Chapter 7
CHAPTER
SEVEN
MIA
“Um, Ms. Goodman?” K.J. asked, his hazel eyes that looked so much like his uncle’s wide with worry.
“Yes, K.J.?” Mia responded trying to keep from smiling but the kid was just so danged cute.
“I was drawing and then I decided I wanted to color my drawing,” K.J. explained.
If there was anything first graders did excellently, it was give stories with useless details. But they were important to her students so Mia did her best to be patient through them.
“Yes?” Mia said, urging K.J. to continue.
“I started with the yellow crayon but then used the blue crayon. They’re my crayons that I brought from my house,” K.J.’s story continued.
Mia nodded as she noticed Eva running around with a pair of scissors.
“Eva!” Mia said sternly.
The girl slowed, put down the scissors and went back to her seat.
“When I put down the yellow crayon, Tama took it. I told him he could use it but then he needed to give it back. But now his drawing is done and he says it’s his crayon and I can’t have it back,” K.J. finished.
“Thank you for telling me, K.J. I’ll speak with Tama, and we’ll get to the bottom of this, okay?” Mia said reassuringly as she patted K.J.’s shoulder. His little frown turned upside down and he hurried off, sure Mia would set things right.
Mia adored how much faith these kids all had in her. She knew later on they would no longer think their teachers hung the moon, but she was glad she got to teach them while they still did.
“Tama, can you come here, please?” Mia asked the young boy who sat next to K.J. From what she was able to pick up during these first few days of school, it seemed the two were friends, and this disagreement wasn’t typical for them.
Tama held a yellow crayon tightly in one hand as if ready to use it in the battle he thought Ms. Goodman was going to wage against him.
Mia knew she’d have to approach with caution. The last thing she wanted was for any of her students to think that she was against them.
“Hi, Tama. I see you’ve got a yellow crayon there. Can you tell me how you got it?” Mia asked.
“It’s mine,” was Tama’s quick response, though he wouldn’t look her in the eye.
That, in and of itself, would have proven to Mia that the crayon was not indeed Tama’s. That and the fact that Tama hadn’t answered the question she’d asked.
“Tama, will you please answer my question. Where did you get that crayon?” Mia asked once more.
Tama’s cute little face scrunched up as he fell into thought. Too deep of thought if the crayon had actually been his.
“Tama,” Mia said before he could lie. “I think you found that crayon on K.J.’s desk.”
“No…” Tama began.
Mia cocked her head and Tama slammed his mouth shut.
“K.J. had a yellow crayon just like that on his desk and then he saw you with a yellow crayon. Is it possible that you took K.J.’s crayon by mistake?
” Thankfully, Mia knew that Tama also had a yellow crayon so she’d prove he had his elsewhere and then get K.J.
’s back to him. “Do you think that maybe you got confused and thought that K.J.’s crayon was yours because it was close to your desk? ”
Tama frowned.
“Where do you usually keep your crayons?” Mia asked.
“In my desk,” Tama replied.
Mia led Tama back to his desk and then leaned down to find a pencil box. “In here?” she asked as she pulled it out of his desk.
“Uh huh,” Tama said.
Mia opened the box and sure enough at the top was a box of crayons. She showed Tama the container and then pointed to the yellow crayon still in the midst of the others.
“That’s my yellow crayon!” Tama exclaimed happily before looking at the crayon in his hand. “Oh.”
He turned to K.J. before Mia could say anything, handing the crayon to his friend. “I’m sorry, K.J.”
“That’s okay,” K.J. said as he took the crayon back.
And just like that, all was well. Mia wished grownups could solve their problems as easily and sweetly as children.
Mia did a slow turn, taking in her classroom.
The students were mostly on task, finishing the assignment she’d given them.
Eva, her little firecracker, was lining up her crayons like soldiers instead of using them for coloring, but Mia let it go for the time being.
From what she could see, Eva already had quite a bit of color on the paper in front of her.
Mia’s eyes stopped their scanning when she came to Angel who was playing with the end of the braid in her hair.
Mia crouched beside the girl’s desk. “Your hair looks so pretty.”
The little girl beamed. “My grandma did it,” Angel said proudly.
Mia had kept an extra eye on the girl after it had seemed like she only had her big sister to care for her at home.
But now Grandma was in the picture? That seemed good.
Especially since Mia hadn’t been able to get ahold of Angel’s guardian to get them to sign Angel and her sister up for free lunches.
“Does your Grandma like to do your hair?” Mia asked, trying to see if the home situation had changed for the better.
Angel nodded. “Mommy doesn’t have time, but Grandma does.”
Those words both hurt and lifted Mia’s heart.
“And does Grandma live with you?” Mia continued, not letting her own hurt show to the poor girl who had to live with the situation.
