chapter 15:
rose fills her empty bottle with cold water and takes generous sips.
"hello there, I haven't seen you today. are you leaving?" gabriel asks rose before filling his own bottle.
"yes, I don't have any more classes. you?" she asks.
"I have evening classes tonight, so I'm staying" he replies.
"were you here in the morning?" she asks.
"if I have evening classes, I don't take morning ones, rose."
she nods and adjusts the strap of her bag to show him that she's leaving.
"I'll see you next week, then." he extends his hand, and rose politely shakes his cold hand from holding his cold-water bottle.
"see you. have a good lesson." gabriel watches her leave before heading into the teacher's room.
"well, he needs to finn. there's no other way" adam states.
finn has just complained about his father's behavior to his friend.
"adam, madeline couldn't convince him to take the pills, what makes you think I can?" he keeps clicking on the end of his pen in nerves.
"man, take it easy. your dad isn't a very stubborn man. he'll listen. I'll give him a call later if you want" adam suggests, kindly. finn nods, "that'd be great, man. thanks for your help. how are you and rose?" finn asks and gets the answer when he sees his smile.
"very good. she's the best. I'm happy she's working. she's happy" says adam.
"let's do something together all 4 of us?" finn suggests. "let's."
"I can. that's no problem" rose speaks through the phone.
she continues to whisk the white sauce on the stove. she places her phone between her shoulder and ear before turning the stove off. "is it 3 or 4 hours?" she asks zoe.
rose raises her brows when zoe answers her with '4 hours.'
zoe called rose to ask her to take another teacher's class since she can't attend her lesson.
"okay. I'll be there tomorrow at 9." rose wants to say no, but she's new and doesn't want to give a bad impression.
"again, if you don't want to take her class, let me know" but rose assures zoe that she wants to.
after rose places her phone on the dining table, she whispers to no one, 'what did I get myself into?'
adam nods at the child. "you need to take off your shoes and step on it. yes, like this" he instructs.
he writes tom's weight on his folder. "okay, tom. you can wear your shoes. it's done."
adam hands the folder to the nurse sitting behind the table. "please give it to dr. will, nancy." she nods.
"tom, would you like to go play in the playroom?" adam asks him. when tom shakes his head, adam frowns. "why not?"
adam has knelt down to tom's height and watches as he fumbles with his small fingers.
"I want to read. in my room" he says. adam sighs and nods. "okay."
he watches as tom enters his room and shuts the door, gently. "may I speak with you?" he shifts his attention to tom's parents and motions to his room when they nod at his question.
"I'm so happy you came" rose motions for eliana to come inside.
"it smells so nice in here, what are you making?" eliana asks.
