Page 5 of Broken Dreams
“It was great meeting you. I’m sure we’ll see each other around.”
Not if I can help it. I have no time for friends or women who are beautiful. If I even mention this, my sister will get ideas and God knows she doesn’t need more of those.
“Great meeting you too.”
She enters the building as Jett tugs my arm, this time I swear something pops as he attempts to move to the car. “Not happening, my man.”
And then...he throws a fit that I was not prepared for.
He flops to the ground, screaming and kicking his legs. “No school. No school!” Over and over, he yells as I heft him into my arms and try to pin his legs to stop him from kicking me repeatedly. People are staring, watching as I take my inconsolable toddler into daycare.
The front desk doesn’t judge, the woman there smiles. “I see Jett isn’t excited today?”
“Huh?” I ask, unable to fully hear her over the wailing in my ear.
“Not happy?” she shouts back.
“What was your first clue?” I say with a smile to avoid her thinking I’m being a dick.
She laughs and then walks me down the hall and opens the classroom door. Addison sneaks past me, giving me a tight-lipped smile that’s full of understanding.
The teacher walks over, and I put Jett down but hold his arms tenderly. “Jett, enough.”
He doesn’t agree. He keeps going.
I have been in some pretty intense situations. On a deployment, we were doing routine flight maneuvers and I lost an engine. It was something I’d trained for, but in that moment, it jolts you a bit. I relied on my training, stayed calm, and got us back on deck without issues.
There’s no training manual for this.
“Jett, buddy, you gotta stop,” I try again as his tears break my heart.
The teacher is beside me, her hand on my shoulder as she tries to reason with him. “Jett, we are going to play with the trucks soon, do you want to come?”
He turns his head away.
“No trucks, huh? Well, Ms. Jamie is coloring, would you like to color?”
He doesn’t respond, but the yelling has at least stopped. Now we’re just all being ignored.
The teacher fights back a laugh. “I could see how coloring isn’t that fun. Your daddy flies planes, right?”
That gets him to meet her gaze.
I answer for him. “I do. Jett loves the planes.”
She gasps, which is clearly meant for show, but he eats it up a little more. “I love planes too! Do you know that we also have planes to play with?”
He turns to face her a little more. “Planes?”
“Yes, we have a whole bin right there.”
Jett’s watery gaze looks to me and then the area where the bin is. I feel his death grip on my hand start to ease, the planes are going to be what gets him to go, I just have to wait him out. The teacher extends her hand, and he lets go of mine and takes hers.
Crisis averted.
I stand here, unsure of what to do when the other teacher comes over. “It gets easier.”
“Does it?”
