by Jill Sanders
Over the next few days, Allison watched the boy carefully. She also had his younger sister Susie in another class.
It was really what she saw in Susie that caused her to be in Tanya’s office with a stack of their drawings and her own notes of items she wanted to point out.
The little girl’s bruises and marks on her arms and legs were worse than her brother’s. Her drawings told a different story than Tommy’s. Where her brother’s drawings were about animals and death, Susie’s were filled with fear. More fear than a child of seven should have.
Oh, some of her kids drew monsters in the closets or hiding under their beds. Susie’s monster was in every picture. When she painted flowers, there was a dark figure on the corner of the paper. When she water colored the Easter Bunny, the figure was poised just behind it. She had even colored blue spots on the bunny, and when asked what the spots were, the girl replied, “The bunny had been bad and had been punished.”
That was when Allison had made up her mind. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Megan’s opinion, she had just wanted to be sure before going to Tanya with something this life changing.
Almost two hours later, Allison left her friend’s office feeling assured. After making her case with Tanya, her friend had called an emergency meeting with the children’s other teachers. Some of them had voiced their concerns as well. Then they had called in the professionals, the Child Protection Services. And after relaying their concerns to them, Allison and the other teachers had left and allowed them to do what they needed.
On her drive home, she was so nervous and wondered if she’d done the right thing. She ended up driving to the shoreline instead of home. Pulling out her bag filled with paper and art supplies, she headed to a secluded spot along the beach to sketch away her worries.
He stood over the hot stove and watched his kitchen staff rush around him and realized that this was the reason he had had chosen to be a chef. The sights and smells of a busy kitchen were so embedded in his brain as a wonderful thing, he’d never had the time to think any negative thoughts about it.
Since losing his hearing, all his other senses had heightened, but nothing compared to what his sense of smell had become. He could tell if something would taste by smelling it. Herbs and spices thrown together gave off a different smell and he could mix and match as he pleased with ease. Some of his recipes called for unorthodox herbs and seasons but every one ended up being a masterpiece.
Sweat trickled down his back and his muscles screamed at him from the hard work he’d been doing at home. Still, he stood over the stove and created what he knew would be yet another great dish.
Things were looking up for him, the work at the house was almost done. His relationship with Allison was coming along slower than he wanted, but he knew her mother and new job were taking priority right now in her life. He remembered the other night sitting on her front porch and smiled to himself as he finished one plate and started working on the next order.
A few days later, Allison was late leaving the school. It was her last day for the week and her classroom had been a mess. She couldn’t really blame the kids, since it had been her idea to work with clay that day. It had taken her almost an hour to clean up all the clay that the kids had smeared everywhere.
She’d heard from Tanya that both Tommy and Susie, along with their younger sister, had been removed from their home by the Child Protective Services.
It was hard for her to think that Kevin or Brenda would do anything to hurt their children. After all, she’d gone to school with both of them. Kevin had been the picture-perfect athlete back then. Brenda had been the head cheerleader and most popular girl in school. Of course, since high school, Allison hadn’t really been close to either of them. Actually, she hadn’t been close to them in school either.
She knew Kevin worked in the mill across the river. After graduation, he had taken to hunting as his main hobby or sport. He went everywhere in town in his camouflaged outfits. He even drove a large truck that had a roll bar and lights on it. Sometimes he would carry his four-wheeler in the back. It too, was decked out in camouflage and she’d even seen his hunting guns strapped to the back.
Once, she’d seen him come back with a pile of deer in the back. He’d had a couple of other guys with him that time.
Allison knew Brenda was a stay-at-home mom. Actually, Allison had hardly seen her since school. When she’d seen her in the store a few times, she noticed how quiet she was. She’d changed so much since high school. She used to be the outgoing head cheerleader, but now had become a timid mouse of a woman.
She was thinking about them as she walked out of the school building just as the sun was setting. She was half way to her car when she heard a door slam and turned to watch Kevin storm out of his truck.
“You’ve got some nerve,” he said, as he stopped right in front on her. “Just who do you think you are?”
“Hello, Kevin.” She tried for her best teacher voice, one she’d recently learned.
“If you think I’ve been hitting my kids, you should have come to me first. I would have told you to go to hell.” His breath reeked of alcohol.
Looking around, she realized they were alone in the almost empty parking lot.
“Now you have Brenda and I trying to explain everything to the law. You know how Robert is; he thinks he owns the damn town.” He leaned closer and she tried to hold her breath through the stench.
“I think this is a matter you’d be better off talking to CPS about.” She took a step back and bumped into her car door. Her keys were in her hands and for a second she thought she could use them in case she had to protect herself. Kevin still had an athletic build, but now he had a beer gut on him as well. He was shorter than she was, but outweighed her by about eighty pounds.
