Chapter 27

Renee’s POV

I pull up to the school parking lot and before I can put the car in park, my passenger door swings open. Debbie plops herself down in the front seat with a huff. I look at her taken back, why is she in such a mood?

My mind runs countless scenarios in my head where something wrong could’ve happened today which jumpstarts my anxiety.

Maybe she transformed at school, maybe she had another illness attack. I start to rethink this whole kindergarten idea, maybe Margaux does homeschooling and can teach Debbie. Would that be fair? Does it matter?

“I want to join the soccer team,” Debbie insists. Oh, that’s what her mood is about.

“Debbie, we’ve talked about this. It’s not good for your health,” I feel bad for lying to her, but the truth is so much worse. Debbie shakes her head aggressively.

“I don’t care,” she says, and I can hear her voice on the brink of tears, but she’s trying to keep it together. Debbie has never been so persistent about something before and I have a feeling she won’t let this go.

I told her that she could watch some of the practices, I was hoping that she would get bored and eventually not want to stay anymore. I think my plan backfired on me, instead pushing her towards wanting to join even more.

“Debbie,” I trail off, not sure how to finish, but Debbie interjects.

“If start to have health problems then I’ll stop, I promise Mom can I just try it?” I collapse in my seat trying to quickly think about it.

I guess it’s not worth damaging our relationship over. If Debbie ever brings up the idea of a play date with Nilo then I’ll just deal with that battle. I guess that I will have to attend every practice just to ensure damage control in case what happened the other day happens again.

“All right, you can join,” I concede. Debbie claps her hands and squeals.

The next day at practice, I sit on the bleachers. I suppose this is going to be my spot for the next few days over the course of the next couple of months. Why do they have to practice so often? They’re only children, how serious are their games?

At least the weather is nice, it’s overcast so the sun isn’t directly beating down on me.

There’s no sign of Nilo. Maybe he isn’t on the team after all. I start to relax as Mrs. Hazel takes the kids through their warm-up. It’s quite precious to see, I lean back and start to actually enjoy myself.

“Hurry up and get out there, you’re late” Oh no. I hear Eric’s voice and shutter in response. I quickly take out a notebook and a pen from my purse and try to make myself look busy. If I pay him no attention maybe he’ll just ignore me.

I don’t look up. I keep my eyes glued to my blank paper, squeezing the life out of this pen. Maybe if I squeeze hard enough the ink will explode and then I’ll have to leave.

“Is this seat taken?“ I hear Eric ask before I even answer. He sits himself down next to me. The entire bleachers are empty and chooses to sit right next to me. I know he’s looking at my blank page. Probably laughing to himself right now. “Where is Jasper?”

“Work,” I tell him. I don’t know why I just admit that Jasper and I broke up. That would be a better way to maybe have Eric leave me alone if he thinks that I am going through some emotional turmoil, but I already missed the opportunity.

I can’t now just tell him that we broke up. I already told him that Jasper is at work, there’s no going back now.

“Hm,” Eric says, as though he’s thinking about my response like he’s trying to pick it apart and detect the lie. Though the truth is Jasper probably is actually at work, but the way Eric asks makes me think that he knows where Jasper is and maybe it’s not at work.

I ignore him, if I give him nothing to work with then maybe he’ll leave.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, when is your and Jasper’s anniversary” Eric says leaning in to me. I snap my notebook shut

I shoot him a puzzled look, why does he want to know that?

“I’d like to get you guys an anniversary gift,”

Yeah, right. I can see right through Eric. This is a test. “June,” I pick a random month and hope that it makes sense with the timeline of my working and our first run in together at the hospital.

Eric narrows, his eyes at me, “June what?” Why is Eric looking at me like that? And why can’t I remember any numbers?

“What’s his middle name?” Eric asks confusing me even further.

“What about his birthday?” Eric must see the panic on my face because he smiles to himself as if he’s won some kind of game. And maybe he has, I don’t know. The truth is, I don’t know the answer to these questions, and Eric can probably find them out very easily if he hasn’t already.

“What are you doing?” I shoot back at him. He’s not the only one who can ask questions. He has a smug, satisfied look on his face that I just want a slap off.

Fortunately, it doesn’t come to that because there’s yelling coming from the field that pulls both our attention. Debbie is on the ground crying. I jump from my seat and run over to her, prepared to pull her off the field again if I have to.

“What happened?” I ask

“Nilo pushed me down,” Debbie says, pointing a finger at Nilo with tears streaming down her cheeks. I spin on my heels and glare at Nilo.

“What?” Eric yells and grabs Nilo’s wrist.

“It was an accident, Nilo says, but the way he says it makes it sound like it wasn’t an accident at all.

I knew this was a bad idea from the start and no one listened to me. No one ever listens to me. I direct my anger at Eric. “Maybe if you weren’t berating me with questions then we would have seen what happened and could figure this out,” I shout at him.

Mrs. Hazel stands off to the side, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Not sure how to respond. I laugh. Of course, she isn’t going to Debbie’s side. Why would she when the alpha’s son already declared what happened?

I pull up from the ground and wipe the dirt off Debbie’s shirt. “Come on.” I say to her.

We are halfway across the field and Debbie’s sobs have become muffled sniffles.

“Wait a second,” I hear Eric shout. I hesitate and stop walking. I turn around just as Eric has caught up to us. If he wants to be yelled at some more, then by all means he can be my guest.

What is it?” I snap at him.

“I am sorry that happened. You’re right, we should have been paying attention to our children,” I stand shellshocked for a minute. I wait for the laughter, or the snarky remark, but neither come. Eric simply walks away. I think this is the first time Eric has apologized, ever.