Mad About Max. Penny McCusker

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      Chapter Four

      Sara took down the rest of the papier-mâché turkeys her students had made, looping the strings that had attached them to the ceiling around her fingers as she went about the task. She really should have done it earlier in the week, so the children would have their handmade decorations to grace their tables for the big day tomorrow. Instead, she’d kept putting it off so she wouldn’t have to think about the holiday looming like a big question mark at the end of the week.

      But there were paper Santas, stuffed with cotton batting and stapled at the edges, to be hung. Life went on, time passed and memories weren’t supposed to hurt as much. But they did.

      Despite the ray of hope it had provided, the argument with Max haunted her. Here it was, the day before Thanksgiving, and for the first time in six years, she didn’t know if she’d be cooking a turkey with all the trimmings for Max and Joey, or eating a solitary meal in a lonely house. She didn’t like being on bad terms with anyone, and when it was Max…well, it felt as if somebody was ripping her heart out, and the pain of it was giving her second thoughts.

      She’d tried to forget about the difficult path she’d chosen by focusing on the destination, but she really wasn’t all that eager for things to change if that change might mean leaving Max for good. Still, being alone couldn’t be any worse than being in love alone.

      “Look who I found.”

      Sara gasped in surprise, and slapped a turkey-festooned hand over her suddenly racing heart. “Jeez, Janey, I hate it when you sneak up on me like…” She spun around to confront her best friend, but her focus immediately shifted to the boy standing so uneasily under Janey’s casually slung arm. “Hey, Joey, what’s up?”

      He shrugged, burying his mittened hands deep in the pockets of his coat.

      Sara looked at Janey.

      Janey made a face and gave a slight you-got-me shake of her head.

      “Did you miss the bus?” Sara asked Joey as she unstrung her hand and laid the turkeys on her desk.

      “No. Dad’s picking me up.”

      Sara peered out her window, which faced the street and the parking lot. There wasn’t a car or truck in sight. “I think he might have forgotten.”

      “He didn’t forget. He’s just late.” Joey ducked out from under Janey’s arm and went to the window. He crossed his arms on the sill and dropped his chin to rest on them, staring out at the empty road.

      Sara’s heart broke for him. She knew how he felt—oh, not that Max had ever forgotten about her. It was more a case of not thinking of her at all. She could be his boots or his coat: not to be given another thought as long as she fit his life. And perhaps to be just as easily replaced now that she didn’t. But that was too dismal and self-serving a thought to be having while there was a child in pain.

      She grabbed a chair and carried it across the room, sitting next to Joey. He sidled a couple of steps away.

      So, there was more going on here than simply Joey being upset that his dad had forgotten him. “What’s wrong, Joey?”

      “Nothing.” But he hunched his shoulders, concentrating very hard on the view out the window.

      If he’d shouted at her to go away, she couldn’t have gotten the message any clearer. She wasn’t about to back off. “Why didn’t you let me know your dad hadn’t come? You know I’ll drive you home.”

      “No—I mean, Dad’s in town, helping put up the Christmas decorations.”

      “And it’s been snowing on and off all day, so he probably didn’t finish in time,” Sara mused.

      “I was gonna walk into town and find him, but she—” he jerked his head toward Janey “—brought me down here instead.”

      Janey rolled her eyes, spun on her heel and left.

      “You know the rules, kiddo. You’re not allowed to leave school property unless you’re on the bus or an adult comes for you.”

      “Yeah,” he sighed. “Rules.”

      “Well, I’m an adult, СКАЧАТЬ