Part of me wants to call child protective services on him. However he's raising her is not exactly positive. I’m imagining him sinking back beer after beer while driving his motorcycle through the night. His buddies are riding behind him in a v-formation as they go hunt down a rival gang. Guns in their pockets and bats strapped to their backs.
But another part of me can’t help but admire him. He obviously isn’t the traditional parent by any stretch of the imagination. But for a single father without a real job or career, he came. He cared about his daughter so much that he showed up to face me. Not every parent is so brave or interested in their children. He loves her, that’s for sure. And it’s clear to me that she can do no wrong. Even though we parted badly, I know she will be in the right classroom tomorrow, and I will be seeing him in two days for our progress meeting.
Two days? That’s an awfully long time to wait. I secretly wish I could see him again tomorrow – maybe even tonight if I’m being honest. I walk to my window and peek through the blinds. I can see the darkened parking lot where Cal is talking softly to Maddie. I watch as he kneels down in front of her and places a hand on her knee. I half expected him to scream at her, but he’s doing something so much better – he’s actually comforting her.
I press my hand to my heart and sigh a bit. I underestimated him.
Wait? What am I thinking? This is the guy who screamed “fuck you!” at me as he walked away! This isn’t a nice guy; he made that clear to me. But now I’m giving him a pass because I see him treating his daughter well? What’s gotten into me?
I grab my bag, lock my classroom door, and head out towards the parking lot to my car. The entire drive, I do the back and forth, debating what I'm actually feeling towards this stranger. I just can’t wrap my head around it. But I can’t stop thinking about his strong hands or the way he stepped towards me with a force like a hurricane.
I groan a bit seeing the light on in my living room as I pull up to the driveway. Erin’s home. Fantastic. All I want to do is head to my bedroom and sleep this horrific day off, but she’s going to want to chat and spend “roomie” time together like we did in college a few years back. It’s nights like this I regret living with another person.
As soon as I walk through the door, she greets me with one of her trademark, dimple simples. Her blonde ponytail whips to the side as she turns 100% attention on me. “Michelle! You’re late. Spill!”
She’s a rich girl with no need for a job. Here in South Dakota, you don’t need much, but you certainly need some and she has a lot of that some – inherited from her father. Now she lives off the profits of his business. It’s a sweet life, but it means she gets bored. And I’m the one she takes her boredom out on.
I take a moment to set down my bag and remove my trench coat before plopping down on our leather sofa. She turns the television off as she spins her body to me, looking at me like a dog waits for a table scrap. “It’s nothing, really. I just had this girl get in a fight.”
“Another one? Was it the same girl?” I’m always surprised when Erin pulls out her super memory powers. She can remember the vaguest, most minute detail like a girl fighting at school.
I nod my head and continue, “Western wanted to expel her, but I knew she didn’t deserve it. She’s got a tough life. She lives in this place. I think they call it a clubhouse. It’s where the bikers all live. The girl’s told me about it a couple of times when I’ve asked about her family.
“God, that sounds terrible. Could you imagine?”
“I met her father tonight. God, he was a piece of work. He was tall – a giant! Covered in tattoos from head to toe. His eyes were so dark they almost glowed beneath his eyebrows.” I stopped myself before I could go too far.
“So, he was hot?” She smiles at me wickedly.
“No, Erin. He certainly wasn’t my type.” I usually go for guys in polo shirts and khaki pants, not a guy in leather and ripped up denim covered in oil stains. “But he was so intimidating. He actually tried to step to me, and I think he wanted to hurt me. It was this way he stared at me…I don’t know.”
Erin put her hand to her head dramatically as she tipped it over to say, “Well, this is getting good…”
I slapped her leg, stopping her from continuing, “Oh stop it! It wasn’t like that. He cursed at me. He told me to go fuck myself for daring to discipline his daughter! Who does that?”
“Someone who wants to rock your world.” She watched me as I tried to interject, “No! Come on. Hot biker guy comes into your classroom and intimidates you. Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking about him in bed.”
“I wasn’t. I promise you that. I was just hoping he’d let me get out of there alive.”