Authors: Amanda Boone,Amber Duval
2.
Martinsville held an end of summer carnival each year to get kids ready to go back to school. I’d attended since I was little. The first few years I’d gone had been for fun. Then, as soon as my mom could enter me into the Little Miss Martinsville pageant, it’d stopped being fun. I’d competed for the title ten years straight and brought it home ten years straight.
I thought about the backstage area and shivered. I’d been shoved into gowns that weighed nearly twice as much as me and then had hot rods shoved in my hair. That was before my mom arrived with her speeches, too. When she did show up, she’d poke and prod at me until I wanted to cry, and then she’d lecture me about how important it was to win. She was the worst stage mom.
I stood at the back of the audience a week after that disastrous date and watched as little girls pranced around the stage. I felt bad for them because I knew that a lot of them had a mom like mine backstage, ready to scream at them if they missed a step.
My best friend, Amanda, was standing next to me, her eyes anywhere but the stage. “I heard that the Steele brothers are back in town.”
I moved my eyes to her. She was wearing a bright yellow sundress with her favorite sandals. Her dark red hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and she looked beautifully laid back. “And?”
She jerked her eyes to me and grabbed my arms. “Seriously? It’s the biggest deal, Sara Jane. They’ve been gone for so long.”
I looked around the crowded field we were in and shook my head. “I still don’t see why it’s a big deal. Are they famous?”
“Um, yes. Well, kind of. The oldest brother, Justin, is a bull riding champion. He’s been all over. Devon is the middle one, and he’s some sort of horse trainer. Avery, the youngest, does some kind of charity work with the rodeo. Mainly, I followed Justin. He’s the bad boy of the three. There are so many rumors about him being a freak in the bedroom. Into some kinky shit.”
I looked around us to see if anyone was listening, but thankfully no one was. “Good grief, Amanda, do you stalk them?”
She laughed and shook her head. “No, but I should now that they’re back in town.”
I decided to play along. “Why are they back in town?”
“Their parents decided to retire and someone had to take over the ranch. I guess they were all at a place where they could move back, so they decided to do it together.”
I nodded. “That’s nice.”
Her eyes were back to scanning the crowd. “Not nice, Sara. Hot. Sexy. Cowboys. The three of them are all drop-dead sexy. I can’t believe you haven’t heard about them. Every woman in town has been whispering about them.”
I shrugged and turned back to the stage in time to see a little girl stumble. “I’ve been locked in the school, trying to get my office ready for the start of the year.”
She suddenly grabbed my arm and squealed. “I think I just saw one of them. I have to go and try to get into their tight Levi’s.”
I reached out to stop her, but she was already sprinting away. I’d never seen her move so fast. I watched as her hair disappeared into the crowd and sighed. I was on my own. I doubted I’d see Amanda again for the rest of the night. Once she had her sights set on someone, she didn’t quit until she got them.
I cast one last look at the stage before backing out of the group of onlookers. I headed toward the corner of the field dedicated to food vendors with my mind on a funnel cake. I’d been thinking about eating one since I’d heard the date of the carnival. I waited in line and paid for my delicious, fried greatness before walking over to a picnic table and sitting down.
I’d just taken my first bite when my plate was swept away from me. I snapped my eyes up to the person who clearly had a death wish and found a pair of eyes nearly identical to my own glaring back at me.
“Sara Jane Barrows, what do you think you’re doing? What about your diet?!” My mother’s shrill voice penetrated my brain like an ice pick.
I turned around and tried to resist the urge to snatch my food back. It was going to turn to ice in her cold clutch. “I’m not on a diet, Mom.”
She frowned at me and then passed the funnel cake off to someone passing by. “I know you don’t mean that, Sara. It’s just hard to stay on the right track with all of this fried food hanging around. What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you’d still be locked in that office of yours.”
I stood up and started walking away from her. I knew she’d follow, but I just had to move. “I come every year.”
Janet Barrows was not one to be dismissed easily. She was a hard woman with an uncanny ability to say the worst things with a sweet tone. “I haven’t heard you say anything about the date with Bradley yet.”
I opened my mouth to reply but then snapped it closed when the cowboy from the restaurant materialized in front of me. I looked up and met his gaze.
His eyes trailed down my body and then moved back up to my face. “Fancy running into you here.”
I took a step back and bumped into my mom. She huffed and groaned like I’d nearly killed her. I mumbled a quick apology to her and then refocused on the cowboy. “Running being the operative word, unfortunately.”
When I tried to step around him, he matched my steps and blocked my way. “I’m starting to get a complex here.”
