by Gray, Meg
“Do you have any questions?” she asked.
Marcus shook his head and Emma pulled the file back in front of her. She reached for a pile of colored papers and passed the top one to Marcus. “This is from the librarian, Ms. Simmons,” Emma explained. “She is kicking off a Spring Reading Program before the summer begins. She wants to get kids in the habit before school lets out. Each time you and Brayden read a book together just write the title down on these lines and initial it. When all of the lines are filled up Brayden can bring it back and his name will be entered into a drawing for the end of the year and he can start tracking on another piece of paper. Ms. Simmons has found that a number of our families here at Fitzpatrick are not reading together daily.”
A thread of guilt weaved into Marcus’s mind as he placed himself in this group. Without skipping a beat, Emma pulled out the next page, a yellow note.
“Here are some helpful suggestions,” she said, passing the paper to him. “On how to incorporate reading and early literacy practices into your daily activities.”
Marcus scanned the page and nodded. Brayden began to squirm in his chair and Marcus reached over to ruffle his son’s hair. “Finally,” Emma said, passing a green paper to Marcus. “This is the permission slip for our field trip to the zoo in two weeks.”
Brayden’s eyes lit up. He peered over at the paper trying to read the words on his own.
“I just need your permission and signature for Brayden to attend. He will need to bring a sack lunch and dress for the weather, because we are going rain or shine,” she said. “And we are taking any and all parent volunteers that would like to accompany us.” She smiled.
“Can you come Dad?” Brayden asked.
“I don’t know, Bray,” Marcus replied, ruffling Brayden’s hair again. “I probably have to work that day.” Brayden’s chest deflated as he sat back in his chair. Marcus signed the permission slip.
“Ms. Hewitt, can I go to the bathroom?” Brayden asked and she turned to look at him.
“Of course you can,” she said and he hopped from the chair, hurrying down the hall to the boy’s restroom.
“I haven’t done much right for my son have I?” Marcus said, not really asking a question. He was thankful when she didn’t answer him, probably because he was afraid she’d agree. “I bet you wouldn’t believe me if I said I really thought I was doing the best I could, would you?”
“Of course I would,” Emma said, answering him now. “I can only imagine the magnitude of what you and Brayden have gone through. It couldn’t have been easy for you, either of you, and now you’re looking at getting some help. You’re doing a good thing for him.”
“I hope so,” Marcus breathed out with a sigh and sat up in his chair leaning his arms on the edge of the table. He folded his hands together. His face turned serious, “I wish I was better at this, you know, being a father, taking care of Brayden. I wish I knew how to make everything okay for him. Some days I just want to reach for a manual that tells me exactly what to do and what he needs, but there isn’t one is there?” He didn’t know why he was telling her this. Maybe because for so long he had wanted to tell someone—someone that understood Brayden. He had been alone in his corner for way too long.
“All he needs is to know he’s loved,” she replied with such simplicity.
“If only it were that easy,” Marcus said, leaning back and shaking his head.
“I think it is,” Emma shrugged. “Just by being here you’re showing him he’s important to you and that counts for a lot.”
Her eyes were soft and he couldn’t believe he’d ever seen this woman as his enemy.
“Thank you for all you’ve done,” Marcus said, feeling his voice turn raspy.
“I haven’t done anything more than my job,” Emma said humbly.
“No, you’ve done a great deal more than that. Thank you,” he said again. His eyes locked with hers and he held them, for the first time in a long time he was feeling connected to someone. She nodded as Brayden bounded back into the classroom breaking their connection. She stood up with the file.
Marcus picked up his cell phone and scrolled through his calendar with his thumb.
“Hey, Bray, you know what?” Marcus asked.
“What Dad?”
“It looks like I’m free on the day of your zoo trip. I think I’ll go with you.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he said, typing the date into his calendar.
