CHAPTER TWELVE
Lennox
Monday at school went off without any issues.
Since the weather was warm and beautiful, I encouraged teachers to take the students’ learning outside.
So at one point, the entire school was down at the beach, and even I joined in.
We were turning over rocks to find crabs, poking anemones in tidepools to watch them retreat inwards, and collectively going, “Ewwww” at the sight of the smelly, decaying dead fish on the rocks.
It was days like this that just reaffirmed why I went into teaching. Kids were hilarious, adventurous, and unpredictable. When a little kindergartener fell into the water, soaking herself, I just flung myself into the sea too, dunking my head under and everything.
I came up to a wall of gaping elementary students and teachers staring at me with wide eyes.
“It’s just water,” I said. “We live on an island. Sometimes we’re going to get a little wet.”
That, of course, prompted over half the kids to hurl themselves into the cove with me for an impromptu swim, but why not? Maybe I’d get some emails from parents, but I’d deal with them.
Every kid had a spare change of clothes in their classroom. They wouldn’t have to sit in class the rest of the day soaked to the bone.
As we made our way back to the school, I found both of my hands occupied by children’s.
“That was fun, Mr. Ox,” said Aya McEvoy, a precocious second grader who had been one of the first kids to join me in the water for an impromptu swim.
“You’re way better than our old principal.
He would have gotten so mad at us for swimming. ”
“Yeah, Principal Pickford was such a meany,” said her cousin, Griffin McEvoy, a first grader and the actual first kid to jump into the water after me. Both kids were totally drenched and beaming with joy. “You’re not a meany at all. You’re a …” He glanced at Aya. “What’s the opposite of a meany?”
“A cooly,” Aya said with confidence. “He’s a cooly.”
“Yeah, you’re a cooly.”
“Well, I appreciate the compliment. It’s just such a warm and beautiful day, how could I not go swimming?”
“Did you have your phone in your pocket?” Aya asked. “Is it okay?”
“I have one of those waterproof cases. It’s fine.”
She nodded, causing her damp blonde curls to bounce.
Two familiar faces appeared in the crowd of kids as we emerged back onto the school grounds from the trail down to the beach. I smiled at Austin and Honor. Austin had fully embraced the spontaneity of the moment and getting wet, while Honor had waded only up to her knees.
“Hey, Principal Ox,” Austin said, all smiles and rosy cheeks as he came to walk next to Griffin. “Hey, Griff.”
Griffin smiled widely up at the older boy. He was probably excited that a big kid knew his name.
“Mom told us,” Austin said.
His mother told them what?
Austin glanced at Griffin, then back at me. “She told us about … you two. And Honor and I are cool with it. Just … don’t make it weird at school, okay?”
I subtly exhaled in relief. For a second there, I thought Naomi had told them about my stepmother and Mabel and all that shit I’d sooner forget.
“Not going to make anything weird,” I said. “Promise.”
“Cool.”
“Did your Hacky Sack get wet?”
He reached into the pocket of his cargo shorts and pulled out a Ziploc bag. “Nope. I’m prepared.” He opened the bag and triumphantly revealed a completely dry Hacky Sack. Then he immediately started bouncing it on his knees and ankles.
“I want to try that,” Griffin said, releasing my hand and stepping closer to Austin. “Can I try?”
“Sure.”
Griffin wasn’t particularly coordinated, but Austin was patient with him.
Students dispersed back to their classrooms. Aya let go of my hand and followed her teacher, but Austin, Griffin, and I remained on the gravel, bouncing the sack between each other.
“Okay, you two, back to class now,” I said after five minutes.
“I want one of these,” Griffin said. “What’s it called? A hippy sack?”
Austin and I both chuckled. “Hacky Sack,” Austin said.
“But popular among hippies,” I added.
Griffin’s damp shaggy head bobbed. “My dad said the island is made up almost entirely of hippies. That it’s a hippy-dippy island with a few of us normies sprinkled in for good measure.”
That made me burst out laughing. “Who is your dad?”
Griffin’s little chest puffed up with pride. “Wyatt McEvoy. He’s the head chef at Sound Bites Pub. We own the land, the pub, and the brewery.”
“Your dad sounds like a funny guy.” While Austin had headed back to his class on his own, Griffin seemed to need an escort. So while we were talking, I guided him through the school, with the drips and drops all over the floor, toward his classroom.
“He’s the funniest person on the planet.”
“All right, Master McEvoy. You go get changed and enjoy the rest of our day, okay?”
He held up his fist. “Catch you on the flip side, principal man.”
