Hardwood - K.M. Neuhold Page 0,11
getting out of my work truck back at the office after finishing up a consult with a potential new client. I pull it out to find both a text from Val and a calendar reminder, both telling me not to forget about the parent teacher meeting at Livi’s school this afternoon.
I head inside to jot down a few notes for myself regarding the estimate I’ll need to write up first thing tomorrow so I can get out of here in time to get to the school.
“Ducking out early, slacker?” Cole teases when he sees me trying to slip back out.
“Parent teacher conference,” I explain.
“I need to get a kid, so I have an excuse to fuck off whenever I want,” Stone muses from his own office.
“Right, because insisting you were owed paternity leave when you adopted a new puppy doesn’t count as fucking off whenever you want,” Ollie calls back through his own open door.
“Puppy paternity leave is valid,” Stone argues.
Cole rolls his eyes and chuckles. “See you later man,” he says, and I give him a wave as I head out to my car.
I pull into a parking spot at the school a few minutes later, and I see Val waiting for me on the sidewalk.
“Hey,” I greet her when I get close, giving her a kiss on the cheek once I reach her.
“Hey,” she says. “When are you going to get rid of this ugly ass hat?” she teases, scrunching her nose and flicking the bill of my favorite baseball cap.
“You know better than to mock the hat,” I say solemnly, and she giggles.
After we decided to divorce, she told me her worst fear was losing me as a friend, and I have to admit, mine was the same. Luckily, it was easy enough to find our footing. Easier, if I’m being honest, than continuing to try to make our failing marriage work. Maybe that’s because we were always better friends than lovers, for obvious reasons.
We met through mutual school friends when we were fifteen. We clicked right away, becoming inseparable almost immediately. We bonded over our shared love of Saved by the Bell and MTV, spending hours listening to the Ten album by Pearl Jam together. I can still remember feeling stunned the first time she kissed me unexpectedly. I hadn’t thought of her as anything other than a friend, but I figured it made sense for us to date. After all, I loved spending time with her, and we had a lot in common, and kissing her felt fine. It probably should’ve been a sign even back then that it was just fine, but what did I know? I hadn’t ever kissed anyone else. I’ve still never kissed anyone else; maybe fine is all there is.
An image of Watson’s full lips fill my mind, and a flutter starts low in my belly. Or maybe I need to scrape together the nerve to find out what it’s really supposed to feel like.
“Ready to hear how amazing our kid is?” she asks, gesturing toward the door.
“Always.” I hold the door open for her and then follow her through. According to the email I got last week, in an effort to get us more involved in the different aspects of Livi’s education, instead of only meeting with her primary teacher, we also have to have a brief sit-down with her music teacher and gym teacher as well. And according to the schedule Val has, the music teacher is our first stop.
It takes us a couple of minutes to find the right classroom, but when we do, I open the door for Val again and, out of habit, put a hand on her lower back as I follow her in.
Watson
I check my schedule and see I have Olivia Aldridge’s parents scheduled to arrive any second. She’s a great kid, so it should be an easy meeting. I get to gush about how sweet she is and break it to them that third grade is the year we send all the kids home with a recorder and sheet music to practice playing it.
The door opens, and I put on a bright smile, my hand unconsciously moving to adjust my red bowtie. A woman steps through the door looking so much like Olivia that there’s no doubt whatsoever she’s the mother. And behind her…
Well, fuck.
Everett stops in his tracks as our eyes meet. It only takes a second for his expression to go from pleasant to surprised to panicked. I drop my