Chapter Twenty-two
Emma listened as Naomi recounted the thrill of seeing the penguins slide into the water and the enormity of the polar bear’s paw. The girl hardly took a breath and Emma delighted in her enthusiasm. Most of the children had finished their lunch and were venturing back out to see more exhibits at the zoo. Naomi’s grandmother pulled on her arm to coax her away from Emma’s bended ear.
When they were off, Emma glanced over her shoulder and saw Marcus pulling Brayden behind him as they hurried to the group’s meeting place near the entrance of the zoo. She reached her hand up in the air and waved. Marcus caught sight of her and came right over.
“I’m so sorry we’re late,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Emma said. “There’s more room to sit now anyway. Your lunches are in there.” She pointed to the box on the table next to them. Marcus turned his back to dig their lunches out from under all the empty insulated lunch bags.
“Hi Donald,” Brayden said, sliding onto the bench across from Emma. Donald sat next to her finishing his lunch while Sandy took a break and used the restroom.
“Hi.” Donald cocked his head and smiled at his friend. Marcus slid onto the bench next to Brayden. He looked at Donald who was fishing out another chip from his bag.
“Brayden, do you think you can introduce your dad to your friend?” Emma prompted.
Brayden, about to bite into his sandwich, paused. “Dad, this is Donald.”
“Hello Donald,” Marcus said and reached his hand across the table. Hearing his name Donald looked up and sucked the artificial orange cheese from his fingers before shaking Marcus’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Marcus said and shook hands without flinching.
Emma covered her smile and reached for her bottle of hand sanitizer. She pumped two squirts of the gel discreetly into Marcus’s hands. He rubbed them together under the table removing any germs that had passed from Donald’s spit-cleaned fingers. He smiled his thanks to her and picked up his sandwich.
“So what have you seen so far?” Emma asked, directing her question to Brayden, whose mouth was busy chewing.
“We’ve covered a lot already,” Marcus answered for him. “We’re planning to see the elephants and polar bears after lunch.”
“Have a lot of the animals been out, so you could see them?”
“Yeah, they have,” Marcus answered her again.
“We really lucked out with the weather. It’s cool enough for the animals to want to be out and we haven’t had a drop of rain yet.”
“It really is a perfect day for the zoo,” Marcus agreed. “Not too hot and not too cold.”
Sandy reappeared. “Are you about finished there, Donald?” she asked and Donald turned giving her his full toothed smile, the one that was so big it made his eyes squint closed.
“Well, is that a yes or a no?” she asked and he just smiled again.
Sandy plopped down next to him. “Mrs. Jennings, this is Brayden’s father, Mr. Lewis,” Emma said. Sandy smiled and Marcus nodded in her direction.
Donald finished his chips and zipped up his green dinosaur lunch bag. “Ready,” he announced to Sandy. They both stood and Donald walked around behind Emma to drop his bag back into the box. Brayden shoved the last bite of his chocolate frosted brownie into his mouth.
“I’m done too,” he said, crumbs escaping from the corner of his mouth. “Let’s go Dad.”
“Wait a second,” Marcus told him. “I haven’t finished my sandwich yet and you didn’t touch your carrot sal
ad.”
Brayden looked at his father like shredded carrots were the last thing he dreamed of eating. Emma tried to conceal her smile as Brayden turned up his nose at the vegetable.
“If he’s finished he’s more than welcome to join us while you finish your lunch,” Sandy said to Marcus.
Brayden looked expectantly at his father, “You wouldn’t mind?” Marcus asked.
“Not at all,” she reassured him.
Brayden jumped up to join Sandy and Donald. The three were walking away when Marcus shouted, “I’ll meet you at the elephants.”
Marcus turned back around in his seat and smiled at Emma, “Brayden is really enjoying himself today, thanks for arranging this field trip.”
“Don’t thank me,” she said. “It’s all part of the kindergarten curriculum. It wraps up our unit on animal habitats. And Mary Ellen is the one who made all the arrangements for our classes.”
“Well, it’s been fun. I used to love field trip days in school. It must be fun for you to bring them all here.”