We fist bumped and then he made his hand explode open when he pulled it away, before retreating into his open classroom. I waved at his teacher, then headed to my office where I also had a spare change of clothes waiting for me.
My phone vibrated in my pocket as I opened my office door. It was Mabel.
“Hey, Mabes,” I said, putting her on speakerphone as I locked my door so I could change. “How’s your day so far?”
“Some weird woman came by the house.”
Goosebumps raced across my skin, and not because I was soaking wet.
“Weird woman? What did she look like?”
“Older, maybe seventies. Black and gray hair. Brown eyes. She knocked and knocked and knocked. Rang the bell, walked around the entire house, peering into the windows. It was weird. Who is she?”
“You didn’t answer the door?”
“No. I don’t like people. Why do I want to meet someone who shows up uninvited and knocks on my door so aggressively?
Take a hint, lady. I don’t want to speak with you.
” She paused for a moment. “Maybe she’s autistic and doesn’t understand social cues the way I don’t understand social cues. Should I feel bad about ignoring her?”
“No. Don’t feel bad. I don’t think she’s autistic. I think she’s entitled, bored, nosy, and incapable of respecting boundaries.”
“So you know her then?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Was I supposed to open the door?”
“God, no.”
“Who is she?”
“The Island Mouth.”
“That’s impossible. Islands don’t have mouths.”
“It’s a figure of speech. A nickname. It means she’s a gossip.” I’d finished changing and just rolled my damp clothes up in a ball and stuffed them into my backpack. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I collapsed into my chair. “She wants to meet you.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s a busybody and needs to know everybody and their business on the island.”
“That sounds horrible. I don’t want to know anybody or their business. Why would you actively go searching out to find other people’s business? That sounds … terrible.”
“Preach.”
“Do you think she will come back?”
I sighed. “I think you can count on it.”
Mabel matched my sigh with one of her own. “I pulled all the blinds, but I don’t really want to. I can’t see the birds. I’ve finished my homework for all my classes, and I was going to go down to the beach to sketch. Do you think it’s okay for me to go down to the beach behind the house?”
“It’s public land, but nobody can access it without cutting through ours or Maz’s property. So you should be safe. Just don’t go in the water. The current there is strong.”
“I’ll just sit on a log and draw.”
“Go in and out through the back door. Just in case she tries to ambush you at the front.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“Tell me about it, kiddo.”
We hung up, and I clenched my molars together as I set my phone on the desk before I threw it across the room. Fucking Jolene Dandy. I thought I’d made myself very clear the other day. She was not to be ambushing me or my child.
I punched in Tommaso Barone’s number. It rang three times before he answered.
“Ciao, Principal Ox. You are not calling to cancel tonight, are you?”
“How soon can we get the materials to build a gate?”
He exhaled. “Did the Mouth show up again?”
“Good guess.”
“I have already called Cameron. He works with your friend, Spencer. Cameron says the wood will be here by the weekend. Your cameras will be here by tomorrow.”
“Cameras? I didn’t order any cameras. Not yet anyway.”
“I ordered you cameras. The same ones that I have. You come for beer tonight and I will show you. Then, tomorrow we will install them. We must protect you, your child, and your privacy.”
A soft tickle at the back of my neck made me wonder if he knew more about my situation than he was letting on.
Did Naomi tell her family? While I was beginning to trust, and I already liked the entire vineyard family, I wasn’t ready to divulge my full history to the lot of them. It’d been a big step telling Naomi.
“You didn’t have to order me cameras. I’ll pay you back. Tell me how much and I will Venmo you.”
“One dollar.”
I rolled my eyes. “Come on.”
“Fifty cents.”
“Tom—”
“I have millions of football dollars. This costs nothing. Your safety is priceless. Now, what happened today? Do you want me to go and pick up Mabel? Is she safe?”
“She’s safe. She’s home, heading down to the beach to sketch birds. She knows not to go into the water. But she said Jolene showed up, circled around the house, and was knocking on the doors and yelling out to see if anybody was home.”
He murmured a bunch of Italian under his breath. I didn’t have to understand it to know that it was a slew of curse words. “She is a menace, that woman.”
“Agreed.”
“Danica says she can go pick up Mabel. She is texting her now. We do not like this. This is a violation of privacy and boundaries, and unacceptable.”
“I don’t know if you need to pick her up—”
“Mabel says it’s fine. She will wait for Danica. You can pick her up at my house after school. Danica is here. I am here. The animals are here.”
“O-okay. Thanks. If she’s fine with it, I’m fine with it.”
“Si. Ciao.”
“Ch-Ciao.”
Then we hung up.