As they’d done all day, my eyes instinctively found him. He sat beside Toby, whom I hadn’t seen since handing him off to his caseworker after Larry’s arrest. It had only been a few days, but he looked healthier, and his clothes were clean. I sat across the table and a few seats down, sticking close enough to steal glances at Landon without being too obvious.
Projecting my voice, I asked, “How you doin’, Toby? You full yet?”
Shaking his head, he shoveled in another bite of sandwich, freeing one hand to set a level at the middle of his ribs. “’Bout there.” He grinned, displaying a disturbing amount of food in his teeth. “I’m glad you’re back, Ms. Mercy.”
The kids and any parents who’d asked had been told I was out sick. Since I was rarely gone, my absence must have been noted, because other students agreed, and the chorus that drifted around the tables made me feel pretty damn good about being a preschool director.
And then Landon flashed me a wicked smile, and I wanted to forget all my morals and beg the man to drag me into the janitor’s closet and have his way with me.
Before I could say or do anything reckless, the cafeteria door opened, and Adina stepped in, waving me over. As soon as I reached her, she pulled me out into the bright hallway and shut the door behind us.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Sheila’s here,” she whispered. “She wants to see Toby.”
The door opened, and Landon joined us.
Whatever expression I gave him must have challenged his right to be there, because he immediately raised his hands.
“Look, you don’t trust anyone, and I’m not exactly a picture of mental stability right now. You just got released from the hospital, and I can’t promise I won’t put the next guy who hurts you in the ground. Staying close enough to run interference is my way of trying to stay out of prison.”
Adina fanned herself.
Betrayed, I stared at her.
“What? That was hot.”
“Back to our little problem,” I said, trying to focus, because yeah, that was hot, but I had a job to do. “I had to beg Toby’s caseworker to bring him here. She agreed out of curiosity, wanting to see what we were doing for herself. She’ll be livid if she sees Sheila. But we can’t just send her away. Get Julia, please.”
Adina slipped back into the cafeteria while Landon followed me to the reception desk. As we rounded the corner and Sheila came into view, he held back. She looked emaciated, and a giant shiner kept her left eye from opening all the way. She’d caked on the makeup, but there was no hiding that.
She tried to smile but winced. There was a small gash across her lower lip. Her oversized puffy coat hid any other injuries, but I knew she’d have them. What people couldn’t see was always worse than what they could.
“I came to see Toby.”
Her voice was soft; her gaze was cast to the floor. I wanted to grab the woman by her slumped shoulders and shake some sense into her.
“You know I can’t let you do that.”
“It’s Christmas Eve. I thought maybe?—”
“Where’s Larry, Sheila?”
She finally looked at me, and terror shone in her uninjured eye. “Oh, he didn’t do?—”
“Sheila,” I snapped, refusing to let her lie to me. Or, more importantly, to herself.
Her eyes unfocused, and she looked away. “I… I don’t know where he is.”
Not in jail. Which was not what I’d been hoping she’d say.
Unable to help myself, I gave in and grabbed her shoulder with my good arm. I refrained from shaking her, but just barely. “Toby needs you. He needs his mom.”
She dropped her head and started crying. “I know. I’m… I’m trying.”
Footsteps approached, and I’d never been happier to hear a sound in my life. Turning back to the hallway, I released my hold and waved Julia over.
“Sheila, this is my good friend Julia. She and some friends run a non-profit that helps women get out of dangerous situations. Can she tell you about it?”
