Bethany had asked him to keep an eye on her, but he wasn’t a babysitter. He was just doing the polite thing. The nice thing.
He’d arrived home and he’d stood at his living room window, watching as Bethany left. Then he’d waited. He’d looked at the kids’ homework, attempting to mark it.
Teal’s name kept going round and around in his head. Then he kept thinking about what he’d heard some kids saying about her falling. He’d been worried all day, and now was his chance to go ask her if she was okay.
That was all he wanted to do. He wanted to make sure she was fine. That the trip hadn’t hurt her.
Now, he crouched in front of her, looking at her knee and seeing that it wasn’t life-threatening, but it did look sore.
“You know, it’s fine,” she said.
“I’ll be the judge of that.” He tutted as he looked at the wound. “You did this before lunch?”
“Yeah, that’s when I had gym.” She sighed. “I was going to take care of it.”
“I’m here now.” He pulled out some clean, sterile wipes. “These might sting a little.” He was pissed that her mother didn’teven seem to take the time to ask about her day, to care that she might have been hurt. “Does your mother know you fell?”
“No.”
“I’ll call her and let her know.”
“No, don’t. You don’t need to.”
He looked up at her. “Teal, your parents need to know if you’re not feeling well.”
“It was just a clumsy moment. That’s all that it was. Please, let my parents just do whatever they need to do.” She winced, and he hadn’t even put the wipe on her knee.
“Does it hurt? I could take you to the hospital.”
“No. I’m just thinking about my parents. If you call them, it will give both of them a reason to not reconcile, and it’s time they got their act together and just make up or divorce.” She sighed. “I don’t want to be used as a reason for them to not make that decision.”
“Divorce,” Jaxson said. “That’s a big deal.”
“Yeah, I know. I mean, I don’t think they will get a divorce.”
“Your mother cheated.”
“Yeah, and my dad cheated before that, and they got back together.”
Jaxson frowned as he looked up at her. “You know that’s not right, right?”
She licked her lips, and he shouldn’t be so fucking aroused by that one action.
“They’re different. I get that. I always knew they were. It’s their thing, I guess.”
“Do you want them to get a divorce?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
He pressed the sterile wipe to her knee, and she winced. “Fuck, crap. That stings.”
“That’s because it is a cut, Teal.”
“It’ll be fine.”
“Do you want to talk about your parents?”
“Not really. I know what my parents are like and I know to some people they seem a little selfish, but they’re my parents. They do take care of me in their own way.”