Page 86 of An Unexpected Turn
“Oh, my brother and your uncle will be too busy picking up the bromance for the weekend to hear me, but I will.” She kissed my cheek. “Go do what you have to do.”
I nodded, even if I wasn’t sure what that was.
The guidance department made the event open to all parents, but as we suspected, only a handful from each grade showed up. Deirdre and I did presentations on depression and anxiety, how we’d step in, and when we’d contact the parents if their child had an issue. A few were interested enough to ask questions, but most sat back and listened. It was a decent turnout overall, but my mind was on the one parent I couldn’t acknowledge. My neck heated each time I felt his eyes on me, but I managed to stay cool until it was all over.
“I’m surprised some of the senior parents showed up,” Lena, the senior counselor, scoffed. All the parents were separated into clusters, some sipping their free coffee from the paper cups.
Jake spoke with another father in the corner, my peripheral vision focused on him even though I couldn’t look directly at him. As anxious as I was throughout the day, I took a little comfort in knowing that I had at least started the ball rolling. My uncle knew something was going on, and I’d have to explain on Sunday night. For the first time, I felt the beginnings of a resolution.
Even if it was the disaster I feared, that was still a resolution. I’d deal with whatever came to be, as long as it was over.
“The ones who care show up, especially if their kids have had a history of issues. I try not to be jaded,” Deirdre said, turning to me with a quick eye roll.
Lena shrugged. She was nice enough at the department meetings we had each week, but had little interest in doing anything other than what was required in a school day. She was older than us, I’d guessed in her late forties, with striking green eyes and long auburn hair that fell almost to her waist. The leather skirts she liked to wear to school turned more than a few heads, but she was all business with her students.
“You see Jake Russo’s son, right? He’s a freshman, so I assumed.”
I tensed up at Lena’s question.
“I do. He’s a good kid. You know him?”
Something about how her mouth curled into a smile made my skin crawl.
“I know his father,” she whispered, her grin still wide.
Deirdre snuck me a glance, her brows raised. Lena never made small talk with us, so for her to get this personal was strange—and who she was getting personal about unnerved me even more.
“Speaking of ... Hey, Jake,” Lena said as Jake approached our table to throw his coffee cup into the trash can on the side.
“Hi, Lena. This was a lot of good information. Scary, but good.” He smiled at us but avoided direct eye contact with me. It was the game we’d played since the beginning—and I was over it.
“Good, I’m glad. It is scary, but we like to remind parents that we can help but we need them to pay—”
“I meant to call you,” Lena began, turning toward Jake and cutting Deirdre off. “My deck needs a little refresh. Maybe we can get coffee at the diner after this is over and discuss it. Or now. We’re pretty much done, right?”
“We are,” I said, the rage searing through my veins taking away most of my voice.
“Good, the diner is all that’s open now, so I’ll meet you there. Nice job, ladies,” she told us as she motioned for Jake to follow her, my heart free-falling into my stomach when he did.
I gathered up the rest of the pamphlets and stuffed them into an envelope, missing the opening to slide them in, my vision clouded by white-hot anger.
“I can clean this up if you want to go kick her ass,” Deirdre whispered with a sad smile.
I stilled, letting out a slow breath before turning my head, too focused on Jake’s exit with Lena to think up a pointless denial.
“Thanks, but it’s fine.”
Lena didn’t know anything about Jake and me. She was a single woman, and to her knowledge, Jake was a single man. I couldn’t begrudge her for simply going for what she wanted. I almost laughed at my panic over the possible stigma of dating a parent when Lena had basically picked one up at a school event. I would have if I weren’t fighting with the bile in the back of my throat to stay down.
I raced to my car after we were done, forcing myself not to check if his truck was still in the parking lot, and headed home.
Jake had seen women before me. He’d never hid it or apologized for it. Maybe he followed Lena to keep up the ruse that he was still single and not spoken for, that he wasn’t seeingmein whatever spare moments we could get.
I piled into bed when I got home, trying to get lost in my Kindle, but the romance heroes who always soothed me couldn’t help as I didn’t register a word on any page. Every moment that I didn’t hear from Jake, I pictured him still at the diner with Lena, and it made my stomach turn over each time.
I hated being this jealous shell of a woman. After eleven, I’d given up and thrown the Kindle on my nightstand. I shut my eyes, hoping but doubting that maybe sleep would somehow come, when the buzz of my phone made them pop open.
“Hello,” I said, devoid of my usual happy greeting when I spotted Jake’s name on the screen.
