CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Jagger
Marco and I finished our morning workout, and he went up to shower while I got the coffee going. Raina was still sleeping, and I had to smile to myself as I brought down two mugs. Poor little cactus was exhausted after getting her salad tossed last night.
While the coffee machine kicked to life, I leaned against the counter, still in my gym clothes, and sipped my post-workout shake. Yesterday, despite the news about Ozais still potentially being at large, had been a good day.
It ended up being easier than I thought it would be having Raina and Marco here. Even working in the dining room with Raina was really nice.
Her laptop sat open on the table as she worked more into the evening while Marco and I played video games. Her binder and papers were neatly stacked, and the computer screen was black.
Yesterday, she worked on the land proposal.
Were they just working on it now? Or simply polishing?
We finished our proposal ages ago, but after disaster hit and we had to cancel because Chloe was in danger, we thought we forfeited our chances.
Only, the Elders took pity on us, and decided to postpone all the proposals until the spring.
So of course, Bennett and Clint wanted us to polish it up a bit more—not that I think it needed it.
Curiosity burned hot inside of me as I stared at the dark computer screen.
What did they want Bonn Remmen’s land for?
They had more acreage on their vineyard than we did.
Yes, some of the cousins could use bigger houses, but couldn’t they just build those on their existing property?
If Raina wanted to get out of the basement suite, couldn’t she just build a house among the trees? Or better yet, move in with me?
Swallowing, I made a fist on the granite counter as my fingers itched to toggle the wireless mouse and just see if the proposal was still up on the screen.
Noise on the stairs of someone coming down had me stepping abruptly to the fridge to grab the cream, just as Raina came around the corner. “Morning,” she said before yawning.
Even though I’d done nothing wrong, I still felt a bit like the cat that nearly swallowed the canary, and flashed her a smile way too big for the moment. “Morning.”
She gave me a curious look. Oh fuck.
Play it cool, McEvoy.
My gaze darted to her laptop, then her face. Her eyes did the same, then her brows narrowed.
“Did I leave this open?” she asked, going to her computer and shutting it.
“Guess so,” I said casually, pouring cream into our mugs.
Marco came down the stairs a moment later, his yawn bigger than his mothers. “Do I have to go back to school?”
“Yes,” Raina and I both said at the same time.
He grumbled, but went about grabbing his prepared lunch kit from the fridge and getting his backpack all ready.
I handed Raina her coffee, and she took it with a suspicious glint in her eyes. We sipped our brew without saying anything. At least not with our mouths. Her eyes said a whole fucking lot as they kept darting from me to the laptop and back.
“So I’m catching the bus with the McEvoy kids today?” Marco asked, returning to the kitchen and grabbing himself a bowl out of the cupboard for his Rice Krispies. I loved that he felt comfortable enough in my home to get what he needed.
Raina set her mug down on the granite island with a weary sigh. “Can you humor me and let me drive you?”
He rolled his eyes as he poured milk over his cereal. “Aw, Mom. Really? Why can’t I take the bus? They caught your brothers and they’re already back on the mainland, right?”
I glanced at Raina, unable to hide her confliction.
“How about you let your mom drive you in my truck to school, then you can take the bus home, hmm? Sound like a good compromise?” I offered.
“Why is it more dangerous for me to go to school than return home?” Marco challenged, taking his cereal over to the dining room table. Raina was already cutting up some oranges and a banana for him.
“It just gives us more time in the day to make sure there are no other threats,” she replied, bringing him his fruit. “Just like last time, if you don’t see me at pick up, then it’s safe for you to take the bus. Can we agree on this, please?”
With a deep sigh, Marco nodded. “Fine.”
My phone buzzed on the counter. It was a message from Clint.
Terminal has been temporarily fixed. Limited sailings are now running.
“Clint says the terminal has been temporarily fixed and they’re running a reduced sailing schedule,” I said, finishing my coffee. “That means we can go get your car and my cube truck.”
Raina merely nodded, unease in her features.
“I’m gonna run and a have a shower, but I’ll go with you to drop off Marco. Okay?”
She just nodded again, her gaze back on her closed laptop.
I ran upstairs and quickly showered, washing away the sweat of my workout, and dressing in my signature dark wash jeans and dark-gray Henley. Pouring more coffee into Yeti to-go mugs for both Raina and me, we were out the door twenty minutes later.
