Mrs. D went on for several minutes while the restive children tapped their feet against the wooden floor, tugged on their parents’ arms, and occasionally whined—the usual litany from children Harris’s age: they were thirsty, they had to use the potty, they were hungry, they wanted to go home. For his part, Harris stood still and silent, observing.
Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.
Finally, Mrs. D said, “It’s time to go to your classrooms and meet your teachers. If you’ll just follow me.”
But when it came Harris’s turn to pass through the doors into the hall, he froze. Misty and Josie tried to gently pull him forward, but he wasn’t having it. Three other families waited behind them.
“I’m so sorry,” Misty told them. She managed to tug Harris off to the side. She and Josie both knelt again and looked into his face. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to go,” he muttered.
Josie tried to keep her face neutral. She didn’t want him to go either. Since his birth, he’d only ever been in the care of four people: his mother; his mother’s best friend, Brittney; Josie; and his grandmother, Ray’s mother. She couldn’t imagine how scary it must be for him to one day just be thrown into a room full of strange children and left there with no trusted adults nearby. Josie’s own heart gave a quick double tap as Harris clutched her hand, squeezing it again rhythmically.
Misty must have seen the look on Josie’s face because she elbowed Josie in the ribs and grinned at Harris. “Who is the bravest boy I know?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you!” Misty replied. “You’re also the smartest boy I know, with the biggest heart. You are going to make so many friends. It’s going to be so much more fun than hanging around with us boring old adults all day.”
He looked at Josie, who managed a nod of agreement.
A gentle hand closed over one of Harris’s shoulders. They all looked up to see Miss K smiling down at him. “What’s your name, young man?”
“Harris,” he said, barely audible.
“I’m Miss K. It’s good to meet you, Harris. Do you want to walk with me to the classrooms?”
He shook his head. Squeeze, squeeze.
Miss K smiled and lifted her hand. She walked behind Josie and Misty and leaned in between them so they could both hear her lowered voice. “If I can get him to go with me, you two can sneak out. He’ll never know you’re gone.”
Josie stood quickly and turned on the woman, pulling Harris slightly off balance. His hand tightened around hers as he got his footing. “I’m sorry, Miss K, is it? We’re not doing that.”
“Josie,” Misty said, straightening up and giving Josie a look that said, “Back down.”
Josie worked to make her tone less snappy. “What I mean is that we don’t believe in doing that sort of thing. All that teaches him is that the rug can be pulled out from under him at any moment. We told him we’d be here with him through every step, so if we suddenly disappear all he learns is that he can’t trust us. Also, how is he not going to notice? He’s four!”
“Josie!” Misty exclaimed, signaling that she had done a piss-poor job of keeping her tone in check.
“I’m sorry, Miss K,” Misty said sweetly. “We appreciate your trying to help, and I know that works well for some children, but we prefer not to handle drop-off that way.”
Miss K gave Josie the side-eye before smiling brightly at Misty. “Of course. That’s all you had to say.” Turning her gaze back to Josie, she frowned. “You’re that detective, aren’t you? The one who’s always on the news. Or are you the other one? You’ve got a twin sister, right? She’s a famous reporter?”
“Yes,” Josie answered. “My sister, Trinity Payne, used to be a network anchor. She lives in New York City. I’m Detective Josie Quinn, Denton PD.”
Miss K was unimpressed. Without a word to Josie, she moved around to address Harris once more, kneeling down so that she was face to face with him. “Harris, did you know that this is the first day of Pre-K for all the students in the whole school today?”
“No,” he said, voice barely audible. Squeeze, squeeze.
“That’s right,” she said. “And guess what? All of them are kind of scared because they’re going to be here with us and not with their families. You know what else?”
Again, he shook his head.
“It’s okay to be scared.”
Josie felt the vibration of her cell phone ringing in her back pocket and ignored it.
Harris didn’t look convinced. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. He leaned in toward Josie, looked up at her, and whispered, “What if my belly hurts while I’m here?”
Josie said, “I think if your belly hurts, you could tell your teacher.”
Miss K nodded. “That’s right. Anything that goes wrong, you tell your teacher and she’ll bring you out here to me and then you know what I’ll do? I’ll call your mom.”
Misty said, “And I’ll come right away.”
Josie’s phone buzzed again. With her free hand, she took it out and looked at the display. Patrick. Harris said, “That could be important. A police call. You should answer it.”
“I will,” Josie said. “As soon as I know you’re okay here.”
He gave her hand one last final squeeze and went over to Misty, looping his arms around her neck. “Can my mom go to the classroom to meet my teacher for a little bit?”
“Of course,” said Miss K.
“And you, too?”
Miss K clapped her hands together, delighted. “I’d love to!”
Josie swiped answer as she watched the two women escort Harris down the hallway to one of the classrooms. “Patrick, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thanks,” he said. “I’m going to be heading over to the pool soon. That’s where they have me working this week. Do you know where that is?”
“Hold on,” Josie replied.
In the car, she turned on the ignition and found a napkin and pen to take down the directions Patrick gave her to the campus natatorium. She hadn’t been on the university campus in a few months, but it was labyrinthian, and it didn’t help that new buildings were being added with regularity. “I just have to drop Misty off at home first,” Josie told him.
As she hung up, Misty emerged from the Tiny Tykes building, striding toward Josie’s vehicle with her head down. Her long blonde hair hung across her face. It wasn’t until she got into the passenger’s seat that Josie noticed she was weeping.
“Are you okay?” Josie asked.
Tears streamed down Misty’s face. She took a big, gulping breath. “It’s just that I can’t believe he’s so big. He’s in school now. He’s just growing right up. I’ve never left him this long before in the care of strangers. It’s just really hard. I didn’t think it would be this hard.”
She reached over and took the napkin from Josie’s hand. Before Josie could object, Misty blew her nose into it. When she saw that Josie was staring at her, she said, “Oh, shit. I’m sorry. Were you using this napkin?”
Josie managed a smile. “No.”