"You’re gonna stay here while I tutor?"
"Yeah," he said, a smile touching the corner of his mouth. "I don’t trust you enough not to be here."
Erica laughed quietly at Jack’s use of her words from earlier. He went to move around her, to get back to Tiffany, but Erica stopped him with a quick grab of his arm.
"How did you get to be a foster-parent?" she asked.
"Am I doing a bad job?"
"No, not at all. I’m just curious."
He looked into her eyes. She was interested in him. Teacher-dating-student’s-parent principle aside, she wanted to know more about him.
The thing that surprised Jack was he felt the same way about her.
"Lots and lots of shady, illegal stuff."
He loved telling people the truth about the unusual circumstances that were his life. No one ever believed him, and the looks they gave him were priceless. This time was no different.
Erica let out that sexy laugh of hers and rolled her eyes. "You’re so difficult. You’re worse than some of my students, laughing at kids getting beat up."
He chuckled at the fresh memory of Tiffany knocking Robert to the ground.
"You thought it was funny, too. You’re just as twisted as me."
She raised an eyebrow and gave him a look. There was a hint of mystery, of challenge.
"Maybe even more."
He smiled at her before patting Tiffany on the back.
"I’ll be right over there," he said, pointing at a table. "I’m just gonna catch up on some work I’ve been putting off. Later, we’ll get some dinner."
"Can we watch a movie tonight? Can we watch WALL-E?"
"You have a Blu-ray player in your room."
"But I want to watch it with you."
"Fine, fine," he said, sighing.
He gave Erica a wink before waking his iPad and sitting a few tables away. He kept an ear cocked toward Erica and Tiffany as he answered a few emails, got in touch with a few important associates he wanted to stay in contact with, and browsed a few websites. Andrea Simmons was still in the local news, and even caught attention at the national level. The mysterious aid the police received wasn’t mentioned. No doubt the police wanted to keep that under wraps out of sheer embarrassment.
Simply listening to Erica and Tiffany gave him insight into both of them. Erica really was an excellent teacher. She gave gentle encouragement, and when Tiffany became frustrated, Erica would tell a joke. Tiffany would laugh, and they would resume once again. Jack knew third graders had energy levels that rivaled his own, but he could see Erica was patient and caring.
Tiffany, on the other hand, wasn’t a very good student. Jack glanced up every now and then, and could simply see the child fighting with herself, fighting with her confidence. The damage Simmons did to her was great. Every few minutes was a cycle of Tiffany doing work, getting frustrated, and Erica having to calm her down. The poor girl’s hand even trembled as she tried to solve a math problem. As patient and clever as Erica was, Jack could see her thinking, trying to come up with new ways of getting through to Tiffany.
Everything dissolved about an hour into tutoring. Tiffany dropped her pencil as a few tears fell to her sheet of paper.
"I can’t do this," she said. "I’m not smart. I’ve always been stupid. That’s why my Daddy left after Mommy died."
Jack dropped his iPad to the table and turned in his seat. Tiffany was standing up, backing away from the schoolwork like it was a poisonous snake. She breathed heavy as she tried to fight off more tears. Erica looked to Jack for answers she didn’t have.
"Tiffany, listen-" Erica began.
"No! I don’t want to do this. I hate school."
"Tiffany," Jack said.
She quieted down and turned at the sound of Jack’s voice. She was getting close to the hysterical crying children do, when their entire bodies reacted and heaved.
"Sit down."
She didn’t argue and headed back to her seat. Jack moved from his table to theirs and sat next to her. Erica simply watched, almost in awe.
He studied the girl, trying to put his thoughts into words. Children had always been a mystery to him. They were easier to read than adults because they carried their emotions with them, seldom trying to hide. But saying the wrong thing to a child could do irreparable harm, where an adult could heal.
"I've been through some...terrible things in my life."
"Is that why you never sleep?" she asked, wiping at her eyes.
