Page 15 of Under His Sheets
“Oh, Pere, there you are. Thank you, Mr. Sutter. Pere’s father called. He’s running a bit late, so Pere, why don’t you come with me to the office?”
“It’s no trouble,” I said. “I can stay with him. We’ve got practicing to do.”
Lara smiled. “Thank you, Randall. See you at Bar Elena?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She gave a finger wave and was out the door, leaving me and Pere to hang out until his father arrived. I was tempted to ask him more questions, maybe figure out what was going on with his father, when I heard the squeak of wheels outside my door.
Alonso, dressed in his usual coveralls and cap, entered the room, his gaze darting toward Pere before he trained it on his current target. My garbage can.
“Senyor Sutter, are you married?”
I spun around to face Pere and laughed.
“Me? Married? No, Pere. Why do you ask?”
The little guy shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know. I just thought that if you were married, you probably would never ignore them if your new partner had a child.”
My heart was breaking for this poor kid.
“No way, Pere. But sometimes…”Shit.Who was I to give out life advice? Oh, that was right. A teacher.Dammit, Cecilia!I was no good at this stuff! I hadn’t even had a real long-term relationship, not unless you count the year I’d spent having sex with Rig. Which I didn’t.
“Sometimes?”
Pere’s lovely brown eyes grew round and shiny waiting for me to answer, and Alonso was puttering around now witha broom, although who the hell knew what he was actually sweeping.
“Sometimes people get so focused on one thing that they forget about what’s important. That doesn’t mean the important things are anylessimportant. It just means that the person needs a reminder, right?”And hopefully nothing bad happens in the meantime. “It’s like…do you play video games, Pere?”
He nodded. “When I’m allowed to, yes. I like them very much.”
“You said when you’re allowed to, that means someone is reminding you that school is most important right now, does that make sense? Because if you had no one to remind you, you might play only video games. Sometimes the shiny new thing becomes more important, and we need someone to remind us of our goals and what we have to do to reach them.”
He frowned as he thought about it. “I see.” Then he looked down again. “I wish someone would remind mi papa.”
Oh, this kid. How could anyone…but then I knew my own family felt like I put my music before them. Maybe when you didn’t share that important thing, it made it harder? Or maybe Mr. Ferrer was just an asshole who didn’t pay attention to his son. That was always possible. He sure was missing out. Pere was such a great kid.
Maybe I’d be the one to remind his father?—
“Pere, vine aquí. Come now, please hurry.”
“Bona tarda, senyor Ferrer,” I said, practicing my newly learned Catalan.
He grinned. “Rock Star. Com estàs?”
I smiled, fully aware that I should know that but I was still practicing on my app.
“Good. Pere has been working really hard on his?—”
“Wonderful. Listen, I am having some people over in a week or so. Perhaps you can come and accompany Pere. He wants to show what he is learning for his family.”
I stood a little taller. “I’m…not sure. I would have to?—”
“¿Señor Sutter?”
Alonso gestured for me to join him at my desk.
“Oh, excuse me. Ah, Mr. Ferrer? Your ID?”
