Until May (Until Her/Him #11)(23)

Even though he can’t talk or interact, I sit there while a game show plays on the TV, and Marla knits without even looking down at her hands. It’s quiet and depressing, but if I feel like that, I can only imagine how he’s feeling. When the overnight nurse, Deb, arrives to take over, I walk Marla to the door, then go in search of my mother.

I find her sitting in the library, not reading but drinking a glass of red wine alone while she stares out the window that overlooks the backyard. “Deb is here, and Marla left for the night,” I tell her as I step into the dimly lit room, and her eyes come to me. Studying her, I wonder what she’s thinking. She has that sweet Southern belle act down to a T, so I never know but tend to assume it’s nothing good. “Are you okay?”

“Do you have plans this Friday evening?”

“Why?”

“One of Kitty’s daughters will be in town for the weekend, and I’d like you to take her out.”

“I’m not going on a date with your friend’s daughter.” I cross my arms over my chest and lean back against the wall. Hell, even if I weren’t interested in May, I still wouldn’t take one of her friends’ daughters out on a date. My mother’s friends are all trophy wives, just like her, who I can only assume have raised daughters just like my sister, who all want the same life their mothers have, regardless if they’re actually happy or not.

“You need to settle down. You’re not getting any younger, and neither are your father nor me.”

“If you’re looking for grandkids, talk to your daughter who’s been married for two years.”

“Bridgett is traveling. She’s not ready for children, and I’m not looking for grandkids. I’d like for you to find someone suitable to spend time with.”

“Suitable?” I raise a brow, and she sighs.

“A woman who is educated and comes from a good family,” she says, but what she actually means is a woman who is educated enough to hold a conversation and not embarrass her, and who comes from money—lots of it.

“I don’t need help finding women to date.”

“As I’ve seen some of the women you’ve chosen to spend time with in the past, I beg to differ.” She picks up her glass of wine and stands from the leather chair she was sitting on, with her feet still in the heels she had on when I arrived earlier. “You’ve had plenty of time to sow your wild oats. It’s time for you to grow up.” With that, she walks past me. “I’m going to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow, and you can tell me what you’ve decided about taking Jennifer out.”

“I’m not taking anyone out on a date,” I call to her back, but she doesn’t respond, even though I know she heard me.

With a shake of my head, I go back to the office to say goodbye to my dad, but he’s sleeping, so I say goodnight to Deb and grab Dozer before I leave the house and head home to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day, and even if May wants nothing to do with me, I’m not that easy to get rid of when I set my sights on something I want.





Chapter 8


May

ARRIVING TO WORK a few minutes early, I walk into the staff room to put my lunch in the fridge, frowning when I find the room filled with most of the teachers and staff who work here. All of them are talking animatedly amongst each other.

Not sure what’s happening, I scan the room and find Toya standing with her back against the counter near the microwave, so I head her direction to find out what’s happening.

“What’s going on?” I ask her quietly when I’m close, and she lets out a long breath.

“Zach was hit by a car this morning when he was coming into the school.”

“What?”

“Apparently, he got here early to work out, and when he was walking across the parking lot, a car came out of nowhere and tried to run him over.”

“Tried to run him over?” I shake my head, sure that I’m misunderstanding what she’s saying.

“Yep, and if he hadn’t jumped on the hood, he would have ended up with more than a broken leg.”

“His leg is broken?”

“It is. He’s out for the week but now everyone is trying to figure out who tried to run him over.”

“Does he know who it was?”

“He has no idea, or that’s what Principal Dunce told us. And the weird thing is, the cameras were shut off, so they didn’t even get anything,” she says, and I start to feel sick, because that seems like too strange of a coincidence. “Personally, I think he pissed off one of the women he’s been dating.”

“There’s a lot of women,” William, who runs the IT department, chimes in, and I meet his gaze as he walks toward us with his shaggy blond hair in disarray, wearing slacks and a button-down shirt that’s a tad too big for his frame. Really, there is something totally endearing about him, even if he is a little bit of a nerd.

“You’re not wrong about that,” Toya agrees with him.

“I hope that’s not the case.” I open the fridge to put my lunch sack away, then look up at William. “Do you know what happened to the cameras?”

“No idea.” He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “They were all up and running last night when I left, and this morning when I got in to pull the tapes for the cops, the entire system was down.”