Where I Need To Be

by Jamie Hollins

  “Hi there, Cade. Hello, ma’am.” Megan tried to sound calm and courteous while remaining alert to the fact that the closer she got to them, the more telltale signs of drug abuse she noticed.

  Megan held out her hand in greeting, realizing that in order to shake her hand, the woman would have to let go of Cade’s arm. Although bewildered, the woman released the boy and shook Megan’s hand. Cade immediately moved behind Megan. The woman’s pupils were constricted, and her eyes drooped like she could barely keep them open.

  “Is everything okay here?” Megan asked evenly.

  As if the question woke the woman up, she snapped, “Of course everything’s okay. Mind your own damn business!”

  Realizing she needed to act fast, Megan reached behind her and wrapped an arm around Cade’s shoulder.

  “Come on, Cade,” she ordered and quickly steered him up the steps toward the school lobby.

  The woman was hot on their heels, and Megan tried to stay between her and her student.

  “You wait a minute,” the woman slurred. “I was talking to him.”

  Megan ignored her, opening the lobby door and pushing Cade through first. As she was about to step inside, the woman latched onto her wrist and twisted.

  “Listen, you bitch,” the woman hissed.

  Megan had never had a physical confrontation before, but her adrenaline was spiking, and she would clock this woman in the side of the head with her giant handbag if she had to. Megan pulled hard, and as her hand came away from the woman’s grip, her thumbnail left a searing scratch down the side of Megan’s hand.

  The moment she stepped free, she burst into the empty lobby and screamed, “Security!”

  ###

  James finished scrawling his name across the last parts order that was in his inbox when Janie stuck her head inside his office.

  “James, there’s a call from Cade’s school on line two.”

  He met his receptionist’s eyes only briefly before spinning his chair around to grab his phone off the credenza behind him. The light flashed red next to line two. Although there’d been few, most of the calls were from the school were from the nurse when Cade fell or scrapped his knee on the playground.

  Taking a deep breath, he picked up the phone. “Hello. This is James Foley.”

  “Mr. Foley, this is Principal Diaz. I hate to alarm you, sir, but we have a serious security issue.” James’s heart plummeted to the bottom of his stomach at the man’s statement. “A Ms. Holly Foley is insisting on seeing your son, Cade. She says she’s his mother. Cade must have run into her on his way to the school bus after the final bell, but his teacher, Ms. McKenna, intervened and brought him back inside. Ms. Foley followed them as far as the front lobby.”

  Fuck.

  “Since we don’t have her on the list of family or guardians,” the principal continued, “we are denying her access to the school. She’s being rather…difficult about it.”

  He could hear yelling in the background followed by cursing.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t let her in.” James didn’t even wait for confirmation before he slammed the phone down onto its base.

  He grabbed his wallet and ran to his car, not bothering to change out of his grease-stained clothes. He got to the school in less than ten minutes, and before he even hit the front door, he could hear his ex-wife yelling. Two security guards were blocking the main hallway that led to Cade’s classroom.

  “Ma’am,” one of the officers said to her. “If you don’t calm down, I’ll be forced to restrain you.”

  Holly was trying to get past them, but the big men were quite agile for their size and used their outstretched arms and wide frames to block her.

  “Mr. Foley, I should notify you that we’ve called the police.”

  James looked over to see Principal Diaz standing in the doorway to the front office. The tall, slender man looked completely befuddled and at his wits’ end.

  "Where’s Cade?” James asked.

  “He’s in his classroom with his teacher. They’re on lockdown.”

  James nodded and hurried to where his ex-wife was trying to squeeze her way between the wall and one of the burly guards.

  “Holly!” he barked.

  She spun around at her name and trained her angry eyes on James. She looked crazed, like a cornered wild animal.

  “Tell them to let me see my son!” she insisted, her pupils just pinpricks in the center of her stormy blue eyes.

  He took her arm and pulled her away from the guards. Christ, his fingers touched his thumb when he wrapped his hand around her bicep. She had wasted away to skin and bones. Her hair was a mess, and his heart ached when he looked at her once beautiful face. He didn’t even recognize this woman anymore.

  “What do you expect them to do?” he growled. “Let some crazy woman who’s high as a fucking kite into their school to see one of their students? Jesus, Holly. You know you can’t see him. Especially like this.”

  She lashed out at him, hitting him hard in the chest. “You fucking asshole! You’re evil! Keeping me from my own child!”

  James quickly restrained her arms, pinning them to her sides. He spoke low and even so only she could hear him. “You listen to me. I tried the whole joint custody thing with you, and it didn’t work. Whatever’s surging through your bloodstream right now is more important to you than your son,” he said through clenched teeth. “Like I’ve told you a hundred times, you aren’t breathing the same air as Cade until you get your shit together and start acting like the mom he deserves.”

  Holly’s eyes burned with contempt. Fuck, they were so twitchy it was hard for James to even maintain eye contact with her.

  “Sir, please step away from the woman.”

  James turned his head and noticed three police officers fanning out inside the lobby, their hands on their firearms. Lifting his arms, he slowly backed away from Holly, but not before he caught the panic that crossed her face.

