16. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

J esse sat down for a little bit, kicking her feet out in front of her. Her ankles looked fatter than yesterday. This morning, when she started to put her boots on, they were too tight. She'd found some other shoes to wear, but they weren't her normal garage attire. Today, she had shorts and a tank top under her overalls. She'd even cranked the A/C on in the garage because it was hot. Or at least she was hot.

She couldn't wait for her students to see what she had for them. She had five students for a special summer program. She was hoping to add more this year.

"Ms. Franks, we're here."

She smiled. Tamara was the youngest at fourteen and was almost more sunshiny than Winnie.

"I'm back here."

Renae walked in and hung her backpack on the hooks Jesse had installed. She'd added them after one of the girls almost tripped over one. A couple of the girls carried them everywhere, even though it wasn't during the school year. Jesse stared at Renae's arm. It almost looked like she had a handprint bruise on her arm. When she turned and saw Jesse staring at her arm, she pulled her short-sleeve shirt lower on the arm.

Stacey was her oldest student and would graduate in the spring. Jesse knew she was a foster kid, but Jesse didn't know the parents. They'd moved to Bluff Creek at the start of summer. Jesse wasn't even sure what the parents did.

Jody and Gabi walked in. The twins she knew quite well. In fact, Jesse had dated their dad and then introduced him to her friend when she realized what he wanted was not her. Jesse didn't have any hard feelings. In a small town, at some point, you might have dated everyone in your age group.

"Ladies, we talked about proper attire, but I thought maybe you might need more." Jesse turned and waved her hand toward the coveralls she'd had embroidered with each girl's name. Squeals of delight echoed in her garage, and she wondered why she hadn't thought to give them to them outside.

"Thank you, Ms. Franks." Renae whispered.

"You're welcome. If you want, you can leave them here and I'll wash them here too, but if you want to take them home, they are yours."

Renae looked at Jesse like she was waiting for the catch. Jesse held out her arm and Renae slid an arm around her waist, continuing to whisper thank you. Jesse had noticed her backpack was a little threadbare but had figured it was that way from last year. Looking closer, she also realized Renae looked thinner than last week.

"Since today is a longer session, I think we need some food to snack on. Let me see if my sister has any fresh pumpkin bread. If not, I'll see if we can get a delivery from the diner. While I do that, go read the sheets for today and sign and date them when you finish. Write any questions you have in the margins so we can discuss them when I get back in."

Jesse walked outside the garage and called Sarah.

"Hello, bun-in-the-oven-sister. What can I help you with?"

Jesse chuckled. "Hey, do you have any banana or pumpkin bread?"

"Is the little one craving some sweets?"

"I am hungry, but I just noticed that one of my students looks a lot thinner in just the week since I've seen her. If you don't have any, I can call the diner for a delivery."

Jesse could hear Sarah rustling around in the background. "Give me ten, maybe fifteen minutes. I have bread and cookies in the freezer, but I also have a tray of sandwiches I was going to bring to your house. I'll make you more before tonight. Do you want me to bring drinks too?"

Jesse thought of what was in the garage refrigerator. It wasn't very well stocked.

"Yes, if you could. I was going to do a stock up run then forgot with Cannon's accident."

"Okay, see you in a little bit."

Jesse walked back in and saw all the girls had finished their reading. A couple looked like they had questions in the margin.

"Okay, let's start with questions."

"Why do you think we should carry all this stuff in our car?" Stacey asked.

"So, a lot of things can happen when you're driving and the list I have there is what I consider the minimum, depending on the weather. So let's talk about the winter stuff first. Trish, can you read the first item on the list and tell me why you think I might have included it."

Jesse listened as the girls read the items and made what she'd consider pretty good guesses why the items were needed. She wasn't teaching them just about automotive maintenance but also how to keep themselves and the car safe on the road.

"Hello, it's Sarah's Speedy Snack delivery. Who is hungry?"

Jesse went ahead and yelled ‘Me!' because all the girls stayed quiet. Sarah brought the food in and started opening it up while Jesse and the girls washed their hands.

"I hope it was okay. I brought sandwiches that the guys didn't need after all. I didn't want them to go to waste."

The girls all took food, and when they finished, Jesse and Sarah encouraged them to eat more. Her guess seemed to be right because Renae ate everything on her plate and also refilled it twice.

When they'd finished eating and started to get back to their materials, Sarah offered for them to all take the leftovers. None of the girls raised their hands, but Jesse could see that they wanted to.

"Hey Sarah, would you just divide them by six and then they can take them if they want to when class is over?"

Sarah smiled. "You got it. I'll package them up and bring them by in a little bit. You ladies let me know if any of you have an interest in computers, coding, hacking, etc."

"Seriously, Sarah, you offered to teach them hacking?"

Sarah stuck out her tongue at Jesse and the only thing keeping Jesse from smarting off about Scoop enjoying her tongue more were the five students.

"I meant like searching for stuff, not breaking into places. Do you all have sisters that tease you about every freaking word you say?" Sarah asked and flounced off.

The girls giggled, then gathered around Jesse to learn. Jesse was glad she'd had the group today to have an excuse to get out of the house. And maybe she needed to have Sarah delve into what was going on with Renae.