Reclamation by Vee Hoffman

Author:Vee Hoffman
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Gay & Lesbian, Romance, Fiction, Genre Fiction, Literature & Fiction
Publisher: Indie Inklings Ltd
Published: 2013-01-15T13:00:00+00:00

17 February, a Tuesday

I held myself from the noon bell and through my lunch break without doing much besides worrying, which was just as well considering that my appetite had been obliterated. Wringing my hands, I sat behind my desk, convincing myself that it was nothing to do with me. We had been careful. I had been meticulous. I was always meticulous. Even the risks we had taken were measured and calculated against endless permutations of possible discovery.

This was not about me, I felt instinctively, but yet even that did not calm me. It was about Dominic, in some way, undoubtedly, and so it became about me just as easily. And with all that had been on his mind, with all the roadblocks that had been thrown up in his personal path, I could not discount any possibility. As difficult as it was for me to come to terms with the image of Dominic in any sort of violent altercation, as painful as my curiosity churned, I sought out no information that had not been provided. I wanted to hear everything from Dominic’s mother, and to compare that to what I would hear from Dominic himself. Not to mention, I was practically paralyzed with the sort of fear that, no matter my intentions, would not let me put one foot in front of the other as I fretted away the time it took Renee Butler to show up and knock on the door of my empty classroom.

“Come in!” I cried out immediately, wondering what sort of look would be on her face, what sort of posture was on the other side of that door.

Her body language turned out to be harder to read than I expected; an expression of blank concern, solemnity and the need for counsel. She was distraught, but she was ever-thinking beneath that, showing a sort of urgency that had not been on her face after Stuart‘s death. She was clever, she was resourceful. I wondered how keen and insightful she was as well.

We‘ve been careful. I‘ve been meticulous.

“Mrs Butler, come in.” I stood up to wave Renee inside, listened to the heels of her tall boots clicking on the floor as she walked. I saw her sigh as she shrugged out of her brown leather coat. Convincing myself I had to be fearless, I awaited her reaction.

“Michael, please call me Renee.” She deposited the coat unceremoniously across an empty desk, shaking out her hair before she remembered herself with a cross roll of her eyes and gestured toward it. “Is it okay if I put that there?”

“Of course it is,” I assured her with a warm half-smile, and tried to stop worrying. Crisis momentarily averted: she was not accusing, she was not automatically intent on calling me out for any particular thing. The Butlers were a confrontational family, despite their reservations. I knew that I would have been aware if she was here to have me answer for anything.

Renee looked around for a place to sit.

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