Jim Anders stood next to his own car a few spaces over when Adam switched the engine off.
Jim stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “Morning, bossman.”
The man hadn’t changed in thirty years. His hair may be thinner and his chest more hollow. But he still knew just how to make Adam feel about three inches tall. “Jim.” Even now, calling him by his first name felt weird. They weren’t friends. At least not in any meaningful way. Sure, they’d been to one another’s weddings. But weddings and funerals were a church affair. You couldn’t not invite key figures in the church – and, yes, the school counted as part of the church.
They’d been colleagues for more than twenty years. Adam had been Jim’s boss for the last two of those – a fact that still freaked him out every time he stopped to think about it. If you’d have told fifteen-year-old Adam that Jim Anders would still be in his life thirty years later, he would’ve laughed. If you’d told him that he’d be Jim’s boss, he’d have thought you were smoking the wacky baccy.
If you’d told him that Jim’s wife would be one of Adam’s own classmates, well, he’d have told you to stop messing with him.
“Earth to Adam Michaels.” Jim knocked on Adam’s forehead like it was some kind of door. He really wished the older man would stop doing that.
Adam frowned.
“I can imagine,” Jim said as they walked towards the school entrance. “It’s gotta bring up some painful memories, eh?”
Adam had no idea what Jim was talking about. But that was often the case. The man had a habit of bringing up old conversations as if continuing them a decade later like they’d only just paused for breath was perfectly normal.
“You were so close to that family for so long. Mind you, they were always a bit weird. Especially that girlfriend of yours. There was always something off about her.”
Girlfriend? Adam hadn’t had a girlfriend in decades – not since Becky became his fiancée. And then his wife. And now his ex-wife. “What?” He hadn’t meant to ask. It was best not to encourage Jim – if Adam wanted to get anything done today.
“Haven’t you heard?” Jim asked as he swung the door open and gestured for Adam to walk through.
Adam should have been paying attention to where he was walking and not looking back at his former teacher and current, well, teacher.
A scream filled the space as Adam collided with a solid object – that solid object being the woman who had nearly become Adam’s mother-in-law.
“Mrs K!” Adam grabbed her by the elbow, preventing her from hitting the floor. “Sorry.”
She smiled graciously. Adam made sure shew was steady on her feet and then released her elbow.
“Hello, Adam. You were always such a good boy. Thank you for coming to my rescue.”
Never mind that he was also the reason she needed rescuing. Eve— No, he mentally corrected himself. He had no right to call her that. Not anymore. Evie had always described her mother as a vicious, vindictive woman who ruled her home with an iron fist but Adam had never seen that side of her.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Val.” Jim put a hand on the older woman’s shoulder. The whole thing was painfully awkward.
Adam was starting to feel like he was missing something.
Oh no.
Eve had broken his heart. She’d ripped it out of his chest, torn it into tiny pieces, and then set them all on fire. And then made him eat it.
But had something happened to her? Chills ran through him even as he started to sweat.
