Jack Kursed Page 14

Jack and Erica traded surprised looks. He gently grabbed Tiffany's good shoulder. Her bruised shoulder was healing, but still tender. It was a shame his curse didn't come with healing powers.

  "Listen to me. I wanted to save you from a bad situation. And I did, but we're not done yet. I don't know the future. But when it's time for you to get adopted, it will be your choice. I'm not gonna just get rid of you."

  "But the social workers come. And they take you and don't tell you why. They make you stay with a foster-mom like Miss Simmons."

  "Foster-mom? Simmons?" Erica said. "Andrea Simmons? The woman in the news yesterday?"

  "Tiffany," Jack said, ignoring Erica. "No social worker is coming. I promise you. I won't let then come and take you away."

  Tiffany lunged forward and hugged Jack around the neck. He winced and tensed up, not enjoying the contact at all. His first instinct was to pry himself away, but decided he'd let Tiffany have this one moment.

  "It's okay," he said, awkwardly patting her back. "You have to go to school. I want you to try your best and behave for Erica...Miss Hernandez. But either way, no one's coming to get you."

  "Even the monster?"

  "Nope, not even the monster."

  The bell rang, and students filed from the playground to the open double-doors not far away. He heard some of their snickering and remarks. Someone even called Erica Scar-Lady. He didn't bother hiding his scowl, and some of the children looked away in fear.

  "You have to go," he said. "Your lunch is in your pack. Right when you get out of school, I'll be waiting by the truck on the side of the road there."

  She kissed him on the cheek before turning and running into school. Jack couldn't help but wipe it away as he rose to his feet. Erica stood next to him, staring.

  "What?" he said.

  "She lived with that woman I saw on the news yesterday?"

  "Yeah. It's a long story."

  "You'll have to fill me in sometime."

  "Sure."

  She gave him a smile, which was much better than the look of horror he received yesterday. Her eyes drifted for a second, looking over the simple jeans and tee shirt he wore. A different look than the shirt and tie from the day before. He could see in her eyes she liked what she saw.

  "Erica?" he said. "Don't you have a class to get to?"

  Her face turned red, and she brought her hand up to cover her scar. Jack tried not to laugh. Obviously nervous gestures of hers revolved around her scar.

  "Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. You have a good day."

  She vanished into school, giving him one last smile.

  *****

  Jack relaxed throughout the day, listening to music, working on his garden, watching TV. Just killing time. But these time-killing sessions were a little different, as he had something he was looking forward to. He wondered how Tiffany was doing in school. Was she making friends? Did she fit in with the other kids? Was she giving Erica a hard time? Was she learning anything?

  He glanced at the clock as he watched Judge Judy. Checking the time is something he rarely did. Most mortals probably didn't even realize it, but their lives centered on sleep. Their day-to-day activities, work, meals, entertainment, sex, bathing, all came down to How much time do I have to squeeze in as much as I can before my body shuts down, and I have to sleep. Jack did not have this problem. Time was meaningless to him.

  But now that Tiffany was in school, he had a reason to look at the clock.

  He arrived at school a little early. Like in the morning, mothers loitered the playground and sat in their cars, waiting for school to let out. He left his truck and waited by the fence, admiring some of the attractive women glancing at him. It had been a while since his last one-nighter, but he had other things on his mind.

  Children stormed the playground after the bell rang. Jack laughed as the scene reminded him of storming the beach in World War II. They ran to buses, the swing-sets, their parents. One kid in particular just ran in circles, screaming with his arms in the air. Jack didn't remember having that much fun when he was young.

  He spotted Tiffany and walked to meet her. Her body language immediately tipped him off that something was wrong. Hands in her pockets, her head low, kicking at the dirt when she walked.

  "Hey, Tiffany. How was school-?"

  She didn't respond, or even stop. She marched past him, not looking him in the eye. He spun in place and watched her leave the playground and climb in the truck. Jack stood there for a minute, watching her sulk, before someone stopped next to him.

  "Hey," Erica said.

  "I take it the first day of school wasn't so great?"

