Page 48 of My One and Only

Cam relaxed into his seat. “That all sounds great, Ms.Morrison,” he said. “It sounds as if you’ve given a lot of thought to security. The only other thing I’d like to ask is that you call me if anyone besides myself, Ms.Hatch or my mother or father come here and want to pick Fiona up.”

Morrison nodded. “We’ll do that,” she said. “In general, we only let parents pick up their children unless they let us know ahead of time that someone else will be fetching them. Cameron, you probably remember letting us know your mother or father would be picking up Fiona.”

“I do,” he said. “But I wanted to make sure you were aware of the situation.”

“I appreciate that.” She leaned toward them. “Howard, our security guard, is very good. He’s quite vigilant, and if he sees an adult loitering on school property, he calls the police. They respond very quickly.”

“All your precautions reassure me,” Cam said. “Ms.Hatch and I will be picking up Fiona for the foreseeable future. For today, would it be possible for you to let Fiona’s teacher know that we’ll meet her in the lobby?”

“I can do that,” Morrison said with a smile. “But it’s pretty hectic out there when the bell rings. That’s why our security guard and two teachers are always out there. Why don’t you wait in the outer office for Fiona? I’ll call her teacher and have her send Fiona to my office.”

“Thanks again, Ms.Morrison,” Cam said, standing up. “I appreciate your time.”

“I hope you get your situation resolved soon,” the principal said. “For all of your sakes.”

“We do, too,” Cam said. He waited for Jo to stand, then they stepped into the outer office. Jo spotted two chairs against the wall, and she urged Cam into one of them.

A couple of minutes later, a bell rang and the chatter and laughing of children rose in the hall outside their door. It only took a few minutes for children to pour into the hall and toward the exit door. Soon, a steady stream of children hurried past the office.

The outer door opened suddenly and Fiona stepped inside. When she spotted her father, her shoulders relaxed and she smiled at him.

“Daddy!”she said. “How come you’re picking me up?”

“Jo and I are going to pick you up every day,” he said, squatting down to hug his daughter. Running his hand over her blond hair, he said, “I was just letting Ms.Morrison know that I’d be picking you up for a while. She likes to know that kind of thing.”

Fiona nodded. “She’s very strict about that,” she said.

“And that’s a good thing,” Cam said. Glancing into the lobby, he said, “As soon as there are fewer people there, we’ll get into Jo’s car and go home.”

“Did you bring my car seat?”Fiona asked.

Jo looked at Cam, who had a horrified look on his face. “No,” he said. “I didn’t think of it. But we’ll be fine for today. We’ll stay on the side streets and Jo will drive very slowly.”

Fiona looked up at her. “You promise, Ms.Jo?”

“Absolutely,” she assured Fiona. “And I’ll get a car seat today so that both my car and your dad’s truck have a safe way for you to ride.”

“There’s a Costco on the way home,” Cam said quietly. “We can stop there.”

“Sorry,” Jo murmured. “I didn’t even think about a car seat.”

“Not your job to think of that,” Cam said.

“Yeah, it is.” She glanced at Fiona, who was waving at two girls walking to a car. “My job is to keep both of you safe. And that includes having a car seat.”

“Okay, we’ll stop at Costco.” He smiled. “Fiona loves going there. Especially if they’re giving out samples.”

Forty-five minutes later, Jo’s car now sporting a car seat, they pulled into Cam’s driveway. Cam leaned closer and said, “Go in and check the house. I’ll get her out of the car seat.”

Jo frowned. She didn’t like having her principal out of her sight, but it was either that or explain to Fiona why Jo was searching their house. “Okay, but get her inside the front door as fast as possible,” she muttered.

Standing beside the car, she studied the street but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Same with the sidewalks on either side of the street.

She searched the house quickly, then waited while Fiona walked to the door, her huge purple Frozen backpack slung over one shoulder and bouncing against her butt. Jo held the door open and shepherded Fiona and her father through the front door.

“Is there a basement?”she asked quietly as Fiona dropped her backpack on the living room floor and ran into the kitchen.

“Yeah. There’s a door off the kitchen that leads down there.”

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