The Country Guesthouse (Sullivan's Crossing #5)(72)

Then he saw her on the other side of the parking lot. Victoria. She stood outside her car, hands clasped in front of her. She lifted one hand in a brief wave. Owen didn’t return the wave. He watched while Victoria slowly got in her car to leave. He watched her drive away.

That was intimidation, plain and simple. He knew she had called Hannah, asked to see Noah, and Hannah told her they had too much going on.

Damn, he hated to do this to Hannah, give her any more cause for worry than she already had after dropping Noah off for the first time. When Hannah finally arrived at the car, she was wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Is he okay?” Owen asked.

“He’s fine! He made friends instantly! The boy sitting next to him wanted to try his crutches.”

Owen smiled. “I’m afraid there’s a small complication. We’re going to have to take Romeo home and come back. It’s too hot to leave him in the car. Maybe things will quiet down by then.”

“Why?”

“Victoria was standing on the other side of the parking lot watching.”

“Why would she do that? I told her it wasn’t convenient to see Noah right now. I didn’t make plans with her for another time.”

“She knows what you want,” Owen said. “I don’t know what she’s trying to do. Wear you down? Show how determined she is? It doesn’t matter. We need to have a talk with the principal and let her know we have a custody issue with his biological grandmother. Even though we were very specific about who he could be released to, we didn’t tell the principal there’s one person who might be a danger to Noah.”

“A danger?” Hannah asked. “What in the world...”

She got in and Owen started the car. “Anyone who tries to spend time with Noah without your consent is suspicious and could be dangerous. Would she try to check him out of school and take him? I can’t answer that.”

“Stop! Stop the car!” She jumped out and ran over to Rafe Vadas, who was just leaving the building. Then both of them came back to the car together. “Go ahead and park. Rafe said he has time to stay with Romeo while we talk with the principal. I’m not leaving Noah here without doing that.”

“Everything all right?” Rafe asked. “Is Noah okay?”

“Oh, yes, he’s fine. But there’s a grandmother who met Noah for the first time a few weeks ago and she tried to get custody. She’s been granted supervised visitation at my discretion, and the last time she asked I told her we were too busy. She doesn’t know him, he barely knows her, and Owen saw her standing in the parking lot, watching the children go into school. We really should tell the principal.”

“You really should,” Rafe said.

“This is so uncomfortable,” she said, waiting for Owen. “She’s probably harmless, but I’m not willing to take any chances.”

“Hey, don’t let that worry you,” Rafe said. “I’m sure they hear about these issues with noncustodial family members all the time.”

  By ten in the morning, Hannah was stir-crazy and bound to drive Owen crazy, as well. She finally decided to go see Helen and Sully. Helen was so calming, so worldly.

Labor Day having passed, the campgrounds at the Crossing didn’t seem to be very busy. The weather was still warm and a couple of campers were sitting on Sully’s dock, soaking up the sun. Helen’s laptop was open on the table on Sully’s porch, so Hannah went to the store first.

Sully was putting up stock, wiping the shelf clean of dust as he went.

“Hey, Sully,” she said.

“Hey, girl! I haven’t seen you in about two days.”

“Today is the first day of school. We dropped Noah off and he made a friend before I even left the classroom.”

“And now, doesn’t that make you happy?” he asked.

“Sure, I’m just so nervous. Do you think I’d be a huge pain in the butt if I interrupted Helen?”

“Might cost me the Pulitzer,” Helen said from the doorway. “Come over and I’ll put on some water for tea. It’s just finally cooling off enough.”

“I promise not to stay forever,” Hannah said.

Helen slipped her arm through Hannah’s. “Stay long enough for me to get an idea, will you please? It’s been sheer drudgery this morning. It feels like I have a rock in my head, not a brain.”

“I don’t know how you do it in the first place,” Hannah said.

Once they were seated at Helen’s table on the porch and her laptop was closed, tea in front of them, Helen pulled the trigger. “Something’s bothering you.”

Hannah took a sip of her tea. “Today is Noah’s first day of school. He was so scared to go but he sucked it up and off he went. By the time I left him, he’d already made a friend, and the teacher is a dream. But I’m a wreck. I realized that Noah hasn’t been away from me unless he’s been with you and Sully, Owen or one of my two best friends, who have known him since he was a baby. I thought you, being a teacher, could talk me through it.”

“Oh, my. I remember being a little distracted when Leigh started school, but I was much too busy to let it bother me. How’s Owen holding up?”

“Very well for someone who should be paranoid. Do you know about Owen’s son?”