  “Officers,” Principal Diaz interrupted. “This is James Foley. We called him here to help defuse the situation as it pertains to his son.”

  The police officer nodded. “Mr. Foley, I’m going to need you to go with Officer Nolan here so he can get your statement. Ma’am, I need you to put your hands against the wall.”

  As James moved toward the officer who was holding his arm out to him, he saw the panic drop from Holly’s eyes, replaced by rage.

  “Fuck you, you son of a bitch!” she yelled at James and spit across the lobby.

  The third officer took Holly’s arm and twisted it behind her back, pinning her to the wall. James didn’t look to see what would happen next, but he could still hear her shrieking curses even after the door to the administrative offices closed behind him.

  This wasn’t the first time he’d had to give a statement to the police regarding his ex-wife’s behavior. And it was a fucking shame that it probably wouldn’t be the last either.

  ###

  Megan wished her classroom was farther away from the front lobby. Every time Cade’s mother screamed or cursed, the little boy would shrink a little farther into his seat. He was currently sitting at her desk, studying the class fish tank. He blindly watched as the little guppies circled the bowl.

  When a hushed but very clear “Fuck you!” echoed down the hall, Cade squeezed his eyes closed.

  “So Cade, what do you plan to be for Halloween this year?” she asked, trying to distract him. She’d just finished washing her hands for the third time, scrubbing the fresh scratch on the side of her wrist.

  The boy shrugged. “A zombie.”

  “Ohhhh. That sounds scary. I was a zombie once for Halloween myself.”

  Cade frowned up at her in surprise. “You were?”

  “Yep.” She nodded. “My older cousin, my younger brother, and I dressed up like zombie Ninja Turtles. I was Donatello.”

  The boy blinked at her. “That’s…awesome,” he said in awe.

  “My dad was supposed to be the fo
urth turtle but he didn’t go trick-or-treating with us because he stayed behind to pass out candy at our house.”

  The boy swung his legs toward her off the side of his chair. “Last year my dad dressed up like Robin, and I was Batman.”

  She couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her mouth. The thought of James Foley in a Robin costume was hard to imagine.

  “Sounds like your dad is a pretty great dad.”

  Cade nodded before turning sullen. “He’s going to be pretty pissed about my mom showing up.”

  Megan decided not to correct the boy’s language. Instead, she knelt down in front of him where he sat at her desk and looked into his eyes. “He might be upset, but he won’t be mad at you, Cade. None of this is your fault.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” he sighed.

  A sharp knock on the door had Megan jumping to her feet. She put her hand over her racing heart and looked toward the door to see if the knock would come again.

  “Cade? Are you in there?” a concerned voice rumbled from the other side of the door.

  “Dad!” Cade yelled as he scrambled off Megan’s chair and ran to the back of the classroom. He started twisting and pulling on the doorknob Megan had locked behind them when they first got to the room.

  “Once second, Cade. Let me make sure it’s safe to open the door.”

  “It’s okay, Ms. McKenna. It’s my Dad.”

  Once she reached the boy, she could see James Foley through the window in the door. His gaze flashed to her, and she saw frustration and embarrassment. Then he looked down at his son, and the corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled.

  Megan peered around the large, imposing man and noticed Principal Diaz standing next to him. She quickly unlocked the door, trying to steady her trembling hands. She wasn’t scared, but she was nervous all of a sudden to be facing James again.

  She reminded herself that she’d handled the situation in the best way she knew how. She’d removed her student from a potential threat. She wasn’t sure she would’ve done anything differently.

  So why did seeing him again make her pulse quicken?

  As soon as she opened the door, Cade leapt into his father’s arms. James held the boy to his chest and stuck his nose in his sandy-blond hair. “Hey, bud. You okay?”

  Cade let go and looked up at his father. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve been here with Ms. McKenna.”

  James looked up at Megan and nodded. All the frustration had left his face, replaced by obvious gratitude.

  “Thank you,” he said to her.

  His eyes were tired but relieved. She saw the worry and tension leave his strong body as he stroked his son’s head.

  Megan smiled back. “It was nothing. I’m glad everything is all right.”

  She couldn’t look away from James, like she was caught in some snare.

  “Ms. McKenna,” Principal Diaz interrupted. “Can you come with me to my office for a debriefing?”

  Her eye fluttered to her new boss, and she blinked. “Sure. Absolutely.”

  Unlike James, Principal Diaz was still tense. Which meant she was probably in for a long night at the office.

  She went back to her desk and grabbed her purse and Cade’s backpack before she joined Mr. Diaz and the Foleys in the hall. She handed James the backpack and smiled. Their fingers touched for a second, and she could have sworn an electric current coursed up her arm from his warm skin.

  “Thanks,” he said again, outwardly unfazed by their contact.

  Cade and James trailed behind her and Principal Diaz as they walked toward the front lobby.

  “Dad, I changed my mind about my Halloween costume. I wanna be a Zombie Ninja Turtle.”

  Megan looked down at the floor and smiled to herself.

  “I’m not sure we can find that costume in time. Halloween is tomorrow,” James replied to his son.

  “I’ve already got a Leonardo costume. We just have to zombiefy it.”

