Five People, Four Cups, One Who Walked Away Chapter 02

Five People, Four Cups, One Who Walked Away Chapter 02

The next day, I came home from work to find two cardboard boxes piled outside my bedroom door.

They were full of my things.

A few lesson-plan binders, a desk lamp, and the teddy bear Cole had given me last year.

One dusty ear stuck out of the box.

I stood in the doorway and looked at them for a few seconds.

Lily poked her head out of the kitchen.

“Nor, you’re finally home.”

“We were clearing some space for Mia and ran out of room in the storage cabinet, so we took your odds and ends out for now.”

Mia hurried over.

“Nora, I didn’t ask them to move it. Cole said you didn’t have much stuff, and it could just as well go in your room.”

Cole came out carrying a plate and frowned.

“What do you mean, ‘moving your things’? We all live here. Of course whoever needs the space more should get to use it first.”

I asked him,

“Then why didn’t you move your sneakers?”

Two whole rows of his shoes filled the entryway.

He had never worn many of them, not even once.

Cole had no answer for that.

Ethan tried to smooth things over from the couch.

“Your things are small. They’re easy to pack up. Mia’s drawing boards can’t have anything stacked on them, and there’s nowhere to put them.”

“Do you have to keep score over everything? Is that how a family acts?”

I bent down and picked up a box.

“Right. A family.”

Maybe I was too calm. Cole seemed thrown by it.

He followed me into my room and leaned against the doorframe, watching me put things away.

“You’re really not mad?”

“No.”

“Good.”

He reached to ruffle my hair. I stepped aside.

His hand hung in the air.

“Nora, what’s going on with you lately?”

I shoved the teddy bear onto the bottom shelf of my closet.

“Nothing. I’m tired.”

Cole was about to speak when Mia called from outside,

“Cole, where’s my stomach medicine?”

He turned immediately.

“You’re not feeling well again?”

He pulled the door shut behind him.

Through the door, I heard him tell Ethan to get some warm water and Lily to find a heating pad. Then he asked Mia if she’d eaten a proper lunch.

Everyone scrambled around her.

The month before, I’d had acute gastroenteritis. In the middle of the night, the pain was so bad I couldn’t straighten up.

I called Cole three times.

He was gaming. My calls annoyed him.

In the end, the older security guard from the childcare center drove me to the ER.

The next day, Cole brought breakfast when he picked me up. He even said,

“You’re so good at toughing things out. I didn’t think it was that serious.”

Apparently, my ability to tough things out wasn’t a strength.

It was their excuse to ignore me with a clear conscience.

I finished putting the boxes away just as Dana called.

She said the new center wasn’t doing well.

The previous manager had quit without warning. The parents had a lot of complaints, and half the teachers had left, too.

“Nora, I need to be up front with you.”

“You’re walking into a crisis. This isn’t going to be an easy job.”

I looked at the people outside my door, busy taking care of Mia.

“That’s okay. I’ll handle it.”

Dana was quiet for a moment.

“Is your boyfriend okay with you moving to Southside?”

“It’s my job. I don’t need his permission.”

After I hung up, I started filling out my transfer request.

Out in the living room, Mia’s stomach had stopped hurting.

She said sweetly that she wanted cinnamon rolls from the bakery in the West End.

Without a word, Cole picked up his car keys.

Lily reminded him that the round trip would take over an hour.

He laughed.

“She’s not feeling well. If that’s what she wants, I’ll go get it.”

He stopped outside my room to ask,

“Want anything? I can grab it while I’m out.”

Before I could answer, Mia said a little sheepishly,

“Doesn’t Nora avoid sweets?”

It seemed to click for Cole.

“Right. Almost forgot.”

He shut the door and left.

I looked down at the transfer request on my desk.

Mia wasn’t the one who loved sweets.

I was.

When Mia first came to stay, she said she envied how I could eat anything without gaining weight. Only then did she add that she loved sweets, too.

After that, they always remembered to buy them for her.

Eventually, I became the one who didn’t eat sweets.

I hit Submit.

A notification appeared.

[Transfer approved. Please report to your new location by next Monday.]

Next Monday.

Six days away.

Enough time to empty my room.

And enough time for them to get used to me not needing to be looked after at all.