“Did he say why? There’s nothing in this note,” I said quietly. The kids were just beginning to filter into my room and I didn’t want any of them to hear my conversation with Ruth – especially not Brett.
Ruth shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “I hope everything is okay, though.”
Immediately, Andy’s face flashed to my mind. “Oh, god,” I moaned quietly. “They probably found out about those stupid drawings.”
Ruth shrugged. “Good luck,” she said. “The bell is about to ring.”
I slipped out of class as quietly as I could before the kids would notice something was up. As I walked down the quiet halls, I shivered. There was almost something ominous about the feeling in the air – almost like I was going to my doom.
When I got to the main office, none of the secretaries looked up at me. I had to walk up to the front desk and clear my throat before one of them noticed me.
“Hi,” I said nervously. “I got in this morning and Ruth told me that Principal Morris wanted to see me.”
The secretary looked at me with blank eyes. She was someone I’d spoken to many times – heck, she’d even brought me a slice of cake one day from a party in the teacher’s lounge. But right now, she was looking at me like I was a piece of trash.
“Should I go in?” I asked, feeling awkward when my words hung in the air.
The secretary bit her lip and nodded.
“Okay. Thanks,” I added, feeling stupider by the second.
The door to Principal Morris’s office was closed. I could feel the eyes of the secretaries glued to my back as I walked across the cheerfully-decorated office and knocked. Everything was covered with turkey decorations and smiling, cartoon pilgrims and native Americans.
“Hello, Principal Morris,” I called quietly. “It’s June Rogers. I got a note that you wanted to see me.”
“Come in.”
I bit my lip and flushed as I opened the door. Principal Morris was seated behind his desk, thumbing through a copy of The New York Times. He didn’t even look up when I shut the door. Suddenly, my heart started to thud in my chest. Something was obviously very, very wrong here…and I had a feeling it wasn’t going to end well.
“So,” I said nervously as I lowered myself into a chair facing the principal’s desk. “What’s up?”
Principal Morris sighed. He was an older man, with longish sideburns and a white beard that made him look a little like a walrus. Among the faculty and staff, he was generally well-liked. But he didn’t have a warm demeanor, and I’d never felt it more than I did right now.
“What’s the problem?” I asked nervously.
Principal Morris meticulously folded his paper and set it down on his desk. I cringed – it seemed like he was being deliberately slow.
“Well, June, I’m not going to lie. There is a problem.”
I exhaled a shaky, nervous breath. “Okay,” I said. “Can you tell me what it is?”
Principal Morris narrowed his bushy eyebrows at me. “June, Andrew Lipinski was fired this morning.”
My jaw dropped. “He’s the one who made those drawings,” I said quickly. “And he stalked me, outside of school. He tried to pull me into an alley and—“
Principal Morris held up his hand. “Please, June – don’t say anything else.”
“What’s going on?” I asked nervously. “What does any of this have to do with me?”
“We’re not sure yet,” Principal Morris said. “But I know that until we get to the bottom of this, I’m going to have you placed on leave without pay.”
My jaw dropped. “Me?” I squeaked. “Me?! But I haven’t even done anything,” I shrieked loudly. “This is all about Andy, it’s all his fault!”
“I’m sorry, June, this is our policy,” Principal Morris said. “Please, gather your things and you’ll be escorted from the building.”
My heart sank. “You can’t do that in front of my students,” I protested. My eyes filled with tears as I realized this was really happening – it wasn’t some horrible dream, and I wasn’t going to wake up any time soon.
“I’m sorry, it’s out of my hands,” Principal Morris said.
He didn’t sound sorry.
“Okay.” I stood up, my chin wobbling with the force of my emotions. “Fine. I’ll leave. In fact, I’ll leave right now. I don’t need anything from my classroom,” I added with a sniffle.
“Oh, and June?”
“Yes?” Please, please tell me this was all some kind of sick joke, I thought. Please, help me!
“Don’t forget to shut my door on the way out,” Principal Morris said. His head was already buried back in the paper. “Damn secretaries like to leave it open.”
My heart sank. “Yeah,” I said. “I won’t forget.”
Chapter Thirteen
Thomas
Just as I was leaving the office on Monday, my phone buzzed in my pocket. When I saw it was June, I grinned.
“Hey, you,” I said. “I was just thinking about you. What’s up? This is the first time you’ve ever called me,” I teased. “Start of something new?”
June didn’t reply.
“Hello?” I pulled the phone away from my ear and frowned, wondering if she’d accidentally pocket-dialed me. But when I held it back to my ear, I could hear her.
She was sobbing.
“Thomas,” June managed to squeak. “I’m in trouble.” She broke down again and my ear was filled with the hysterical cry of her sobs.
“Hey, hey, what happened? It’ll be okay,” I said quickly.
“I need to talk to you,” June sniffled. “Are you busy?” There was a pause and I could hear her blowing her nose.
“Not really.” I looked down at my watch. “I was supposed to meet Marlene but I can cancel. Where are you?”
