Jack Kursed (23 page)

"Please," he whispered.
"Don't get Tiffany suspended. She's been in school a week. All she
did was stand up to a bully. You wouldn't believe how proud I am of
her. I've been around a long time, and I've never met a kid like
her. She's been through so much."

"A long time," she repeated. "What you
are? Thirty years old?"

"Close enough."

The anger disappeared, but Erica was
still wary. She looked back and forth from Jack to Tiffany,
wrestling with her conscience.

"If Robert whines to his
parents, she’ll be suspended. If he doesn’t, she won’t be. That’s
it."

"Excellent! Tiffany, let's
go before she changes her mind."

"Wait, there's one more
thing."

He groaned as she led him to the far
corner of the room. He loved her perfume. It was difficult to
focus, even with his great concentration.

"Tiffany's not where she
should be," she said. "Her reading's a little behind. She doesn’t
understand basic multiplication. She was home-schooled before
you?"

He nodded.

"Her foster-mother
obviously didn't do a good job, and from what I saw on the news,
that doesn't surprise me. I was talking to Mrs. Freeman. She
teaches third grade, too, but for-"

"Slow kids," he finished.

Erica frowned at his choice of words.
"Students with learning disabilities."

Jack clasped his hands together as he
eyed Tiffany. It was turning out to be a stressful day.

"She needs tutoring. How
much do you charge a night?"

"I don't tutor, Jack. I have enough on
my plate."

"Please," he said sarcastically. "You
go home every night and watch TV. One hundred dollars a
night?"

She frowned and looked
away. "Would you please stop doing that? Do you ever stop to think
about what you say?"

"You'd be doing me a favor," he said,
ignoring her questions. "She likes you. I know you could help her.
Two hundred dollars."

"There are plenty of other
tutors...two hundred dollars?"

He winced. "Okay, two-fifty. And I'll
cook."

She smiled. "Deal. But...no cooking.
We meet at the library."

"Why?"

"You're definitely one of the most
unique guys I've ever met-"

"You have no
idea."

"But I don't trust you enough to go to
your house. So, the library."

"Was that so hard? Doesn't honesty
feel good?"

CHAPTER 11

Jack held in amusement as
he parked outside the library. He didn't even know Parkville had
one. He'd seen institutions come and go over the decades. It
actually broke his heart when horseback slowly faded away. It was
probably only a matter of time before the digital age replaced
libraries.

"Why does Miss Hernandez
have to teach me two times in one day?" Tiffany asked as they
climbed out of the truck. "Is this discipline for hitting
Robert?"

"Not at all. This is just
some extra teaching, called tutoring. As far as Robert goes, you
did awesome. He pushed you, and you busted his ass. I guarantee he
will not push you again."

Tiffany stopped halfway across the
parking lot. Jack paused when he realized she wasn't at his side.
Her lower lip quivered, but she held in her emotions.

"Is this because I'm not very
smart?"

He felt a stab of sadness,
and quickly shoved it aside. He didn't like feeling things for
other people. She looked down as he knelt in front of
her.

"Tiffany, you're doing fine. We're
just trying to give you a helping hand."

"Miss Simmons used to say I was the
stupidest kid she ever saw."

Jack clenched his fist.
With every mention of her name he regretted not killing
her.

"Forget what she said. You only listen
to Miss Hernandez and me now."

"Okay."

The library was nearly
deserted. Only a few people read at tables and browsed the net at
computer terminals. A woman sat behind a counter and played with
her phone. Jack laughed at a teenaged couple making out in a back
corner. Weren't there better make-out spots than the
library?

He almost overlooked her,
thinking they'd arrived first, but saw Erica sitting at a table
near the water fountain, drinking a soda. What threw him off was
the dark pair of sunglasses on her face.

He tried not to indulge.
He saw her every morning, but never outside of school. She wore a
tight pair of jeans and a shirt with a lower cut than usual. Her
legs were crossed, and a pair of open-toed sandals dangled from her
feet. Her wardrobe hugged her perfectly. Erica simply oozed
beauty.

She noticed them
approaching and offered a smile.

"Hi there, Shady," Jack
said.

She blushed and removed her
sunglasses, shifting her head slightly to minimize view of her
scar. "Sorry. I wear these when I'm out. You know, to-"

"Yeah, I know why."

"Okay, Tiffany," she said.
"Get your books ready while I talk to Jack for a
second."

She led him away a few tables by the
arm and lowered her voice. Jack leaned in close.

"I’m not comfortable with
you giving me two hundred fifty dollars."

"Well, you agreed. I’m not
going any higher."

"No," she said, shaking
her head. "It’s already too high."

"Think of a number you’re
comfortable with, and let me know."

"Fine. Give us about two
hours," she said with a smile. "You finally get some time to
yourself, a single parent’s dream."

"I’m not going anywhere.
I’ll stay out of your way, but I’ll be over here."

"You’re gonna stay here
while I tutor?"

"Yeah," he said, a smile
touching the corner of his mouth. "I don’t trust you enough not to
be here."

Erica laughed quietly at
Jack’s use of her words from earlier. He went to move around her,
to get back to Tiffany, but Erica stopped him with a quick grab of
his arm.

"How did you get to be a
foster-parent?" she asked.

"Am I doing a bad job?"

"No, not at all. I’m just
curious."

He looked into her
eyes. She was interested in him.
Teacher-dating-student’s-parent
principle aside, she wanted to know more about
him.

