Jack Kursed (21 page)

"There's no other way to be," he said.
"Goodbye."

He left the playground
without looking back. He almost felt guilty. Only he could take
what was meant as a compliment and leave a woman fighting tears. He
pushed his conscience aside, something he'd been doing all his
life. He had a little girl to worry about.

Jack drove slowly on
purpose, hoping it would give Tiffany the chance to speak up. She
said nothing, content to stare out the passenger’s
window.

"How was school?"

"I don’t want to talk
about it."

"Well, bad news. We’re
going to. What’s wrong?"

Tiffany didn’t answer. She
lowered and raised her window, an action that drove Jack crazy
after ten seconds.

"Stop that," he said. "What happened
at lunch to put you in your wonderful mood?"

"That boy Robert hit me."

"He did what?"

"He
pushed
me," she
corrected. "Knocked me on the ground."

Jack swerved from his
lane, cutting off a car, and made the first right turn at a traffic
light he could. He parked on the side of the road, across from a
Subway, and killed the engine. Taking a deep breath, he turned to
Tiffany. She had his undivided attention.

"What happened?"

"I was walking around the playground
by myself. I was taking pictures. I like to take
pictures."

"I noticed."

"Robert wanted to see my camera. I
thought maybe he would break it, so I told him no. He pushed me to
the ground and threw a dodge-ball at me." Her eyes to filled with
tears. "Everyone started laughing at me."

Jack could feel the rage
building. The rage he was comfortable with. Protective feelings
toward Tiffany he was not. He sat there, unmoving, trying to figure
what to do. Murdering Robert was most likely out of the
question.

"I didn’t hit him back,"
Tiffany said.

"Why not?"

"Hitting people is wrong,
I know. Miss Simmons used to hit us all the time. It’s
bad."

"Dammit, Tiffany, anything
you think you might have learned with her, run by me first. Now,
listen to me. I’m not saying go Chuck Norris on the kid, but you
can’t let anyone push you, hit you, try to hurt you, anything like
that."

"I should hit him back?"
she said, pausing to think. "That’s not what they say on
TV."

It took everything he had
not to burst out laughing. The girl was so funny, so cute. A smile
did escape, which he quickly tucked away.

"Just defend yourself. Use
your judgment. I won’t be mad at you."

"Okay. Can we go to the store and see
Mr. and Mrs. Soon?"

"Sure. They like you."

"I like them, too. It’s
really funny when they dance."

Jack gave her a playful
ruff of the hair, and pulled into traffic.

CHAPTER 10

A week passed. Jack
developed into a routine, which he enjoyed very much. A routine
helped to define time, to give him something to look forward to.
Cook breakfast and make lunch for Tiffany before school, take her
to school, enjoy his day, and pick her up. It was simple, and
simple was good. They ate dinner together and she worked on her
homework at the bar.

He also learned some
things. He was sure there was a mathematical formula out there
somewhere, but it seemed to be the smaller the child, the more
dirty clothes they produced. Jack furrowed his brow one evening at
the washer, trying to figure out how the dirty clothes basket kept
growing like an oil spill.

Tiffany also didn’t spend
nearly as much time in her room as he thought she would. From
everything he saw on TV, kids liked to spend time in their room.
Tiffany only went there to sleep. She wanted to spend as much time
as she could at Jack’s side, which was annoying. They argued about
what to watch on TV. When Jack pointed out she had her own TV, her
response was simply that she wanted to watch with him. It was
frustrating to lose control of his own living room, but he simply
took over again when she went to sleep. Never sleeping did have a
few advantages.

The weekend was an
interesting time. Jack worked in the garden while Tiffany ran
through the house like a tornado, watching TV, playing on the
computer. Then she actually helped Jack plant some carrots,
cauliflower, and beets. It almost seemed like Tiffany suffered from
the same curse as Jack. Never resting, never sleeping. But after a
full afternoon in the garden she passed out on the floor behind the
couch, giving him some time to watch the incredibly terrible movies
on SyFy. Victoria even stopped by to spend the evening with
them.

On Monday the routine began once
again. Breakfast, and then off to school. Tiffany still wasn't fond
of getting up early in the morning against her will, but she didn't
whine about it any longer.

Jack led Tiffany across
the playground. She still hadn't made any friends, but he knew it
was only a matter of time. She was too fun to go unnoticed much
longer.

Erica leaned against the
brick wall, watching Jack with a smile. The woman was absolutely
stunning. She wore a skirt with a blue blouse, her hair held back
with a hair clip. Standing there with her arms crossed, she had one
foot flat against the wall, a pose he found incredibly sexy. He
loved that she never bothered to wear makeup. He could guess her
logic, that with her scar, why bother? But it was just another
thing that set her apart.

"Damn," he said as he drew near. "I
can almost see some of your thigh."

She laughed and shook her
head. She'd almost expected the inappropriate comments he made,
even in front of Tiffany. Nothing he said bothered the girl. He
could do no wrong in her eyes.

"Good morning, Jack, Tiffany," she
said. "You have a good weekend?"

"It was the best weekend
ever!" Tiffany shouted. "We planted things, and played in the dirt,
and watched TV. We had hamburgers with Victoria, even though she
never eats. And we went to the mall yesterday, and then
we-"

Tiffany stopped talking for a moment
to breathe. Jack rolled his eyes and smiled at Erica.

"We had fun. Thanks for
asking."

"Victoria?" Erica
asked.

"My sister."

