Strawberry Wine (22 page)

Alli was conspicuously absent from class the following afternoon. Jason refused to allow himself to dwell on what had happened the night before, but he kept catching himself staring at her vacant seat, wondering if she was sick, or simply avoiding him.

His right hand was sporting a dramatic rainbow of bruises across his knuckles. The swelling had gone down with ice, and he was pretty confident he hadn’t broken anything, but the throbbing pain he felt every time he moved his fingers was a constant reminder of a different pain. He could still clearly see Alli’s devastated face as she had turned to leave last night.

“Mr. Taylor?” Jason snapped out of his reverie to acknowledge the student addressing him. It was Yvette Slinth. “Where do you want us to put these when we’re finished?” She held up her journaling assignment, batting her lashes at him coquettishly.

He indicated the top of the filing cabinet next to his desk. “On the cabinet will be fine.”

Yvette took note of his injured hand with interest. “Ohhh, ouch! What happened to your hand Mr. Taylor?”

Jason sent up a silent plea for patience and graced Yvette with a stoic glare. Yvette was a manipulative little minx with an obvious school girl crush on him, and he didn’t want to do anything to give her so much as an impression of encouragement. “I slammed it in a door. Please take a seat, Miss Slinth.”

As the students were filing out of class at the end of the hour, Mrs. Drake poked her head around the corner. “Mr. Taylor?” He waved in the pant suit clad dame.

“Mrs. Drake, what can I do for you?” He could see her eyes sparkling with the desire to make an inappropriate joke of some kind. Mrs. Drake was a shamefully bawdy woman in the confines of the teacher’s lounge, and Jason found himself avoiding being alone with her at all costs, never knowing how to react to her scandalous stories and wicked innuendos. Thankfully, she refrained, keeping things strictly professional in front of the students. “Didn’t you mention that you were Allison Wilson’s next door neighbor?”

Jason tensed at Alli’s name. Mrs. Drake didn’t notice, and kept on talking. “As I’m sure you noticed, she wasn’t in class today...” Jason’s pulse began to race, and he could feel sweat prickling in his scalp.
Had Alli been so upset she turned him in?
He tried to focus on Mrs. Drake’s words, hoping his panic wasn’t showing on his face. “... was wondering if you would be so kind as to take her the assignments she’ll be missing?”

“I’m sorry, is she ill? Is she expected to be out a while, then?”

Mrs. Drake shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. Her mother mentioned a probable flu, but possible mono.” Mrs. Drake’s brows disappeared into her hairline as she gave Jason a meaningful stare. Then, in a stage whisper, “You know, the
kissing
disease?”

Jason resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Yes, Mrs. Drake, I’m familiar with mononucleosis. It’s quite common among teenagers whether they caught it from kissing or sharing soda’s or any number of other ways. Unfortunately the recovery time can be quite lengthy, so I hope Miss Wilson is only suffering from a stomach bug. Either way, I’d be happy to drop off her assignments.”

The bell rang, rescuing Jason from further conversation with the indomitable Mrs. Drake. He accepted a manilla folder from her full of what he assumed to be Alli’s missed assignments from her other classes, and thanked her for stopping by.

Jason was standing just inside his front door, unsure how to proceed. Should he take the folder over in person? Should he leave it in their mailbox? He didn’t know if he could handle seeing Alli if she were the one to answer the door. Finally his curiosity got the best of him and he decided to deliver the folder in person. If Alli was ill with either the flu or mono, then she was unlikely to be the one to answer the door.

He stopped himself just before rapping his injured knuckles on the door. He switched hands and gave three strong raps, not wanting to risk waking anyone from their sick bed by ringing the bell.

Alli’s mother Linda answered the door. “Jason, what a pleasant surprise.”

He smiled warmly and forced himself to meet her gaze. Being in Linda’s presence made him feel like the slimiest of low-life’s, considering his very intimate relationship with her youngest daughter. “Mrs. Wilson, you look well.”

“Please, call me Linda. What brings you by today? You know, it’s funny, I was just going to call your mother and invite you all to dinner next week. Margot will be visiting, and I think you two would really hit it off.”

Jason smiled politely. “That’s very kind of you Mrs.- Linda. I’ll give my mother the message.”

Linda waved for him to follow her back to the kitchen. “Come on in. Can I get you anything to drink?”

Jason was relieved to note that no one was in the kitchen, particularly any heart-broken blonds that made him weak in the knees. “I’m sorry, I can’t really stay. I actually just came by to drop off Alli’s assignments. Is she expected to be out long?” Jason hoped the concerned interest in his voice sounded teacherly. He held up the manilla folder.

“Oh, I don’t know. She’s just a little out of sorts. She’s been taking my separation from her father pretty hard. My goodness! What happened to your hand?”

Jason blushed under her scrutiny. “Oh, it’s nothing. It looks worse than it is. I slammed it in a door...” He dismissed her concern with a shrug.

“Well. That must have been some door.”

Jason heard a door open upstairs and felt a touch of panic creep into his blood stream. He couldn’t bear the thought of facing Alli right now. “Ah, such are the dangers of working around heavy farm equipment.” He frowned, realizing too late that none of his father’s heavy farming equipment had any doors to speak of.

Luckily, Linda’s knowledge of such things was very limited. She smiled, apparently accepting his excuse. He thanked her for her time and made a hasty retreat.

