Pocket Full of Posies

Chapter Thirty-Three

School was a nice distraction. I was able to escape work and home, and for that I loved it alone. God, even my math class was a pleasant distraction. The class I loved the best, though, was Professor McNelly's. Lately she'd been visibly stressed, and I knew why, but I wasn't supposed to. Her seventeen-year-old daughter, Kodi, was pregnant—at least, this was my assumption after Piper blurted out Leander had gotten his girlfriend knocked up. As far as I knew, they were still together and going strong. The two were inseparable. It'd be hard to imagine it not being Kodi.

But I couldn't just go up to Ms. McNelly and be like, "Hey how're your pregnant daughter doing? God that's rough, huh?" I did want her to know I noticed, though.

So after her class ended, I got up enough courage to stick around until everyone had left. It was really lame the way I pretended to get my stuff together so slowly. The good thing was I normally hung back anyway to talk to her. Usually, though, the classroom wasn't completely empty.

"Hey, Ms. McNelly," I greeted happily.

She looked up at me in an almost startled way. Her normally perfectly curled chocolate hair was piled up into a halfhearted top knot and she'd chosen her glasses over her contacts. On a typical day, she'd show up in full makeup and wearing heels and a dress. Today, it was mascara and a nice blouse and black pants. While that wasn't uncommon for other teachers here, it was for her. She'd steadily gone more casual as the weeks went by.

"Oh," she breathed and went back to shoving papers in her large bag. "Hi, Marley. How're you doing today?"

This was abnormal, too. Ms. McNelly always gave me her full attention and directed very specific questions at me. I was somewhat glad I knew what she was going through, now, otherwise I probably would've taken her behavior personally.

"Um, I'm good," I answered awkwardly. Almost pointedly, I asked, "How are you?"

She stopped what she was doing at once. With a heavy sigh, she straightened and rubbed her forehead. "You heard, then."

I couldn't even pretend to deny it. "By accident. I know this is probably a weird thing to say, but...you were really there for me my first semester here, given my circumstances. So...if you need anything, even just like an extra coffee to keep you going, I'm here."

I had no idea, none, my words would make her cry. But there she was, in the middle of the classroom, sobbing. I was so taken aback I almost wanted to run. Really, I just awkwardly stood there in a panic, not knowing if I could even hug her. Was that allowed?

Fuck it.

She hugged me back fiercely as she struggled to compose herself. But she pulled away after a minute and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. "God, you must think I'm ridiculous. I'm so sorry."

"Not at all," I said, thinking of the countless times I'd silently cried in the back of her classroom.

"It's just...very sweet of you, Marley," she continued. "And I don't want you to get the wrong impression of what's going on. They just...have a lot of growing up to do."

I knew Leander and his hang-ups. He was a good guy, made even better after Kodi came along. But it didn't change the fact he'd found his mother dead in the bathtub after she'd committed suicide when he was only seven years old.

"Kodi's almost eighteen, she makes her own decisions," she continued to ramble. "I just worry, is all. She's so young..."

"Leander will take care of her," I tried to assure.

She snorted a laugh. "Honey, he's a complete wreck. I don't think they've really spoken since she found out."

Now this did surprise the hell out of me. I would've expected this from old Leander, but the new? It just didn't seem like him. A part of me wanted to defend him, but I knew it wouldn't really help matters. "I'm sorry," was all I managed to get out.