Thou Shalt Not(97)

But, either way, he flashed a big smile.

“I’m Marco, April’s husband,” he said loudly, reaching out his hand to me.

“Luke Harper,” I said, meeting his hand in the middle.

Men have many ways they attempt to exert their authority and masculinity, but one of the most frequent is through a handshake. A man who wants to immediately let the other guy know that he is the supreme Alpha in the room will attack a handshake, and squeeze down with the force of a crocodile’s jaw. Some men have even perfected the angle in which they grab the other guy’s hand, tilting their hand slightly to the right, getting a better grip and enabling them to squeeze even harder. A man who does this is usually always an asshole.

I expected this from Marco, and even adjusted the angle of my hand so he wouldn’t be able to inflict damage, but to my surprise, the shake was firm but very polite. He wasn’t trying to prove anything to me, at least not through the handshake.

“You must be one of April’s coworkers,” he said, letting go and putting his arm around his wife.

“Yes,” I replied, as coolly as possible. “She’s in the classroom right next to mine.”

“Good,” he said. Boisterous was certainly a word I would have used to describe him. “You can keep an eye on her for me that way.”

He laughed and pulled April closer.

Landry stood back in awe of the professional athlete standing before him, asshole or not.

I was sure April wanted to know what the hell he was doing there. I wanted to ask him the same thing. And if he was here, where were their children? Had the nanny flown with them?

I needed to take Landry and give them some space. But, I didn’t want to go too far. There was still the possibility of crazy Marco going crazy. And even though I was ready to end things with April, I wasn’t about to throw her to the wolf.

“Landry, shouldn’t you be heading over to your tutoring?” I asked, beginning to move toward the classrooms myself.

“Oh, yeah, man,” he said. “I forgot.”

He turned and headed quickly toward Mrs. Lerner’s room. Then he stopped, turned around, and came back.

“Do you think maybe I could have your autograph?” he asked.

Marco beamed.

“Of course, my man. Of course.”

Marco gestured for Landry to hand him something to sign.

“Oh, crap,” he said. Landry fumbled through his bag for something, but was coming up empty-handed.

“I’ll tell you what, my man. I’ve got a few baseballs in the car. Why don’t I sign one for you and leave it with her?” Marco said, gesturing to April.

“Really?” Landry said, unable to hide his excitement. “That’d be so boss.”

“You got it.”

With that, Landry practically skipped to Stephanie’s classroom.

Marco was smiling a very self-satisfied smile. The guy had a certain charm about him, I had to say. It was a little slimy and creepy, but it was still there.

“Well, I’ll leave you two alone,” I said. “I’ve got a lot to get ready before the kids show up. It was nice to meet you.”

I nodded toward him and started walking to my classroom.

It was rare that I spent much time lingering in the hallway, and even more rare that I paid attention to what was on the walls. But it dawned on me then that keeping watch over the hallway was a painting of Moses with his Ten Commandments. All the Thou Shalt Nots hovered over me, with Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery screaming the loudest.

Been there, done that.

“What about you?” Marco called out.

I turned.

“Excuse me?”

“What about you?” he asked again. His eyes were very wide, and I noticed then that I hadn’t seen him blink yet.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“What about me?”

“Do you want me to sign a baseball for you too? You can pick it up from April whenever you’d like.”

There was something in his words that clued me into the fact that he seemed to be clued in.

“Sure,” I said, hoping I sounded as excited out loud as I was trying to sound in my head. “I’d love one.”

“Good,” he said, nodding smugly.

“Thanks,” I said, turning and walking toward the classroom.

His eyes followed me, I was sure of it. I could feel them searing holes into my back.

I didn’t feel relief of any kind until I was in my classroom. I stood as close to the door as I could without being seen. Or being able to see, for that matter. They hadn’t seemed to move from the hallway, and I was hoping to hear what they would say to each other.

There were voices, but they were muffled and impossible to decipher. I didn’t move, though. I thought that maybe if I stood there long enough I would be able to catch a whole sentence or two clearly.