Jack blinked in surprise, not expecting that. Erica gave him a curious look that he tried to ignore.
"No, it’s not, but we’ll talk about that another time. The point is...I thought I was the strongest person in the world. Victoria was a close second, but no one was stronger than me. No one had been through what I had. I used to laugh at what you morta-...people thought were problems. But then I met you, and I actually learned something."
"What?"
"That I was wrong, which is something neither one of you will ever repeat. You are the strongest person I’ve ever met."
Her eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Yes. Your energy, your smile, your attitude. Your father didn’t leave because of anything you did. He was just an idiot. But I’m glad he left, which I know sounds weird. Now I get to look out for you, at least for a little while."
"I’m glad he left, too," she said, reaching out for a hug.
"Okay. Quick hug, quick hug," he said, barely touching the girl. "Two, maybe three seconds. And...that’s enough. What I’m trying to say is I know there isn’t anything you can’t do. You will get this school stuff."
He heard a sniffle, but it wasn’t coming from Tiffany. He looked over to see Erica with a tissue, blowing her nose and fighting tears.
"I need to go to the bathroom," Tiffany said. "And then we’ll tear up this homework."
Jack and Erica laughed as he grabbed her backpack.
"Sounds good. While you’re working I’ll copy all your pictures from your camera to your iPhone."
"Thank you, Jack."
He kept an eye on her until she vanished into the bathroom. He took a step toward his table when Erica grabbed his shoulder, but didn’t let go.
"What did she mean? You never sleep?"
Anger rolled through him at someone asking such a question. It was his decision to share information, not for others to ask for it. He pushed aside his anger, much to his surprise, as despair took its place. The core of his fury, his bitterness, sat at the forefront of his brain.
He would never rest. He would never die. The world would evolve, change, grow. He would not.
He realized these emotions were playing across his face. Erica showed a genuine look of concern and squeezed his shoulder.
"Hey," she said tenderly. "Are you okay?"
No, he wasn’t. He wanted to retreat to a corner and fall apart. Cry, rage, hit the walls, curse the witch Angela and her demented sense of forever love.
"Maybe we’ll talk later."
Erica offered a smile and nodded, and didn’t push. She gave his shoulder one final squeeze before sitting down.
Ten minutes later Jack was calm. Tiffany and Erica were doing much better with her schoolwork. They laughed and talked as Tiffany seemed much more relaxed. He caught Erica’s eye a few times, and she gave him a warm smile. She sat on Tiffany’s left, so only her profile showed. She was always conscious of her scar. Jack had no doubt she didn’t believe him when he told her it was sexy.
He shifted his attention to Tiffany’s pack, fishing out her camera and iPhone. He noticed her photo-album tucked in between a few books, and glanced through at the photos she’d taken. The girl was easily amused. There were pictures of random people walking down the street, cars driving by, a dog urinating on a fire hydrant.
He slowed his browsing when he turned the page and saw a woman that looked just like Tiffany holding a baby in her arms. A man stood behind her, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Obviously Tiffany’s parents in
happier times. There were pictures of another old couple, possibly grandparents.
His mouth fell open when he turned one more page, and his eyes settled on a black and white photo. At first he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, something that never happened before. But the photo was real.
He looked at Charles and Helen, two of the people he saved at Monterrey, South Carolina, nearly one hundred years ago. His mind still had trouble believing it was them. He even recognized Charles’ house. Jack passed it many times on trips to visit Victoria. They stood side by side and hand in hand, smiling at each other.
Tiffany had Helen’s eyes.
"Tiffany," he said, interrupting their lesson. "Come here a sec."
She quickly trotted to his side. "Yeah?"
"Who are these people?"
"That’s my-" She looked up to count. "Great grandparents. I never met them."
"Really? You don’t say."
"No. This was my mom’s photo book. I’ve been adding pictures. That’s my mom and dad there, and-"
Jack tuned out as she introduced him to her family. A strange humbleness settled over him. He had saved two lives, and that act turned into the eight-year-old girl next to him, a girl he was growing fond of.
