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“Let’s sit down here.” I motion toward the floor next to a large coffee table so that I can pull out my iPad and show her the picture. “Do you like horses?”
“I love horses,” she says dramatically, emphasizing the statement by fanning out her little arms.
“Well then, you are going to love this picture.” I slide open the screen and show her the painting of two horses surrounded by a majestic forest filled with fairies and woodland creatures.
“Glitter!” she shouts enthusiastically. “Glitter is like my favorite color.”
“Mine too!” I smile as she fawns over the painting. I used glitter paints for the fairies and the horses’ manes, bringing a more whimsical approach to the photo.
“Can I see the butterfly one again?” she asks, referring to a photo I did in all neon paint a few weeks back that I’d previously shown her.
“Of course.” I flip through until I find it when I hear the sound of someone clearing their throat behind us.
“Daddy!” She jumps up, running over to where Mr. Vaughn is standing. He leans down, scooping her up into his arms.
“There’s my girl. How was school?”
“Fun. We learned catipols today.”
“Catipols?” he asks, confused and it makes me chuckle.
“Capitals. We learned about capital letters today.” He looks over Daisy’s shoulder, almost as if he’s just noticing me standing here.
“Ah, capital letters.”
“Daisy has a big D,” she says, pointing to herself, “’cause, ’cause it’s my name.”
“Yes, it does.” He smiles, kissing her cheek and making her squirm.
“Oh, Mr. Vaughn, pleasure to see you, sir. I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” our administrator, Mr. Fein, interrupts.
Mr. Vaughn puts Daisy back down on her feet as he reaches out to shake Mr. Fein’s hand.
“Miss Flowers, I assume you’ve met Mr. Weston Vaughn before?” he says, gesturing toward him as if he’s some important dignitary that I should bow to.
“Yes.” I nod, reaching for my bag as Daisy runs back over to grab hers as well. “We’ve met a few times and his daughter is one of my students.” I smile nervously at the way Mr. Vaughn’s eyes find mine but look away quickly. I clutch the straps of my bag, holding it on my shoulder tightly.
“Mr. Vaughn is our most important parent and supporter here at Crestwood.”
I glance up at Mr. Vaughn who’s staring right at me, past Mr. Fein like he isn’t even there.
“You know my brother actually worked for one of your companies; he was in the finance department.”
“Is that so?” Mr. Vaughn says, his eyes still trained on mine like they’re slowly undressing me.
“Yes, doesn’t anymore unfortunately…” Mr. Fein’s voice trails off as Mr. Vaughn turns his attention away from me and toward him. “Anyway, can I just say, sir, we were all just overwhelmed with joy and gratitude when you decided to continue on with Daisy’s education here after kindergarten.”
Weston smiles but it doesn’t seem genuine, but rather more hollow. The only time I’ve seen a genuine display of anything remotely human is when he’s with his daughter.
“My pleasure, Rick. I need to get going. Daisy,” he calls to her and she comes running over as Mr. Fein excuses himself and apologizes profusely for interrupting.
It’s kind of pathetic the way he’s pandering to Weston. I wanted to interrupt and say aren’t all of our parents important? Especially the ones who actually care about their kid’s school. But I know with people this wealthy, it’s the politics you have to play.
“You didn’t want to tell him where we met before?” Weston asks, his voice lower as he takes a step closer to me.
“Uh, no. I didn’t think it was pertinent to the conversation.” I clutch the straps of my bag tighter as Daisy preoccupies herself by playing with a toy from her backpack at her father’s feet. My eyes slowly drift up his body, clad completely in black. His black button-down stretches across his chest as he slides his hands into his pockets.
“Thank you for sitting with her. I am very sorry for being so late.”
