Raising Attabury: A Contemporary Christian Epic-Novel (The Grace Series Book 5)

by Stallings, Staci

  “Building C?” the person he assumed was the teacher said, a disapproving scowl dropping onto her face. “That’s over on the other side.”

  Confusion lit across him. “The other side?”

  “On Crawford Street.” She pointed, kind of.

  “Around this way?” Eric asked, trying to get a little better direction.

  “Yes. Can you please move? We’re backing up the line here.”

  He wanted to apologize, but there didn’t seem to be time. Looking around him, he pulled back out into the mess of cars. “Around the… Around…” It was a fight to keep himself from hitting frustrated overload. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Back at the street, he carefully pulled into traffic, still trying to figure out where the “other side” might be. At the end of the block, he turned right and headed down through the maze of cars, buses, kids, parents, and teachers. They were literally everywhere. “Building C?” He scanned the buildings for any sing of the illusive C. “It’s got to be here somewhere.”

  At the end of that block, he realized if he kept going, he would be driving away from the school, so at the four-way, he flipped on his blinker and turned right again. This led to yet another mess of people and vehicles. “C. C. C.” Just then he caught sight of Building C, and he breathed a soft sigh of relief. Right next to him a horn blared, nearly scaring him out of his wits. “Good grief,” he said out loud both to the driver and to all the other crazies. “Chill. Okay?” He ratcheted his gaze down to try to see where he was supposed to go. “This is C. I guess pull in here?”

  It was truly anybody’s guess. At the apex of the line, he rolled down his window again. A spritely young woman with chin-length blonde hair approached. “Name?”

  “Uh, Eric Richardson?”

  She checked her list. “Grade?”

  “Oh. No. My name is Eric Richardson. My daughter is Jaden… Richardson. She’s second grade.”

  “Pull forward please. This is first grade.”

  Was there no end to the ways he could get this wrong? Apparently not. Pulling forward carefully so as to avoid being honked at, he came to one more knot of students. Finally he spotted Jaden with an older lady and another clipboard. He edged up to the curb and waved to Jaden. She spoke to the woman who instantly got a concerned look on her face. She checked the clipboard once and then twice.

  With that, she told Jaden to stay and approached his vehicle as if he might start shooting at any moment. Sensing he was in trouble, he rolled down his window.

  “I’m here to get Jaden,” he said, leaning down to speak to the woman, as if that wasn’t patently obvious.

  “Your name?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Eric Richardson.” Then his mind kicked into gear. “We spoke on teacher night back in August?”

  “I’m sure we did. Sir, could I have you pull up and over into this parking area?”

  “Is there a problem?”

  She looked like she was desperately trying not to get annoyed. “Just pull over here, Sir.”

  Not really seeing any other option, he carefully did as he was told, got out, and crossed back over to her. “Is there a problem, Ms….?”

  “Bowen,” she supplied, and before she said more, she waved to a parent and sent another child on their way. She put a checkmark on the list. “If you’ll just let me get these others taken care of…”

  “Wh…?”

  But she didn’t give him the chance to ask before she was hustling another kid to a car. He looked down at Jaden in concerned questioning, and her eyes were the size of soccer balls. Gently he reached out to her, and she took a step toward him.

  “Jaden,” the teacher reprimanded sternly. “You stay right here with the class.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” his daughter said, her eyes now downcast, her hands behind her back. She wouldn’t even look at him, and anger began to rise in Eric’s chest.

  “Ja?” he said, trying to buffer her from the situation.

  “Sir,” the teacher said sternly, “you need to just wait a minute so we can get this sorted out.”

  “This?” he asked in confusion. “What’s this? I’m here to pick up…”

  “Just. A. Moment,” she said, clipping each word to its shortest possible length. She went and helped two more students into cars. There were only two left, a little boy and Jaden.

  “Well, D’uan, looks like Mom’s going to be late again.” She checked her watch. “Why don’t we go on down to extended day, and she can get you there?”

