When You Became Mine by Max Hudson

Author:Max Hudson [Hudson, Max]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2020-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

I had wanted this outing to be somewhat relaxing, but once Ms. Lancaster had us in her clutches, there was no getting out. While Irene and Nadia played with Tattoos’ kids in the sandbox, Ariel, Tattoos, and I were stuck entertaining a woman I was quickly losing patience with. Suddenly, I could understand why Irene decked her kid in the face; if Tyler had fallen anywhere close to the tree, he must be quite the character.

At the very least, Tattoos was tolerable. Enjoyable, actually. She introduced herself as Jane, no formalities needed, and was one of the newer parents to the Learning Ladders community. Even with her phone’s voice leaving out a lot of subtext, she had the sort of humor and wit I was certain Amanda would feel right at-home with. I made a mental note to introduce them later.

“So how are you enjoying the attention of the world’s best teacher, Mr. Deponte?” Jane asked.

“Uh, Ariel is okay,” I said, trying not to remember my time in the MRI. “And he’s been a huge help around the house. Especially with the girls; twins can be such a terror.”

Tattoos grinned, gesturing to her own three playing in the sandbox. “Adding one more makes them a triple theat.”

“My little Tyler was almost a twin,” Ms. Lancaster interjected. “But he ended up absorbing the other fetus.”

Yikes. And she said it with such pride, like her son had won the Olympics or something.

Ariel quickly pipped up, trying to steer the conversation away from that inevitable train wreck. “Well, I’m happy you all brought your children to Learning Ladders. They’ve been an absolute delight to care for.”

“Then why did you leave?” Ms. Lancaster asked in an almost accusatory manner. “I mean, all the parents miss you greatly. It’s not fair that your time is entirely taken up by Chaz. No offense,” she added as she practically drilled holes in my head.

Any time Ms. Lancaster opened her mouth, I’d catch Jane occasionally making some sort of gesture toward Ariel with an over exasperated look on her face. Now, I didn’t claim to be an expert in sign language, or know any part of it, but it wasn’t hard to guess the context of what Jane was saying.

A few choice titles came to mind, but I wisely kept them to myself.

“He didn’t ‘leave’,” Jane pointed out. “The daycare made it pretty clear that once Chaz was back on his feet, he’d be back.”

“But couldn’t he just work for Chaz and the daycare?” Ms. Lancaster asked. “Or, at the very least, on the days when my little Tyler was there.”

God, it was like Ariel wasn’t even there anymore for that woman. Seriously, he was sitting right next to her; did Ms. Lancaster just completely forget?

“I would want to be at my best with any of your children,” Ariel spoke up, a little louder than I was used to. “So, unfortunately, that arrangement wouldn’t work. But the staff are more than capable people; your son is still in the absolute best-care, Ms.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.