Resting his elbows on his knees and watching me, Dad imparted some sage fatherly wisdom. Well, with the help of Hurst, obviously. “Do you love her?”
We hadn’t discussed Tabitha yet, so I assumed that Hurst had told him all about it. Looking between the two men, I replied, “I think so.”
Hurst’s eyebrows shot up at my answer. “You think so? Boy, if you just think so, then what the hell are you in a funk over?”
Mulling this over, I had to agree with him, but still. “Look, we weren’t together for long, so it’s all I have. This isn’t a teenage dream, it’s real life.”
“How long were you with your wife before you knew you loved her?” he asked Dad. “For me with Lindee, it was a two days.”
Dad didn’t even need to think about it. “Four and a half for me.”
Looking back at me, Hurst crossed his arms over his chest. “Well? It doesn’t have to take months for you to know, some people just do. And if you’re telling me that you just think so, then you need to go and have a look in the mirror and see what we do.”
I didn’t need to do that, I knew I looked like a wreck. I was roadkill which had been run over, pecked at by buzzards, nibbled on by a coyote who’d then shat on it, run over again by ten Mack trucks, and then shit on by Bigfoot. My beard looked messy and I never let it get to that stage, my hair was sticking up in sections because I couldn’t be bothered to tackle them like I had every morning since I was old enough to do it properly, and I’m pretty certain that my left eyebrow was sticking up in the air because I hadn’t dealt with that little bastard either.
Who was I kidding? “Ok, yes, I love her.”
With a nod of his chin, Dad involved me in his next case, one which both him and Hurst had come up with. She was either going to hate me or love me by the end of this, but I wasn’t taking no for an answer.Chapter TwelveTabbyFor some reason, I’d turned into one of those women in the movies who listens to sad love songs and walks around in her pajamas. It was tragic. When I wasn’t at school, I was in the suckers, I even wore them when I went to Jose’s to see her and Olivia. In fact, I was counting the minutes every single day, timing how long I had to go until I could put them back on. Today’s were Pepé Le Pew ones – only the best ones ever. Well, aside from my Elmo and Cookie Monster ones. And maybe my Star Wars ones. Shit, they were all my favorites which was why it was torture not wearing them. At least, that was today’s excuse. Even my hand was healed, and I hadn’t needed the check-up appointment at the hospital so I’d canceled it. I might even have burned the wrist brace they’d given me to make sure no one could tell me to wear it again. Little things helped when you were going through an emotional crisis, don’t judge.
It sucked because I loved my new job. It wasn’t often you found a school who would employ someone with visible tattoos, but they existed and Piersville was one of them, and they’d made my new start there painless. Even finding out on my first day that I’d be teaching some elementary school classes too hadn’t put me off it. I liked the school, and the kids were just awesome. They were all interested in the different types of art, listening as I discussed different artists with them, and trying out different techniques. And they loved the tattoos on my arms and kept suggesting new ones they thought I should get. Some of them read me perfectly and some of them not so much but I loved that they had ideas.
Glancing at the clock, I almost groaned at the time. One hour and fifteen minutes left to go until the kids left, which meant that in roughly three hours I’d be in my pajamas. Just then, there was a knock at the door, and a man walked in with a badge clipped to his belt. I was so stunned by it, that I didn’t even notice the similarities between his face and the man who I was still trying to figure out what to do with. I wasn’t intentionally dragging this out, I just didn’t know which way was up. From what little I knew about the situation with Rita, I could understand why he hadn’t said anything, but at the same time the fact he’d lied by omission to me freaking hurt. I’d obviously realized quickly that he wasn’t like my dad at all, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t betrayed my trust. It could all have been discussed by now though if I could just get my emotions to stay in one place, instead of bouncing from one extreme to another.