"There’s more room in here," Tiffany went on. "Since you’re my foster-dad now, I want to take pictures of you and put them in here."
"Are you alright?" Erica asked. "You look like you’ve seen a ghost."
"Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry for breaking in. Go ahead with your amazing teaching."
He watched Tiffany for a few more minutes. She was finally getting the basics of multiplication. He made the decision then and there that after she was adopted by a normal family he would always watch over her. She would never go hungry, always have a roof over her head, never be without resources.
The girl was changing him.
He grabbed her camera with the intention of copying everything to a larger memory card. Scrolling through her more current pictures brought a smile to his face. There were pictures of her new room, Jack’s vegetable garden, a breakfast he cooked for her, Erica bending over a laptop in the front of her class. He made a mental note to copy that picture for himself.
There was the washed out, blurry photo of Tiffany’s monster.
Jack nearly kept scrolling, but stopped.
Something about the photo caught his attention. Tiffany was obviously moving when she took the photo, but there was a mass of blue near the right edge that could have been the shape of a person.
A police officer in uniform.
The center of the photo had another blur, this one whiter, and more spacious than the blue blob.
He reached for his phone. It took her five rings to answer, and her voice was very quiet.
"Hello?"
"Victoria? Why the whispering? You hiding out in the boys’ locker room?"
"I'm watching a grown man watch porno. He’s not jerking off to it, he’s actually watching it, like it’s Gone With the Wind. He’s got a bucket of popcorn and a soda. It might be the weirdest thing I’ve seen in my life, and I'm four hundred damn years old."
"Is this your case? I thought you had a license plate to track? Why are you still playing Peeping Tom?"
"The plate wasn’t registered anywhere. This case was supposed to be so important I skipped out on a friend’s dress fitting. Now...hold on, he heard me."
There was a brief pause followed by a thump.
"I just jumped off his balcony," she said. "What’s going on?"
"Could you swing by the library? I could use another set of eyes."
"The library? Jack, what on earth are you doing at a library?"
"Would you just get your bloody little fangs here?"
"Let me get a tail on my porn buddy, and I’ll be over."
Victoria arrived twenty minutes later. Erica was talking to Tiffany and stopped mid-sentence when the attractive vampire crossed the library and smiled at Jack. Tiffany saw her and jumped out of her chair.
"Victoria!" she shouted, racing to give the vampire a hug.
"Hey there, girl," Victoria said, picking Tiffany up in her arms. She gave Erica a glance, and smiled at Jack. "I guess that answers my question."
"What question?" Erica asked.
"Erica," Jack interrupted. "This is my sister, Victoria. Victoria, this is Erica, Tiffany’s teacher and tutor. She’s also the woman I’m always trying to get to show me her legs."
"Jack," Erica said, blushing.
"Sorry. You two keep doing your thing. Victoria, can I talk to you alone for a second?"
He grabbed the camera and led her across the library. Making sure no one else was around, he showed her Tiffany’s photo.
"What do you make of this?" he asked.
She took the camera and studied it.
"You want me to move it to the iPad?" he asked. "Make it larger?"
"No, I think-" She paused, looked at Jack, and then turned to stare at Tiffany and Erica. "You’ve gotta be kidding me. What is this, high school?"
"What?"
"Erica just asked Tiffany if you have a girlfriend."
He laughed. "I don’t think she’s very good at the social game. That scar she’s got makes her think she’s hideous."
Victoria’s eyes widened, and she almost doubled over with laughter.
"She just asked Tiffany for fashion advice."
"Okay, this is all hilarious, but the picture?"
"Sorry. This blue thing is a person."
"A cop?"
"Hmm. Good guess. Definitely a blue uniform of some kind."
"And the blur in the middle?"
She sighed. "This would be a vampire in motion."
"What?"
"Yes," she said. "A vampire moving at high speed. There were shots of me on the net moving like this all over Camden Yards before they were taken down."
