The Nine by Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg

Author:Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2019-08-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Iwove around the double-parked Range Rovers, wondering behind which tinted window Mimi Crandall sat. It was the end of March and winter exams, and I was at Dunning to retrieve Sam. Seeing a boy I thought was Justin loading his luggage into a trunk, I slowed to a stop and started rolling my window down so I could wave at Mimi. But one of the black town cars hired to chauffeur kids to the airport started honking at me. I tapped the gas obediently, all the while swearing at the aggressive New York manner with which everyone jockeyed for parking places. Just get me out of here.

Our flight to Florida would depart the next morning, and as I reviewed our packing list against the steering wheel, Sam loaded his bags into the back. He moved slowly, making multiple trips to his room and saying drawn-out goodbyes while I rapped my fingers on the dash. I looked right past the brick and ivy and scowled at Sam for having turned this place into a battleground. I thought about all he had given up. All our work—my work—down the drain.

Before I looked back at my list, Shawn Willis appeared on the path, walking in our direction. I waved through my window, hoping he’d keep a safe distance, not wanting to let on to Sam that we’d formed a familiar relationship over email. But I needn’t have worried, because it turned out he was focused on somebody else.

An attractive young woman with long spiral curls was leaning against the hood of a dated sedan in the spot behind mine. I checked her out in the rearview mirror: camel-hair coat tied snugly at her waist, tight jeans tucked into suede high-heeled boots, a big red smile, and whiter-than-white teeth.

“Who’s that?” I asked, as Sam slid into the passenger seat.

“Willis’s girlfriend.”

“I see,” I said, with a surprising pang in my chest. “She’s certainly dressed up. Where do you think he imported her from?”

“Mom, she works here. She’s a librarian.”

I swallowed. “Oh.” The idea of Shawn making a life for himself on the Dunning campus had a curious effect on me. I’d always thought of him as an ally, believed we were up against this weird world together. In our emails about Sam, I had revealed some of my most private concerns. Shawn knew much about what obsessed me, and I assumed I’d gotten to know him pretty well too. But he’d never mentioned a girlfriend.

“So, how’d it go?” I asked, driving through the campus gates.

“Mom, our robot is going to be so amazing this year.” He was chatty and animated. “Astrid and I just figured out how to—”

I couldn’t fight the urge to interrupt. “No, I mean, how did your exams go? These are some important tests,” I chided.

Up until then, I’d been extremely forgiving of Sam’s mysterious escapade. But for some reason—maybe the combination of the honking town car and Shawn’s ignoring me—I chose that moment to lose it. I interrogated Sam about his finals as if acing them might catapult him out of the hole he’d dug.

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