  The little boy nodded.

  “And Jaden,” the woman said, “let’s go up to the principal’s office and get this sorted out.”

  “Hm?” Eric crossed his arms. “Principal’s? Why?”

  However, she had already started walking, the two children like ducks in a row behind her as she climbed the stairs. Eric had no choice but to follow. At the top of the stairs, the teacher went across the hall and into an office. Eric followed Jaden who still wasn’t looking at him.

  “Is Ms. Keller in?” the teacher asked.

  The secretary nodded. “She is.”

  “We need to see her.” She held up the clipboard, and the secretary hurried to the back. In seconds the principal appeared from a door on the left-hand wall. “Not listed.”

  A moment of understanding and the principal’s gaze turned to him. She put out her hand. “I’m Principal Keller.”

  Not at all comfortable with any of this, he shook her hand. “Eric Richardson. I’m Jaden’s father?” He meant it as a statement, but it came out like a question. Putting his hands on his hips, he glanced down at Jaden, afraid to touch her even though the teacher had gone. “What’s this about?”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Richardson,” Ms. Keller said. “It’s school policy to only release students to those listed with permission to pick up.”

  “Permission?” His eyes bugged out, and anger flashed to the surface. “Excuse me. I’m her father.”

  “Yes, Sir. I understand that. Yvonne?” She turned to the secretary who handed her a folder. She opened it and showed it to him. “We have four names listed as permitted to pick up. Yours is not listed.”

  In one motion his gaze swept down the paper, and he fought against the desire to scream at them. “Ms. Keller,” he said, corralling his patience, “I’m not sure why my name is not on that list, but what right do you have to not release my daughter to me?”

  “You have to understand, Mr. Richardson. We deal with a lot of divorce cases.”

  “I’m not divorced.”

  “As such,” she said, continuing right over the top of him, “we’ve had to put policies in place to protect the children from, shall we say, unpleasant situations in this regard.” She smiled at him. “But don’t worry. All we have to do is call your wife, and she can give permission for you to…”

  “Pick up my own daughter?” Anger yanked into his voice, and no matter how hard he tried to stop it, it was winning. “Is this some kind of joke? You’re telling me, I can’t pick up my own daughter because I’m not on some list?” A thought hit him, and he pulled his wallet out. “Here. Here’s my driver’s license so you know I am who I say I am.”

  “No need, Sir.” The principal held up her hand.

  “Ms. Richardson on line 2, Ma’am,” Yvonne said, and Ms. Keller stepped over to the desk for a quiet conversation.

  In less than a minute, she was back. “Good news. We got in touch with your wife, and you are free to take Jaden.”

  Thank you didn’t really seem appropriate. You’ll be seeing my lawyer sounded better. However, he simply frowned and said, “Thanks.”

  Dani couldn’t believe it. One, simple thing. How hard could it possibly be for him to do one simple thing? This was why she didn’t ask him to do things—because she always ended up doing them anyway. Why couldn’t he just pick the child up and be done with it? Really, that couldn’t be so hard, could it? Did they have to call out the National Guard?

  Burying her fury
into the pile of paperwork, Dani did the same with her anger.

  What was supposed to be a fun daddy-daughter day quickly turned into anything but fun. Over and over again Eric’s mind played through the whole humiliating scene. To have to call his wife to get permission to get his own kid? That was totally ridiculous.

  Sure, he could see if it was a divorce, and even more so if he was a flight risk or something. But just a simple picking her up? That called for dragging them both in front of the principal and calling…

  He grabbed hold of the biting anger about the time he pulled into their driveway. It was nearly four-forty. “You got homework?” he asked as he parked in the three-car garage.

  “Some,” her tiny voice replied.

  “Okay. Well, we’d better get to it when we get in.”

  “Yes, Sir.” She unclicked the buckle, opened the door with a shove, and slid out, backpack dragging behind her.