"Is this the case you’re working on? A vampire running around Parkville?"
She shook her head. "No, at least not as far as I know."
"Tiffany told me she saw a monster that first night we met."
"Well, we’ve been called worse," she said with a laugh. "But she was right."
He looked over her shoulder at Erica and Tiffany, who seemed to be finishing up tutoring. Victoria noticed the small smile on his face as he watched them laugh and talk.
"And this here," she said, pointing at the camera. "Looks like it could be someone falling to the ground."
Jack studied the camera with her. "Tiffany witnessed a murder."
"Yeah. We’ve got a man in blue on his feet, a victim on the ground, and a vampire trying not to be seen."
"Thanks. Oh, hey, one more thing. What else are they saying over there?"
The vampire said nothing, only offering a smile. They moved back to Erica and Tiffany, who were packing up their books and notes.
"So, dinner?" he said, pointing at Tiffany. "That diner we went to last week?"
"Yes!"
"Victoria, join us," he commanded.
"Well, since you ask so nicely, sure."
"Erica? There’s this diner about five minutes from here. My treat, since you’re guiding Tiffany into the light."
Jack only asked to be polite, and automatically assumed he knew her answer. She was attracted to him, that much was certain from her body language. But all the flirting had been one-sided. She’d made it clear there was a line with parents on one side and teachers on the other. He was surprised when she faked hesitation, and knew what her answer would be.
"That sounds fine. I am hungry."
"Beautiful. Follow us over."
They all went to their cars. Jack waved to Victoria as she sped away first in her Porsche. He opened the door for Tiffany, and laughed when he saw Erica climbing into a beat-up Jeep Wrangler. It was a hard-top, and one of the side and rear windows were covered with plastic.
"What in name of all that is holy are you driving?"
"Hey, don’t make fun of my Jeep. I’ve
had this since college."
"When did you graduate? During the Korean War?"
"Ha ha. You’re a comedian."
Victoria already had a booth picked out for them when they arrived. He slid in first, followed by Tiffany, letting the two women sit next to each other. He was quite aware of the unfamiliarity of the scene. A mere month ago he would have been in the diner all alone. Now he was accompanied by a child, a beautiful teacher, and a woman he considered family.
They talked and laughed for a few minutes until their food arrived. Victoria, of course, had used the excuse that she’d eaten earlier. She slowly nursed a glass of water, expertly acting like a mortal thirty-year-old.
They were nearly done their meal when Tiffany spotted an old arcade machine near the back of the diner.
"Can I play?"
"I’ve got some change," Victoria said. "Let’s go have some fun."
She took Tiffany by the hand and led her away, giving Jack a wink. He took a drink of soda as he watched Erica nervously look around.
"Afraid someone will see you?" he said. "I’ll hold in the flirty lines I’ve been working on."
She laughed and brushed hair away from her eyes. "No, just...a little self-conscious is all."
"Why?"
"Did you see the look the waitress gave me?"
He did. The woman stared at Erica’s scar. Jack almost had to raise his voice to get her attention.
"I don’t go out much," she said, hiding her scar from Jack. "But sometimes I actually forget I have this. Then I see someone staring at me, and it all comes back."
"Well, like I said, I think it makes you hotter."
She lowered her eyes. "Jack-"
"I’m just being honest. I'm not trying to hit on you. I’m not making any moves, and I’m not trying to boost your ego. I’m just saying, you’re gorgeous."
She managed a smile as she looked up at him. "In the interest of simply being honest, you’re rather easy on the eyes yourself."
"I'm not sure how you want to do this, but I haven't seen the rest of your legs yet," he said. Victoria turned from the arcade machine and flashed Jack a look, obviously listening to their conversation. "I live right by the beach, so maybe you can just jog by one Saturday morning or something."
Erica laughed. "So you're saying guys treat me like kryptonite not because of my scar, but maybe because of my legs?"
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