for their child’s highest good. It’s always ‘Little Jimmy is the best thing since sliced bread,’ or ‘Little Suzie can’t do anything right.’
And neither is ever the truth.
After I slip through the door from the teacher’s lounge into the hallway, I see my next meeting with Jeremy’s dad is almost ready to start. Mr. Wilson stands in the corner, talking loudly on his cell phone, not noticing anyone else within fifty feet of him. He’s a big bear of a man with an equally large voice that he likes to orate into any empty space.
“Now, Joe, don’t you try and tell me what’s what. We’ve got eminent domain on our side. If they won’t settle with us for a fair price, we’ll take their asses to court and sue for it. Either way, that land’s gonna get zoned commercial. The county needs the money. We’re screwed on the budget this year.”
What land? I make a show of ambling toward my classroom but lingering outside the door to straighten some leftover Halloween artwork featuring construction paper ghosts and pumpkins with the eyes cut into triangles.
“Yeah, yeah. These assholes and their hoity-toity CBD oil. What a crock of bullshit just to sell pot. And it doesn’t belong in St. Louis County. We’ve been trying to obtain that land for decades. Now’s our chance. It will be like killing two birds with one stone. The residents of Duluth don’t want reefer getting into our schools. They don’t want crime either.”
As my heart flips over, I realize Mr. Wilson’s talking about Grows Like A Weed. They’re trying to steal Blaine’s family legacy by using eminent domain. Basically, they’re going to ‘buy’ the Rice farm for pennies on the dollar and sell it for billions to commercial real estate developers. Grows Like A Weed only dispenses legally to people with legitimate prescriptions. And CBD oil is not pot—Gwen’s best blends don’t even contain THC. Ugh! The man’s ignorance sends a sliver of rage down my spine as I eye him.
And no matter what’s transpired between Blaine and me, I love his family like my own. Even if we can’t be anything more than casual friends in the future, I will always, always have his back.
Mr. Wilson spins and spies me loitering outside my own door. I give a little wave to let him know it’s time for our appointment. “The preliminary zoning meeting is tomorrow night at city hall. I’ll see you then. Yup, bye,” he says quickly into the phone.
As the huge man trails after me into the classroom, I wonder if Blaine or Chief know about this? I’m pretty sure Blaine’s on a long road trip and I don’t have Chief’s cell number. I sink into my desk chair and pick up Jeremy’s folder, making a mental note to fire off a text to Blaine after I’m done for the night and ask him if he wants me to do anything to help.
I just hope he won’t misinterpret my message as begging him to be with me. He’s made it clear with his silence that’s not what he wants. And no matter how much it hurts, I have to accept it. I’m really only contacting him with the best of intentions for his family.
*****
By eight the next evening, when I pull into the parking lot of the city hall, a bunch of butterflies flutter around in my gut. I never did get a hold of Blaine by phone. He texted me back, but he was tied up with road trip stuff and couldn’t pull away for a call at all during the day. But he asked me if I could attend the meeting to be a little fly on the wall and he’d make sure Chief knew about it too so he could be here.
It didn’t go unnoted that he said nothing intimate in our text exchange.
Nothing personal.
Nothing about us.
Because us doesn’t exist in Blaine’s mind, you ignorant fool. You’re just one of his floozies now. Except you’re not even close to being as pretty as Rachel.
Although I’m only a few minutes early, the meeting room is just under half full when I walk inside. I slip into a seat in the back row, making myself as inconspicuous as possible. The last thing I need is Mr. Wilson asking me a bunch of questions about why I’m here or even accusing me of eavesdropping on his private phone call. He’s acting obnoxious as usual, standing near the front and greeting his cronies with