Lumen.
Ms. Browne.
Lumen Browne.
“Glad to meet you,” I fumbled, dropping my hand.
“You too, Mr. McCrae,” she said, wincing as she said my name.
And then we both realized we weren’t alone and looked down at Evanne. She was flicking her eyes between the two of us, her smile fading just a little. She was too smart for her own good.
“Well,” Lumen said, clapping her hands and squeezing them together. “Why don’t you two have a seat, and we can talk?”
“Yes, thank you. Um…” I didn’t know what to call her.Lumenmade me think of what she’d felt like underneath me.Ms. Brownemade me think about all the wonderful things my eight-year-old daughter had said.
Trying to meld those two people into the one woman in front of me made me feel vaguely dirty.
Then I realized there was only one chair. It seemed like Lumen had only expected me, not the two of us, and that, for some reason, helped me refocus.
“Go ahead,mo chride,” I told Evanne.
“Oh,” said Lumen, “there’s a spare chair over–”
“I’ll get it,” I said, walking over to the nearest desk and pulling the chair out. When I returned to sit beside Evanne, I noticed Lumen’s cheeks were flushed. Mine probably were too. I just hoped my eagle-eyed daughter wouldn’t notice.
“Before we begin,” Lumen said, “I’d just like to say that Evanne has been an excellent student so far.” She gave Evanne a stern look. “Even if she likes to run in the hallways.”
Evanne giggled, and I exhaled. Lumen wasn’t going to let what happened between us affect how she felt about my daughter. The last thing I wanted was to have someone treat Evanne poorly because of their opinion of me.
“She’s not a big fan of walking,” I said, shifting in my seat.
“I’m trying really hard to slow down,” Evanne told us sincerely.
Lumen smiled. “Even if you do need to walk a little slower, you are one of my best students.”
The sincerity in Lumen’s voice left no room for doubt. She meant every word she said, and Evanne was thrilled. I felt a surge of pride even though I doubted I had much to do with my daughter’s academic success. Her temperament wasn’t much like mine, but from what I remembered of my mother and the stories Da told, that part of Evanne’s personality had come from Ma.
“So, Mr. McCrae,” Lumen began.
“You can call me…” I started but then realized she already knew she could call me Alec, which meant she had a reason for her choice. Shit. It was too late not to finish my thought without Evanne asking questions. “…Alec.”
Lumen smiled thinly. “Alec, then. What is it you would like to discuss this afternoon?”
I’d almost forgotten the reason I scheduled the meeting. “I just wanted to chat with you to get a sense of the lesson plans for the school year since I, unfortunately, couldn’t be present for the open house. My mother gave me the basics, but since this is Evanne’s first year here, I want to keep on top of things.”
It was only after the words were out of my mouth that I realized the common American phrase could be taken in a sexual manner. I curled and uncurled my fingers, hoping Lumen didn’t think I was coming on to her. I never would have had sex with her if I’d known she was Evanne’s teacher.
“Of course.” Lumen was keeping her composure rather well, all things considered. “I think I still have some documentation from the open house that Mrs. McCrae didn’t get a chance to pick up.”
I mentally cursed the circumstances that had kept me away that night. I must have seemed like an absentee father, completely disorganized and clueless. Lumen, on the other hand, had everything on her desk cleaned and arranged for maximum efficiency. She barely had to dig around to find the open house documents. I knew how difficult it was to maintain that sort of order and a new admiration of her abilities took root.
“Here we are,” she said, sliding the small bundle over to me. “Feel free to have a look and let me know what else you might be interested in knowing.”
My chest tightened in an all too familiar way as I looked down at the papers in front of me. “I’ll look these over a little later tonight and get back to you then.”
She nodded. “My contact information is on there too, so you don’t have to go through the office if you don’t want to.”
The irony wasn’t lost on me that I now had the information I’d wanted but hadn’t asked her for before because it was supposed to be just a fun date. Nothing more.