  She heard a husky laugh that sent a wave of warmth sliding through her insides.

  “Whatever you want, bud.”

  “Awesome,” Cade whispered.

  Megan hid her giggle as she slipped into the administrative offices. She looked over her shoulder and waved to Cade and James. Cade waved back happily. James lifted his chin yet his eyes lingered on her as he walked through the lobby with his son.

  And she could still feel his eyes long after he was gone.

  Chapter 8

  Even over the wailing guitar of an old Chevelle song, James had no trouble hearing a deep rumbling and god-awful clanking outside the closed bay doors. After dusting off his hands on a shop rag, he turned down the radio in time to hear a car door slam shut.

  It was half past eight o’clock on a Friday night. The shop was officially closed. He had half a mind to stay put and let whomever was out there figure that out on their own.

  But when he heard the distinct clacking of high heels across his front parking lot, he changed his mind. Not because he knew it was a woman. More because he was hopeful it was one particular woman.

  Reaching the front office door, he peered outside to see Megan McKenna scribbling furiously across a scrap of paper. Even in the partial darkness, he could see she was concentrating hard, biting her lower lip as she wrote the note. Something about her biting her lip sent all his blood rushing below his belt.

  Jesus, he felt like he was in high school again. He had no idea what type of spell this woman had cast over him, but he found himself thinking about her too often. And looking at her now, he really didn’t have to wonder why that was.

  She was fucking gorgeous.

  She had the most gloriously long legs he’d ever seen, made even longer by her black patent leather heels. The remnants of the day’s light made Megan’s red cardigan and matching shirt glow above her tight black skirt. He was starting to think he was getting a thing for cardigans too.

  Before he started to drool on the glass, he quickly unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door. Megan looked up, startled.

  “Oh, my gosh,” she breathed. “You scared the crap out of me.”

  “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  That was true, but he liked the way her cheeks got all flushed.

  She smiled. “I wasn’t sure what time you closed. When I saw the times on the door, I was going to leave my keys with a note in your drop box. I parked my car over there.” She turned and pointed to her Accord. It was kind of hard to miss. “I was on my way home from work and something broke, so I drove straight here.”

  She sounded exhausted.

  “What exactly happened to it?” he asked, stepping from the doorway and walking toward the car.

  “I had just pulled out of the parking lot and made it about a block before I hit a pothole, and I heard this really loud bang followed by a high-pitched scraping sound. I couldn’t see anything out the back window, and it seemed like all my gauges were okay, so I continued driving.” She stopped beside where he knelt to look under the back of the car. “Within two blocks there was another awful sound, then all of sudden my car sounded like a helicopter.”

  James knew even before he looked at it what had happened. “Your muffler fell off.”

  Megan sighed. “Is that bad?”

  He looked up at her from where he stooped on the pavement—trying not to check out her legs—and nodded. He stood up, dusting off his hands on his thighs. “I’m gonna have to order you a new muffler. I can probably have it here by Tuesday.”

  His eyes got caught on where she was biting her lower lip again. “How much is that going to cost me?”

  He pulled his gaze away from her lips and saw the worry in her expression. “You’re looking at anywhere between two hundred to two fifty for parts and labor.”

  She looked back at her car and sighed. “I guess there’s no way around it, so go ahead. Do you need me to fill out any paperwork?”

  “No. But I’ll need your keys.”

  She dropped her keys into his grease-stained ha
nds. “Thanks, Mr. Foley. Just give me a call whenever it’s done.”

  She heaved her purse up her shoulder before giving him a tired smile and wave. James was too busy watching her walk away when he suddenly realized that she planned to walk home by herself.

  “Megan,” he yelled. When she turned toward him, he asked, “How far is your place from here?”

  “Oh, it’s just a few blocks. No biggie.”

  She had just started to turn back toward the sidewalk when he had a completely stupid idea.

  “I was about ready to head home for the night. How about I give you a ride?”

  She regarded him for a moment before saying, “You know, after the day I’ve had, I think I’ll take you up on that.”

  He chuckled as he walked back toward the office. “That bad, huh?”

  She met him at the shop’s front door. “Yeah, I definitely see a drink in my future.”

  “I actually haven’t had anything to eat, and I’m starving. Wanna grab some pizza with that drink of yours?”

  He didn’t know where the offer had come from. Having dinner with his son’s teacher was definitely against his better judgement, but it was just pizza, right? It wasn’t like they were going on a date or anything.

  They would just be two hungry adults grabbing dinner at the same time and at the same place. He was being a Good Samaritan by offering her a ride. So what if he fed the poor woman too?

  She was quiet while she thought it through. She was probably thinking about the same pros and cons he was. Her expression indicated that she’d reached the smart conclusion that dinner with him was a bad idea.

  “You know, that sounds great.” She smiled up at him. “Thank you.”

  Megan McKenna was full of surprises.

  ###

  What the hell, right?

  Megan stepped ahead of James as he ushered her inside the front office. They were two adults. She was hungry. He was hungry. There were worse ways to spend her Friday evening other than having pizza with an extremely attractive man. And besides, she hadn’t had pizza in ages.