Page 50 of The River Is Waiting

The steel door into this room starts its noisy opening. Whoever’s about to come in is either my visitor or Junior’s.

Nope. Don’t know her. She looks around, then starts walking toward the kid.

But a few minutes later, the door grinds open again and there’s Emily! I wave. She looks around the room, sees me, and waves back. Walking toward me now, she’s smiling but I can tell from her eyes that she’s upset.

“Wow. I can’t believe you’re here on a Thursday. I’ve missed you, Em. Can I get a hug?” She nods and we reach for each other, arms extended across the table. It’s awkward embracing like that, plus her body feels rigid. And bony. Jesus, how much weight has she lost? When I rub the back of her neck, her body unclenches and she tears up. “Hey,” I whisper.

She lets go before I do. Wipes at her eyes, composes herself. “Have a seat, Em. When they called me down here, I thought it would probably bemy mom. And then, when nobody showed up, I thought, well, whoever it was must have changed their mind. But here you are. God, I can’t believe it.”

“IsaidI’d visit you when I could, Corby. I couldn’t get here any sooner.”

She sounds defensive. “No, no. I know how busy you are. I just meant I didn’t expect you’d be able to come on a weeknight. Hey, remember, we have to keep our hands on the table where the goons can see them.”

She glances over at the two COs up there on their platform, talking to each other. “I can’t believe they have women guards here,” she says. “Why would a woman want to work at a place like this?”

I shrug. “How’s Maisie?”

“She’s okay.”

“Still have her ear infection?”

“No. She finished her amoxicillin a few days ago so I’m sure it’s cleared up. She’s been more needy, though. She really enjoyed those two days when I stayed home with her, but now every day on the way to daycare she starts whimpering. And she keeps claiming that another kid is pinching her. Mrs. Matteson says it’s not really happening.”

“That’s weird. Why would she make up something like that?”

“Who knows? Anxiety, maybe. Either that or she might be trying to guilt-trip me. When I picked her up this afternoon and told her Amelia was going to take care of her tonight, she started claiming that her ear hurts again. I’m sure she’s faking it, but I still felt like Bad Mother of the Year when I drove off. I mean, what if her eardoeshurt? What if some bratty kidispinching her?”

“Wouldn’t it be easier if you visited on the weekend? It’s busier then but—”

“I’m here tonight because I can’t visit this coming Saturday. I’m at that all-day curriculum conference in Sturbridge I told you about. I’m more or less expected to go because I’m the math coordinator. The district’s going all in on this Eureka program next year, so they want a couple of us to try it out and report back about how it went. And Sunday’s the day I catch up with all the things I have to let go during the week.”

I nod, commiserating. “Marcia going with you to the conference?”

“No. She’s on child-rearing leave. I told you that, Corby.”

“Yeah, I guess you did. So you’re flying solo then?”

“No. The new teacher and I are riding up together.”

“New as in first-year teacher? How’s she doing?”

“He’sdoing great. The kids love Evan. He’s a natural. He goes out and plays with them at recess. All my third-grade girls have crushes on him because he’s young and cute. I had to intercept love notes from two of them this week.”

It’s the first time she’s fully smiled since she got here. Maybe someone else is crushing on this Evan, too. “So is this guy right out of college?”

She shakes her head. “He taught at another school for three years, but he was low man on the totem pole, so when their enrollment went down, he got RIF’d.”

“Laid off, right? You teachers and your acronyms. How old is he?”

“Twenty-four, I think. Maybe twenty-five.”

“Married?”

“Single. Well, divorced. Why?”

“No reason. Just wondering. Hey?”

“What?”

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