Page 19 of John Wilder Gets Schooled
Because yeah, we’d had this argument plenty of times before.
But, John, don’t you think that Grace deserves a relationship with the Lord?
She could have a relationship with the Flying Spaghetti Monster for all I cared, but no way in hell was my kid ever stepping foot inside the Goose Run First Baptist Church. Because it wasn’t Jesus I was trying to stop her from getting to know—it was my dad, the pastor, who’d told me when I was seventeen and terrified that he had no son. Well, guess what? That meant he hadno granddaughter either, as far as both Cassidy and I were concerned.
My hands were still shaking when I called Miller’s number.
“Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”
I stared at the sapling that Miller had bought and then he and Danny had planted to replace the tree our old neighbor had cut down. Miller was a decent guy. A lawyer too, so he was probably swimming against the tide in that respect, right? “Do you have a minute to talk?”
“Yeah. Is everything okay?”
“We’re all good,” I said. “Except I got a call from Gracie’s grandmother. She said she’s been talking to a lawyer about grandparents’ rights. Because I won’t let her take Gracie to church.”
“She has no grounds,” Miller said. He’d told me this before, but it felt good to hear him say it again. “You and Cassidy are on the same page, and Gracie’s not being neglected or abused or anything like that, so it would be very hard to prove that not taking her to church is harmful to her.”
I rubbed my forehead. “You said very hard, not impossible.”
“Lawyers don’t make promises, Wilder,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “Listen, I highly doubt she’s retained an attorney, but if you hear anything else, anything official, I’ll send her a letter that makes her scuttle back under her rock, okay?”
“Okay,” I said, my voice hitching on that simple word. “Uh, I can’t really afford?—”
“Pro bono,” he said.
“Thanks, Miller,” I said, guilty and relieved at the same time.
“Hey, I gotta go. I have a meeting,” he said. “But we’ll catch up tonight, okay? I’m bringing pizzas. What’s Gracie’s favorite?”
“Hawaiian.”
“Seriously?”
“She’sfive, man! She gets a pass!” But it made me laugh, which was probably the point. I even relaxed my death grip on my phone. “See you tonight.”
I feltlike I’d done nothing all day except mope around doing housework—my thoughts spiraling into panic over the idea of losing custody of Gracie, whatever Miller said—and waiting for Cassidy to call, so how thefuckwas I running late to collect Gracie? I could see the same question in Avery’s eyes when I finally raced up to the classroom door.
“You’re late!” Gracie said, her voice wavering. She was upset and close to tears. “I thought you forgot me!”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, scooping her into a hug as my heart broke. I said it again, except this time I was looking at Avery. He stared back at me, his mouth a thin, disapproving line. “It won’t happen again.”
I was getting as sick of saying that as he was of hearing it, I was sure.
And the worst part was, I was so late that by the time I got Gracie calmed down and clipped into her car seat, Avery was in the parking lot heading for his car.
And I got to feel that disapproving stare of his as he drove behind me all the way home.
CHAPTER 6
AVERY
Wilder was an asshole.
There, I said it. Well, I thought it really hard, which was almost the same thing.
I sat in my car in my driveway, clenching the steering wheel hard and glaring at him through the window. He was busy getting Gracie inside and didn’t look back. Of course he didn’t. He hadn’t given a shit about me when he was running late to collect Gracie at school. Why would he care now he was home free?
What if I’d had an appointment this afternoon? A coffee date with a friend? A life outside the classroom? And okay, I didn’t have any of those things, buthedidn’t know that.
