bag slung over one shoulder and a lumpy paper bag in the crook of the other arm. Despite the early hour, she looked impeccable and fully awake, hair in golden curls falling down her back and makeup expertly done. Even back in high school, Ella would bounce into class with limitless energy and smiles for all the guys surrounding her. Now she worked at a salon in town with an appointment waiting list two months long.
“Hey.” Sienna stared mournfully at her car and began wiping the windshield with one mittened hand.
“Don’t you have a snow brush?” Ella opened the back of her sturdy-looking SUV, parked as usual behind Sienna’s car.
“Ah, no. I mean, I did. I’m not sure where I left it.”
“Here.” With two quick sweeps of a long brush, Ella had cleared Sienna’s windshield. She walked around the car, clearing the rest of it without getting any snow on her long red jacket or in her perfectly coiffed hair. Then she handed the brush to Sienna. “Take it. I have another one upstairs.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course.” Ella tossed her hair and beamed. “That’s what neighbors are for.”
Sienna stood there as the beauty queen climbed into her SUV, beeped the horn twice, and drove away. Sometimes people did surprise her.
Sienna dashed into the elementary school twenty minutes later. She’d called the office, but by the time she reached her classroom, sweat drenched her back. Please let everything be calm and peaceful. Surely the twins wouldn’t be awake enough to have started their tantrums. Maybe Caleb would be bent over his work, and Silas would be rocking happily in his chair.
Or not.
“Glad you finally made it,” the substitute teacher said stiffly.
“I’m so, so sorry.” Billy and Bailey sat red-faced in the corner. Silas was rocking, but in a manner so jerky and agitated she was afraid he’d pitch forward out of the chair and knock himself out. Caleb wasn’t sitting in his usual chair, but instead stood in the corner under the window, blinking too fast.
“Where’s Dawn?”
“In the closet, last time I saw her.” The sub pointed to the corner as she walked out. “Good luck.”
Sienna sank to the ground. Her legs gave out, and she simply folded into a pretzel on the rug. How did people do this year after year? She pressed her fingertips to her temples. This is only temporary. Your job in London won’t be anything like this. There, she’d be teaching four-year olds with no learning difficulties who came from rich families. That’s what the Allbright Foundation had promised, anyway. And that would be a walk in the park compared to this.
She took another few breaths, then stood and walked over to Caleb. She didn’t touch him. She didn’t try to look at him. Instead, she pointed at the bookshelf and spoke over his left shoulder.
“Caleb, please pick out two books. Then you can sit at the table and read them to yourself, and we’ll talk about them in thirty minutes.”
His gaze shifted, and for a second—maybe a half second—his eyes met hers. Then he nodded and walked to the bookshelf.
Silas stopped rocking. He looked at her with tears in his eyes, and suddenly she realized the magnitude of her lateness. They thought I wasn’t coming back. Their regular teacher had already left them. They’d probably assumed Sienna was doing the same.
“I’m sorry, buddy. I’m sorry I was late. But I’m here now.” She sat in the rocking chair and snuggled Silas to her chest. His body tensed, and she waited for him to leap up and run across the room. But he didn’t. After a breath or two, he relaxed into her, and together they rocked in silence.
Sienna kept one eye on the twins and the other on the ajar closet door. She continued to rock. Caleb sat at the table and dragged his finger down the first page of his book. After a few minutes, Billy walked over to her, sniffling.
“Miss Cruz, are we gonna do math this morning?”
“Would you like to?”
He gave her a long, soulful look and nodded.
“Yes,” Bailey said from the other side of the room. “I want to do math.”
Well, that was a first. Sienna put Silas on the floor. She sat the twins at the table with worksheets and freshly sharpened pencils and walked over to the closet.
“Dawn?”
Nothing. She pushed the door open a few more inches. “Sweetheart, I know you want to stay in here.” She had a sudden memory of herself as a child, turning out all the