Page 33 of John Wilder Gets Schooled
Avery’s voice was soft, but Gracie stilled, then perked up immediately and gave him a wobbly smile. “Mr. Smith?”
I swore she thought seeing him outside of school was some sort of miracle—like seeing a unicorn, maybe, if a unicorn was wearing worn denim shorts, flip-flops and a faded tee.
“I was just coming over to see how your dad is,” he said. “Did he tell you he hurt his hand yesterday?”
Gracie sniffled. “What?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said. “But Mr. Smith put a bandage on it.”
Avery smiled at me, and I felt a bit like I’d seen a unicorn as well. Sparkles and rainbows included. I immediately thought of last night’s dream, and then my mind helpfully filled in another blank for me: we’d kissed for real.
And after dropping that bomb, my brain then jettisoned itself from my body, leaving nothing behind but white noise.
I’dkissedAvery.
And I was pretty sure he’d kissed me back. Well, that answered the rainbow question once and for all, I guessed.
Gracie scrambled out of my hold. “What happened?” She took my hand and inspected the bandage. “Are you okay, Daddy?”
“Right as rain,” I said.
“Areyouokay, Gracie?” Avery asked. “You sounded like you were having some big feelings.”
Her bottom lip wobbled. “Grandma’s house has nice things. This one doesn’t.”
That hurt.
Avery hummed. “Like your pretty new dress, huh? Well, I think this house might not have as many pretty new dresses, but it has nice things like Daddy, and Chase, and Cash, and Uncle Danny.”
Did I imagine his eye twitching when he said Chase? And how did he even know Cash?
Gracie nodded solemnly.
“I think the nicest things are people and how they make us happy,” Avery continued. “What do you think?” She nodded like the eager little student she was. “But I bet you could make some nice things too. Do you still have the crayons and the googly eyes Daddy got you last week? Because I have some spare poster boards at home that I could give you, and you could make decorations.”
Oh, he wasgood. A part of me wanted to kiss him again. Another part of me—smaller and pettier—hated that he made talking a five-year-old down from a meltdown look so fucking easy.
Gracie leaned into me but looked up at Avery seriously and nodded. Her thumb crept toward her mouth, the way it did when she was overtired, and Avery caught the action.
He smiled again. “Or maybe you need a nap first? Sometimeswhen I have feelings that are too big, I have a nap or some quiet time, and after that they don’t feel so big after all.”
I could relate. I was having some pretty big feelings about Avery Smith myself right now, and who couldn’t use a nap? I hitched Gracie up onto my hip and said, “Did you maybe stay up late at Grandma’s, sweet pea?”
She nodded again. “They have Disney now. I watchedLilo and Stitchfourtimes!”
Okay, the meltdown made a lot more sense now. Gracie was one of those kids who needed her sleep or she got scratchy and irritable and tended to fall apart. And honestly, I could understand the temptation to let her stay up late and spoil her a little.
“Okay, sweet pea, I think you need a nap, okay? And after, you can have some lunch and then, if Mr. Smith says it’s okay, we can get you some poster board.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Avery said, like he hadn’t been the one to suggest it in the first place.
Gracie nodded against my shoulder, and I breathed a sigh of relief that she’d calmed down some. Even though I knew it wasn’t on me that she was overtired, I still felt helpless whenever she got like this. Like, how did people ever have more than one kid?
The screen door creaked and Danny came out. He joined us in the front yard, stepping neatly over the missing board. “Hey,” he said when he saw Avery. “Thanks for taking care of Wilder yesterday.”
“It was no problem,” Avery said.
Gracie lifted her head from my shoulder and gave Danny a wobbly smile. “Uncle Danny, Grandma took me shopping and then we watched movies and now I’m tired.”
