Theo
“Kira, how did you get that picture?”
I stood in the hallway, facing my daughter.
She turned the screen back to herself and stared at it like she couldn’t believe it was there.
“Amber sent it to the class.”
And that was when I heard it–hooting, catcalls, and laughter coming from the amphitheater. Miss Gem’s voice rose above it all, trying to calm her class, but she was failing.
“Why did you kiss Miss Walker?”
The disbelief in her tone was enough to get me to say, “Come with me. We can talk about this in my office. You can take the day off.”
Or maybe the week. Based on the sounds coming from her classroom, things were about to get bad for my daughter. My stomach roiled at the thought of it.
“Just tell me now, Dad. Tell me why you kissed her.”
I ran my hand through my hair. This day.
“I didn’t think anyone would see us.”
“So you kissed her?” Her voice climbed higher. “How did that even happen?”
“Kira, this isn’t the right place to talk about something like this.”
“Oh, but a bookstore is the perfect place to kiss my teacher,” she mocked, folding her arms and rolling her eyes.
“Hey. I know this is a shock for you, but we don’t speak to each other like that. I didn’t do it to hurt you.”
She hiked a thumb over her shoulder, pointing at the classroom behind her. “You really thought this wouldn’t hurt me? Are you kidding, Dad?”
“We didn’t think anyone would find out.”
“You don’t even like her.” She waved her hand at the door. “You made this happen, and you don’t even like her.”
I gripped her shoulder and made her look at me.
“Kira, I love her.”
It was the first time I’d said it out loud, but as soon as the word left my lips, I knew it was true.
But it didn’t stop Kira from shrugging away, snorting as she said, “Yeah, sure. Now you ‘love’ her.”
“I didn’t want to, but I do. This wasn’t something I could control.”
She narrowed her eyes and said, “Right. Because if you could control it, you would’ve fallen for Mom instead,” and it felt like my daughter had stabbed me in the gut.
“What’s going on here?” Principal Rutton’s frame appeared just as her voice boomed down the hall. Kira whipped around, and I watched her spine straighten as Lilly and Mia followed.
The moment I saw her, I had to fight the urge to take Mia away from this. We both knew what this would mean for her, for my daughter, and here it was, happening anyway.
A dazed and upset Miss Fares walked by her side, gripping her stomach, while Mia wore fire in her gaze. I felt it as her stare connected with mine.
As Principal Rutton approached Kira and me, Mia and Miss Fares walked straight into the amphitheater.
I heard her yell, “All right, stop, all of you. This is ridiculous,” as the principal asked both Kira and me to see her in the counselor’s office.
I hesitated, glancing at the door Mia just disappeared behind.
“Oh, Mr Hudson, please,” Rutton grumbled. “You think Miss Walker doesn’t know how to handle a group of teens? She’ll be fine.”
And with that, she led me away from the perfect storm of shitfuckery that was Miss Gem’s drama class.
Chiropractic Care
Two cancelled appointments and one upset daughter later, I sat in my office with my head in my hands.
Kira had a panic attack only the night before, and now she was dealing with a school-wide scandal.
There were only eight weeks left until Christmas break, but every one of those days would feel like a lifetime for her now.
My little girl was about to spend her days dodging rumors, and it was my fucking fault.
I scrubbed my hands down my face a final time before picking up my phone.
A single reply from Mia flashed on my screen.
M: I’m dealing with it. How’s Kira?
I didn’t know how to answer that, and as much as I wanted to call her, I still had to speak to Rochelle.
It rang twice before my sister picked up.
“Theo, if you’re calling to ask about–”
“He told me, Rochelle.”
She went quiet on the other end. Then, “What did he say?”
I knew my sister didn’t want to talk about this. Neither did Tristan. So I gambled. “That he had to take out a restraining order to get you to stop harassing him.”
She scoffed. “I wasn’t ‘harassing’ him.”
“Then what was it?”
“Blackmail. He took out a restraining order because I threatened to ruin his art career. And then I did it anyway because he started acting like a dick.”
“Rochelle,” I snapped, running my hand through my hair. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Hey, I’m the one who had her whole career blow up in her face, not you. I don’t need a lecture.”
“But you wouldn’t do that. You wouldn’t blackmail someone.”
“Oh, there was more than one. I had a whole group of artists under my thumb.”
A whole fucking group?
None of this made sense. I couldn’t match what she was saying with what I knew about my sister.
Even still, it started to fit together. This was why she stopped working. Her reputation was ruined. She wouldn’t have been allowed to set foot in any art gallery.
“I don’t believe this,” I muttered.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to sift through everything she said, trying to poke holes in it.
Rochelle’s tone softened. “I was in a bad place after Roger cheated. The most important part of my life was over, and I felt like I had to do whatever it took to hang onto the other part. All I had left was my career. Those artists were just… I know it’s not an excuse.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, frustrated. The thought of my sister going through all this alone made my gut twist.