“I’m at…at ho-ho-home,” June sniffled and sobbed. “Please, just come over whenever you can.”
I licked my lips. “I’ll be there soon, just hold tight, okay?”
We hung up and I broke into a run as I ran into the parking garage and climbed behind the wheel of my Porsche. Thankfully, rush-hour traffic hadn’t taken full effect yet, and I was able to navigate from Manhattan to Brooklyn with relative ease. Still, it was a long way to Crown Heights and the sky was darkening by the time I pulled up in front of June’s building.
The elevator was broken so I raced up the stairs, pounding on the door until it swung open. June was curled up on the couch, wearing yoga pants and a stained t-shirt. Her face was red and streaked with tears. When she saw me, her chin crumpled and she started to cry again.
“June, what’s going on?” I shut the door and flew over to the couch where I pulled her into my arms and rocked her back and forth. For the first time, I noticed how small, how fragile June’s body was. I could feel the knots in her spine through the thin skin of her back, and she sobbed so viciously that for a moment, I was almost frightened.
“Baby, you have to talk to me,” I said, smoothing June’s sweaty black hair away from her forehead. “Come on, June, just tell me the truth.”
June sniffed. “Something bad happened at school,” she said after a long moment.
“Oh, shit,” I said. My heart sank. “Was it Brett? Did he get in trouble again? Goddamnit,” I added. “I’m so sorry, June.”
“No…” June trailed off. “Nothing like that.” She bit her lip. “I work with this guy named Andy. He asked me out before and I said no, but then…” She blushed hotly and buried her face in my neck. “I felt so guilty that I asked him for coffee.”
“Okay,” I said nervously. “I don’t like where this is going.”
June sighed, her small body filling with frustrated air. “I know,” she said flatly. “Anyway, we had coffee. Just once. And then I saw your assistant, what was her name? Heidi?”
“Hannah.”
“Yeah, Hannah.” June sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve, leaving behind a sticky iridescent trail of snot. “Anyway, she came over and she
was like…really interested to see us together, she kept talking about it. It made me really uncomfortable, so I left.”
“When was this?”
June shrugged. “A few weeks ago,” she said. “Before I went out with you for the first time. You hadn’t asked me out yet,” she added, as if that would somehow make everything right.
“I see.”
“And Andy wouldn’t leave me alone after that,” June wailed in frustration. “He asked me out again – he threatened me, even when I said I was busy or that I didn’t have time – so eventually I said yes, but I didn’t actually intend to meet him. Then you asked me to dinner on the same night, and obviously, I went with you instead.”
“I see.”
“And then last week, when I was coming home from school, he grabbed me and dragged me into an alley.” June sniffed. A single tear ran down her porcelain cheek and I brushed it away with the back of my hand.
“What?” My jaw dropped. “June, why the hell didn’t you tell me about this?”
June bit her lip and trembled. “Because I thought you’d be mad.”
“I am mad, but I’m not mad at you,” I said quickly. “And you called the cops, right?”
June nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “But they didn’t care. They said it was my fault, because I’d asked him out once before.”
Rage and anger flowed through my body and I balled my hands into fists, shoving them under my lap so June wouldn’t see.
“I’m so sorry, that’s awful,” I said. “First thing in the morning, I’m going to call Sandy – he’s my lawyer, he’s great. We’ll get you out of this.”
June collapsed into sobs and I held her close.
“That’s not all,” June whimpered.
“What happened?”
“They called me into the principal’s office this morning,” June sniffled. “They told me they fired Andy, but they’re putting me on leave without pay.” She glanced at me, looking completely helpless and childlike. I rocked her in my arms as she cried.
“That’s bullshit,” I said angrily. “We’re going to have Sandy talk to them, okay? I’ll get you out of this.”
I had the feeling that June would resist but instead she just nodded and sniffled.
“Thank you, Thomas,” June said softly. She extricated herself from my arms and stood up. “I’m going to get a glass of water,” she said. “Do you want one?”
I shook my head.
When June came back, I handed her three hundred dollars. “This isn’t much,” I said quickly. “I’ll get you more tomorrow. But for now, you should have this.”
June’s lower lip quivered and trembled. “Thomas, I can’t take money from you,” she said softly. “I can’t do that. That’s not fair.”
“It is fair,” I said. “You lost your job, okay? I’m going to help you until you get back on your feet.”
June still looked lost.
“Look,” I said quickly. “You don’t have to spend it, just keep it in case something comes up, okay?”
June nodded slowly. “I’ll pay you back,” she said. A tear rolled down her cheek and her chin wobbled.
“We can talk about that later,” I said, somehow knowing that she’d resist any other response.
June sighed. She sagged against me. “I don’t know what to do,” she said quietly.
I squeezed her tightly. “We’ll figure it out,” I said.
“I know you had to meet with Marlene, I’m sorry – you should go,” June said. She sniffled again. “Just call me later, okay?”
