“Hello, Miss Crane. I’m Gillian Tucker. This is my brother, Justin. He’ll be joining your class on Monday.”
“Hello, Justin. Welcome.”
“Hi. Can I look at all the toys?”
“Sure you can. I’ll just have a few words with your sister.”
Gillian smiled when Justin ran off and touched everything he could get his hands on.
“So, will this be his first school experience?”
“No. He attended school in San Francisco. I’ve given all the information to the office. I just stopped by so he could meet you and know where he needs to go on Monday.”
“I’m glad you did. Looks like he’s already settled in.”
Yes, Justin settled in just fine. She was taking a bit longer.
“Are you okay? Were you in an accident?” Miss Crane asked.
“I’m fine. I hit a car.”
Miss Crane’s eyes narrowed on Gillian’s beat-up face. Gillian didn’t want to answer a bunch of questions, so she said, “Justin, come now. It’s time to go. You’ll get to play all you want on Monday.”
“There’s a green and yellow lizard in that tank and stick bugs in the other,” he said, skipping over to her and wrapping his arm around her leg.
“Awesome.”
“Well, I’ll see you Monday, Justin. I’m glad you stopped by. We’re going to have lots of fun learning this year. You’ll like the other kids. We’ve got a bunch of boys for you to play with and a huge play set outside with two slides and swings and monkey bars.”
“Way cool.”
“Gillian, are you and Justin ready to go?” Blake asked, stepping up beside her.
“Blake, I never expected to see you here,” Miss Crane said.
“Gillian and Justin are my boss’s grandkids. I’m looking out for them.”
“Let’s hope you do a better job with them than you did with my sister.” Miss Crane looked Gillian up and down. “Though she already looks worse off than Abigail.”
“Nice to see you, too,” Blake bit out. He took Gillian’s hand and gently tugged. “Let’s go. Dee and Bud are waiting.”
Gillian waited until they were back at the parking lot. “What was that about?”
Blake looked down at Justin. “Nothing. She’s my ex’s sister. Things didn’t end well, and she’s looking out for her family. That’s all.”
No, that wasn’t all. “Does this have something to do with you daring someone, like Mandy said in the store?”
“Leave it alone, Gillian.”
Blake dropped her hand, scooped up Justin, plunked him on his shoulders, and walked the last twenty feet to the truck. He’d stopped talking to her, but asked Justin, “Did you like your teacher?”
“She’s nice. She’s got a lizard and some bugs in tanks.”
“Impressive.”
Gillian didn’t know what land mine she’d stepped on, but she’d try to avoid it in the future. They rehashed her past ad nauseam, but his remained off limits. His not sharing made her nervous. If his past relationships had turned out so badly, maybe considering something with him wasn’t a good idea.
All the way home, Justin talked with Blake about his teacher and the cool stuff in his classroom. Blake kept his patience and listened even when Justin repeated himself.
Thanks to the pain meds and muscle relaxers, she dozed off in the truck on the ride home, her head propped against Blake’s shoulder, thinking the trip to town turned out okay despite the visit to the doctor.
Blake hated to wake her, not when she looked so sweet cuddled up to his arm. Still, he couldn’t sit in the truck with her all night. Dee and Bud had already unloaded and taken everything inside.
“Gillian, sweetheart, wake up.” He touched his finger to her cheek. She came awake with a start and pulled away, hands up to defend herself, her eyes huge, but they softened on him.
“It’s just me,” he assured her.
“Hey. Sorry I fell asleep on you.”
“You need it. I’ll walk you up to the house before I tend the horses. Dinner’s in an hour.”
“But you said we’d give Boots a bath.”
“We can do it tomorrow.”
“No. He needs it. Besides, he’s my responsibility now. I need to check on him and make sure he eats.”
“Gillian, you’re wiped out.”
“It’s just the meds. I feel better. The pain has subsided. Really. Come on.” She waved her hand to get him to move out of her way so she could get out of the truck. “Where is Justin?”
“Inside. Dee’s making him a snack, then he asked to watch TV.”