“I specifically asked you not to come.”
“I came to see him off.”
Luke leaned toward me.
“Lori, don’t make a scene.”
I looked at him.
That warning in his voice only made me angrier.
But Ethan was smiling.
Parents and children surrounded us.
Teachers were calling students toward classrooms.
So I swallowed my anger.
“Fine.”
Kayla kissed Ethan’s forehead.
“Have a wonderful first day.”
“I will!”
A teacher called Ethan’s class.
He waved enthusiastically at all three of us and walked inside with the other children.
My chest tightened.
He suddenly looked both impossibly small and incredibly grown-up.
Then someone behind me said:
“Mrs. Carter?”
I turned.
A woman around my age was standing there with a school badge and a clipboard.
“Yes?”
She gave me a cautious smile.
“I’m Ethan’s teacher. Rebecca.”
“Oh. Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”
But she wasn’t really looking at me.
She was looking directly at Kayla.
Something immediately changed in the air.
Recognition.
Tension.
My smile faded.
Rebecca turned back toward me.
“Could I speak with you privately?”
“Of course.”
We moved a few feet away from the others.
Luke remained where he was.
So did Kayla.
Rebecca looked uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry. I really didn’t want things to happen like this.”
I frowned.
“Like what?”
Her eyes flicked toward Kayla.
“Did she speak to you?”
“My mother-in-law?”
Rebecca looked surprised.
“She didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
Rebecca went pale.
“I thought after last night you would know.”
“Last night?”
She hesitated.
“I really think you need to talk to your husband.”
Now I was completely confused.
“Luke? What does he have to do with this?”
Rebecca didn’t answer.
I looked across the courtyard.
Luke was watching us.
And he looked nervous.
I turned back to Rebecca.
“How well do you know my husband?”
She took a slow breath.
“Your husband came to my house last night.”
For a moment, I couldn’t process what she had said.
“What?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why would Luke go to your house?”
“You need to ask him.”
Luke was already walking toward us.
Kayla followed.
I looked at both of them.
“What is going on?”
Luke lowered his voice.
“Let’s not do this here.”
I gave a bitter laugh.
“That’s what people say when they’re hiding something.”
“Lori, please.”
I looked at Rebecca.
“Are you and my husband having an affair?”
Her eyes widened.
“What? No!”
“Then why does he know where you live?”
Rebecca looked directly at Luke.
“This is your last chance to tell her.”
Luke’s jaw tightened.
Kayla stepped in.
“This isn’t the place.”
I turned toward her.
“You don’t get to decide that anymore.”
Then I looked at my husband.
“Tell me.”
He stared at the ground for several seconds.
Finally, he said:
“I went to this school.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“When I was younger.”
“You never told me that.”
“I know.”
“Why not?”
Luke didn’t answer.
Rebecca did.
“Because of what happened here.”
There was anger in her voice now.
Not sudden anger.
Old anger.
The kind that had been sitting quietly for years.
Luke rubbed his face.
“When I was fourteen, I spent time with some guys who weren’t good people.”
Rebecca let out a humorless laugh.
“Not good people?”
Luke winced.
I looked between them.
“What did you do?”
He swallowed.
“We bullied people.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
Rebecca looked at me.
“He and his friends bullied me. And several other students.”
For a moment, all the sounds of the schoolyard seemed far away.
She continued.
“Luke was part of a group everyone thought was cool. Athletes. Loud. Popular.”
Then she looked at him.
“They targeted anyone they thought was weak.”
Luke didn’t argue.
Rebecca took another breath.
“They took my backpack once and dumped everything out.”
I looked at Luke.
He looked sick.
“They wrote things about me. Made fake notes. Followed me around between classes.”
Her voice shook slightly.
“One day, they locked me inside an equipment room after gym.”
My stomach turned.
“I was there alone for almost an hour.”
Luke spoke quietly.
“I wasn’t the one who locked the door.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“No. You were standing there laughing when Tyler did it.”
Luke closed his eyes.
Rebecca continued.
“I started having panic attacks after that. I missed school for a while.”
I turned toward Kayla.
She wouldn’t look at me.