Alli was in class the next day after all. Jason made note of the dark circles under her eyes, and her sullen disposition. She wouldn’t meet his gaze. He heaved a heavy sigh, and scrapped his lesson plan for the day.

“Good afternoon, class. Please settle down.” He stood and walked around his desk, leaning against it and crossing his legs at the ankles. “Today we are going to discuss the art of the apology.”

Alli’s head snapped up and she stared at him in disbelief.

“Let’s say I offended one of you.” He made a point of looking slowly around the room. Finally he settled on Alli. “Miss Wilson, perhaps. Let’s say I committed an egregious offense against Miss Wilson, here.” Alli’s cheeks started to pink up, embarrassed by the attention of the other students.

“What are some appropriate, classic examples of ways in which I might apologize?”

Yvette raised her hand in the back of the room. “Yes, Miss Slinth?”

“Well, it would depend on what exactly you did, wouldn’t it Mr. Taylor?”

Jason nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, you’re quite right.” Jason frowned in thought. Glancing down at his desk he grabbed his copy of Pride and Prejudice, suddenly inspired.

“Okay. Elizabeth Bennet overhears Mr. Darcy insulting all of the ladies at the dance, herself included.”

The students that had completed their reading assignment nodded, while those that had not, just stared at him with confused looks on their faces.

Jason continued. “Well, had he simply apologized, Elizabeth would have seen his better qualities sooner, rather than deducing him to be a shallow, haughty man undeserving of her time and attention.”

Jason frowned. He wasn’t making any sense - even to himself. They were only halfway through the Jane Austen novel, and Jason wondered idly if Alli had already read it and consequently knew the outcome. He was fairly certain that she had. He didn’t want to imply that he expected them to end up together. Scrapping his Pride and Prejudice theme, he soldiered on.

“Okay, how about this. Let’s say I insulted Miss Wilson, and was overly rude and hurtful. Maybe I said very insensitive things with the intension of purposefully causing her heartache, sprung solely from my own insecurities.” Thirty baffled students stared back at him. He cringed inwardly and tried to weave his ramblings back into relevance. “Uh... Which is exactly what Mr. Darcy does to Miss Bennet in chapter... hmmm. Anyway. Uh. Take out your journals and write an acceptable apology. Please keep them relevant to the period. Address them to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, from Mr. Darcy. You have twenty minutes. Get started.”
Hmm, not bad Taylor
. He congratulated himself.
Mr. Darcy does end up writing Elizabeth an apology...

He caught Alli’s look as he turned back to his desk. She was smiling shyly in acknowledgment. Apology accepted.

Alli was startled by the hissing sound the water made as it boiled over onto the stove burner. She had been preoccupied with reliving her time with Jason at the blood bank, and hadn’t been paying attention to the pasta.

She knew she shouldn’t have sought him out. It had been selfish and foolish... and
so
worth it. It was risky, trying to talk with him before she had ended things with Greg. Alli knew Margot was right in that regard. Unfortunately, Alli just hadn’t been able to find the right moment to talk with Greg. It was as if he knew something was wrong, so he was avoiding her. Even now, she was making pasta for one, because Greg had called to tell her he was swamped at the office, and he wouldn’t be good company so she should stay at her place tonight.

The coward in Alli was relieved she wouldn’t have to have the dreaded break-up talk tonight, but at the same time Alli was eager to move forward to whatever lay in store for her. Well, providing whatever lay in store for her included Jason. She wasn’t ready to face the possibility of Jason turning her away. The thought hurt too much. The reality of the situation was that he very well
may
deny her. He had every reason to believe her a fickle deserter. Had she been able to see into the future - to see the look of hurt and betrayal in Jason’s eyes when she had stumbled into his studio the other day, would she have still made the same decision she had made all those years ago?

She could remember it like it was yesterday. The conversation she had had with her father was burned into her memory, having been replayed over and over countless times in her mind. Had she made the right choice?

“Alli, I know you don’t understand right now, but it is my greatest hope that when you are older you will understand why I am doing this. I firmly believe with every fiber of my being that this is the right thing to do. The man is a
predator
. He cannot be allowed to continue preying on innocents. ”

Alli was sitting at the edge of the sofa. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her, more in a show of defiance than to keep her warm. Her head was turned sharply toward the wall as she was refusing to look at her father.

Her voice was low and angry when she spoke, still not looking at him. “You’re doing this to punish me. You
hate
me. You hate the shame I brought to the family name.”

Bill pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “God has already seen fit to punish you for your sins. This isn’t about punishing
you
.”

Alli turned to look at him then, her eyes bright with outraged disbelief. “How can you say that? How can you possibly say that? I suffered a tragedy, Daddy. That wasn’t God punishing me for my sins.” Hot, angry tears pooled in her eyes and spilled over to run down her cheeks. She growled in frustration. “I can’t wait to turn eighteen and get the hell away from you! I wish Mom would leave you for good.”

Bill looked heavenward as if asking for divine strength. He knew she was upset. He also knew she was a stubborn girl, and she would run to that bastard teacher the second the clock struck midnight on her eighteenth birthday. He couldn’t let that happen. He needed to prevent that by any means necessary.

“You’re right, Alli. You’ll be eighteen soon. You’ll be free to do what you wish within the confines of the law. Sadly, I don’t think the reunion you are envisioning between yourself and Jason will go quite as planned.”