The thing that surprised Jack was he
felt the same way about her.

"Lots and lots of shady, illegal
stuff."

He loved telling people
the truth about the unusual circumstances that were his life. No
one ever believed him, and the looks they gave him were priceless.
This time was no different.

Erica let out that sexy
laugh of hers and rolled her eyes. "You’re so difficult. You’re
worse than some of my students, laughing at kids getting beat
up."

He chuckled at the fresh memory of
Tiffany knocking Robert to the ground.

"You thought it was funny,
too. You’re just as twisted as me."

She raised an eyebrow and
gave him a look. There was a hint of mystery, of
challenge.

"Maybe even more."

He smiled at her before patting
Tiffany on the back.

"I’ll be right over
there," he said, pointing at a table. "I’m just gonna catch up on
some work I’ve been putting off. Later, we’ll get some
dinner."

"Can we watch a
movie tonight? Can we watch
WALL-E
?"

"You have a Blu-ray player in your
room."

"But I want to watch it with
you."

"Fine, fine," he said,
sighing.

He gave Erica a wink
before waking his iPad and sitting a few tables away. He kept an
ear cocked toward Erica and Tiffany as he answered a few emails,
got in touch with a few important associates he wanted to stay in
contact with, and browsed a few websites. Andrea Simmons was still
in the local news, and even caught attention at the national level.
The mysterious aid the police received wasn’t mentioned. No doubt
the police wanted to keep that under wraps out of sheer
embarrassment.

Simply listening to Erica
and Tiffany gave him insight into both of them. Erica really was an
excellent teacher. She gave gentle encouragement, and when Tiffany
became frustrated, Erica would tell a joke. Tiffany would laugh,
and they would resume once again. Jack knew third graders had
energy levels that rivaled his own, but he could see Erica was
patient and caring.

Tiffany, on the other
hand, wasn’t a very good student. Jack glanced up every now and
then, and could simply see the child fighting with herself,
fighting with her confidence. The damage Simmons did to her was
great. Every few minutes was a cycle of Tiffany doing work, getting
frustrated, and Erica having to calm her down. The poor girl’s hand
even trembled as she tried to solve a math problem. As patient and
clever as Erica was, Jack could see her thinking, trying to come up
with new ways of getting through to Tiffany.

Everything dissolved about an hour
into tutoring. Tiffany dropped her pencil as a few tears fell to
her sheet of paper.

"I can’t do this," she
said. "I’m not smart. I’ve always been stupid. That’s why my Daddy
left after Mommy died."

Jack dropped his iPad to
the table and turned in his seat. Tiffany was standing up, backing
away from the schoolwork like it was a poisonous snake. She
breathed heavy as she tried to fight off more tears. Erica looked
to Jack for answers she didn’t have.

"Tiffany, listen-" Erica
began.

"No! I don’t want to do
this. I hate school."

"Tiffany," Jack said.

She quieted down and
turned at the sound of Jack’s voice. She was getting close to the
hysterical crying children do, when their entire bodies reacted and
heaved.

"Sit down."

She didn’t argue and
headed back to her seat. Jack moved from his table to theirs and
sat next to her. Erica simply watched, almost in awe.

He studied the girl,
trying to put his thoughts into words. Children had always been a
mystery to him. They were easier to read than adults because they
carried their emotions with them, seldom trying to hide. But saying
the wrong thing to a child could do irreparable harm, where an
adult could heal.

"I've been through
some...terrible things in my life."

"Is that why you never sleep?" she
asked, wiping at her eyes.

Jack blinked in surprise, not
expecting that. Erica gave him a curious look that he tried to
ignore.

"No, it’s not, but we’ll
talk about that another time. The point is...I thought I was the
strongest person in the world. Victoria was a close second, but no
one was stronger than me. No one had been through what I had. I
used to laugh at what you morta-...people thought were problems.
But then I met you, and I actually learned something."

"What?"

"That I was wrong,
which is something neither one of you will ever repeat.
You
are the strongest
person I’ve ever met."

Her eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes. Your energy, your
smile, your attitude. Your father didn’t leave because of anything
you did. He was just an idiot. But I’m glad he left, which I know
sounds weird. Now I get to look out for you, at least for a little
while."

"I’m glad he left, too,"
she said, reaching out for a hug.

"Okay. Quick hug,
quick hug," he said, barely touching the girl. "Two, maybe three
seconds. And...that’s enough. What I’m trying to say is I know
there isn’t anything you can’t do. You
will
get this school
stuff."

He heard a sniffle, but it
wasn’t coming from Tiffany. He looked over to see Erica with a
tissue, blowing her nose and fighting tears.

"I need to go to the
bathroom," Tiffany said. "And then we’ll tear up this
homework."

Jack and Erica laughed as he grabbed
her backpack.

"Sounds good. While you’re
working I’ll copy all your pictures from your camera to your
iPhone."

"Thank you, Jack."

He kept an eye on her
until she vanished into the bathroom. He took a step toward his
table when Erica grabbed his shoulder, but didn’t let
go.

"What did she mean? You never
sleep?"

Anger rolled through him
at someone asking such a question. It was his decision to share
information, not for others to ask for it. He pushed aside his
anger, much to his surprise, as despair took its place. The core of
his fury, his bitterness, sat at the forefront of his
brain.

He would never rest. He would never
die. The world would evolve, change, grow. He would not.

He realized these emotions were
playing across his face. Erica showed a genuine look of concern and
squeezed his shoulder.