“I didn’t want anyone to know.”
I read between the lines. My sister was embarrassed by what she’d done. She didn’t want to relive it any more than she had to. I could, at least, understand that.
“This fucking day,” I muttered. How was it that I found out about my sister’s history of blackmail on the same day that fucking photo came out?
“What about it?” Rochelle drawled. “Yours is still fine, isn’t it?”
“No,” I admitted.
“Why? What happened?”
“I slept with Mia.”
The silence on the other end of the line was deafening.
“And you were right. I’m in love with her.”
A gust of air blew through the phone, making that staticky noise I knew she hated.
“Theo, you need to be careful here. Mia is your daughter’s teacher. If anyone finds out–”
“The entire school already knows.”
“Shit. What the hell, Theo? You had one job. Kira needed you.”
I was out of my chair, pacing my office. “You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t know how fucked up this is?”
“Then why didn’t you stay away from her?”
“I tried,” I grated. “No one was supposed to find out.”
She let out another breath, and despite what I now knew about Rochelle’s legal history, it felt good to tell her this. Like I wasn’t carrying this huge thing alone.
“How did Kira take it?” she asked.
“Not well. She’s at work with me. In one of the empty offices.”
She tsked, then said, “What happens from here?”
“I don’t know. The principal took Mia off the program, so Kira can keep going, but–” I cursed under my breath “–the students know. They’re going to make these next two months hell for her.”
“Can you move to another school?”
I shook my head, despite knowing Rochelle couldn’t see it. “She’d lose all her progress, and she wouldn’t get another opportunity like this one.”
“Then she stays and knuckles down.”
“She has to. I don’t think there’s any other choice.”
“And what about Mia?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to her since yesterday.”
“Yesterday?” Rochelle shrieked. “What do you mean ‘yesterday’?”
I held the phone away from my ear and rubbed it.
“We spent the weekend together. She was the one who helped coach you through Kira’s panic attack.”
Rochelle was quiet for a beat. “She told me to put Kira’s favorite song on, didn’t she?”
“Yeah. Another teacher at Kira’s school has a chronic anxiety condition. Mia’s been around it for a while.”
She let out a soft huff of laughter. “The teachers at this school are a little problematic, aren’t they?”
“They’re people, Rochelle.”
“People who shtup single dads, apparently.”
“Rochelle,” I ground out. “I love her. The only reason I did what I did is because I want to be with her.”
“And how is Kira supposed to feel about that?”
My shoulders dropped. “I don’t know.”
She sighed then, and I knew what she wanted to say was: you big dummy.
Instead, she said, “Let’s think about this for a second. First, you and Tash weren’t together. Right? We’ve got that bit straight?”
“Yeah.”
“Second, you went Kira’s whole life without having a serious relationship. Right?”
“Right.”
“Then her mom dies, and this girl of yours, who’s just spent her entire life watching you not love her mom, or anyone else–”
This was where it came together for me.
“–Is supposed to accept me falling for her teacher,” I finished. “Yeah. I see it now.”
“You have to give her time. This is huge for her. Even if Mia wasn’t her teacher, you falling in love with anyone after what happened to Tash is going to feel like a betrayal for her.”
“And she already felt guilty about being happy here without her mom. Seeing me with Mia is going to make it seem like I’m replacing Tash.”
“Worse. Because not only are you bringing Mia into her life–potentially as a stepmom–but you love her. You didn’t love Tash. Not like that.”
I dragged a hand through my hair. “Shit. How am I supposed to make this okay?”
“You’re asking the wrong person. I don’t fix things.”
I took a slow breath in and out. I had to think this through. There had to be a way to make this work.
“Theo.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you going to be all right?”
“I don’t know.”
“You have to be.”
The harsh edge in her voice pulled me upright. “Yeah. Because of Kira.”
“And because I won’t be here anymore.”
I stopped pacing. “What are you talking about?”
“Tristan already told you what I did.”
“Rochelle, Roger put you in a bad–”
“I keep running into them,” she interrupted. “And you’d think I wouldn’t in this big fucking city, but it keeps happening.”
I heard her shuffling around the room. It sounded like she was moving things–fabrics, porcelain–items that rustled and clinked.
I couldn’t think of anything to say. So I waited. Eventually, Rochelle stopped what she was doing and said, “I haven’t been allowed inside a gallery for years. I don’t even know why I’m still here. I have to go.”
“Go where?”
“Back to Oakhaven.”
“Rochelle, your life is here.”
“Being unemployed and living off my ex’s money isn’t a life.”
“It’s not that bad. We’re here now.”
“I know. But I should’ve gone back years ago. I wanted to be here for you, and I thought being with you and Kira would make this easier. But seeing Tristan today–I need a change. I need to get out of New York.”