threats seriously at last. “No clue. You really think you can keep me away from my son? You’re just some teacher who’s too invested. Hunter needs a mother in his life, and you couldn’t understand that if you don’t have children of your own—”
“Please, you need to leave.” I pointed to the door once more, praying the shake in my voice wasn’t audible to her. She struck me as the kind of woman who would pounce on any weakness she sensed and sink her claws into it, never letting go until she had exploited it to the furthest degree she could.
“I’ll call security.” I picked up the receiver on my desk phone, even though we didn’t have a security team in the school for day-to-day classes. I prayed she wouldn’t call my bluff, and though she lingered for a moment longer, she finally shook her head and backed toward the door.
“You’re just a do-gooder teacher.” She wagged her finger at me as she retreated. “You don’t know what you’re doing, and you don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
I lifted the receiver to my ear, giving her a hard look, and finally, she stormed out the door and slammed it behind her. Hunter wouldn’t be here yet—at least I could cling to that—so she wasn’t going to run into him in the corridor and try to swipe him from there or something.
I slumped back into my seat, my heart racing. I couldn’t believe I’d just done that. I had looked her in the eye, and I had turned her away. All those doubts I’d had, all that fear about her being Hunter’s real mother, they had started to sink down, dulling and dimming inside me. Now that I had met her, I could see what Holden meant, that she hadn’t a bone in her body that actually wanted to be a mother. Hunter was better off without her, no matter what she might have believed.
I had stood up for Holden and what he thought was right as well. I had protected Hunter where he needed it. It almost made me chuckle, the thought that Hunter was in the middle of all of this and didn’t even know it. But it was best that he never found out, best that he never knew what he was the center of, and best that Holden and I worked to keep him as safe as we could. We had to keep that woman away from him at all costs.
Still, she had stepped things up by coming to the school. She had taken things to the next level. Who knew what she would be capable of next? My heart shuddered at the thought. I forced myself to return my attention to the plan in front of me and pull my mind away from Karla and the threat she had made toward me.
61
Holden
The first day back after spring break, I knew I had to do something to make the transition a little easier for Hunter. So the two of us had come down to the diner not far from the school for some breakfast, and Hunter was happily chatting about how much he had enjoyed his break with Autumn and me.
“I’m so glad everything’s back to normal,” he said as he took a sip of his apple juice. I smiled at him.
“Me, too, son,” I agreed. “Me too.”
“Do you think Autumn’s going to stick around this time?” he asked, the question simple but laced with meaning. I knew he didn’t mean it that way, but it was impossible not to read it as that, as him trying to grope for a sense of security after the mess of everything that had happened.
“I think she will.” I nodded, and he grinned.
“Do you think…?” He swallowed the words before he could say them.
“Do I think what?” I pressed him. I had noticed Hunter opening up a lot more than he usually did since Autumn had come back, and it made me pretty damn happy to see him speaking his
mind more clearly than before.
“Do you think Autumn is going to be my mom?” he asked finally, and I smiled at him. That was about the sweetest thing I’d ever heard him come out with.
“You know, I don’t—” Before I could continue, my phone buzzed against my hip, and I pulled it out of my pocket. A text from Autumn. I opened it up, assuming it was just going to be a “good morning” message, but my heart dropped when I saw what it really was.
I scanned the message three times before it really sank in. Karla had come to the school, trying to guilt-trip Autumn into letting her see Hunter. Autumn had turned her away, but Karla had seemed intent on letting her know she wasn’t just going to vanish that easily. I switched off my phone and closed my eyes for a moment. She was getting closer. Had she seen us at the carnival? Had she followed us there?
“Dad?”
I opened my eyes and found my son sitting opposite me, the son I was trying my hardest to protect from all of this. My heart sank as I realized he had to know the truth. I couldn’t keep hiding this from him. If she was moving in on his school, God only knew where else she might try to find him, and I needed him to be able to stand up for himself if she did turn up somewhere when we weren’t expecting it.
“Hunter, there’s something I need to tell you.” I leaned toward him seriously. His eyes widened.
“Is it about Autumn?” he asked, and I shook my head.
“No, no, it’s nothing to do with that,” I assured him. “It’s about… it’s about your mother.”
He sat there for a moment, staring at me. I had never really talked to him about his mother before, and I knew that was my fault. I should have sat him down before this, explained the truth to him instead of trying to duck it every time the question arose. Now I was in a place where I had no choice but to tell him what was going on—and no choice but to scare him with the knowledge that she was back in town.