Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
O nly three weeks into her new job at the school and Emily was finding it difficult to adjust. As her students read for the last fifteen minutes of the day, Emily stared out the window. The daisies in the garden bed outside her classroom window were in full bloom and soaking in the rays of the May sunshine, a quiet reminder that summer was fast approaching. Though she had only started her new job in Cedarwood Creek Elementary a short time ago, she was already looking forward to the summer break. Her students were not only behind where second graders should be for reading, writing, and arithmetic, but her co-worker teachers weren’t friendly in the slightest. She had thought once she started her job, things would get easier in her life, but they didn’t. If anything, they only worsened.
The bell rang, signaling the end of school.
Packing her laptop and other belongings for home, she paused. Taking a moment, she let a deep breath out from her lungs and mustered the strength within herself to lift a prayer. “God, let my heart be content with my life . . .”
Venturing out of the classroom, she walked the school hallways to the gymnasium to pick up Jack and Conner, then met Elizabeth out at the car.
Arriving home that day, her daughter promptly went to her bedroom and cranked music as her boys began to wrestle on the living room floor.
“Homework . . .” she told Jack and Conner on her way into the kitchen. Remembering she had forgotten to pull something out to thaw for dinner, she touched her forehead as a heavy sigh escaped her lips. Pulling her cellphone out, she called Ryan. “Could you bring dinner home?”
“I can’t. We had another guy call in, so I’m helping run the kitchen. But I can put something together that you can come grab.”
“Thanks.” Her heart ached knowing it’d most likely be another late night for Ryan. Hanging up the call, she set her phone on the counter. On her way to gather laundry, her boys were playing at the table instead of doing their homework. Her tone edged upward. “Homework, boys!”
Continuing down the hall, the music coming from her daughter’s room wasn’t as loud and she could hear Elizabeth’s voice. Through the muffled door, Emily could hear faint crying and talking. Stopping, she knocked lightly and went in. Finding her daughter in tears and on her phone video chatting, she proceeded further into the room. “Hang up the call.”
“It’s Gammy.”
Knowing it was her mother, Emily shook her head and insisted even more. “Hang it up.”
Walking over to the radio on the dresser, she smashed the power button.
“What is going on, Elizabeth?”
Folding her arms, she went over and plopped on her bed without a word of response.
Emily proceeded over to her bed and sat down gently. “I can’t help if you don’t talk to me. Why were you video chatting with your grandma and crying?”
“I want to go home.”
Emily didn’t say a word. She just sat there. And she didn’t want to feel the same way, but deep down, she did. “I know, and so do I.”
Sitting up, her daughter’s expression brightened. “Then let’s go! We can just go back, can’t we?”
Shaking her head, Emily’s chin dipped. “No. We can’t leave.”
“But you obviously want to go back, Mom.”
Emily shook her head again. “It doesn’t matter. This is our home now, Elizabeth. It takes time and getting used to. We’ve only been here a little over a month. We can’t just give up.”
“But all the kids at school hate me and I don’t fit in with anyone.”
Smoothing a hand over her daughter’s soft brown hair, Emily tilted her head as she thought about the Jezebel-spirited teachers she worked with at the school. “Do you know who Jezebel is in the Bible?”
“Um. No. But I know that name isn’t good.”
“Well, she was a woman who was evil in the sight of God. She was controlling, manipulative, and desired to dominate and control everyone around her. She hated God, she hated men in authority, and she hated anyone who opposed her.”
“Sounds like all the girls at my school.”
“I’m not sharing this to have you pivot yourself against the girls at school.”
“Then why are you sharing it?”
“Be patient.” Emily continued. “Jezebel’s husband was Ahab. He was a passive man who tolerated Jezebel. Not a great example for us to follow, but also during that time, there was a man of God named Elijah.”
“I know him! I learned about him at church.”
“Yep. He was bold, assertive, and stood for God, but not without opposition from Jezebel. The point I’m trying to make is there will always be Jezebel-spirited people no matter where we go. That goes for California or here in our new home. We have to stand for what is right and keep pushing forward, even when it’s scary and there is opposition all around us.”
“It’s just so hard, Mom. I feel like nobody likes me, and I’m alone and scared. I bet Elijah never got scared.”
“Actually, he did.” Emily shook her head. “I just read this morning how he booked it and ran away from Jezebel. God took care of him and let him rest for a time. Sometimes, we need to have a period of rest and renewal. I think right now, our family just needs a little rest time. Let God restore you.”
“Is that what you need, Mom?”
Adjusting her position on the bed, she asked her daughter, “What do you mean?”
“Nothing. Never mind . . .”
Emily touched her shoulder, directing her daughter’s attention back to her. “What did you mean by that?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “You seem stressed and distant a lot lately. I’ve heard you crying in the laundry room a few times. I see you, Mom. I hear you.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks warmed. “I didn’t realize.”
Touching her hand, Elizabeth connected her gaze with her mother in that moment. “Call your mom. She misses you, and I’m sure you miss her too. I know talking to my mom always helps me.”
A smile began on her lips as she stood. Emily was about to leave when she looked back at her daughter. For the first time since Elizabeth was born, she felt a connection to her not like that of a daughter, but that of a friend. Right or wrong, she couldn’t help but like that feeling. “Thanks for the idea. I’ll give her a call.”
