Protecting Her(51)

“Yeah, bye.”

She leaves and I let Garret swim some more. He loves it. He’s so excited that he’s able to do this on his own. And he never would’ve done it if I hadn’t let him. If I hadn’t overcome my worries and let him at least try.

On our way out, I stop at the front desk and ask the manager about the swim instructor job. He tells me about it and gives me an application to fill out. I think I might do it. Since Garret was born, I haven’t done much other than take care of him. I haven’t done any volunteer work or even left the house much. But now that Garret is older, I feel like it’s time to go out in the world again and do something. And teaching kids to swim would be a good start. It’s just a few hours a week and I can bring Garret with me.

The manager told me I could put Garret in the gym’s day care free of charge while I teach. When he said it, a wave of panic went through me because I’ve never left Garret with anyone but Pearce. I don’t like the idea of Garret being cared for by strangers. But he can’t be with me when I’m teaching, and like Pearce said, I need to stop being so overprotective of Garret. The day care is staffed by older women who look like grandmothers. I’m sure he’d be okay being there for an hour or two.

As I’m driving home, I decide I want to do this. I want to teach swimming lessons. It sounds fun and will get me out of the house.

“What do you think, Garret? Should I teach other children how to swim?” I glance at him in the rearview mirror. He’s too busy playing with his plastic car to hear what I said.

We’re sitting at a stoplight and I glance in the mirror again and notice a black car behind me. That same car was behind me when I left the gym. I’ve now driven ten miles and made multiple turns down several roads and that car is still behind me. The driver is wearing a black suit and has a black hat on, like one of those hats that chauffeurs wear.

Is he following me? Why would a chauffeured car be following me? He’s probably not. I’m probably imagining things.

The light turns green and I continue down the road. It winds to the left and then the right. There are several places to turn off, but the car remains behind me. I’m almost at the town square, just a few miles from home. I’m not sure what to do. Should I go home? But what if he follows me home?

“Grrrrrrr.” I hear Garret making his race car sounds. I check the mirror and see him holding his toy car up in the air, then notice the black car is still right behind me.

I slow down as I approach the town square. Instead of veering to the right, heading down the road that goes to the house, I drive around the town square. The car follows me. Shit. Why is he following me?

I’ve now made an entire loop around the square. I notice a car parking in front of the diner and I pull into the spot right next to it as the black car drives away.

I turn my car off and take some deep breaths. Why was I being followed? And who was that man who was following me? What if he knows where I live? What if he’s heading there right now? Waiting for me to get home?

I get out of the car and open the door to the back seat. “Garret, we’re going inside to have a snack, okay?”

He reaches his arms out to me as I unhook him from the car seat.

“Morning, Mrs. Kensington.”

I turn back and see Mr. Thomas standing on the sidewalk. He works at the grocery store and sometimes I see him at the park with his grandchildren. He’s an older man with white hair. He’s very friendly and always hands out lollipops to the kids in town.

“Hi, Mr. Thomas.” I take Garret and meet up with Mr. Thomas on the sidewalk.

“Hi, little man,” he says, smiling at Garret. “Look what I’ve got for you.” He hands him a red lollipop. I don’t let Garret have lollipops yet. He’s too young and could choke, but I always let Mr. Thomas give him one anyway.

“Thank you,” I tell him.

“Having an early lunch?” he asks.

“Um, no. Just a little snack.”

We walk to the diner and Mr. Thomas holds the door open for me. He goes to the counter and asks the waitress for coffee. I take Garret to a booth, still shaken up from what happened.

Maybe that man wasn’t really following me. Maybe he was just lost. But it really felt like he was following me.

I decide to call Pearce, but when I do, he doesn’t answer. So I order Garret some chocolate milk and we sit there for a half hour.

Garret’s tired and needs a nap. We need to get home. I call Pearce again but he doesn’t pick up. He’s probably in meetings.