Chapter seventeen
I spent the whole of Sunday trying to avoid thinking about what had happened in the nightclub. Every time my mind even started to drift in that direction, I fought with all my strength to push it the other way until I forgot who Thomas Lennox was.
I took the day off to clean the apartment, stay with my grandmother, and prepare some of the week's lessons for the children. We were going to make collages, and I hoped they would be excited about cutting out paper and nailing their little fingers with glue. They were still very young; they were learning everything little by little, but I was very happy to be part of the big steps forward in their lives.
In fact, I had tried very hard to let that incident with Thomas remain in the past, but as soon as his little girls came running towards me, it was impossible not to think of the man.
They had the same black hair and the same blue eyes, and although they were kind and gracious, they had more of their father's traits than I could simply ignore.
“Plofessola! ” Mary hugged my hips tightly.
“Hey, little one.” I stroked your head.
Anne also came along and soon they were both squeezing me.
“Hi, girls!”
“Saudadi!”
“I missed you too. Did you have fun at the weekend?”
“Yes!”
“Oh, good!”
“We won candy,” Anne commented.
“Who gave you candy? Dad?” I swallowed as I had the mental image of the man, but I quickly pulled myself together; I couldn't show any change in front of my students.
“No. Aunt Deborah.”
“Auntie?”
“Dad's magnet .”
“Sister?”
“é.”
“That's nice, girls. Now let's go in.” I grabbed their little backs and led them into the room so they could take off their backpacks and lunchboxes.
I paid attention to other students while I thought about what the twins had told me. It was no big deal, except that I was still upset with that man, probably because of the indecent proposal he had made to me.
Cretin!
I had been naive to think that he could be a nice guy after saving me from Julius, but at least the first one had the excuse of being drunk.
“Teacher! ” One of my little students grabbed the hem of my blouse and pulled it to get my attention.
“Hi, David.”
“Aren 't you going in?”
“Yes, I'm going.” I smiled at him and guided him to his chair.
The class with my little ones went just as I had hoped. They loved the activity, and I had some time to rest and have lunch while they took a mid-afternoon nap. They were such sweethearts, and there was nothing that made me happier than spending the day with them.
At the end of the day, I accompanied the class to the playground and made them sit in a circle in the usual place to wait for their parents or guardians. My eyes didn't leave the twins for a single moment. As much as I had the excuse of fearing that they would disappear, I knew it was much more than that.
A part of me- the idiotic and perhaps slightly angry part- wanted to see their father again. I wouldn't say anything, nor would I be that crazy. Just imagine the mess that could happen if any other parent at the school even dreamed that Thomas had offered me money to have sex with him. I knew those rich snobs well; they wouldn't see my side. They'd only see me as a prostitute, and I loved my job too much to risk losing it.
“Mary, Anne...” Holly gestured for the girls to come as the man in charge had arrived.
I followed them with my gaze until they passed through the gate and held a man's hand, but he wasn't who I was expecting. It took me a while to recognize him as the guy who had picked them up earlier. He was their driver, and it soon became clear that their father wasn't coming to pick them up.
That was great, the less chance I had of running into that guy again, the better for me. But deep down, I felt a nagging feeling that I tried hard to ignore.
He's an asshole, Helena!" I repeated to myself in thought.
Surely, everything good about the girls must have come from their mother. I knew I might be exaggerating a bit, but I was still very angry about the whole situation.
Thomas had better not cross my path again.