“You coming to wait for the bus with us?” Jake asked, as all of my nieces and nephews exited their houses at the same time as us, with their fathers, who always walked them to the bus stop.
Marco pouted. “No. I’m not allowed.”
“Why not?” Griffin asked, kicking a rock into the bushes.
Marco just shook his head and opened up the back door of my truck. “Ask them.” Then he climbed in and closed the door.
Curious eyes glanced at me.
“After all the weird things that have been happening, Raina would just feel safer dropping Marco off at the school herself. But he’ll probably get to take the bus home with your guys,” I said. “Have a great day at school.”
“Thanks, Uncle Jagger,” several of them said, before skipping to catch up with their fathers who were almost at the gate.
I nodded at my brothers as I passed them and drove through the gate they’d already opened for me, then made sure I didn’t run over any smaller humans as I slowly took the laneway to the main road.
Raina pivoted in her seat to face her kid. “I know you don’t like this, bud. Neither do I. But please humor me for a little longer. Just until we know it’s safe.”
I glanced at Marco in the rearview mirror as he sighed and nodded, resigning himself to the fact that this was for the best, even if it wasn’t what he wanted.
We arrived at the school earlier than the bus, since the bus had loads of pickups along the way, and Raina went in to speak with Principal Pickford and Marco’s teacher to update them on what was happening.
My family had a very tenuous relationship with Principal Otto Pickford.
However, it wasn’t just our unanimous opinion that the man was not a good fit for the school or island.
Most parents we spoke to didn’t care for the man.
His wife had generational land. So they moved here, and since Otto—a preacher’s son and teacher down in the South—saw an opening for a principal here, he jumped at it.
For ten years, he kept pushing to bring the church deeper into the school, and the parents and a lot of the younger, more progressive teachers, pushed back, saying it was unnecessary.
So far, he hadn’t won, but the pious, misogynist tried every year.
It was probably better that I stayed in the truck. Just the presence of a McEvoy adult in the school was sure to ruffle Otto’s bible thumping feathers.
The school bus was just pulling onto the property when Raina came back out of the school, and she did not look happy. Climbing into the passenger side of my truck, she growled and aggressively buckled her belt.
“What happened? You look … pissed? Disappointed?”
“I’m pissappointed !” she blurted out, crossing her arms tight across her chest. “Drive.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I turned on the ignition and my truck crawled out of the parking lot, but not before I was able to spot my nieces and nephews and give them a wave and a honk of my horn, much to their delight.
We got back onto the road and I picked up speed. “What happened?”
“What do you think happened?”
“I’m gonna guess Pickford was zero help, and if anything, accused you of bringing a problem to his school doorstep that otherwise should have stayed at home?”
The utter disbelief in her eyes as she faced me, followed by the jaw drop, should have been more satisfying, but it wasn’t. It almost seemed like she was redirecting her pissapointment at me, because I accurately guessed how Pickford would react. “How’d you know?”
I shrugged. “It’s Pickford. He’s a tool. A lazy fucking tool who just wants to teach scripture and take us back to the age of burning witches and sacrificing our firstborns.”
“He accused me of creating this mess. That maybe I should have thought twice about moving to the island if there was such a dangerous threat to my son. Because now I’ve gone and brought that threat to his school. He didn’t say the students. He said his school .”
“Well, you know he’s not right. Right? You escaped hell, fled to heaven, but hell just followed you. That’s not your fault.”
“Pickford didn’t see it that way.”
“Who the fuck cares what that washed up, pube in a potato salad thinks? Is he going to keep Marco safe? Or do we need to go back to the school and get him?”
A muscle ticked in the corner of her jaw she clenched her molars so tight. I reached across the seat and poked at the bulging muscle. “Stop clenching. You’ll get a headache.”
With a sigh, she relaxed her mouth a bit. “Pickford said he’d do his best.”
“Okay. Would you feel more comfortable if we came and picked him up after school?”
“Yes. But Marco would be so mad.”
“Better mad and safe, than the alternative.”
She nodded, exhaling another deep sigh. “Yeah, we’ll come get him.”
“We’ve checked all the other Elder’s houses that are vacant and none show signs of squatters,” Myla said over the speakerphone, a few hours later. “I think it’s safe to assume that Ozais is not on San Camanez.”