  Minus the backpack, Eric did the same. What a complete waste of an afternoon.

  By the time Dani made it home at around eight, Eric was in a not-very-well-disguised snit. He’d been emailing back and forth with Greg. The powder room looked like it would work, but they’d done some foundation testing on the living room side of the house, and it was going to need to be reinforced. Just the news he didn’t need today.

  With no better option, he had made tomato soup and grilled cheese. It wasn’t that it was bad, it was more that it wasn’t stellar that bothered him. Still it was eaten and the dishes were done by the time Dani made it.

  He heard the car even as he sat in his chair in the living room, emailing Greg about how much the foundation issue might cost. Each movement she made, he tracked until she came all the way into the living room and flipped on the light.

  “Good night! It looks like a dungeon in here.”

  Eric slammed his eyes closed and then peeled them open again against the onslaught. “’Bout time you get here.”

  “I told you I was going to be late. What’d you think that meant, six?” She backtracked and went into the kitchen. “What’d you do for dinner? You did eat dinner already, didn’t you?”

  “Of course we ate dinner,” he said, putting the laptop onto the ottoman and standing. “When it got to be seven, Ja was about to starve to death.”

  “What’d you eat?”

  He trekked to the kitchen and found her buried in the refrigerator. “Tomato soup and grilled cheese.”

  “Is there any left?”

  Honestly he hadn’t even thought about that. “Well, no. I could probably heat you some up if you want.”

  She came out of the refrigerator like a shot. “No. That’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I’ll just eat cereal or something.”

  “Really. I could make you some…”

  “No.” Going to the cabinet, she opened it, got a bowl and shut it just harder than she needed to. “I said I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”

  Eric stood for one more moment, assessing if he was doing more harm by going or by staying. He finally decided to just go. Turning, he’d made it almost all the way out of the room when she sighed hard.

  “So you ended up getting Ja then?” she asked, in a voice that could cut glass.

  With an angry spin, he turned back to step back into the kitchen. He had no intention of taking the blame for that one. “Yeah. I did. No thanks to you.”

  “Me? What did I do? Oh, yeah. I know what I did. I got called out of a very important meeting thanks to you. ‘It’s the school. Very important,’” she stage-whispered. “What was that? You can’t even do one simple thing?”

  “One simple thing? I felt like I was on trial for picking up my own kid. Why am I not on the list? What’s up with that?”

  “What’s up with it?” She picked up the bowl of cereal and crunched on it like she hated it. “Are you kidding? You haven’t been to pick Ja up in three years. Three years. They only give four lines for people who can pick up.”

  “Yeah. You. Your mom.”

  “My mom has picked her up for me several times.”

  “Carly,” he continued with more sarcasm. “And Mrs. McGuire? I didn’t even know she could drive.”

  “Oh, come on. Don’t be like that. Of course, she can drive. I figured if I ever got in a pinch…”

  “You would think to ask Mrs. McGuire to do it before me?”

  Dani shook her head at him. “Are you listening to yourself? Are you? Let me spell it out for you. You never, ne…ver go and get Jaden. Ever. And now you’re going to pitch a hissy fit because your name is not on their list? Grow up, Eric. This world does not revolve around you.” She pitched her bowl into the sink, making a loud clang. “I’m going to take a shower. I’m exhausted.”

  He watched her go past him. “Yeah, you do that. Don’t worry about me. I won’t be up for a while.”

  Waving, she went up the remaining steps and disappeared at the top.

  For the second time that day his blood was on fire. She had some nerve to talk to him like that, and after the day he’d had too. Going back into the living room, he collapsed into the chair and collected his laptop once again. Then he glanced over at Jaden, still sprawled on the floor.

  “Did you get that homework done?” he asked, really hating this role.

  “Almost all of it.”

  Dialing back his anger lest she hear it, he sighed. “Why don’t you go on up and get it finished? It’s going to be time for bed soon.”