Angel shook her head. “But we might live with her soon,” Angel whispered.
“Grandma told Mommy that she couldn’t believe she had to hear that her grandbabies were going to school with no lunch and their hair not brushed.
And if Mommy can’t do a better job of raising her girls, Grandma’s taking us to Oahu to live with her. ”
Mia surveyed the little girl and noticed her soft smile. She didn’t seem anxious about leaving her mom, and Mia couldn’t help but think the girls would be better off with their Grandma.
“It sounds like you have a wonderful grandma,” Mia said.
Angel nodded with vigor. “She’s my favorite.”
Mia stood since there was nothing more for her to say.
Angel would be okay. She had her village to show up even if her mother couldn’t or wouldn’t.
Mia didn’t want to judge Angel’s mom, she just wanted Angel to have a safe place to land.
And it looks like now she did. Because someone had let her know what was going on with her granddaughters.
She couldn’t help but wonder if that someone was a certain firefighter who had taken an interest in Angel’s situation.
She didn’t know how the firefighter had gotten word to Angel’s grandma so fast. She must have come to Maui from Oahu only a few days after he’d been in her classroom, but she had a feeling the firefighter was the kind of man who got things done.
Which made it even stranger that he’d been so unkind in his retelling of saving her that day.
His actions, both at the beach and in her classroom, defied what she’d heard in Puka’s.
She couldn’t reconcile the two. Then again, it wasn’t like she had to.
The next time she’d even possibly see him, since she was avoiding the beach he worked at for the rest of her life, was next year when the firefighters came back to the school.
And odds were good he wouldn’t be assigned to her class again. He was out of her life for good.
The rest of the morning flew by, and Mia hurried down the walkway to the teacher’s lounge. Now that she was no longer with students, Mia’s own problems invaded her mind. She needed to find a place to live. Yesterday.
And even though she wasn’t sure she wanted to ask her colleagues for help, she was pretty sure she had no other choice. Nat understood life in Hawaii much better than Mia did, and if she said her best option was to ask the locals, Mia had to do it.
Her stomach was full of knots by the time she entered the teachers’ lounge.
“Hi, Mia,” Kristin said kindly as Mia took the open seat next to her.
Mia set down her lunch bag, which held a cheese sandwich and some chips. She really needed to do some more grocery shopping.
“Hey,” Mia said as she smiled at Kristin and Aunty Gertrude, who both sat at the table.
Aunty Gertrude grunted in response.
A few more teachers filtered in, and their table was soon full of conversation.
Mia kicked herself for waiting. She should have said something before everyone else had arrived. She didn’t want to stop the chatter with her inquiry but it was already Thursday. She needed to find a place to live that weekend or she’d be on a plane back to the mainland.
“Kristin?” Mia asked quietly when it seemed her colleague wasn’t as involved in the conversation.
Kristin gave her attention to Mia.
“I was just wondering something. I know this is short notice, but my landlord just informed me that I need to move out before Monday.”
Kristin’s eyes narrowed and she dropped her chopsticks into her salad bowl. “Didn’t you just move in?”
Mia nodded. “He’s changing his place to a short-term rental and will charge me double what we agreed on if I want to stay.”
“That’s terrible,” Kristin said shaking her head. “Some people. What’s his name?”
“Randall Wolfe,” Mia said, happily giving the name of the man. She had no desire to protect him after what he did to her.
“Dang it. If I knew him I’d go chew him out and make him drop his rent again,” Kristin replied. “Do you need to find a lawyer?”
Mia shook her head. She hadn’t even considered that, but since she hadn’t signed a lease, she doubted she had a legal leg to stand on. Besides she really didn’t want to stay in Randall’s place now that he’d shown his true colors.
“I was actually wondering if you know of anywhere for rent,” Mia asked.
“Oh.” Kristin leaned back in her seat. “The housing market is pretty rough right now.”
Mia nodded. That she knew. She’d heard it had always been pretty tough, but then after the Lahaina fires, it had become nearly impossible. Some families had to live at campsites for months. And too many locals even had to leave the island due to the lack of housing.
“But let me ask around. I’m sure we can find you something. If anything, you can sleep in one of my kids’ beds until we can find you a place.”
Mia’s eyes began to sting as she shook her head. There was no way she could displace one of Kristin’s kids, but for her to even offer?
“That is one of the kindest things anyone has ever said to me. Thank you. I’m sure it won’t come to that.”
Because Mia would move back to the mainland before she let that happen.
Kristin smiled before returning her attention to the conversation at large and her salad.
Warmth filled her as she recalled how lonely she felt the day before. And then wham, this happened.
Without even trying very hard, Mia was quickly forming a place for herself here, her own small community. And she really hoped she could find a place to live so that she didn’t have to lose it.