Learning Lessons (4 of 8): Letting Him In // Chapter 5

“He was what?”

Pete and Russ were at the side of the family room, close together, having a conversation they shouldn’t be having in a room full of children.

Russ leaned right in and whispered it in Pete’s ear. “Yeah, you know, between her breasts.”

“Russ, come here,” Pete said and nodded toward the kitchen. They were at his sister’s house, with Patty and Russ’s kids, and about a dozen others were there with their parents too. Pete and some of the other parents weren’t so fond of their little ones walking the neighbourhood getting candy from strangers, so they made their own party. Seven at night now and they’d been here since three in the afternoon, kids playing games, building scarecrows, donut-eating races. None of them tired yet, amped up on sugar and excitement.

Pete walked through the dark hall into the kitchen. “What did you—”

He got a string of cottony spiderweb that his sister had strung up in the dark hall caught in his open mouth as he walked into it, and he reeled back, splashing beer up the front of his sport shirt. “Jesus Christ, Patty,” he cursed under his breath.

“Easy, Pete.”

“Shit, yeah, sorry, walked right into it.”

“Yeah, gotta watch where you’re going, buddy.”

“What’s she doing stringing that up in the dark?” he said, wiping his brand new shirt, flicking the wet off his moisture-repellant fabric.

“Ha, you know your sister.”

“She probably strung it along the top of the stairs too, try and kill me that way.”

“So you haven’t heard anything?” Russ said.

They were alone in the kitchen now, a little more free to talk. Pete could see into the family room, see the kids milling around, anticipating the next game. Jess was there, crouched down with Andy. She had her witch’s robe on, dressed all in black. She was smiling at him, listening to him over-explain something the way he would do. Nodding, lips peeled back, showing her perfect white teeth.

“No—we’ve talked with him, but I haven’t heard any of the rumours. What did you hear?”

“Just what I told you. It was old Joe Watson who walked in on them. I think maybe a couple of kids too—he was with some blonde-haired girl. He was, like, naked, and he was, you know, he had his thing going between her breasts.”

Pete’s upper lip was sweating. He could see Jess now—Jacob, their nephew, Russ and Patty’s boy, had his arms around her from behind. She was looking at Jacob sideways, talking to him.

Russ got real close, even though they were the only ones in the kitchen, and whispered, “Word is he’s got a real baseball bat down there too.”

“Oh,” Pete said.

“Yeah. It better not have been a student. I can’t believe you guys would—”

“No, we’ve talked to him. It wasn’t a student at all. We believe him. If we thought otherwise, we wouldn’t be helping him out.”

“For sure, for sure—what’d he say?”

“He won’t say who it is. Jess thinks he’s protecting someone. Like he’s doing the right thing. He’s heartfelt about the student thing—no way it was a high school kid.”

“Yeah, personally, I don’t think it was a student, either. Ten times more likely, it was one of these moms right here.”

Pete’s sphincter tightened.

“Christ, you see the way they got when he would come around.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Pete said, his voice a little tight.

“Maybe a teacher.”

Pete’s heart pounded blood up his neck, forcing it painfully through him. It made him wince. He thought he might have to take a knee. The more he thought about that, the worse it got until he’d convinced himself his vision was dimming. This was it. He was going to have a heart attack. He was looking right at Jess. It was so obvious. So fucking obvious to goddamn everyone. His pretty Jess, his baby girl, standing now, everyone watching her. All the kids and all their parents. She was putting her witch’s hat on, telling the kids how to play the game. They were in love with her. Transfixed.

Who else would it be? Jess was one of those moms. Jess was a teacher. Jess was blonde. Tyler had moved in with her after he was fired.

“Shit, there she is,” Russ said. “Jess is a blonde teacher.”

Pete turned to Russ, eyes peeled in horror, heart in his throat. He tried to protest, his voice a creak from a coffin.

“Jesus, Pete, I’m kidding. Oh my God, sorry, buddy.” He clasped Pete on the shoulder. He looked genuinely sorry. “Oh man, that sounded funnier in my head. I’m sorry, that was stupid. You should have seen your face.”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat, took a sip of beer, and struggled to swallow it. “Yeah, that wasn’t funny.”

“Jess is at the wrong school, anyway. And besides”—he shrugged—“it’s Jess.”

Pete was stuck. What if someone found out her class was away on a field trip that afternoon? What if they found out she wasn’t at school? Shit. “I know for a fact it wasn’t her.”

“We all know it wasn’t her, Pete. Not Jess. Plus, why would you move him in if you thought it might be her?”

“Yeah, I saw her that afternoon. She was with me.”

“She wasn’t at school that day?”

“No, no, but she came by the Save-Mart. She was with me.”