It felt strange to
talk to others about Victoria. He socialized so rarely, and never
had a title for Victoria before. It felt good to have
family
again.

He raised an eyebrow at
her. "Did I sense a little jealousy there? Just for a
second?"

Jack loved teasing Erica,
flirting with her. It was easy to flirt because there wasn't the
chance of anything happening. Her reactions, getting flustered,
were priceless. She tried to hide it, but body language told the
story. Erica had self-confidence problems, always keeping her eyes
low, keeping her scar turned away during a conversation. But she
liked talking to Jack. He knew teachers were supposed to rotate who
watched the playground in the morning, but Erica never gave up her
shift.

"No jealousy here, Jack. Just your
imagination."

"Eh, you say that.
But when Tiffany said
Victoria
, your jaw tensed up, just
for a second, and your foot on the wall there slid down an inch or
so."

She uncrossed her arms and
pushed herself away from the wall. Looking around the playground to
make sure no one was watching her, she glanced down to see Tiffany
laughing at her.

"How do you do that?" she
asked.

"Ah, so I was right.
Jealousy."

"No, no. You're way out of
line. You don't think I notice things? Do you know you're the only
parent who walks right up to me in the morning?"

He nodded and frowned at the other
parents around him, not paying attention to any of the
children.

"I know. I just want to
make sure Tiffany gets inside okay," he said, meeting her eyes.
"And seeing you every morning doesn't hurt, either."

Erica laughed and gave Tiffany a
smile. "Your foster-father is crazy."

"He's the nicest person in the
world."

She nodded and looked back
to Jack. "Do your little lines work on any of the other
ladies?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't
tossed lines at anyone in a long time." He knelt down and patted
Tiffany on the shoulder. "You be good today."

"I will."

"Oh, I almost forgot." He
reached into his pocket for the gift he bought for her at the mall.
"This is for you."

Her eyes lit up as he
pulled out an iPhone. It had a Spongebob Squarepants case. He
smiled when he saw the look on her face. Gently turning her around,
he opened a pocket and shoved the phone into her pack.

"Is that for me?"

"That's what I said, isn't it? I
figured it could replace that stupid camera you've got. It takes
better pictures, and can hold something like four billion of
them."

Tiffany said nothing. She
reached out and hugged him, burying her head in his shoulder. It
was the second hug in a week's time. Jack tried to hold in an
irritated groan. He would stop doing nice things for her if they
kept leading to hugs. He looked up at Erica.

"Could you help me out
here?"

She laughed and shook her
head. "You're on your own. But Jack, we really don't like our
students bringing iPhones to school."

He gently pulled away from Tiffany and
stood up to look into Erica's beautiful eyes.

"Really? Well, okay. What
are you guys in to here? Androids? Blackberries?"

She laughed again, reaching out to
touch his shoulder. "No. I mean we just don't like the kids to
bring phones of any kind. They're not toys, you know."

"The hell they aren't. Do
you know how many pigs I've slaughtered by tossing little birds at
them? I love technology."

Tiffany jumped and gasped. "You put
the Angry Birds on the phone?"

"I did. But Tiffany, you can't pull
the phone out, okay? Not even at lunch or recess. You have to keep
it in your bag until you get home."

She pouted, but agreed. He
smiled at Erica.

"Good enough?"

She rolled her eyes. "I guess
so."

"Great, everything's beautiful. I'll
pick you up after school. Erica, don't get too distracted thinking
about me while you teach."

"I'll try my absolute
best."

*****

Tiffany sat at her
assigned seat at the back of class. She pulled out her paper and
pencils, setting the pencils in the groove at the top of her desk.
The bell rang, but some of the children around her kept talking and
laughing. Miss Hernandez rapped her knuckles on her desk a few
times to get their attention, an action Tiffany hated. It reminded
her of homeschooling with Miss Simmons. Whenever her old
foster-mother would lose her temper while teaching, she would pound
on the coffee table. After that the discipline usually
started.

"Morning, everybody," Miss Hernandez
greeted with her usual smile. "Go ahead and pass your homework to
the front of class."

Tiffany handed her
homework, which she knew was mostly wrong, to the student in front
of her. She didn't hate school as much as she thought she would.
The other kids were nice to her, except for Robert. She didn't have
to eat the cafeteria food because Jack made her a great lunch every
day. The other kids looked at her with envy in their
eyes.

She knew Jack was an
angel, sent to look out for her. She thanked God every night before
she went to bed. But Tiffany knew things could change in an
instant. The foster system taught her that. She had to try in
school as hard as she could, and get good grades. Jack said he
wouldn't give her away, but parents didn't want stupid kids. She
wanted Jack to be proud of her, to maybe actually hug her, and not
simply put up with it.

Miss Hernandez leafed
through the homework assignments for a moment at the front of
class. A frown touched her face as she paused, and Tiffany knew the
teacher had found her paper.

"Okay, guys, turn to page
forty-seven in your math book." She laughed as the class groaned.
"Oh, don't give me that. Who doesn't like math?"

"No one likes math," a voice
said.

Miss Hernandez spun in place and held
out a marker like a sword. "Who said that?"

The class laughed.
Tiffany liked Miss Hernandez. She was a nice, funny lady. Tiffany
didn't like it when she heard other kids on the playground calling
her teacher names. The kids all made fun of Miss Hernandez's face,
calling her names like
Scarface
and
Cat-Attack
.

The teacher stopped next to Tiffany
and put a hand on her desk.

"Tiffany, did you have
some trouble with your homework over the weekend?"