Page 45 of Broken Vows

Which is true.

Nice of her to finally notice.

I press the heel of my hand hard against my sternum. That damn clenching is back, a tight twist under my ribs that’s been getting worse for days.

I smack the spot once. “Knock it off,” I mutter.

The tightness eases for half a second, then settles right back in.

Great. Just what I need—heart problems to add to the list.

It’s the stress. Has to be. Ray’s already called twice this week, pushing for updates. The job isn’t moving fast enough for him.

That’s why I’m pulling out all the stops now.

I’m sitting outside Principal Grover’s office like a chump, about to play the involved parent card. Carmen’s going to eat that shit up. Unfortunately, it also means I actually have to talk to these people.

“Mr. James?” she calls, forcing a cheerful tone. “You can come in now.”

I step into her painfully bright office, full of motivational posters and color-coded folders. She smiles at me like I’m her new personal project.

I drop into the shitty plastic chair and give her a nod. Six weeks Theo’s been at this school, and this is the first time I’ve shown up. Probably looks bad. I don’t much care.

“I’m so glad you could finally make it in,” she says, eyebrows raised. “You seem to hit the gas pretty hard whenever I try to reach you.”

“Me?” I shrug one shoulder. “Doesn’t sound like me at all. I’m always eager to chat with…school administrators.”

Ms. Grover folds her hands on the desk. “We’ve had a few incidents we wanted to discuss. Nothing major, but concerning.”

Great.

“Yesterday Theo told another boy that if someone keeps pushing him, he’ll ‘punch him in the face and make him bleed.’” She pauses, clearly waiting for me to look horrified. I don’t. Seems like a solid way to stop bullying to me.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy on threats of violence.”

“If some little shit’s messing with him, better he knows how to shut it down fast.”

Her smile slips. “We don’t solve problems with violence here. Theo should tell a teacher if another student is bothering him.”

“That’s backwards. You should be preparing kids for the real world. If you’ve got a problem with someone, you deal with it. You don’t run and tattle.”

She blinks at me.

“No violence or threats of violence on school grounds. That’s final.”

“Got it.”

“We’re also seeing some attitude issues,” she says. “Nothing extreme, but yesterday Mrs. Hanley asked Theo to redo a worksheet because he rushed through it. He put his pencil down and told her, ‘I already did it.’”

She gives me a meaningful look. “That kind of defiance isn’t okay, Mr. James. It’s harmful to his development and to the classroom environment.”

Harmful? Jesus Christ. What kind of soft-ass kids are they raising here? I almost tell her straight out that I don’t want Theo turning into one of those spineless suits I deal with every day—guys who can’t think for themselves and fold the second shit gets real.

But then Carmen’s face flashes through my mind. She wouldn’t like me saying that.

“Yeah…I get it,” I say. “No violence. No attitude. I’ll talk to him.”

I let the silence hang for a second, then add, “While I’m here…you got anything coming up at the school? Pie drive, fundraiser, whatever? I could help out. You know, give back to the community and all that.”