“You’ve always been a busybody. Now you’ve taken my wife and kids away,” Upon her empty look he continued. “Oh, you didn’t know that Brenda left me last night. Because of you, she’s claiming I abused her and the kids. The damn state’s given her full custody of my kids and I’m left high and dry.” He leaned forward as she cringed against her car door.
“Maybe that’s just what you wanted. To get me all to yourself?” His eyes raked up and down her simple tan slacks and blue top. She kept trying to pull back as he continued. “I remember you in school. Yeah, that tight little body of yours.” He ran his eyes down her again. “Still looks tight. Maybe I should have paid more attention to you instead.” He leaned against the car door, his hands on either side of her. His breath hitting her face full force.
“If you think I want anything to….”
“Oh, I know you’d like it honey. If I remember right, you always did like the jocks. I bet I could make you scream.” He leaned back a little as he heard a car approaching. The car turned and started coming their way.
“I will make you scream.” With these words he stormed off, got in his truck, and peeled out of the parking lot, leaving Allison leaning against her door, shaking.
When she did get in her car several minutes later, she sat there with the doors locked and her head against the steering wheel. Then when she started to drive, she ended up in the Golden Oar’s parking lot instead of in front of her house. Walking in before she could change her mind, she headed for the bar area.
Sitting at the bar, she ordered herself a vodka cranberry and waited for the waiter to tell Iian she was there. Sure enough, not two minutes after her drink was set in front of her, he came strolling across the room with one of his sexy smiles on. Did he practice smiling in front of the mirror? Or did it just come naturally?
All she could thing was, he sure knew how to walk. His long legs ate up the ground. He’d gotten a hair cut since the last time she’d seen him. It was still longer than most men, but just above his collar now. She’d always been jealous of the thick black curly mass. She’d always wanted to run her hands through it, enjoying the feel. His white shirt and black pants looked neat and clean and she wondered how he cou
ld cook all day and still look fresh.
He came to a stop in front of her.
“Hello,” he said and signed along.
“Hi, I’m just having a drink after a stressful day.” She held up and shook her almost empty glass.
“What’s wrong? The kids giving you trouble?” he signed while taking the seat next to hers.
“No, the parents.” she left it short and vague. Knowing the news would have been all over the small town by now. She didn’t think she wanted to be the one to spread the fact that it was because of her that a man’s children and wife had been taken away from him.
Smiling over at him, and said, “How’s your day going?” She sipped the last of her drink. “How’s your sister? I’ve been meaning to stop by and tell her thanks for the cinnamon rolls she dropped off the other morning.”
“Lacey’s huge,” he smiled, “and annoying. She keeps trying to show up for work. I keep sending her home. I have to tell her it’s doctor’s orders,” he shifted his weight on the seat.
Just then one of the wait staff came over and informed him he was needed in the back room.
“Give me just a moment,” he signed.
“Sure, I’ve got time.”
“Do you want another drink?” the bartender asked.
Allison looked at the thin balding man behind the counter and decided why not. She ordered another drink and crossed her legs and watched the room full of people.
Looking around, she studied the art and thought of her own art career. She enjoyed her first year in California. It had been hard work and she’d thrived with the attention it had brought her.
People came from all over the world to see it, some even plunking down thousands of dollars to own it. Then she’d had an art show in New York and everything had changed. She was no longer a small, no-named artist from smalls-ville Oregon.
She was Allison Adams, the next big “it” in the art world. Her pieces started selling for hundreds of thousands and it seemed she was in such high demand, she couldn’t focus on where her art came from anymore. It was like her well had dried up. At the end of her second year in California, she’d only thought of one thing. Coming home.
Ric had persuaded her to apply for an art school in Paris. She’d always wanted to go to Paris, but to study under some of the best names in the art world was a different matter.
She didn’t think that any amount of study would bring the passion back into her art. Looking around the room at the art that hung on the walls of the family restaurant, she felt a twinge in her chest. Her creative mind was starting to whirl back to life. She could feel it like the blood rushing from your head when you stood up too fast.
Setting down her almost-full glass, she tossed down some cash and started to leave.
Iian reached her just before she reached the front doors.
“Going so soon?” he asked.
“Yes, I’ve got to check on my mother. Thanks for the talk.” She kissed his cheek and walked out, leaving him questioning what was going on with her.
When she drove up and parked in front of the house, she had a half dozen thoughts in her head about what she would paint. Never had the desire to paint been so strong before. She likened it to roaming a desert for years and suddenly stumbling upon an ocean.
She took the front porch stairs two at a time and came to a dead stop in front of the door.