  "She was doing really well. Quiet at first, looking like a caged cheetah. But by lunchtime she was more relaxed, and was even laughing at my little jokes. She didn't raise her hand to answer any questions, but she was at least engaged. She even took a few pictures of the class."

  "She’s a photography nut. She’s taken a thousand pictures of my kitchen. I’ll talk to her about it," he said. A slow smile crossed his face. "You tell jokes in your class?"

  "Yeah. Good ones, too. Anyway, after lunch, she was different. I'm not sure she heard a word I said."

  "Thanks. I'll see what's going on."

  He walked away, but Erica stopped him by calling his name. He turned to give her his attention.

  "I think it's incredible what you're doing," she said.

  He raised an eyebrow. "Picking Tiffany up from school?"

  She laughed, the sexiest thing he ever heard.

  "No. Taking care of Tiffany, giving her a life she's obviously never had before. I can see she looks up to you."

  Jack reflected on that. He couldn't remember the last time someone gave him a compliment.

  "Thank you. You're doing a good thing yourself, being a teacher."

  She rolled her eyes at the generic compliment. "There are twenty other teachers in this school."

  "Yeah, but you're different. You were disfigured when you were twenty-one. How old are you now? Twenty-nine? Thirty? So you've only been teaching a few years. You chose to put yourself in front of a classroom of kids, knowing you'd be studied and laughed at. But you did it anyway. You're single, probably taken yourself out of the dating game. That's a shame, given how gorgeous you are. I'm guessing you can't have kids?"

  It was a reach, but it made sense from what Jack had observed. The body language didn’t lie. He’d seen the faraway, jealous looks Erica gave some of the other parents. She said nothing as a range of emotions played across her face. Surprise, pain, fear, sadness. His words obviously hit a nerve, maybe a few nerves. She reeled herself in and simply gave him a small smile.

  "You definitely like to speak your mind, don't you?"

  "There's no other way to be," he said. "Goodbye."

  He left the playground without looking back. He almost felt guilty. Only he could take what was meant as a compliment and leave a woman fighting tears. He pushed his conscience aside, something he'd been doing all his life. He had a little girl to worry about.

  Jack drove slowly on purpose, hoping it would give Tiffany the chance to speak up. She said nothing, content to stare out the passenger’s window.

  "How was school?"

  "I don’t want to talk about it."

  "Well, bad news. We’re going to. What’s wrong?"

  Tiffany didn’t answer. She lowered and raised her window, an action that drove Jack crazy after ten seconds.

  "Stop that," he said. "What happened at lunch to put you in your wonderful mood?"

  "That boy Robert hit me."

  "He did what?"

  "He pushed me," she corrected. "Knocked me on the ground."

  Jack swerved from his lane, cutting off a car, and made the first right turn at a traffic light he could. He parked on the side of the road, across from a Subway, and killed the engine. Taking a deep breath, he turned to Tiffany. She had his undivided attention.

  "What happened?"

  "I was walking around the playground by myself. I w
as taking pictures. I like to take pictures."

  "I noticed."

  "Robert wanted to see my camera. I thought maybe he would break it, so I told him no. He pushed me to the ground and threw a dodge-ball at me." Her eyes to filled with tears. "Everyone started laughing at me."

  Jack could feel the rage building. The rage he was comfortable with. Protective feelings toward Tiffany he was not. He sat there, unmoving, trying to figure what to do. Murdering Robert was most likely out of the question.

  "I didn’t hit him back," Tiffany said.

  "Why not?"

  "Hitting people is wrong, I know. Miss Simmons used to hit us all the time. It’s bad."

  "Dammit, Tiffany, anything you think you might have learned with her, run by me first. Now, listen to me. I’m not saying go Chuck Norris on the kid, but you can’t let anyone push you, hit you, try to hurt you, anything like that."

  "I should hit him back?" she said, pausing to think. "That’s not what they say on TV."

  It took everything he had not to burst out laughing. The girl was so funny, so cute. A smile did escape, which he quickly tucked away.

