Page 1 of Passing Notes
CHAPTER 1
NICK
Meet me at Daisy’s Nut House after school. - Nick
“Ethan, Sasha! It’s time to go! Being late the first day is not how we want to get the school year started, okay?” And lord help me if their mother found out if we were. We’d been divorced almost as long as we were married and a lecture from her was the last thing I needed.
I heaved out a sigh and straightened my tie before pouring my third cup of coffee for the day. Was I addicted? Yes. At this point in my life, I was pretty sure I couldn’t live without it. Hell, I could mainline caffeine straight into a vein and it wouldn’t perk me up. Nothing motivated me lately, aside from being the best father I could be for my kids.
Burnout, thy name is Nick.
“All my friends are riding the bus,” Sasha complained as she slunk down the hall and slid onto a barstool, all while furiously texting on her cell phone. “I’m the only one being dropped off,” she huffed. “You can’t walk me in. None of my friends’ parents are walking them in. Please?”
Sasha was eleven going on forty-two. She was precocious, ran mental rings around my oldest, Ethan, and had me worried for my future sanity if her request last night for me to drive her to Daisy’s Nut House after school and leave her there with her friends for the evening was any indicator of her budding social life. The answer to her request was an unequivocal no. As far as I was concerned, eleven was far too young for unsupervised fun with friends.
As for me? In addition to being perpetually exhausted, I was an English teacher and football coach at Green Valley High School, in my hometown of Green Valley, Tennessee. I also snapped up all the paid advisory positions I could manage, taught summer school, and ran a football camp. I couldn’t afford to take time off. My divorce had ruined me financially. Going from two incomes to one with two kids to support, paying rent on my cheap apartment, and forking over enough to cover one-third of a mortgage payment could do that, especially on a teacher’s salary.
But those days were finally over. After scrimping and saving every extra penny for the down payment, I was finally buying another house in town. My ex was still in the house we had bought together. I didn’t begrudge her the place; the kids loved it, and it had been their home since Ethan was born. I would never try to take that away from them just to save a few bucks.
This coming weekend I would be moving into a house around the corner from their mother’s place. Hopefully they would love it just as much, especially since we’d be close enough for them to walk between our houses—and ride the bus to school in the morning, which had apparently become a huge deal.
Every other week at Dad’s would soon level up to include a corner lot with a huge backyard and a swimming pool, and I couldn’t wait. The thought of mowing my own lawn and having a garage again would have made me smile if I wasn’t so damn tired. Instead, all I could manage was a slight relaxation of the tense scowl that had become a permanent fixture on my face.
“Do we have any Pop-Tarts?” Sasha broke through my semi-conscious reverie with a put-upon sigh, and I snapped back to attention.
“Yes, we do. And hey, you’ll be able to ride the bus next week. We’ll be in the new house by then, okay? Everything you chose for your room is ordered and on the way.”
“Okay, Dad.” She hopped off the stool to rummage through the pantry.
“Ethan, come on!” I called. “Time for breakfast.”
He appeared in the kitchen entrance, sleepy-eyed and dragging ass. “I need at least another week of summer vacation,” he grumbled. “I’m not ready for school to start.” He was almost thirteen but, in many ways, much younger than Sasha’s eleven. He liked video games and skateboarding at the park, Marvel movies, and Minecraft. His friends were the same way. When they were here, it was nothing but Xbox, computer games, and pizza. Girls were not on his radar yet; boys weren’t either for that matter, not that I cared either way. I just wanted my kids to be happy.
“You’ll be fine. Once we get outside in the fresh air and get moving, you’ll feel better.”
Yeah, right.
He shot me a side-eye and a grin as he scrambled onto a barstool and took a Pop-Tart from Sasha. He didn’t believe that any more than I did. “No, I won’t.”
I shrugged. I had lost the will to be encouraging. “Well, you can camp out on the couch and watch TV all you want when you get home. No time limit. How about that?”
“Can we go to Daisy’s Nut House and have cheeseburgers for dinner?” His eyes lit up. “Oh! Can we stop there and get doughnuts on the way to school too?”
I gestured to the Pop-Tart in his hand with a sardonic smile but decided to give in, just a little bit. “How about we pick up burgers on the way home?” The day hadn’t even truly started, and I already knew I’d be exhausted by the end of it.
“Deal. I feel a little bit better, but only like ten percent. I’d still rather go back to bed.” He shoved half the Pop-Tart in his mouth and took a bite.
“Don’t forget to chew.” I shook my head. “Look, I’m tired too, but we’ve got this. We’re Eastons and nothing keeps an Easton down, right?” They rolled their eyes in good-natured amusement at my attempt to rally them up. “Now, y’all finish your Pop-Tarts—don’t forget to not tell your mother I still buy them for you—and let’s get going.”
“Yeah, and you know she’ll be ticked off if we’re late. Come on, Ethan.” Sasha brushed the crumbs from her T-shirt, grabbed her new backpack from the table, and hoisted it over her shoulder. “I don’t want to be late anyway. My friends are meeting me by the cafeteria.” I could tell by the unconscious furrow of her brow and the tremor in her voice she was nervous.
“Whatever, my friends won’t care.” Ethan slipped his phone into his pocket and snagged his backpack off the back of the stool. “They’re probably still half asleep too. We won’t be fully awake until it’s time for lunch.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you in, Sasha, honey? It’s okay to be nervous on the first day. Or any day for that matter.”
She shook her head and shot me a tremulous smile. “I’ll be fine. But thanks, Daddy.”
Daddy.