Lights Out (9 page)

He sat up, throwing his legs over the side of the bed, running his hand through his hair. Usually he limited women and their overnight stays, but it had been a while for him and the sitter said Shane was asleep when he arrived home after leaving Lights Out, so he thought he’d quietly tiptoe her in and quietly tiptoe her out in the morning. Things hadn’t worked out quite the way he planned. Hell, the whole night hadn’t gone according to plan. He was still smarting from running into Piper, her laughter, her grin, her assumptions that she knew him.

He stood up, grabbed his pants, slid his legs into them, found a t-shirt and pulled it over his head and went in search of Rachel of the Night Sky. He still couldn’t comprehend how she’d come up with that.

Where had she gotten off to, he wondered, walking over to check the adjoining bathroom. No sign there. Maybe she left early, on her own, but he doubted that. She had been pushing for more lately, wanted to meet his nephew—proof she could do family. She couldn’t do his family. Shane was enough for him. He didn’t mind, in fact he loved his nephew, hadn’t thought twice about where he would live after his mother left. Of course it would be with him. But it still put him with children sooner that he’d expected, if at all.

He played dad growing up, starting at the ripe old age of ten. His father and mother had not been anywhere near responsible for him and his sister.

He headed down the hall, looking under Shane’s door. It was dark. Hopefully he was still asleep. He entered the kitchen and yes, there she was, standing next to the coffee maker, bra and panties on. Not the best way to start the morning with kids around, but she didn’t know that. She turned, smiling as he walked over to her. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and handed it to her. She looked at him, surprised.

“In case you run into my nephew,” he said, reaching around her for a coffee cup.

“Thanks for making me coffee, Rachel,” she said, to him, a little irritation creeping into her voice. “And I didn’t know he was here,” she added.

“Thank you,” he said, pouring a cup and leaning against the counter. She slipped over closer to him, squeezing in, lifting her face and placing a soft kiss on his lips.

“I had a good time last night. Thanks,” she said.

“You’re welcome.”

“What are you doing today?” she asked.

“Not sure.”

“Want me to stay a little longer?” she said, moving her hand to the button of his jeans.

“Not today. I usually spend time with my nephew on the weekends, plus I’ve got to catch up a little on work,” he said, looking at her. Her hand stopped mid-button at the look he gave her.

“I could hang out with you, too. Or maybe we could get together tonight? Want me to call you?” she said, not quite ready to give up the ghost.

He shook his head. “Let me call you,” he said, taking the coffee cup from her hand. “My nephew will be up in a little bit. I try not to mix my personal life with his.” He took her hand and lead her back down the hall to his room. He closed the door and started looking around for her clothes. He handed them to her. She snatched them from his hand and turned her back to him.

“I’ll wait by the front door,” he said, closing his bedroom door behind him as he left the room. Joe, you could have handled that better, he thought, admonishing himself. Yeah, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective. Rachel and her night sky would not be calling him again, he thought.

* * *

“So are you ready for school?” Joe asked Shane as he stood inside the door of his room.

“Been ready, stay ready, born ready,” Shane said, looking at his uncle and laughing. That was the line they shared with each other, a habit they started right after Shane had come to live with him. He loved this kid, couldn’t imagine loving his own flesh and blood more.

Shane had been so shy, so unsure of himself when he came to live with Joe, and now he was not the same kid anymore. A stable home seemed to worked for him.

At first Joe wasn’t sure what parenting an elementary-aged child required, but he’d known what unstable looked like, so he started out by doing exactly the opposite of the way he’d been raised. So far, so good. Between he and Reye, and the teachers and principal at school, they’d gotten him on track. Success at school had helped to build his confidence.

Had he known Reye would have been what he was looking for, he’d have treated her differently in the beginning of their relationship. Not that she would have been interested. She loved Stephen.

School started tomorrow. His mind moved away from its musing and moved on to his internal list of what Shane would need for the day.

First week of September

It isn’t so bad here, Taylor thought, looking around the room at the kids sitting at the tables surrounding her in her homeroom at her new school. A Mr. Marshall would be her homeroom teacher. Homeroom was their first stop here at the beginning of each day. She also had Mr. Marshall for math.

Piper had insisted on walking her to her class. Thankfully, her sister hadn’t been the lone parent. There were parents everywhere at this school. Most trailed behind their kids, but others stood talking to other parents in clumps in the hall before class and talking to teachers like they were old friends.

In her old school parents hadn’t been allowed in. Kids were dropped off at the door. But this was a different kind of school, she could tell that already. There were different kinds of kids here, too. Maybe she would fit in.

The kid next to her rocked back and forth a little, autistic, she believed someone had said. They didn’t tease him, a new concept for her, and the other children seemed to be used to him. That in itself was interesting. His name was Sebastian, and he spent a lot of time on the computer.

The girls had also been a surprise. They were actually friendly to her. A few had come over and introduced themselves. Judith, Heather, and Sarah, she believed those were their names.

No needless teasing about her baseball cap, her jeans, questions about her wanting to be a boy. No, she wasn’t a boy and didn’t want to be one. She just liked what the boys did, and she wasn’t interested in clothes—jeans, a shirt, and sneakers were all she needed.

“Hey. You’re new here?”

Taylor looked up into the face of a boy, blond hair falling to his shoulders, sporting a Brazilian soccer shirt.

“Yes, I am.”

“You’ll like this school,” he said, walking around the table and pulling out the chair next to her. “I’ve only been here two years,” he said, sitting down. “Most of the kids have been here since pre-school. I saw you talking to Heather, Judith, and Sarah. They’re nice, too. Most of the people here are nice.”