  "Just defend yourself. Use your judgment. I won’t be mad at you."

  "Okay. Can we go to the store and see Mr. and Mrs. Soon?"

  "Sure. They like you."

  "I like them, too. It’s really funny when they dance."

  Jack gave her a playful ruff of the hair, and pulled into traffic.

  CHAPTER 10

  A week passed. Jack developed into a routine, which he enjoyed very much. A routine helped to define time, to give him something to look forward to. Cook breakfast and make lunch for Tiffany before school, take her to school, enjoy his day, and pick her up. It was simple, and simple was good. They ate dinner together and she worked on her homework at the bar.

  He also learned some things. He was sure there was a mathematical formula out there somewhere, but it seemed to be the smaller the child, the more dirty clothes they produced. Jack furrowed his brow one evening at the washer, trying to figure out how the dirty clothes basket kept growing like an oil spill.

  Tiffany also didn’t spend nearly as much time in her room as he thought she would. From everything he saw on TV, kids liked to spend time in their room. Tiffany only went there to sleep. She wanted to spend as much time as she could at Jack’s side, which was annoying. They argued about what to watch on TV. When Jack pointed out she had her own TV, her response was simply that she wanted to watch with him. It was frustrating to lose control of his own living room, but he simply took over again when she went to sleep. Never sleeping did have a few advantages.

  The weekend was an interesting time. Jack worked in the garden while Tiffany ran through the house like a tornado, watching TV, playing on the computer. Then she actually helped Jack plant some carrots, cauliflower, and beets. It almost seemed like Tiffany suffered from the same curse as Jack. Never resting, never sleeping. But after a full afternoon in the garden she passed out on the floor behind the couch, giving him some time to watch the incredibly terrible movies on SyFy. Victoria even stopped by to spend the evening with them.

  On Monday the routine began once again. Breakfast, and then off to school. Tiffany still wasn't fond of getting up early in the morning against her will, but she didn't whine about it any longer.

  Jack led Tiffany across the playground. She still hadn't made any friends, but he knew it was only a matter of time. She was too fun to go unnoticed much longer.

  Erica leaned against the brick wall, watching Jack with a smile. The woman was absolutely stunning. She wore a skirt with a blue blouse, her hair held back with a hair clip. Standing there with her arms crossed, she had one foot flat against the wall, a pose he found incredibly sexy. He loved that she never bothered to wear makeup. He could guess her logic, that with her scar, why bother? But it was just another thing that set her apart.

  "Damn," he said as he drew near. "I can almost see some of your thigh."

  She laughed and shook her head. She'd almost expected the inappropriate comments he made, even in front of Tiffany. Nothing he said bothered the girl. He could do no wrong in her eyes.

  "Good morning, Jack, Tiffany," she said. "You have a good weekend?"

  "It was the best weekend ever!" Tiffany shouted. "We planted things, and played in the dirt, and watched TV. We had hamburgers with Victoria, even though she never eats. And we went to the mall yesterday, and then we-"

  Tiffany stopped talking for a moment to breathe. Jack rolled his eyes and smiled at Erica.

  "We had fun. Thanks for asking."

  "Victoria?" Erica asked.

  "My sister."

  It felt strange to talk to others about Victoria. He socialized so rarely, and never had a title for Victoria before. It felt good to have family again.

  He raised an eyebrow at her. "Did I sense a little jealousy there? Just for a second?"

  Jack loved teasing Erica, flirting with her. It was easy to flirt because there wasn't the chance of anything happening. Her reactions, getting flustered, were priceless. She tried to hide it, but body language told the story. Erica had self-confidence problems, always keeping her eyes low, keeping her scar turned away during a conversation. But she liked talking to Jack. He knew teachers were supposed to rotate who watched the playground in the morning, but Erica never gave up her shift.

  "No jealousy here, Jack. Just your imagination."

  "Eh, you say that. But when Tiffany said Victoria, your jaw tensed up, just for a second, and your foot on the wall there slid down an inch or so."