My mom cleared her throat. “Do you two know each other?”
I shook my head. “No. Not at all.”
“Sure we do.”
Mom looked between the two of us and raised her eyebrows. “Is he the reason you didn’t call poor Bradley back?”
The cowboy snorted. “That little shit from last week? I saw that travesty, ma’am. She had every reason to not call him back. I’d like to believe I had a little something to do with it, though.”
I laughed, not for the first time, at him. “You didn’t. It was the fact that he strong-armed me into paying for the entire meal. It just didn’t work out with him, Mom.”
Her cheeks brightened and she placed her hand delicately over her heart. “Sara Jane, you’re being rude. I’m sorry, sir, I don’t believe I caught your name.”
I spotted Amanda’s head near the sign for fried Oreos and casually stepped away from them. “Please, excuse me.”
I chased after Amanda but still managed to lose her in the crowd somehow. After a half hour of looking, I gave up and decided to go home. I had stuff I could be getting done there.
3.
The first day back at school was never without its issues. The day always started out with my mom calling me and telling me of at least four different office positions she knew of, all with friends of my father’s. Rich men needing secretaries. After getting my mom off the phone, I made my first stop at Hal’s for an extra-large cup of coffee and a chocolate muffin. Then it was chaos as soon as I stepped into the school.
Martinsville wasn’t a tiny town, but it was small enough that all of its students fit into one building. That had given the school board the brilliant idea that they only needed one counselor.
One
counselor for every single kid in the school. How lucky was I?
It was probably the only reason my mom and dad hadn’t made a bigger stink about my chosen career. With me being the only counselor, it made the job seem more special to them, somehow. It was the one thing they hadn’t been able to completely control in my life. While I’d given up any hopes of ever completely being myself or finding a date that wasn’t atrocious, I’d fought for a career I liked.
Counseling hadn’t been the top thing I wanted to do, of course. I wanted to open a no-kill shelter for animals. That idea was completely asinine to my parents, however. Since they’d footed the bills for college, I’d had to do something they marginally approved of. I think, in the end, my mom’s background in philanthropy was what let me get away with choosing to be a school counselor. She thought I was doing charity work at school. Just not dirty charity work like working with mutts. Judging by her yearly job offers, however, she clearly wasn’t satisfied with me staying at my job.
I had to shake my head a few different times to rid myself of the negative thoughts, because, overall, I was excited to be at work again. I loved most of the kids, and I liked getting to talk to them.
After a morning from hell, dealing with scheduling issues, I wasn’t as excited. I had a headache and hadn’t gotten to eat lunch. The first couple of weeks would be hell, trying to help the main office get everyone in their right classes. It wasn’t the part of my job that I liked.
That afternoon one of the new kindergarten teachers called me to her room. By the time I reached the hallway her room was in, I could already hear the problem. Over the rest of the first-day chaos I could hear one little voice above the rest, screaming bloody murder.
I rushed the rest of the way, and once I got into the classroom I winced at how loud it was. I immediately spotted the screamer, a small boy with his arms crossed over his chest and a bright red face. He was sitting in the middle of the classroom reading rug, all by himself.
Mrs. Hill came up to me quickly. “He’s been like this all day. I’ve tried everything and nothing’s worked so far.”
I nodded and made my way over to him. I knelt down, all the while wishing I’d worn anything other than a pencil skirt, and smiled at him. “Hey, there. I’m Miss Sara. What’s your name?”
More screaming.
“He’s Mason Steele.”
I thanked Mrs. Hill and then turned back to Mason. “I like your name, Mason. It’s a good name.”
His tiny blond curls fell into his eyes as he looked at me with cornflower blue eyes. His pudgy cheeks and fat tears nearly broke my heart.
“Do you want to go on a walk with me?”
He finally nodded. I offered him a hand and he took it. I ignored the fact that it was solidly sticky.
“I’ll keep Mr. Mason the rest of the afternoon, Mrs. Hill, since the day is almost over.”
The woman nodded, looking relieved to finally get some silence. Mason wasn’t screaming anymore. Instead, he was whimpering and had planted his thumb firmly into his mouth.
The hallways were empty as I led him back toward my office. “Do you want to talk about it, Mason?”
He looked up at me and shook his head.
“Okay. Strong, silent type, huh? How about we just sit in my office and read a book? Do you like books?”
He shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his boots.
I let the silence go on since he was calming down. My chest ached as I looked down at the top of his curly head. He seemed terrified. Most kids came in with some version of it, but normally they calmed down after an hour or so. It worried me that he was still that upset after nearly a full day.
