“She says she’s not with stepdad anymore, but you know how those things go . . .” Several people on the call chuckled. Yeah, they knew.
And Lauren didn’t want to seem naive. It was hard to leave an abusive relationship—often paradoxically harder because of the very abuse itself. She had far less experience than any of the professionals on the phone dealing with that, and didn’t have personal experience to fall back on, either. As tough as things had been with her mom, it had always been just them. Lauren knew next to nothing about her father, or what role he’d played in her mom’s life, if any.
“If the visits are supervised for now,” Lauren put in tentatively, “there would be no harm in letting her see Eddie more regularly, right? It sounds like she’s been engaging with the parenting class.”
“So far,” a woman with a Southern drawl broke in. From Lauren’s recollection of the introductions at the start of the call, she was the caseworker’s supervisor. “You’ll find that a lot of them drop off.”
“Okay,” Lauren said, “but right now she’s engaging, and I think more visits could only benefit Eddie.”
“Until she bails and he’s disappointed,” the supervisor said. “It’s better to manage expectations early.”
That seemed like a really bleak approach, but Lauren didn’t know how much authority she had to push back. She was relieved when the caseworker spoke up. “The department can supervise two visits a week instead of one,” she said, and Lauren pumped her fist at her desk like she’d just won a huge victory. She spun in her chair, and was surprised to see Asa leaning against her doorway, quirking an eyebrow at her.
How long had he been standing there?
Dimly, she was aware that they were confirming the date for the next staffing, and she murmured her agreement into the phone, knowing she’d need to wait for the email invite to even know what date they’d chosen.
“Let me guess,” Asa said once she’d hung up. “They’ve released a software update to extend your battery life.”
He had his arms crossed over his chest, and Lauren couldn’t help but notice one tattoo that she’d wondered about before—a tree, ripped out at its roots, which dangled down Asa’s forearm as the rest of the tree stretched up and disappeared under the short sleeve of his shirt. She wanted to see the whole thing, wanted to know the story behind it.
She realized the longer she sat there, just blinking at him, the more she played into this running joke that she was some kind of cyborg. She scowled at him instead.
“Stay out of my office,” she said. “Don’t write stuff on my to-do list, don’t lurk in my doorway. Just don’t.”
“Sorry. Guess I’m being a real ass.”
Lauren was taken aback by his apology, until she saw that his eyes were glittering. The refrigerator note. She’d almost forgotten about that.
“Why are you here?”
“Dolores told me you agreed to work the Snow Globe this afternoon,” he said. “I thought I’d come by to make sure you didn’t forget.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
“Okay,” he said. “In that case, let’s go.”
He explained the rules of the Snow Globe as they headed over, and she almost interrupted him twice, saying she had worked here for a couple years, thank you very much. But the truth was, as much as she hated to admit it, some of this information was new to her. Like how to tell if a snowball fight was escalating. That the limit was no more than twenty guests total inside at any given time. The time that someone had decided to test the whole “yellow snow” thing.
“Ew,” Lauren said. “That’s disgusting.”
“You have no idea. And it was actually more like orange snow, which was very concerning from a hydration standpoint. Before I kicked him off the premises, I sold the guy a couple bottled waters from the gift shop.”
Asa was walking ahead, which had to be the only reason why he held the door open for her to pass through into the Snow Globe. There was an unexpected chivalry to the gesture that surprised her, and she wasn’t even someone who noticed that kind of thing. Just like she wasn’t normally the type to obsess over the way a person smelled, but there she was, taking in such a big breath as she walked by Asa that she ended up coughing from the impact of the cold air hitting her sinuses.
“You good?”
She gave a thumbs-up, wishing the ground could open up and swallow her whole. Luckily, he seemed oblivious to her embarrassment, telling the kid on duty that he could take his break or see if help was needed in another section, that they had this for a bit. Lauren hadn’t thought she’d be working directly with Asa. She’d assumed he’d drop her off and then head back to whatever else it was that he was doing today.