Chapter Nine
Oliver
I arrived early at the school on Monday with Christopher in tow. Today was the big field trip day, and though I had plenty to do at home, I was excited to spend the day with Christopher and his classmates. It was always fun to watch him interact with kids his own age.
Plus, we would see Philip at the fire station. I wasn't quite sure what to expect there. After all, we were back in the real world now. Not secluded together at my house. Now we had a kid, responsibilities, and the watchful eye of the town to worry about. Although, I knew Philip could care less about the gossip, I worried for Christopher's sake.
Once Christopher and I entered his classroom, he ran off to catch up with his friends. His teacher came over to me. I smiled.
“Good morning, Mrs. Fletcher.”
She gave me a grin. “Thank you for chaperoning today. If we get a chance, I'd like to talk to you about your day care.”
I tried to quell the anxiety that rose in me, but she must have seen it.
“All good things,” she said quickly. “It’s just, we've never had a formal licensed daycare this close to the school. And I thought maybe you and I could talk about curriculum and what your plans were to see how it aligned with our preschool and kindergarten curriculum. I'm assuming that many of the kids you have will also be going to our school.”
Anxiety changed to excitement. “Yeah,” I said. “That'd be awesome. Why don't you come over for dinner sometime? You can see what we'll have for a set up and what we have planned. My friend Kayden and I ran a daycare in the city. So, we've got our curriculum set pretty well. We change it as needed, but for the most part, it stays the same.”
“Of course,” she said. “That would be wonderful. It will be great to have a daycare so close by. And I must say, it was very smart of you to put it outside of city limits.” She said that last bit quietly, as if it was a secret.
“Really? Why’s that? I would think it'd be more convenient to have it within the town.”
“Oh, yes, of course it would. But since your grandmother's house is in a different township, you don't have to follow the same rules and fundraising regulations that we have here in Millerstown township.”
“Fundraising regulations?”
“Yeah,” she said. “You know, all the different fees and taxes related with fundraising efforts that—” We were interrupted by the ring of the school bell and she smiled at me. “Well, time to get started. We'll take attendance, and then get everybody in line for the bus. First stop is the library and don't let me forget that Mrs. Smith, the head librarian, wants to talk to you about your book and doing a couple of readings there.”
I grinned, and happiness bubbled inside me. I hadn’t expected to be welcomed back to Millerstown with such open arms. But it seemed that I was, and I was more than happy to participate in whatever was asked of me. I wanted Christopher to be a part of a community that he could be proud of. “Of course,” I said.
***
At the library, the head librarian, Mrs. Smith, walked around teaching the kids about how they catalog books. She also showed off their computer lab, which consisted of two slightly out of date laptops and a combination printer/copier machine that looked as if it had seen better days.
I didn't understand the lack of funding for the library. I'd seen their bulletin board by the front entrance, which had outlined their fundraising efforts for the past several years. They seemed to bring in a good amount of fundraising money. So where the hell was it going?
Once the kids sat down at the tables and ate their morning snack, Mrs. Smith came over to me. “Oliver Stone. It's so good to see you all grown up.”
I grinned. “Thanks, it’s good to be all grown up.”
She laughed at that. “I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother. She was a great person.”
“Yes,” I said. “She was. She lived a full life.”
“She did.”
Mrs. Smith laid a hand on my forearm. “And she loved you and Christopher very much. She was so proud of you.”
I grimaced at that but tried to hide it. Proud of her grandson who had no college degree and was a single father? Okay. Grandma had always been supportive of me, in any of my endeavors, but I knew she’d worried about me being a single father.
“Now, feel free to say no, but I know that you and your friend have a few children's books published. We have a couple of copies here in the library.”
I smiled widely at that. “I saw them. Thank you. That's awesome.”
“They are some of our most popular books. They get checked out quite regularly. I’m surprised they were here today.”
“I'd be happy to donate an extra copy or two, so you have some more on hand.”
Her eyes brightened. “Oh,” she said. “We couldn't ask you to do that.”
“It's no big deal. I've got plenty of copies.”
“Well, we do a children's reading hour one Sunday a month and I was hoping that maybe one of these Sundays, you could come and read one of your books? Maybe do a little activity with the kids?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I'd be more than happy to. I can even bring the first proof copy of the next one in the series that will be out next month.”
“There's another one? That's exciting.”
“And I'd be happy to help with the fundraiser you've got going on at the end of the month. I see that you'll be doing a silent auction.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Can't keep up with the budget cuts that keep happening. We were hoping to be able to afford two more laptops for the computer center, but our budget got cut a bit and then there’s the five percent tax on all fundraising as well. It’s not much, but it adds up.”
Five percent tax? What the hell was going on here?
I knew there was no tax on fundraising money, but I didn't say that out loud. Maybe the town did things differently? I didn’t know.
“Yeah, it's tough,” I said, for lack of anything better to say.
The kids were beginning to clean up now. We’d be lining up to board the bus soon, then we’d be off to the fire department where I would see Philip.
“So,” Mrs. Smith said. “I'll get in touch with you, okay? It was great to see you and I'm really happy that you're back in town.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I am too.” I never expected to be able to say that, but the recent turn of events had proved that taking this leap of faith was a positive change for both myself and Christopher. When Kayden moved here we’d really get moving on the daycare. We’d have our own business to run, bigger than what we’d had in the city and we’d have more time to work on our books. Things were really starting to head in the right direction for us.
“Say hi to Philip for me.” Mrs. Smith winked.
I ducked my head, knowing that a blush crept over my cheeks. “I'll do that,” I said.