Ten laughed along with Ronan. “Thanks, I needed that.” Ten felt his chest loosen. He got out of the Mustang and was instantly hit with cold wind off Salem Harbor. He nestled deeper into his coat and headed for the lobby.
Ronan took Ten’s hand as they entered the main office. “Ronan O’Mara and Tennyson Grimm. We have a meeting with Miss Stanton.”
Karen Giles smiled at them in greeting. Her son, Jonas, was in Everly’s class. “You can head down to her classroom. Miss Stanton is waiting for you.”
“Thanks.” Ronan waved to the other office workers and turned left heading for the stairs. “Just remember to stay calm and I’m sure everything will be just fine.”
Ten couldn’t help but wonder if Ronan’s advice was for Ten or himself. Probably both.
Reaching the top of the stairs, Ten located Room 20. The door was decorated for St. Patrick’s day with leprechauns and a rainbow leading to a pot of gold. Each child in the class had decorated a shamrock with their name on it. Everly and Aurora’s were pink, no surprise there. Ten rapped on the door.
“Come in!” a cheery voice called from within.
Ronan opened the door to the class room. Small desks were arranged in a circle, which according to Everly was supposed to encourage teamwork. Across the room was a large, mounted white board and a colorful rug for story time. Miss Stanton sat at her desk finishing up her lunch; a ham and cheese sandwich, from the look of it.
“Ah, Mr. O’Mara and Mr. Grimm, right on time.” Miss Stanton stood and brushed crumbs off her pants. “Please have a seat.” She motioned to two chairs near her desk.
Ten felt sick to his stomach. He wasn’t getting any bad vibes from the teacher, but he hated walking into a situation blind. Ronan always made fun of Ten that the rest of the world did that very thing, every day. It made Ten edgy when his gift didn’t give him an advantage. “What is this meeting about?” Ten asked. He was about to launch into a litany of questions about Everly when Ronan gave his hand a squeeze.
Miss Stanton offered a smile. “As you both know, Everly is a kind and courteous classmate. She’s bright and works well with others.”
Ten knew his daughter possessed these traits. He and Ronan were the ones who instilled those values in her. Obviously, the worst was yet to come. “This is wonderful news, but hardly worth you asking us to take time out of our time at work to meet with you.” His words came out a bit harsher than he’d planned.
“I’m worried about Everly falling behind due to an attention deficit,” Miss Stanton said bluntly.
“Falling behind?” Ronan asked, as if that were the last thing he’d expected to hear from Everly’s teacher. “Her last report card was all As. There was nothing on there that would suggest our daughter was at risk of falling behind and what do you mean attention deficit?”
“Mr. O’Mara, your daughter is often seen staring off into space at nothing. At other times, she’s been observed speaking to someone who is not there. Everly is missing valuable class time chatting with her imaginary friends or daydreaming. I wanted to address this situation with you both now. I would suggest having Everly seen by a qualified pediatric psychotherapist who could help her. She could be suffering from childhood-onset schizophrenia. There are anti-psychotic medications that could be used to treat the voices in her head, as well as to increase Everly’s focus.”
Tennyson felt like he’d been hit by a bus. He opened his mouth to ask if this woman needed therapy herself, when Ronan jumped in.
“Are you aware of what my husband does for a living?” Ronan asked in a quiet tone.
Ten knew that tone meant big trouble and with what the teacher had just said about Everly, Ten hoped he hit this ridiculous woman with both barrels.
“Uh, yes, Tennyson is some sort of, well, he’s a so-called psychic.” Miss Stanton rolled her eyes as if she thought what Tennyson did was bunk.
“Aso-calledpsychic?” Ronan made air quotes before smiling at the teacher. He turned to Tennyson and waggled his eyebrows.
Ten knew exactly what Ronan was asking him to do. “When you were six years old you had a puppy named Clyde. He was a gift from your Dad when he filed for divorce from your mother. In high school you made the football cheer team but the other girls were angry that you took the spot from one of their friends. Those girls put Nair in your shampoo and half of your hair fell out. You quit the team the next day. The man you’re dating, Hank, is a mama’s boy and the mama doesn’t think you’re good enough for her son. I’d run as far and as fast from him as you can, if I were you. There’s another man on the horizon. His name is Will. He’s loved you from afar for years and wants kids, whereas Mr. Mama’s Boy does not.” He folded his arms across his chest and waited for Miss Stanton’s response.
The woman sat stone-still. Her eyes were glued to Tennyson. She didn’t seem to be breathing.
Ten had seen this sort of thing a hundred times in his life. People who thought they could pull the wool over his eyes or who, like Miss Stanton, were complete skeptics. Sometimes it took them a few beats to tune back into what was happening. As much as he hated to do it, Ten gave her the chance to assimilate the information he’d just dumped on her.
“How do you know those things? About my father? The cheer squad? None of those things are on Facebook.”
“Of course they’re not. I used my gift and saw those things clear as day.” Ten offered the woman a bland smile. “Now, back to Everly. When she’s staring off into space, she’s listening to a spirit who’s come to ask for her help, same with when you see her speaking to people whoyousay are not there. I can assure you that they are. As a matter of fact, your grandmother, Clara, is here. She dressed in a blue dress with a spray of pink roses pinned to her lapel. Nana Cee was so proud of you when yougraduated from high school. She also says to dump the chump boyfriend.”
“I-I?” Miss Stanton turned to Ronan, as if he could somehow bring the conversation back into reality.
Ronan, for once, seemed to be considering his words carefully. “We can speak with Everly about shutting off her gift during school hours. Like you said, she’s a kind little girl and I know for a fact that all she wants to do is help people. As for your advice about taking Everly to a shrink and medicating her, Irespectfullydisagree.” Ronan practically spat the word “respectfully” at Miss Stanton. “If I so much as hear a peep from another parent of a child in this class who says you’re suggesting mental health care and drugs to them for theirsevenyear olds, I will file a complaint with the board of education so fast that your head will spin. Now, if there’s nothing else, we’re leaving.” Ronan got to his feet and offered Ten his hand.
Miss Stanton looked shell-shocked.
Tennyson could not care less. How dare this woman tell them to bring Everly to a psychotherapist? Ten was appalled at the very idea of shoving drugs down his daughter’s throat. Ronan said he was going to file a complaint against Miss Stanton if she kept telling parents to put their kids on drugs, well, the hell with that, Ten was going to do it now.
“Take a breath, babe. I’ve got this covered.” He pulled out his phone and tapped several times, before slipping it back into his pocket. “When we get back to the car, I’m gonna text Principal Max Preston and ask if he wants to come over for dinner next week. Any chance you could whip up some of your kick ass parmesan-garlic wings and homemade fries?”
