Mom Over Miami - By Annie Jones Page 0,36

kind of feel better now.”

“Do you?” Hannah asked.

“Huh?”

“Feel better? Really?”

“No. Not really.”

“Want to tell us about it?” Hannah asked.

Sam shook his head.

They drove the last few blocks to the school in silence.

Payt pulled the van into the small parking lot and found a space.

This was it. Big moment.

First day of school.

Hannah held her breath.

She and Payt had toured the long-established nondenominational school twice before deciding on it for Sam. They had gone through new student orientation and met with the school administrators, Sam’s teacher and her aide. They’d even seen the class hamster.

Sam had reacted to it all with resignation.

Hannah had wanted to give the child every reason to look forward to the experience, but Payt had asked her to hold some details back. He did not want them to build up Sam’s expectations only to have them dashed by a last-minute change of plans.

That’s what Payt had said, “change of plans.” What he’d meant was that he feared Sam’s father might have a change of heart and want the boy to go someplace else to live and attend school.

Hannah pushed the possibility aside and had gone about trying to prepare Sam to take the fourth grade by storm. All the coolest school supplies. Crisp, clean spanking-new uniform. She had done all she could to make sure Sam was ready.

But nothing she had done or could do would have gotten Hannah ready for this moment. All summer long it had been her and Sam and Tessa. Payt and Aunt Phiz and the soccer kids, too, but mostly the three of them. Together each and every day, learning from each other. Now Sam had to go off and learn from someone else.

“You know, all of a sudden my tummy doesn’t feel so good.” She laid her hand over her abdomen.

“C’mon, don’t lose it now. Everything will be all right.” Payt got out of the van.

The sliding back door rumbled as he pulled it open for Sam.

Tessa waved her fist in the air.

Sam watched the baby for a second, then bent to pick up her toy and handed it back to her.

“C’mon, kiddo,” Payt urged.

The boy kicked his backpack one more time, then heaved it up onto his shoulder and hopped out onto the blacktopped parking lot.

Hannah got out and scanned the lot. Here and there families stood beside cars, adjusting uniforms, making little speeches. Moms dabbed their eyes. Dads cleared their throats.

Corny as it sounded, the whole thing eased Hannah’s worries just a little. She’d done such a checkered job as Snack Mom, she’d hate to have failed at being school mom by being the only who didn’t handle the first day’s parting with absolute cool.

A gust of wind blew up from behind and tossed her red hair over her face. She started to slip her sunglasses on and poked herself in the eye.

Cool. Like that ever was an option for her.

Shading her watering eyes against the sting of the morning sun, she tossed her sunglasses into the van and slammed the door.

The instructions sent home for parents clearly stated they should not accompany the children inside the building. Volunteers stood waiting at the curb to shepherd the students to their rooms.

Hannah leaned one hip against the side of the van, staying near the open side door to monitor Tessa. “I should have signed up as a room escort.”

“Oh, yeah, you have time for that.” Payt patted her back. “Let it go, Hannah. Let him go. God’s got this covered, you know.”

She knew. But sometimes didn’t God deserve a little help?

“Okay, pal. Here you go.” Payt rested his large hand on the boy’s thin shoulder. “Any questions, concerns or true confessions before you head off?”

Sam pulled on the neck of his uniform shirt.

A few feet away two little girls squealed at the sight of one another and ran headlong into each other’s arms.

Sam frowned at them and placed his open hand on the van door. “Did you have friends in school, Payt?”

“Sure. I guess.” He shrugged.

“Did you have friends, Hannah?”

“I had sisters—does that count?” She worked up a meager smile.

Sam nodded. He took one bold step away from them then twisted around, his face pale. “What if…”

Hannah’s heartbeat swelled in her chest. She swallowed hard and bent at the knees to make better eye contact. “What, honey?”

“What if I don’t make any friends?”

Friends!

“Oh, no.” She winced. In her anxiety, Hannah had forgotten to tell him the news about the school, the news Payt had wanted her to hold back until they