Page 39 of Skate the Line

“Is everything okay?” I stand near the door. It seems safer.

“How long have you been Ellie’s nanny?” the principal asks.

I guess introductions are a thing of the past.

I shift on my feet. “A little over a week.”

Her hands rest on top of the desk, and she nods. “Well, you’ve made it longer than the rest.”

“And I intend to stay much longer. Ellie is a wonderful kid.” I soften my voice so she doesn’t think I’m being snippy. Though, I want to be.

“She is.” There’s a dramatic pause. “However, I’m concerned with her behavior.”

“I’m assuming that has something to do with me picking her up early?” I ask.

“I’ve tried telling Mr. Volkova that she’s a little withdrawn, but it doesn’t seem to be getting better. She’s smart and mature for her age. When she’s older, that will benefit her, but as a kindergartener, it’s concerning. She doesn’t have many friends and is very distrusting of adults.”

“What happened today?” I ask.

The principal drops her head. “Today, they had a substitute in music class, and Ellie refused to speak or even participate.” She looks me directly in the eye. “So, I had the school psychologist evaluate her.”

My hackles rise.

“Did her father approve of that?”

She glances away.

I’ll take that as a no.

“Well, no. But the reason I called him to pick Ellie up a little early was because I wanted to bring it to his attention that the final outcome was that with Ellie’s unstable home life, it is causing her to become apprehensive, mistrusting, skeptical…”

My heart beats a little faster with her implication that Ellie’s home life is unstable.

I question her. “Unstable?”

She laughs softly. “I’m not sure you know this, but Ellie has had multiple nannies in the past several months, so yes, unstable.”

Anger clouds my judgment.

I suddenly become protective over Ellie.

I know all about not trusting people, and that doesn’t mean that Ellie’s life is unstable or that Rhodes isn’t doing the best he can, like this snotty woman is obviously implying.

“Do you know why he has switched nannies so frequently?” she asks.

I eye her closely.

Does she think this is going to turn into a gossiping session?

“Yes.”

She waits for me to explain, but I don’t.

I understand her concern, but there is something about her tone that rubs me the wrong way. That may be because I’m distrusting as well, or it may be because she’s actingawfullyjudgy.

“Well, then”—she clasps her hands—“I hope bringing this to your attention will make a difference as it has not with her father.”

My hand rests on the door handle, and another line of anger works through me. I turn and look over my shoulder, pinning the principal in her spot. “Mr. Volkova is an amazing, caring father. The reason Ellie has had so many nannies isn’t because of him. It’s because of them. He’s trying his best to find the right person for her.”

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