Walking into the kitchen of the Cedarwood Creek Grill near the end of the day, Ryan found his manager, Steven, yelling at his cook about an order being made wrong. Interjecting, Ryan pulled him into the walk-in to confront him.
“What’s going on with you lately, Steven? You blamed it on my dad, but it’s not loosening at all.”
Motioning with a hand toward the door, Steven shook his head. “I can’t find good help!”
“Come on, man. This isn’t the first incident. The last week or two, you’ve started coming into work late, leaving early, and you’re short with the staff. Something changed in the last two weeks.”
Deflated, Steven dropped his arms to his side and shook his head as he stared at the cement floor. “Is it that easy to see?”
“It is.”
He let out a sigh and turned as he raked a hand through his hair. “Marissa left me, man. I have been trying to keep everything together, but I have to get the kids to school and pick them up. There’s just so much involved in running a house without her.”
“Wow. I had no idea.”
Steven dropped his face into his hands. “I don’t know how to do it all, and I miss her so bad.”
“You should’ve said something. I’m sure someone at church can help with the kids.”
He shook his head as his tear-filled eyes lifted to meet Ryan. “You don’t understand that church or this town. You haven’t been here long enough. It’s not like it used to be.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’d eat me alive. Judgmental and unforgiving. They’d ask me what I did to make her leave. Gossip would spread like wildfire around this town.”
“Really? What about if you went to the deacons? Like Bill? I’m sure they could keep it quiet.”
“Bill’s the worst of them all. I’m sorry, but they cannot know.” Walking toward the exit, he stopped. “Thanks for the concern, though. I’ll be okay. My sister Miriam is coming to town at the end of the week to help out.”
“Go to your wife when your sister gets to town. You can’t work on your marriage while you’re apart.”
“But the grill?”
Ryan held a hand up. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll be waiting here for you when you get back.”
“Okay . . .” He smiled at Ryan as he shook his head. “You’re just like your old man. One of the good ones. Thank you. I’m going to go finish closing up.”
After he left the walk-in, Ryan lifted a prayer as his heart ached in a new wave of grief. Then he prayed for Steven and exited as well. Going into the manager’s office, he sat down to go over next week’s schedule. He wanted to give Steven a few extra days off even after he arrived back from visiting Marissa. Looking for a pen, he opened the drawer. Hearing a clank at the back of the drawer, he reached in, and his fingers felt a glass bottle.
Pulling it out, he saw it was a bottle of whiskey.
Peering up at the doorway, he shook his head as he touched his forehead. Steven had been drinking at work?
Setting the bottle on the desk, he stood and called out the doorway for Steven.
Walking in, Steven’s gaze fell on the bottle of whiskey. His eyebrows shot up. “You drink now, Ryan?”
“Come on, Steven. Be honest with me.”
“I’ve never seen that in my life. I don’t even like whiskey.”
Furrowing his eyebrows, Ryan looked again at the bottle. “It’s not yours?”
“No. Your dad didn’t drink, did he?”
“Not that I know of. You can go back to what you were doing.”
After Steven left the office, Ryan went over and shut the door.
He sat down in the chair, his fingers naturally finding the chip on the wood chair. He began to pick at it as he thought.
The text message from the day of his father’s funeral surfaced in his mind. He didn’t know who sent it. Then the bank account belonging to the mysterious woman. Remembering Jason and his conversation almost a month ago, he recalled his brother’s words about it all being pointless since Dad was gone.
His gaze was drawn to the mysterious bottle of whiskey sitting on his father’s desk.
Another unsettling mystery.
Was it all truly pointless?
Curious, Ryan logged on to the computer. He pulled up the outgoing monthly transfers they had just digitalized two months ago. They had only processed and uploaded the current year. Checking each deposit into the woman’s account, he saw a transfer each month leading up to his father’s passing. Walking over to the filing cabinet, he pulled out the prior year’s monthly deposits and transfers.
Every month of the prior year, the same transfer of $2,000 was made to the same account.
Going back to the cabinet, he searched for more years. There were none.
Peering at the clock on the wall, he saw it was after nine-thirty at night.
His heart dipped as he thought of his wife.
Emily had once again voiced her concern about his working hours just the other night when he climbed into bed after eleven o’clock. Chances were she was already asleep, but he knew he needed to get home.
On his way home, he thought about his father’s stern talks about drinking. He was so vehemently opposed to it, yet he was secretly doing it?
Turning into the driveway, he got out of the car and walked inside.
His wife was asleep on the couch, slumped over a pile of papers she appeared to have been grading. He smiled in a longing kind of way. He wanted to be more than what he was for his family at the moment. He hoped it’d change soon, but soon never seemed to come. He removed the pile of papers and the pen and set them aside. Then he covered her with the quilt from the back of the couch.
Exiting through the back sliding glass door of the house, he came out onto the porch and proceeded into the moonlight near the pool.
His father came to the top of his mind.
Pulling his wallet out from his back pocket, he retrieved the slip of paper his brother had given to him with the name and address of Linda.
He unfolded the wrinkled piece of paper and looked at it. Jason’s voice replayed in his head. He’s gone. What’s the point?
Peering out across the moonlit pool, he thought of his father. All the playful summers, the joyful dinners, and the times shared over the years. The church events, the man of God his father was in his community, in his church, and in the family. Could he have really been hiding something all this time?
He thought of the whiskey. He already was . . .
Ryan needed to find out the truth.
He couldn’t ignore it any longer.