“Oh no,” Emma said, shaking her head. “I hate field trip days. I’m nervous all day long, hoping that everyone stays safe and gets back to school okay. We heard horror stories in college about kids being left behind or lost on field trips. I’m just glad I have so many parent volunteers. Most children are accompanied by their own parent. But I still worry that something could happen. I’ll be glad when today is over.”
Marcus took a bite of his sandwich and watched Emma as she talked. Then he shook his head, “How do you do it?” he asked.
“Do what?” she asked.
“Be with these kids all day long, I mean, that bus ride over was crazy loud and the kids were off the wall. It was complete chaos. How do you do it every day? I was about to go insane.”
Emma smiled. The kids showed off their enthusiasm this morning through their bouncing bodies and loud voices. “I don’t know,” she shrugged, “I guess I like to think of it as controlled chaos. Today they are exceptionally excited. They aren’t usually this rambunctious. Just wait for the bus ride home, though, it won’t be nearly as loud as the trip here.”
Marcus scraped the last bits of carrot from his Tupperware container when he reached for Brayden’s. He caught Emma watching him and pushed it toward her. “You want some?” he asked.
“No, I’ve already eaten my lunch, but it does look good. What’s in there?”
Marcus shrugged, opening the lid to the container. “Carrots, raisins and some kind of dressing I guess. I can’t say for sure, my housekeeper makes it, but it is delicious.”
“Mmm,” Emma said, nodding. “It almost looks as good as that.” Marcus had just pulled out a brownie identical to the one Brayden had eaten.
“Here,” Marcus said, tearing the brownie in half.
“No, I couldn’t,” Emma said.
“Please,” Marcus smiled at her. “Take it. I won’t be able to sit here in front of you and eat this, please take half.”
“Okay,” Emma said without any more encouragement and bit into the rich frosting top and sinfully thick brownie. “This is incredible,” Emma said.
Marcus only smiled while biting into his own brownie.
“Do you think I could get the recipe from her?” Emma asked.
A line creased across Marcus’s forehead. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think I have ever seen Rosa crack open a recipe book in all the years I have known her.”
“Really?” Emma said, licking the frosting from her fingers. “How long has she worked for you?”
“For me, just since Brayden was born, but she started working for my family before I was born. I have known Rosa my whole life.”
“Hey Emma,” Susan said, approaching their table and interrupting their conversation.
“Hi Susan,” Emma said.
“I’m getting ready to carry my boxes back out to the buses. Do you want to walk together?” Susan reached her arms behind her settling them in the small of her back, which must be aching again. Her rounded stomach looked like a basketball tucked under her shirt.
“Sure,” Emma said, starting to get up.
“Wait,” Marcus said stopping her. “I’ll do it.” He turned to Susan, “You don’t look like you need to be carrying anything right now. You two sit back and I’ll take care of the boxes.”
“That would be fantastic,” Susan said, rubbing her protruding belly.
Marcus returned the cold packs and Tupperware containers to his and Brayden’s paper bags before climbing out of the picnic table and placing them in the box. The sun had broken away from the clouds and warmed the spring air. The threat of rain seemed to have passed for the moment. As Marcus shed his windbreaker, pulling it over his head, Emma caught a glimpse of his flat abs and the trickle of hair leading from his navel to below his belt. She looked away, embarrassed about the way the sight of his flesh had excited her. Then, she remembered Stacy’s words again, “You need to get laid.” Maybe she did, maybe then her pulse wouldn’t quicken at the sight of this man’s—of this father of her student’s— incredibly well defined abs.
“We were on bus twelve,” Emma said to Marcus as he lifted the brown box labeled “Hewitt.”
“And we were on eight, I think,” Susan said. “But it doesn’t matter we can sort them out back at school if they get mixed up.” She smiled and giggled as Marcus went off to collect her box labeled “Reed.” When he was out of earshot, Susan turned to Emma.
“Oh my gosh, he’s so dreamy,” Susan said, dropping down backwards on the bench next to her.