  She uncrossed her arms and pushed herself away from the wall. Looking around the playground to make sure no one was watching her, she glanced down to see Tiffany laughing at her.

  "How do you do that?" she asked.

  "Ah, so I was right. Jealousy."

  "No, no. You're way out of line. You don't think I notice things? Do you know you're the only parent who walks right up to me in the morning?"

  He nodded and frowned at the other parents around him, not paying attention to any of the children.

  "I know. I just want to make sure Tiffany gets inside okay," he said, meeting her eyes. "And seeing you every morning doesn't hurt, either."

  Erica laughed and gave Tiffany a smile. "Your foster-father is crazy."

  "He's the nicest person in the world."

  She nodded and looked back to Jack. "Do your little lines work on any of the other ladies?"

  He shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't tossed lines at anyone in a long time." He knelt down and patted Tiffany on the shoulder. "You be good today."

  "I will."

  "Oh, I almost forgot." He reached into his pocket for the gift he bought for her at the mall. "This is for you."

  Her eyes lit up as he pulled out an iPhone. It had a Spongebob Squarepants case. He smiled when he saw the look on her face. Gently turning her around, he opened a pocket and shoved the phone into her pack.

  "Is that for me?"

  "That's what I said, isn't it? I figured it could replace that stupid camera you've got. It takes better pictures, and can hold something like four billion of them."

  Tiffany said nothing. She reached out and hugged him, burying her head in his shoulder. It was the second hug in a week's time. Jack tried to hold in an irritated groan. He would stop doing nice things for her if they kept leading to hugs. He looked up at Erica.

  "Could you help me out here?"

  She laughed and shook her head. "You're on your own. But Jack, we really don't like our students bringing iPhones to school."

  He gently pulled away from Tiffany and stood up to look into Erica's beautiful eyes.

  "Really? Well, okay. What are you guys in to here? Androids? Blackberries?"

  She laughed again, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "No. I mean we just don't like the kids to bring phones of any kind. They're not toys, you know."

  "The hell they aren't. Do you know how many pigs I've slaughtered by tossing little birds at them? I
love technology."

  Tiffany jumped and gasped. "You put the Angry Birds on the phone?"

  "I did. But Tiffany, you can't pull the phone out, okay? Not even at lunch or recess. You have to keep it in your bag until you get home."

  She pouted, but agreed. He smiled at Erica.

  "Good enough?"

  She rolled her eyes. "I guess so."

  "Great, everything's beautiful. I'll pick you up after school. Erica, don't get too distracted thinking about me while you teach."

  "I'll try my absolute best."

  *****

  Tiffany sat at her assigned seat at the back of class. She pulled out her paper and pencils, setting the pencils in the groove at the top of her desk. The bell rang, but some of the children around her kept talking and laughing. Miss Hernandez rapped her knuckles on her desk a few times to get their attention, an action Tiffany hated. It reminded her of homeschooling with Miss Simmons. Whenever her old foster-mother would lose her temper while teaching, she would pound on the coffee table. After that the discipline usually started.

  "Morning, everybody," Miss Hernandez greeted with her usual smile. "Go ahead and pass your homework to the front of class."

  Tiffany handed her homework, which she knew was mostly wrong, to the student in front of her. She didn't hate school as much as she thought she would. The other kids were nice to her, except for Robert. She didn't have to eat the cafeteria food because Jack made her a great lunch every day. The other kids looked at her with envy in their eyes.

  She knew Jack was an angel, sent to look out for her. She thanked God every night before she went to bed. But Tiffany knew things could change in an instant. The foster system taught her that. She had to try in school as hard as she could, and get good grades. Jack said he wouldn't give her away, but parents didn't want stupid kids. She wanted Jack to be proud of her, to maybe actually hug her, and not simply put up with it.

  Miss Hernandez leafed through the homework assignments for a moment at the front of class. A frown touched her face as she paused, and Tiffany knew the teacher had found her paper.

  "Okay, guys, turn to page forty-seven in your math book." She laughed as the class groaned. "Oh, don't give me that. Who doesn't like math?"