Chapter Thirty-Two: Alone with My Thoughts:

I didn’t go to the library that morning. Instead, I went down to the beach. It’s been so long since I had been here. Something about the waves calmed me down. I didn’t take off my sandals. This wasn’t a day to relax. I just needed to get away. I didn’t want to have to think about anything for a while.

I walked closer to water. I had happy times here. There was nothing but me and the sea. I hadn’t planned on coming here. It just happened. I stood before the waves. So this is what it feels like. Just me alone with my feelings. How did this happen? I had a good job. I was living on my own. In one day, that was all gone. I know, I know. I keep repeating this. But that’s my life now.

I looked up at the sky. The weather man said it was going to rain today. Damn. This really isn’t my summer, is it? I probably should stop. This isn’t working for me. What was I doing out here? Oh yeah, I was escaping. Just a man lost in his thoughts. I took a quick look around. Good, there’s no one here. Even better. I frowned to myself.

Now what?

I still needed a job. And a place to live. Mom is going to insist that it’s going to be fine and that I can stay here as long as I want. That’s not what I want to here. I could go back to Boston. Get another teaching job. Soon that nagging question crossed my mind.

Why exactly was I fired?

I didn’t do anything wrong. I kept a healthy and professional relationship with all of my students. Some of them had crushes on me, but I pretended not to notice. I played by the rules. I was never late. I did what I was told. Why did I get fired?

I thought back to mom asking if I was going to have testify or not. A train of thought started building up from her question. I shook my head. Why was I going down that rabbit hole? Thinking about sounded so ridiculous. But somehow, that didn’t seem to be that much of a stretch. Okay, I am getting ahead of myself. There was only one way to find out.

I pulled out my phone.

“Hello?” a woman’s voice.

“Gail, how have you been?” I asked.

“Good,” she said in cautious voice. Something told me not to beat around the bush here.

“Listen, I have a question,” I said. There was a pause on the other line.

“What?” Gail asked in a whisper.

“Why exactly was I fired?” I asked. I strained to listen over the morning waves. Another pause came on the other line.

“Hello?” I asked. I didn’t notice that I was pacing until she started talking again.

“I’m not allowed to say that,” Gail said in low voice. I strained to listen harder.

“What?” I asked.

“Please don’t call me again,” she said. Gail hung up before I had a chance to speak. Maybe she was busy or something. But my mind kept going back to the conspiracy theory running in my head. Was I fired to cover up someone’s ass?

Suddenly, the phone rang again.

“Hello?” I asked. I strained to listen as I heard mom whimpering over the phone.

“Hello? Mom?” I asked. “Is that you? I can’t hear you. What are you saying?” What she said next came through loud enough.

“Nathan, get home now!” mom shouted. A chill shot through my body. I already had a guess of what this was about. Did I just think that conspiracy into being? I shook my head. No, that couldn’t be. Why would something like that happen in real life? I mean, what are the odds? Sure enough, my phone started buzzing with more texts from my former students. I frowned as I stared at the screen. Didn’t they have anything better to do during the summer? I wasn’t surprised to see another text from Georgie. The same went with the other girls and some of the boys in my classes. The last two texts threw me for some much of a shock that I nearly staggered backward to the ocean.

What were Kate and Rosie doing texting me too? Damn, how bad was everything getting at that school?