There, sitting on her mother’s beloved “Welcome” mat, sat what could only be described as a skinned animal. She’d been raised with cats that always liked to deliver their dead prey for show-and-tell. This animal didn’t look like something had gotten to it. It looked like someone had done this.
She could see her mother on the other side of the large glass windows. She was vacuuming the living room while singing a song in a loud, off-key voice.
Whoever had left the poor skinned animal there, had meant it for her to see. Her mind raced to Kevin. Would he have done something like this to scare her?
Turning around, she looked up and down the quiet street. She didn’t see or hear anyone. There were no other cars parked along the road that didn’t belong there. Setting her purse and bag down, she went around to the side of the house where they kept their trash can. She took the lid off, scooped up the carcass with her mother’s favorite mat, and placed them inside the trash can. Then she took the can to the curb, thankful that tomorrow was trash collection day.
After heading inside, she realized that her desire to paint had faded.
Since school, Iian had been playing basketball with a group of friends at the Boys and Girls Club twice a week. He liked the physical activity. But today he needed it to get his mind off Allison and what he wanted to do to her.
When he’d first learned she was going to teach middle school art, he’d had a new fantasy involving her, where he sat in a small desk with her at the chalk board. She wore a small, tight skirt, a button up white top that was too tight. The buttons were ready to burst over her chest. Her hair had been up in a loose bun. His mind continued on that thought until he was pushed by someone and almost landed on his butt.
As he was getting his ass handed to him by his friends, he wondered why he continued to show up every week. He was sore from working on the house and from sleeping on a couch that was a foot too small for his six-and-a-half foot frame. But as he was fouled for the hundredth time by one of his best friends who didn’t understand the term “friendly game”, he thought he was going crazy. He had bruises in places he didn’t care to ice later. Of course, he knew how to play against his friends. He played the same way they did: fouling whenever he could. He was hot, sweaty, bruised and, to top it all off, he still couldn’t get Ally out of his mind.
Aaron had joined the game several years back before he and Lacey had been married. Deciding he was a good match, they had quickly teamed up and been deemed the “dynamic duo” by everyone else.
He was just about to take a pass from his brother-in-law when he felt that familiar tingle on the back of his neck. It was more out of reflex that his head turned towards her. He remembers seeing her standing by the opened doors in a white, flowing sun dress, then everything went white. Later he would try to convince himself that it was the ball hitting his head at one hundred miles per hour and not the way the sun had shone through her white skirt so that he could make out the outline of her long thin legs. He could have sworn the sun beamed around her golden hair and when it glowed, he heard angels singing. But he wasn’t a pussy and didn’t think things like that. Plus, he was deaf, so he couldn’t have heard if there had been angels singing or not.
No, he thought as he laid on the hard gym floor, it was just the pass to the temple that had his head spinning.
“Oh, no! Are you alright?” She was bending over him, her cheeks pink and her blue eyes full of concern.
Aaron, the doctor in the room, stood back and laughed at his brother-in-law. First there had been concern. After all it was a head injury that had caused Iian so much pain in his life. But seeing the man sprawled on the floor, bare chested and ogling the concerned woman who all but had his head in her lap, he stepped back, along with the rest of his buddies. After all, Iian’s scans and tests had come back clean. His brother-in-law was in perfect health.
“Aaron Stevens, you should know better than to throw a ball that hard at someone’s head. How long have you been playing the sport anyway? And you call yourself a doctor!” She turned back to Iian, who hadn’t tried to move off the floor.
Why would he want to move? Allison was bent over him, his head was damn near in her lap. He was as close as he’d ever gotten to her perfect breasts. He could even see them rise and fall when she talked to someone, he presumed Aaron, by the look of his brother-in-law’s guilty face. Then she turned her attention back to him and he had to quickly move his eyes up from her silky white mounds to her rosy lips.
She smelled as good as she looked. Damn! Now he needed a cold shower.
She said something to him, but to be honest
, he was so focused on when her tongue had darted out and licked those perfect lips, he hadn’t paid attention.
“I’m sorry, can you repeat that? I couldn’t quite tell what the three of you were saying,” he said with a smile. He meant it to be a joke, but she pushed him into a sitting position and signed, “That’s it, I’m driving you home. And before you argue with me, I saw your motorcycle out there. If you think I’m going to let you ride that death trap home with a head bump like that, you had better think again.”
He wasn’t going to argue. Actually, he wasn’t even going to point out that Aaron, who was standing five feet away laughing, lived just down the road from him. A nice, slow drive home with Allison sounded just right.
“See you tomorrow,” Aaron signed to him. He could tell he’d wanted to say more, but the look Allison gave him made him turn around and quickly walk away with the rest of the guys. He was positive they were all laughing at him. He didn’t care, as long as there was a possibility of seeing her stand in the sunlight again.