Wrapped Around Her Finger ✓

49. Covert

Paxton

I'm replying to some emails when a new one enters my inbox.

From: Eleanor Able

Subject: Meeting

Mr. Hayle, apologies for the late notice, but would you be able to come in for a short meeting at 3:30 today? I've emailed Tammy as well.

Thank you.

Eleanor.

I text Lina.

P: Any idea why Eleanor wants to meet with me?

L: No clue, I haven't seen Abigail do anything out of the ordinary today

Strange, but I confirm in an email to Eleanor anyways. I quickly call Janet, asking her to reschedule my afternoon meetings.

-----

Tammy is already in the empty classroom by the time I've arrived. Eleanor and Lina are sitting with her at one of the tables. "Oh Mr. Hayle, thank you for coming," Eleanor gives me a slight smile and nods to the remaining chair at the table.

I give Lina a subtle look. What's happening? She gives a tiny shrug, looking just as confused as I feel.

"Is everything ok?" Tammy asks.

"Well, today the class was doing a Valentine's day project, and Abigail's was a bit...strange." Eleanor shows us a large heart cut out of pink construction paper decorated with lots of glitter. "The assignment was for the kids to write about people they love."

Tammy takes it and unfolds the heart. Inside is a template.

I love ___ because ______

Abby seemed to have filled two. One is about Tammy, she wrote multiple paragraphs. Detailed descriptions and her usual excellent quality of work.

The other is about me, but there's only one sentence.

I love my daddy because he loves me best, no one will change his mind.

"With any other child, I'd think it was just a strange choice of wording, but...it was concerning because it was Abigail," she explains. "Abigail seems to be very defensive and covert about you, as if she doesn't want anyone to know about you."

I look at Tammy, her brows are furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

"She doesn't like talking about you. We had an activity early in the year where the kids wrote about their families, and she wasn't willing to disclose much information in the dad portion." Eleanor takes a sheet of paper out of a folder. In the 'parent' section, she wrote a paragraph about Tammy. All she wrote about me was, Daddy likes me best.

"I don't understand where this is coming from," I murmur.

"Even in simple class discussions about families, she gets very quiet. I've tried asking her directly about you, but she usually just says 'it's private' and gets very distressed." Eleanor looks uncomfortable and pauses before continuing. "Could I ask what her situation at your home is like?"

Abigail's never shown any signs that she's unhappy or upset when she's around me. I'm at a loss for words. To my surprise, Tammy speaks up, "Paxton's never purposely done anything to hurt Abigail, I promise." There's a sincerity in her voice I haven't heard in a long time. "He's probably a better parent than I am, if I'm being honest."

I gently touch Tammy's wrist and give her a small but grateful smile. She gives me a slight nod. "Abigail is the biggest priority in my life, if I knew anything was even remotely wrong, I would talk to her about it," I insist.