He talks a lot, Taylor thought.

“My name is Shane. Shane Sandborne. What’s yours?” he asked.

“Taylor Knight.”

“Where you from?” he asked.

“San Antonio.”

“I used to go to a different school before coming here, when I lived with my mom. Kids there were mean, plus I had a hard time learning things.”

“Is it different here?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, looking over at her. “I like the hat,” he added, pausing for a second. “I’m going to sit next to you, look out for you, since you’re the new kid. Have any questions, just ask me.”

Taylor returned his gaze and nodded her head. “Okay. Nice to meet you, Shane,” she said.

Their teacher Mr. Marshall had moved to the front of the room.

“It is time to begin the day. We have a new member joining our classroom this year,” he said, and Taylor inwardly groaned. She hated the introduction of the new student more than she hated being the new student.

“We have a special way of introducing our new kids in this school, so stand up, guys,” he said. “You know the drill.”

Taylor watched as the kids formed a circle, like a football team would do before the start of a game to pump themselves up. The circle started moving, rocking from side to side, children’s arms wrapped around the shoulders of the students next to them. Mr. Marshall started talking, his voice a hair above a whisper.

“This year, we are excited to have a new student in our class. Her name is Taylor Knight,” he said, moving side-to-side along with the children. “Taylor hails from the city of San Antonio, has a little sister also attending our school, and loves basketball. Let’s give it up everyone, for Taylor,” he said. The circle started to clap in unison.

“Follow me, Taylor,” Mr. Marshall said to her, and she did, walking around the circle and high fiving the kids like she was the starter of the game. She laughed. They were all laughing and smiling by the time she completed the circle.

“Thank you, students,” Mr. Marshall said, scanning his students. “We are happy to have you here in our classroom. Take your seats, kids, and let’s get this party started.”

Taylor took her seat next to Shane, who looked over and smiled. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Told you that you’d like it here.”

She sat back and reached for the schedule Mr. Marshall was currently passing out to the class. Maybe she would.

* * *

Piper pulled in to the school parking lot, at the end of the first day. Her eyes searched for an empty spot. This was a small school; about 300 kids from grades pre-K to eight were housed in a three-story brick building situated on two acres of land, surrounded by an older, established neighborhood.

Lots of land, but not so much parking, Piper thought as she made her second pass through the parking lot, finally finding someone leaving.

She walked into Ken’s class, noting the many parents here—old hands, apparently. She smiled at the teacher, Mrs. Samson, who stood talking to an older woman, maybe someone’s grandmother. She had Mrs. Samson, an older woman in her sixties, earlier that day.

Piper stood for a second, observing Ken in the midst of play. She had missed having the girls with her today.

Ken spotted her and walked over to meet her, a smile in place, taking Piper’s hand in hers and moving them toward her teacher. Mrs. Samson stood in the middle of two sets of parents, and Piper and Ken walked over and stood quietly waiting their turn. About three minutes later, Mrs. Samson turned to them.

“Hello, Piper, nice to see you again,” she said, pulling Kennedy’s body into her side. “I enjoyed having your sister in my class today. She is going to be fine,” she said, taking Piper’s hand in her free one with a grip that would have made a wrestler proud. She was strong for her old self, Piper thought, trying not to grimace.

“I’m glad. I was a little worried.”

“Don’t be. She’ll be fine,” Mrs. Samson said, letting go of Piper’s hand. “I’m going to have a really special class this year, I can tell,” she said, squeezing Kennedy, who seemed pleased by the attention and the hug.

“And while you’re here, there are some volunteer sign-up sheets for upcoming activities that will require our parents’ assistance. Feel free to make use of them. We need drivers for field trips, hosts for parties, so find something you like. And always feel free to call if you ever have any concerns or questions about Kennedy,” she said, dismissing Piper nicely and politely, as there were parents waiting in the queue to talk to her now. She gave a final squeeze to Kennedy. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, looking down into Ken’s face.

“Let’s go see what we can sign up for,” Piper said, looking over at Kennedy after they’d moved away from the teacher. They walked over to look at the sign-up sheets.

Who knew there was so much to do? Piper put her name down for two field trips and signed up to help with the Halloween carnival. That sounded like fun, and it was a ways off. They collected Ken’s backpack and headed out the door to check out Taylor’s room.

Piper felt like a salmon heading upstream as she and Ken made their way toward Taylor’s room, which was located at the opposite end of the building. When they reached the door, Ken let go of Piper’s hand and ran into Taylor’s classroom, searching for her sister like some seek-and-destroy missile. Taylor stood talking to a blond haired kid about her age.

Piper watched them from the doorway, admiring the way Taylor introduced Ken to the boy. She was glad that they were more friends than enemies, as she knew some sisters could be.

Taylor seemed happy, her smile large as she talked to the little boy before moving off with her sister’s hand in hers to talk to three other children standing nearby.

Piper looked around the room. There was a sign-up table here, too. Piper walked over to it, looking at her choices.

There was a sheet for help with the science fair. She used to be okay in science; maybe she could help with that and Halloween. She was thinking it over when Taylor appeared at her side, with her boy buddy in tow.

“Piper, this is my new friend,” she said.

“Hi, new friend,” Piper quipped. Taylor rolled her eyes and the boy smiled.

“His name is Shane,” Taylor said.

“Hi, Shane. Nice to meet you. Are you new to the school, too?”

“No, I started last year. This is my second year,” he said.

“Are your parents here tonight?” she asked, looking around the room.