Once we were in my office, I let him sit in my desk chair and I sat in the metal folding chair beside him while I read a Dr. Seuss book. The worry I felt grew as he didn’t smile even once.
“You know, Mason, it’s okay to be scared. Even grown-ups get scared.”
He suddenly looked up at me with distrust in his eyes, and an invisible wall went up between us. I didn’t know what’d happened, but it felt significant.
I wanted to get into it more with him, but the bell rang. After finding out he rode a bus home, I took him to the line he was supposed to be in and knelt down again. “You did it. One whole day finished. That’s a big deal. I’m proud of you, Mason.”
He looked away, but I could see the ghost of a smile on his little lips. I left with instructions to the older kid in front of him to look out for Mason. His eyes followed me as I left, and I couldn’t help the burning in the back of my eyes.
I must’ve been close to my period, because I wasn’t usually emotional. Something about Mason had hit me hard, though.
I went back to my room to clean up and organize for the next day. Mrs. Hill stopped by my office on her way out and knocked on the door. She poked her head in and smiled.
“Thank you for taking Mason. I just couldn’t get him to settle down.”
“I think he only calmed down for me because all of the extra stimuli was gone for a bit. Do you know anything about him?”
She looked up at the ceiling. “I feel like he’s going to be a challenging one. His father is Justin Steele. The bull rider? I don’t think there’s a mother in the picture. He’s a year late getting into school, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s actually six. He should’ve started last year, but he was on the road with his dad. Not only did he not get into a traditional school last year, he also didn’t get any tutoring. I’m worried about him.”
I nodded. That made two of us. “Just keep me updated, if you will.”
She agreed, but, as we quickly found the next day, I didn’t have to worry about being kept in the loop. Around lunchtime the next day, she called me back to her room, and I once again found a sobbing Mason on the carpet.
I quietly told her I was going to try to get in contact with his dad before bending over to look at Mason. “You, again. You must’ve really liked hanging out with me yesterday, huh? Come on. Let’s take another walk.”
That time he immediately reached for my hand and let me lead him around the school. His tears quickly stopped, but his little hand tightened in mine when we got closer to his classroom again.
I bent down and smiled. “Let’s make a deal. You try and get through the afternoon in class and I’ll come back before the bell rings and we’ll take another walk. How does that sound?”
He shook his head. He still hadn’t spoken a word to me, or to Mrs. Hill.
“Do you know what’s so important about school?”
Another head shake.
“You come here to learn things, all sorts of things. Then your brain grows, and when you get big and tall, you’ll be so smart that you can do anything you want. You’ve got to let Mrs. Hill help your brain grow.”
He raised his hand to touch his head and made a puzzled face.
“Yeah, your brain. It wants to learn stuff, too, like the alphabet. Once you learn that you can start learning to read. Then maybe you can read me a book.”
Another ghost of a smile appeared on his face, but it was gone as quickly as it came.
I took both of his hands in mine and gently squeezed them. “It’s going to be okay, Mason. I know that things are scary right now, but it’ll get easier. Soon you’ll have friends and you’ll be excited to come to school so you can play with them. And you’ll get to learn about dinosaurs and maybe even robots!”
He straightened his back and nodded. I took it as a sign that he was ready and led him into the classroom. Mrs. Hill was just starting a song about being nice to others. Mason looked up at me, and the fear I saw in his eyes hit me like a big truck.
I squeezed his hand and smiled. “Don’t forget about our date. You can do this.”
He went to his seat and I left the room, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else. I went back to my office and pulled up Mason’s file on my computer. I wanted to get in touch with his dad so we could talk about what was going on with Mason.
As I was dialing his number, I remembered Amanda telling me all about Justin Steele. I bit my lip as a sliver of nervousness made itself a home in me.
“Hello?”
I was so shocked to hear a woman’s voice that I actually stuttered. “H-hi. I’m calling for Justin Steele.”
She sighed. “Isn’t everyone? I’m his publicist, and
apparently
assistant, Hannah Moore. Can I pass on a message?”
All nervousness gone, I just saw red. “He left his publicist’s number at his son’s school? What a jerk.”
She laughed. “Tell me how you really feel, honey.”
“My name is Sara Barrows. I’m the counselor at Mason’s school. There have been a few issues with Mason that I’d like to address with Mr. Steele, if you’ll have him call me back. Soon, please.”
“I’ll get him the message.”
I thanked her and hung up with a sour taste in my mouth. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like Justin Steele.