“Susan,” Emma said in mock reprimand. “You are a married woman.”
“I know.” She used a hand to fan herself. “I think it’s these hormones. I couldn’t stop staring at the guy pumping my gas last night. But that guy,” Susan tossed her head in Marcus’s direction. “Ooh, he’s nice. I’m glad to see that chivalry isn’t completely dead. Who’s he with anyway?”
“That’s Brayden’s dad,” Emma told her.
Susan shot her a look of disbelief and dropped her jaw, “No way.”
“Yes way,” Emma said, imitating her kindergartners.
“Huh?” Susan said, “Not what I would have expected at all.”
Chapter Twenty-three
“Isn’t there someone else?” Marcus barked into the phone. “Why does it have to be me?”
“You’re the only one I trust with this deal. You nailed down The Barclay Corporation’s first acquisition for us. I thought you’d jump at the chance to work with them again. This new deal could mean big things for the firm.” Alfred’s voice was even and calm.
“Maybe this isn’t the best time for you and Mother to take that European tour, can’t you reschedule?”
“No, this trip is overdue. Your mother deserves it. We were supposed to go three years ago before all that ugliness happened. She’s been through a lot, selling her business, moving to our new house, changing country clubs and losing Deidre’s friendship. You’re not the only one who’s suffered,” his father argued.
“Fine,” Marcus said, allowing his father to equate their changing of country clubs to the hell he’d suffered since the fire.
“I’m supposed to be semi-retired, you know? I’m getting too old for these long hours and could use a little reprieve myself. You’re the one that’s supposed to be running this office, not me. I just stepped in so you could drop down to Portland and get yourself sorted out. This will be a good time for you to break back into things here. I’ve already spoken to Father Ralph at St. Mary’s and if you send Brayden’s transcripts he’ll take a look at him.”
Marcus clenched and then released his free hand. Here it was again, this whole when you come home to Seattle bit. He didn’t want to go back. He knew this arrangement for the cruise around the Barclay deal was his parents’ ploy to get him back to Seattle, a place he would rather forget. But loyalty to the firm that his great-grandfather founded and the fact that the Barclay Corporation was a long-standing client promp
ted him to cave, falling victim to his sense of obligation.
“How long will you be gone again?” Marcus asked with a sigh and rubbed at his temples.
“It’s a two month tour. We’ll be gone eight weeks. But we’d love for you and Brayden to spend a couple of weeks with us when we return. Your mother’s been scouting a few condos for you in the downtown area.”
Marcus felt the knot between his shoulders tighten. Two months, that was nearly the entire summer. What about Brayden? Marcus had just received a summer schedule from Dave. Marcus knew it was important to keep up with Brayden’s therapy. He’d seen a real change in him since he started working with Dave. Brayden seemed more content these days. Some days he still erupted with anger or frustration or would withdraw inside of himself, but it occurred less often and he seemed to come out of it faster. Marcus was also looking into a tutor for Brayden for the summer. He was still hopeful Brayden would be accepted at Portland Private Academy next year, but with his current academic standing, it was unlikely he would be admitted.
“I’ll let you know tomorrow,” Marcus finally responded. “There are some things I have to work out first, but yeah, I can probably take care of the Barclay Deal.”
“Excellent,” his father’s satisfied voice came over the line.
The next morning Marcus talked with Dave about getting recommendations for a child psychologist in the Seattle area. Before hanging up Dave reminded him that Brayden would need a consistent and predictable routine for the summer.
“Will you have family there for help and support?” Dave inquired.
“A little,” Marcus lied, wondering how he was going to manage this summer. Rosa was having knee replacement surgery next month and he couldn’t drag her with them to Seattle. Maricella, his parents’ housekeeper, would be around, but she barely spoke English and had a strong distaste for children. Something would work out, something had to. Marcus felt himself being pushed into a lonely and difficult position, but somehow he was determined to come out ahead. He would find a way to fulfill his role as father, son and attorney.