“In the meantime, Kennedy turns eighteen in January. At that time, we can help her find another place to live. She has a job, but no idea what her post-school plans are. I’d like to find out if she wants to go to college. Seems like a bright girl based on her grades, but guidance said, to their knowledge, she hasn’t applied anywhere.”
“Probably wants to stick around to protect her brother,” Lucas said. “I’ll check to see if she has enough credits to swing early graduation in January since she’ll be eighteen. If she does, maybe we can work on getting her signed up for at least the community college part-time and get her some scholarships. If she wanted to try and get custody of her little brother after graduation, it would be tough, but we can connect her with resources to help her with that.” He groaned. “I feel so fucking helpless.”
“I do too. Like I said earlier, I’m going to try to talk to her. I’ll give her whatever help she needs, but she’s got to get brave and turn the asshole in, or she’s stuck.”
“Judah’s right. Waiting for her to get hurt in order to help her sucks. Depending on how bad the abuse has been, he very well could put her in the hospital or kill her.”
“We’ll watch her, Dr. Vaughn. She’s got just a few months to get through, and when she’s eighteen, we can get her out of there. My concern, though, is whether she’ll leave if her brother’s still there. If she won’t leave, then once she’s eighteen, our hands are tied. Unless she reports the abuse, there’s nothing we can do then. We would actually have to witness it, or it would have to happen on school grounds for us to intercede officially.”
A knock sounded at his door. He looked up to see Jess through the window. He waved her in. Seemed like everyone was conspiring to keep him from working today.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she said.
He watched her eyes as they moved back and forth between him and the woman sitting across from him.
“Jess, this is Officer Hookstead, our new SRO. She was a police officer in New Orleans before working here. Officer Hookstead, this is Jess Wesley, a friend of mine. She works at one of the local endodontic offices and coordinates with Operation Smile.”
Elyxandre stood and held out her hand. “That’s the group that does free dentistry for the students in the district?”
“Oral surgery portion, yes.”
“That’s awesome. Thanks for making that happen. Nice to meet you.”
Jess held out her hand as well. “Same.” She glanced at him as she let go of Elyxandre’s hand. “Lucas didn’t mention the new SRO was a woman.” He could hear the teasing in her voice. “All the boys here must have hearts in their eyes.”
He could see the wheels turning. No, he hadn’t mentioned it to her, but he hadn’t really thought it was necessary. Inwardly, he groaned at the smirk on her face, letting him know there would be a discussion later. Her assumption would be that he hadn’t mentioned it because he was hiding something. Fantastic.
This was the problem of not having lived with a woman or having a girlfriend for so long. He’d forgotten the nuances of things he should mention, like new female co-workers. Why did women have to be so different from men in what they considered important information? Then again, he realized that if he still had male friends he hung around with regularly, they’d complain he hadn’t mentioned it either, although for entirely different reasons.
Elyxandre flashed a smile. “After the first day, they got over the shock. Day two, I just became the scary lady with a gun. Please, call me Elyxandre. I get enough of the ‘Officer’ title here.”
“What a gorgeous name! It suits you.” Looking back to Lucas, she said, “I really just came by the school to drop off some flyers for the fundraiser and thought I’d say hello. But since I’m here, I might as well remind you about the barbecue for the office’s anniversary. Please say you’ll be there and save me from death by hamburger flipper.”
What the hell was this about? He already told her that he wasn’t coming. Sunday was his “personal day,” when he did things for himself. Absolutely no work for him. It was a rule he’d made when he became a single father to make sure he had built-in time for Ezra and a mental health break for himself.
“That’s on Sunday, Jess,” he reminded her. “It’s the day after all the homecoming craziness, and I had planned to go hiking in Castroville. Ezra and I haven’t been out that way in a while.” It was only half a lie. His son already had plans for Sunday, and he intended to go hiking on his own.
“Well, you could certainly bring Ezra. Stop by before, or better yet, after. You’ll have hiked up a good appetite, and you know there will be way too much food.” She glanced at Elyxandre, back to Lucas, and her grin grew even larger.
Oh, hell no. He knew exactly where she was going next.
Her full attention went to Elyxandre. “You should come too. It’s really more of an open house, so nothing official is required for entry.” She snapped her fingers. “I know! You should go hiking with them, then come with them afterward. That way, you’d get to see something other than San Antonio proper.”
He watched a tinge of pink flush Elyxandre’s features.
“Thanks for the invite, but like Dr. Vaughn said, we’ll have had a pretty crazy week here. I’m honestly looking forward to a rare day with nothing to do. Maybe sleeping all day.”
An image of Elyxandre lazing in bed hit his imagination. He wondered what she slept in.
Before the fantasy could take wing, she heard him say his name.
“I’m sorry, what?”
Glee spread across Jess’ face. She knew she’d caught him distracted by a thought, and based on what Elyxandre just said, she probably wasn’t far off in her guess at what he was thinking. Damn.
“I said if hiking with you was too exhausting a concept, then maybe she would be interested in coming to the park the following week with me, and I can show her some of the other beautiful scenery in the San Antonio area. Mainly, the police and firefighters charity softball game. By then, she should be well-rested and ready to get revved up watching all that eye candy on the ball field.”
“Actually,” Elyxandre said, “I might be playing in that game.”
