25. Cole

“Mr. Swift?” the woman Marilyn called, and even though I tried to walk away as fast as I could to deter her, she just came even faster.

“Mr. Swift.”

There was no way I could avoid this, so I stopped and turned. Behind her, the other women I had hoped to avoid were trundling towards us like a snowball.

“Sorry, we’re in a bit of a rush,” I muttered.

“Of course, you are. A man like you must be so busy.” She smiled smarmily before the other women ambushed us.

“We wanted to invite you to a little parents” welcome meeting,” the leader gushed. “We have a little group here and would, of course, we’re a friendly bunch and like to welcome all newcomers to our town.”

I looked at them. Yeah, this group of nosy busybodies was perfect.

“That’s great. Let me know when, and I will do my very best to make it.”

“Oh wonderful,” she cried. Excitedly, she pulled out her phone and, so I noticed, did a few of the other women. “Can I have your number then? I’ll let you know when the plan has been set in place.”

I charmed her with my smile. “I’m not always on my phone. Let me give you my email address instead. That way I’ll definitely get your message.”

“Alright,” she said, but I could see the disappointment on her face.

I spelled my email address out and she put it into her phone. Afterwards, each woman introduced themselves; Nancy, Mary-Beth, Rebecca, and Megan.”

“There are a few more of our group you haven’t met, and not all moms. A few are dads, but we’ll be sure to introduce you to them soon so you both feel more at home here.”

“Thank you kindly,” I said.

She beamed happily. “Not at all. It’ll be a pleasure.”

“Have a great day,” I said and tugging my daughter’s hand, walked away.

Women were always drawn to me and their attention was more often than not a nuisance. I never wanted it, but maybe now it would form a protective net around me. The issue of Paganini appearing in this town loomed over me. I had to remain as vigilant as possible, but maybe these people would act as my early warning signal.

As I got in my car, I couldn’t help sneaking a look at the one woman I wanted a lot more from than just an early warning signal. I could never in a thousand years have imagined she would end up as my daughter’s teacher. But now that she had been put in that role, I was even more impressed by who she was.

I turned to Anya.

“Why did you frown when Marilyn said hello to you back there?” I asked. “You didn’t seem very happy to talk to her.”

She bowed her head and said nothing.

“What is it, sweetheart?” I insisted.

“She’s okay, but … she reminds me of Mom.”

I stared at my daughter with surprise. She was absolutely right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I got the same vibes from her that I had got from Arianna. She didn’t look like Arianna, but something about her was the same. It was probably why I had been slightly repulsed by her. Just like Arianna, she had big hair, a fit body, fake boobs, and blue eyes. Attractive, of course, but I was done with that type.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “I almost didn’t notice. So what did you think of your teacher, Miss Moore then?”

“She’s pretty.”

Pretty? More like drop-dead gorgeous, but there was no need to say that out loud.

“Um … Dad. I think she saw my phone.”

“What?”

Her smile was sheepish. “Sorry, Daddy. It fell out.”

“We talked about this. Phones are not allowed in this school, and you can’t let anyone ever know you have a phone on you. You also can’t let anyone ever take it from you. If that happens, call me immediately. I need to be able to reach you at all times.”

I was beginning to sound stern, and she had grown quiet and tense.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” I apologized. “I don’t want to scold you. I”m just really trying to be careful.”

“I understand,” she said. “I’ll do better next time.”

“Good girl. Now tell me what you studied today.”

“We had a history class and we studied about Communism in China.”

I turned towards my daughter in surprise. “What?”

“Yeah, we learned about Mao. Did you know he killed 60 million people?”

Yes, I did know that, but I had not expected her to be learning about that at the age of seven. The more I learned about Shadow Wolf Academy, the more impressed I was by it.