I felt so torn and helpless seeing June cry. Never – and I mean never – had a woman’s sobs touched my heart in the same way that June’s did. But I didn’t know what to do – and she was right, I did have to leave.
I stood up, feeling like a worthless piece of shit. “Okay.” I leaned down and kissed June on the forehead. “I’ll call you tonight and see how you’re doing, okay?”
June nodded. “Okay,” she said quietly. “Thank you, Thomas.”
“Anything for you,” I said. I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “And I mean that,” I said firmly. “Anything you need – anything you want, just let me know and it’s yours.”
June gave me a small, sad smile. “Okay,” she said softly. “Thank you.”
I tucked June in with an old afghan and left her on the couch as I ran down the stairs. When I got out to the street, I groaned. My Porsche was barely recognizable. The windshield was shattered and the tires had been slashed. The hood was covered in spray paint.
“Fuck!” I yelled, kicking at a trash can with my foot. A rat, larger than a small dog, skittered out and ran down the street. “And fuck you,” I added, glaring down at the rodent.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. “I knew Crown Heights was bad, but fuck, I didn’t think it was this bad!”
The sidewalks were littered with people. In desperation, I grabbed a woman’s arm and pulled her close.
“Did you see who did this?” I gestured frantically towards my wrecked Porsche. “Did you see anything?” I pulled out my wallet, momentarily forgetting that I’d given all of my spare cash to June. “I can pay you,” I added quickly.
The woman glared at me and yanked her arm back. “Crazy man,” she muttered under her breath. “You stay the fuck away from me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Stupid bitch,” I said quietly. The other people on the street eyed me with disdain, taking care to step around the obviously-wealthy businessman who had no business in their ‘hood. I groaned, thinking of how much worse my car would be after I left it for a few hours and waited for a tow. As much as I wanted to believe that Hannah had done this, I knew that she was only one of a list of suspects. The rest of the cars on the street were shitty Oldsmobiles and Saturns, all ten years out of date. Someone had probably just seen my Porsche and decided that because they couldn’t have nice things, neither could I.
Just as I was about to call for a car service, a long Lincoln Town Car slowed to a stop. I frowned as the tinted window in the rear rolled down.
“Hey, Thomas!”
I looked up and frowned. Marlene was in the backseat of the car, waving to me.
“What are you doing here?” I stepped closer to the car and crossed my arms over my chest. The early November night was a chill one, and I was only wearing a light jacket.
“I had a meeting in Brooklyn,” Marlene explained. “I was just driving by and I thought I saw your Porsche.” She wrinkled her nose. “God, what happened? It looks awful.”
I shrugged. “Vandalism,” I said. “I was just about to call for a car.”
Marlene jerked her head towards the interior of the back seat. “Get in,” she said. “We were supposed to talk anyway.”
I glanced back at my wrecked Porsche, feeling helpless and somehow tricked. Still, I knew that I didn’t have a better option. It would take forever for a good car to make it into this part of Brooklyn, and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to hang out on these thug-filled streets.
“Fine,” I snapped. Marlene grinned.
I walked around to the other side of the car and slid in, relaxing against the plush leather. Marlene smiled at me.
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
Marlene tossed her red hair and the spicy scent of vanilla filled my nose. I shivered – when we’d been married, I’d like the smell of my wife’s perfume. But now I loved June’s all natural musk. I loved that she only wore deodorant, and not perfume. She always smelled so young and clean.
And the scent of her pussy was as juicy as a fresh peach.
“How have you been?” Marlene asked. She pulled out a compact and dabbed powder on her already-perfect makeup.
“Eh.” I shrugged. “Good and bad.” I narrowed my eyes. “Remember Keith Carner?”
Marlene narrowed her eyes. “Yeah. He was a dog,” she said. “He tried coming onto me once at a bar.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed dryly. “Well, maybe it’s good he’s blo
wing me off, then. Maybe he just learned about the divorce.”
Marlene looked wounded. “Why would you say that?” She scooted closer. “Thomas, just because we’re not together doesn’t mean that we aren’t in each other’s lives.”
“That’s right,” I countered. The car slipped through the dark Brooklyn streets and suddenly I regretted leaving my very expensive car behind. “Because we have Brett,” I said firmly. “And if you’re trying to win him over by sending that PlayStation Five, it didn’t work. The thing is boxed up in my office.”
Marlene narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
My heart sank. Even though I still wasn’t sure who had sent my son that expensive toy, it didn’t help to discover that it hadn’t been my ex-wife, after all.
“I was hoping you’d sent it,” I said morosely. “Brett got a box in the mail the other day, with some new video game system that’s only been released in Japan. There was no return address, and when I told him that he couldn’t have it, he got pretty mad.”
“I was wondering why he was in such a shitty mood last weekend,” Marlene said. She rolled her eyes. “I chalked it up to normal ten-year-old boy drama, but holy shit.”
I sighed. “No, definitely not normal ten-year-old boy drama,” I said. “I couldn’t find a return address so I’m keeping it until I can have it checked out.”
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