They both stood in the kitchen's light, looking out through the short, dark hall at the room beyond. Watched the kids learn the rules of Put the Mole On The Witch. Jess was handing out sticky warts she’d made of putty. Up late last night at the kitchen table going to the trouble to make sure each one had a fibre run through it like a big ugly hair. Everyone getting their wart put into the palms of their open hands. The inevitable booger it became in the hand of one boy dressed as a Minion who stuffed it in his nostril then blew it out on to his friend. Russ and Pete sipped their beers and watched.

“Has he found any work yet?”

“I don’t think so,” Pete said.

“How hard is he looking?”

“He’s looking,” Pete said, but he wasn’t sure he was. The last week was tough—coming home and seeing him sitting on the couch while Jess made dinner. There were things he could do around the house that would help them, but he didn’t do them. Pete wouldn’t ask, neither would Jess, but it was what he’d hoped Tyler’d feel grateful enough to want to do on his own. He’d asked Jess once what Tyler was doing about finding a new arrangement, about finding a job. Jess had shrugged, and she looked unhappy, wouldn’t look Pete in the eye, so he dropped it. Frankly, he was afraid to ask about it again. They had a date in mind. At least Pete did, and Jess had originally acknowledged it. Tyler should be out around November fifth. Twelfth at the latest.

“Don’t think he’s going to find a job teaching around here,” Russ laughed. “He’ll have to pick something new or maybe move out of town.”

“He’s all right. He was probably good at what he did. He just messed up,” Pete said, then added, “And not with a kid.”

“Wonder what the conditions were on his termination?”

“Don’t know.”

Jess clapped her hands a few times, said, “Kids, kids, kids,” and then had their attention. She told them the game was about to start, told them to be polite and respect the others. No tripping or anything else you might think was funny. There was nodding. Some kids looked around at one tall boy dressed as the Joker. Fat kid, dyed his red hair green, just got pinged as the bully.

“Still, you’re crazy letting him in the house. I know we can trust Jess but still… Walking around the house with that body. What if she walked in on him coming out of the shower? Saw that old baseball bat? I couldn’t do it. The thought of Patty seeing something like that? How would she ever put up with this?” he said, putting his hand on his round stomach.

“Yeah, I hear you—I’m not ecstatic. But Jess wants to help him.”

“Too kind for her own good,” Russ said, swigged his beer.

Jess had knelt on the floor in the middle of the family room, all the furniture pushed off to the sides. Patty had a little princess by the shoulders and was carefully spinning her around. She stopped, then let her hands off, sent her on her way. She put her arms out in front of her, head tilted back like she was trying to see under the blindfold. Someone whispered, “No peeking.” Then everyone was dead silent except one boy chuckling somewhere when she stumbled. The Princess told him to shut up, then everyone giggled. The little girl walked around with her hand held up, seeking Jess’s face to plant her sticky wart on it.

As the girl got close, Jess would make claw marks in the air near her that made the other kids’ eyes go wide, pleasantly fearful. When the girl finally found Jess, touching her pretty face with her hands, looking for her nose, Jess scrunched her face up and held it still. The little girl plopped the wart onto Jess. Jess had drawn a spot with an eyeliner—the closest wart to her target won the prize, a big plastic pumpkin of goodies that Jess had put together. When the princess took her blindfold off to see how close she’d come, Jess smiled, then turned it to a snarl and tickled the girl all over with her clawed, witchy hands. The little girl didn’t even get away, just collapsed in laughter and let Jess tickle her up and down until she couldn’t breathe.

Andy was next and even though he knew it was his mommy, he feared the claw hands and the surprise tickling ending. He’d demanded to go as a vampire this year. Jess had him painted with a black widow’s peak and a cape, and he loved showing everyone the fake fangs he’d stuffed in his mouth. Now he was shaking his head, and he had Jess laughing. He was so scared. She was laughing so hard no sound was coming out. She took her hat off and put her arms out to him, cooing and urging him to come to her. He did, Patty with a hand between his little shoulders. She hugged him tight and rocked him back and forth, his shiny black Dracula shoes coming right up off the carpet.

She went on through the kids, playing her witch game. Getting the kids to plant their warts on her upturned face. Making creepy witch noises if they would head too far in the wrong direction. Gave them a hint that would make them giggle. Her creaky laugh even made Pete chuckle despite the pain that was in his heart. She was ridiculous. Such a wonderful person.

How could this be the same woman who opened her top for Tyler, middle of the day at school, got him to do that dirty thing to her? He pictured Tyler running that big thing between his wife’s pretty breasts while she held them for him. Wanting it, doing it willingly, watching his big tool slide against her skin.