9.

 

“Jewel!”

Mia’s heart raced when she saw the strange man approaching her daughter in the school parking lot. She wasn’t sure what it was about him, but she really didn’t trust the look in his eyes. She had learned long ago to trust her intuition, especially when it came to her daughter, and Jewel could sense the urgency in her mother’s voice and ran toward her, looking only at Mia.

“Hi, mommy!”

“Hey, sweetie,” Mia said, gathering her daughter into a tight embrace and ushering her quickly to the car, all the while keeping a keen eye on the man that had been coming near her daughter. The man didn’t seem to notice her, or if he did, he acted as if he hadn’t been up to anything at all. But Mia knew better. She was going to have to talk to the school about him. Maybe she should get a picture…

But by the time her daughter was safely in the back of the car and she had managed to dig her phone out of her purse, the man had disappeared almost as eerily as he had shown up.

“He was a weird man, wasn’t he, mommy?” Jewel asked when Mia settled behind the wheel and took a deep breath, glancing all around to see if she could find him. But he had left no trace, and goosebumps began to rise on her flesh.

“He was definitely weird. Have you ever seen him before?”

“Once.”

Mia prickled.

“When?”

“Yesterday. He was standing outside the playground looking at me when I went down the slide. But he went away.”

“That’s it. I am definitely reporting him.”

Mia considered going into the school, but she was overwhelmed by an urgent desire to get her child as far away from this place and that man as possible, as quickly as she could do so. Her protective instincts were kicking in full force.

“Are we going to see grandma today?”

Mia sighed. She had been thinking about dropping Jewel off at her mother’s house, so she could run some errands, but she didn’t want to leave her daughter out of her sight. Maybe she would just hang out with her at her mom’s house. There was safety in numbers, after all. And her mom had a tendency to know exactly what to do during these types of situations. It was a sort of sixth sense that Mia had always hoped she would adopt. In a way, she had, but she still felt better being around her mother.

“Yeah, let’s go see grandma for a little while.”

“Yay! Slumber party?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Mia said. If Jewel slept over, she was going to sleep over too. “We’ll see. But we might end up going home.”

“Aw. Okay.”

Mia was relatively unphased by her daughter’s disappointment on certain matters at this point, and they headed to her mother’s house. When they arrived, Jewel leapt out of the car and ran inside, her backpack flying wildly in her hand as she went. Mia smiled gently at her daughter, deep love surging through her body. She was the best thing that had ever happened to Mia. The child’s father on the other hand…

Well, it couldn’t be helped. They had both been pretty young and stupid when Jewel was conceived, and he had done his best to support them despite no longer being romantically interested in Mia. They had parted amicably, and her daughter still saw her father every once in a while, but he had moved out of state long ago and hadn’t seemed very interested in going out of his way for either of them.

“Hey, honey,” Mia’s mother said, welcoming them inside with open arms. “How are you doing?”

“Good,” Mia said, though her chest had tightened with the force of the lie. She wasn’t doing well. She was nervous and concerned for the safety of her daughter. And both Jewel and her mother were able to tell that she was not telling the whole truth.

“There was a weird guy at my school today!” Jewel said, her tone so innocent that it was almost cheerful. “I didn’t like him. He was there yesterday too when I was on the slide and I think my mom is going to talk to the principal to get him into trouble.”

“A weird guy?”

Mia’s mother’s face contorted in concern and she turned a steady gaze to Mia. “Well, that doesn’t sound like a very fun situation. Good thing your mama was there, right?”

“Right!” Jewel said. “Can I go have a snack and watch tv?”

“Of course, honey,” Mia’s mother said. “Make it a healthy snack, we are going to have something really sweet for dessert if you guys stay for dinner. I made a pie.”

“Pie!” Jewel exclaimed, running into the kitchen. “I’m going to have an apple then.”

“That’s my girl,” Mia said with false enthusiasm. But Jewel was too busy to notice it and Mia turned to her mother, sighing heavily.

“I don’t know what’s been going on lately. It’s like my kid and I are creep magnets or something.”

“You too?” her mother asked, frowning even more deeply now. Mia sighed, realizing suddenly that she hadn’t made any mention at all of the creepy man from the speed dating event. Rhett had taken care of it so quickly it had nearly slipped her mind.

“Yeah, some guy was acting weird when I went to the speed dating thing. But the guy I went out with last week put a stop to it.”

“Oh,” her mother said, eyes twinkling. “Did he now?”

Mia scoffed, unable to keep herself from laughing at her mother’s interest. “Yes. Really, he did. And it was fantastic. And he gave me a picture of Jewel that I had dropped. But I don’t think he is all that into me. He is really aloof. And kind of a jerk. I don’t know, I can’t tell if I even really like him or not.”

“Well, you will be able to tell soon enough, I’m sure,” her mother said. “In the meantime, tell me more about this creepy guy. What happened?”

Mia sighed and flopped down onto the living room couch and her mother busied herself readying some tea. “Apparently, some weird man has been creeping on Jewel. Who knows how long it has been going on. She said she only saw him once, yesterday, while she was playing, but he could have been watching her for who knows how long. I’m so upset about it!”

“Did you tell the school and ask them to keep an eye out?”

“I should tell the police first and foremost. My main concern was in getting her somewhere safe and asking you what I should be doing right now. I am really overwhelmed by all of this. I was hoping you would know what to do.”

“Well, bringing her here is a good start. Maybe you should work on that police report right now, though. I don’t like the idea of some scary man lingering around the school looking at kids. Do you think he’s like a pedophile?”

Mia cringed. “No, it was nothing like that. It was different. Weird, somehow, but not like that. I don’t know what he wanted but he was really creeping me out. I don’t know how to explain it. He almost didn’t even seem human.”

Mia’s mother shot her eyebrow up and gave a small nod. “All right. Then you should go on and get that report filed. It is all going to be okay. I will take care of Jewel while you are dealing with that. The police will make sure the school is informed and taking the proper precautions with the children. If that guy shows up again, they will know about it and he is going to live to regret it.”

Mia nodded. “I hope so.”

“She is under a blanket of safety and security, though, don’t you worry. Just like you always have been. I can feel it.”

Mia smiled and gave her mom a small nod, then a big hug, before heading back to the door.

“I’m going to be back in a little while, honey. Be good for your grandmother.”

“I will,” Jewel said absently, her attention fully focused on the tv screen as she gnawed at an apple. “I love you, mom.”

“I love you too, sweet pea. I’ll be back soon.”

Jewel nodded, and Mia sighed, heading out the door to see what she could accomplish at the police station. Hopefully, if nothing else, she would be able to get that guy to stay away from the school once and for all.