Daddy's Stepstalker (Daddy's Little Deviants)

Shaw

ThemorningafterAri bought us the house, I was in a better mood than I’d ever been since my house burned down. I entered the waiting room of the high school, humming, then came to a halt. Huh, that was odd. Julieta wasn’t at her desk. I checked my watch. Was I earlier than I thought? No, I wasn’t.

Julieta was never late and she took pride in that. If she was going to be absent, she would call me so I could mentally prepare for a day without her.

“Margaret,” I asked the assistant whose desk was a few feet away from Julieta’s. “Did Julieta call?”

She glanced up from her computer screen, barely acknowledging me, then lowered her head again. “She was here earlier. Left something in your office for you.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Sure thing.”

But something else was wrong. I snapped my fingers. That was it. All her personal effects were gone. No photograph from her college days when she’d gone to Mexico with a group of friends. No pictures of her nieces and twin nephews either. And the orchid I bought her last April for Secretary Appreciation Day didn’t stand on her desk anymore. It was getting weirder and weirder.

I dug my keys out of my pocket, opened my office door, slipped in, and closed the door behind me. On my desk lay a notebook, on top of which was a brown envelope with my name on it. I picked up the envelope and lifted the flap. Inside was a single sheet of paper.

Dear Shaw,

It has been a great pleasure working with you directly for the past two years. You gave me the confidence to complete my tasks by showing your appreciation for simply doing my daily duties. Every employee would be lucky to work for a superior like you.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, I have to submit my resignation, effective immediately. It is with deep regret that I could not give you more notice. Under ideal situations, I would have been happy to help your new secretary to transition smoothly into the position.

Yours truly,

Julieta

What the hell? I reread the letter two more times, trying to make sense of it. Why would Julieta suddenly resign? She hadn’t given me any sign that she would be leaving. Or had she? I’d been so caught up with my own situation over the past week and a half, I hadn’t paid much attention to anyone else. Between worrying about the house and everything I lost, plus Ari’s infrequent calls, I’d been doing the bare minimum of work. If anyone noticed, no one said a thing. Jackson even encouraged me to take more time off to deal with my home situation, but I couldn’t take him up on that offer. Being around him and his wife and having nothing else to do but wonder what Ari was doing was driving me crazy.

Ari was too reckless for his own good, and I worried about him.

I grabbed my cell phone and pressed Julieta’s number. The phone rang off to voicemail. I called again, pacing in front of my desk. She was a damn good secretary, and if there was anything I could do to get her back, I would.

I flipped the notebook on my desk open and froze. It all made sense now. I ended the call and stared at the inside cover. Ari had used colored paper to cut out his name and glue on the inside, with heart stickers dotting the page. Except where his last name should be, it was mine instead. To the right, the first page read Private and Confidential.

This would contain exactly what my ex-wife had warned me about and what Julieta had also found alarming about Ari’s behavior. I could finally learn exactly what a young teenage Ari had really been thinking about me. Back then, I thought I was sharing special moments with a young man I could mentor.

I itched to turn the page and start reading.

I couldn’t.

I closed the book and placed it into my drawer. Would I want to read the accounts of a younger, impressionable Ari? Things had been so difficult for him then. I had been the referee between him and his mother on too many occasions to count.

All day I was distracted, working through all my troubling thoughts. Of a younger Ari. Of the man he was now. Of what he was doing. Of whether Julieta would share what she’d read with anyone else. And I had no doubt she’d read it. For some reason, she returned it and resigned. That bothered me more than anything else. Why did she resign? Why did she bring back the book after all these years? Had something scared her? Someone? Ari?

I stayed behind long after school ended to finish the work I was too distracted to do earlier. Sometime after seven, I left the office. I drove slowly, every now and then glancing in the rearview mirror at the cars in line behind me. Was Ari in one of those vehicles watching me, even now? His stalkerish behavior should have freaked me out, but it was oddly comforting. Like a vicious little guardian angel working overtime to ensure his human was safe.

Since I’d promised Jackson and Tamryn that dinner was on me tonight, I stopped at a Mediterranean restaurant and picked up some food. It was the least I could do before I moved out. I’d taken up enough of their hospitality as it was, and although the house would take some time to completely furnish, I couldn’t wait to be back under a roof I could call my own.

I arrived at the house some minutes to eight. Tamryn was having a glass of wine in the kitchen, but Jackson was nowhere to be seen.

“Sorry I’m late.” I placed the containers on the table. “I had to put in some overtime, and my secretary quit today without warning.”

“Jackson told me,” she replied. “That’s highly unprofessional of her.” She sniffed at the bags. “Oh god, this smells good. Thanks so much for volunteering to grab dinner. I was in no mood to cook after the day I had.”

“It was my pleasure. Where’s Jackson?”

“Setting up to tape the eight-o’clock news for you. He thought you were going to miss it.”