  “K.” The little body pulled up off the floor and headed upstairs.

  With a shake of his head, he grabbed up the laptop and noticed a new email had come in. Clicking over with the intent to delete it, his attention snagged on Caleb James. In two clicks he had the message up, thinking it would have something to do with bathrooms and time schedules.

  Rachel was just wondering if you could bring the pictures when you come next time. No rush. She’s just anxious to see them.

  Eric gulped before blowing out a long, slow breath. The pictures. From the wedding. He hadn’t even thought of them again since he’d worked on them a couple weeks before. That was bad. His thoughts ran up the stairs to the little camera bag still in the corner where he had laid it when they’d gotten back late on New Year’s Eve after Caleb and Rachel’s wedding. He’d ended up using a second memory card he’d found in the side pocket, and he hadn’t even touched those pictures yet. He sighed, hoping Dani had gone to take a shower rather than going right to bed. If so, he could get in and get out before she knew he was even there. With only that thought, he put the laptop down and headed upstairs.

  Tears stung Dani’s eyes though she would’ve rather died than to let them fall. Three years. Three. She had been the one to make sure Jaden got to school on time and picked up on time. She had been the one to go when the others simply couldn’t. She, of all people, knew about the maddening lines and lists of who could and couldn’t get a child.

  The heat of the shower did nothing at first to touch the knots of anger across her shoulders and jabbing up into her head. Eric had no right to yell at her like that. What did he think? She didn’t put him on the list on purpose? There were four lines. Four. And on those lines, she needed people she could count on, people she could call at a moment’s notice, people who would actually show up to get Jaden when Dani simply couldn’t get there. Why was that so difficult for him to understand? Had he ever bothered to offer to pick her up? No. He hadn’t. Not once.

  His work was important. She growled low and frustrated as she turned and let the stream of water gouge into her face. His work was always more important than hers. She was the one left to figure out how to make things work—without his help. And she had done it, almost without complaint for three years. Six if you counted daycare before that. And now, after one time of having to man up and be a real father, he was yelling at her because he was a little inconvenienced. Well, she was inconvenienced too. Called out in the middle of an important meeting.

  What the others must think of her. What Jo
el must think of her. He was already on her case about being late because traffic was horrific every, single morning. Not to even mention what she would think of someone else in the same circumstances. She saw it all the time. Women who simply couldn’t hack it. Women who chose going home to take care of kids rather than furthering themselves and their careers. They literally gave up everything, even themselves, to do it. And then ten or twenty years down the line, what? He leaves for a young bimbo with no kids and a time share in the Bahamas? What was that anyway?

  “It’s a trap,” she said to the water. “It is. It’s all a trap. You put your whole life on hold for everybody else, and then when they don’t need you anymore, you’re expendable.” She put her hand out onto the marble wall and squeezed her eyes closed to try to get the tears and thoughts to stop. Neither did.

  This was not how she’d thought it would be. How did she let herself believe it would be a fairy tale? Did she really believe in happily ever after? Turning, she angled her head up under the water, now steaming the entire room inside and outside the shower. If she ever had, she didn’t now. This wasn’t happily ever after. This was a nightmare. And she was beginning to think there was no way out.

  Back in his chair, Eric pulled up the photo-editing program again with no trouble. With one more click, all of the photos from the second card began to flip into the little folder. He wondered then how exactly Caleb and Rachel would want all these pictures. There were hundreds of them—at least. Surely they would just want the computer files so they could make their own prints.

  Putting his fingers up to his mouth, he let out a long breath and clicked on one of the pictures. He smiled at it even as his mind floated back to that day. They had needed a photographer, and completely out-of-the-blue Dani had volunteered him. Eric couldn’t say he hadn’t enjoyed it because he had. Every last minute of it.

  As he clicked from picture to picture, feelings from that day came rushing back. Strangely he didn’t even know these people, not really. Yet, even in the pictures, there was a feeling among them that was impossible to miss.