Nuclear Family

2

He plastered a fake smile on his face before entering the school.

Dozens of little faces peered through the open doorways at him as he passed.

The air almost seemed to pulse with their excited energy; it never ceased to amuse him how happy these kids were to go home even after a day of coloring and playing dress-up.

Finally he reached the classroom at the end of the hall, Tali's classroom.

He stepped inside, where several other parents were already gathering their bouncing children.

Tali ran to him almost immediately, wrapping her arms around his legs and squeezing as tightly as she could. When she finally let go, she bobbed up and down on the balls of her feet, tugging on his hand.

"Aba, Aba, ask what we did today?"

"What'd you do today?" he asked, no longer having to fake his smile.

He loved her so much.

She beamed at him, and he could've sworn she was shining brighter than even the sun. "We made slime!"

"Did you?"

She nodded enthusiastically and let her backpack slide from her shoulders so she could dig through it. At long last, she pulled out a zip-lock bag filled to bursting with bright pink slime.

"Wow, did you make this?" He prodded the little bits of rainbow confetti through the plastic. "This is very cool."

"I can show you how!" She whipped out her folder and showed him a printed page of instructions.

"Sounds like a plan. How about we go home and have dinner first?"

Tali stuffed the folder and her slime back into her backpack.

Tony zipped her coat up to her chin and was just about to snap her hood up when the teacher walked over.

"Hey, Miss Carter," Tony said, still awkwardly bent over. He quickly straightened up.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked.

"Sure." He glanced back to Tali. "Why don't you go out to your locker and grab your crayon box so we can take it home and refill it?"

"Okay."

As soon as she was out of earshot, he asked, "She wasn't misbehaving, was she?"

"Oh, no, of course not. Tali is an angel. It's just that... well, it might be better if I show you." Miss Carter gestured for him to follow her over to the bulletin board where they pinned up the day's work.

Today's drawings very clearly showed the students doing things with their mothers.

Except for Tali's.

His eyes were first drawn to the jagged orange flames bordering the paper. But then he saw the single, lonely little stick figure in bright blue crayon. A stick figure with a very prominent frowny face.

Tony's heart seemed to break for the millionth time.

Tali had adjusted extremely well to her life with Tony, at least as far as he could tell, so seeing such an obvious display of longing for her mother killed him.

So much for thinking they'd finally put the past behind them.

"I had no idea," he murmured, running a tired hand over his face. "She was only two when it... I thought she'd forgotten."

When Miss Carter looked nothing short of absolutely confused –and why should she be anything but, when she had no way of knowing what happened three years ago– he sighed.

"Tali's mother and I were... not together at the time. There was... a fire. And then I got Tali." He dropped into the tiny plastic chair next to the bookcase. "God, I was hoping she couldn't remember that."

Miss Carter sank into a crouch, her hand warm on his shoulder. "Those are the kinds of things that leave marks on our hearts. They make us who we are. For better or for worse. I think... with your help, it will be for the better."

He dared to look up and meet her eyes, and he was shocked by how stunningly pretty they were.

His eyes darted to her lips, then back to her eyes, embarrassed and awkward. He could feel the blood rushing to his face–

And then the unmistakable sound of a crayon box being rattled impatiently.

He turned, and there was the most perfect thing in his life, standing in the doorway with her Barbie backpack and pink rainboots.

"Guess I'd better go," he said, standing up.

Miss Carter rose as well, an odd expression on her face.

"Bye, Miss Carter!" Tali gave her teacher a dazzling smile and then tore down the hallway.

Tony followed more slowly, feeling pangs of something bittersweet as he walked past all the crayon drawings taped to lockers, drawings of happy families with a happy mom and a happy dad and a happy child who had never felt an agony quite like Tony or Tali's.

He was just past the latch-key room when he heard the clatter of heels behind him.

He turned around, and there she was, breathless and flushed and holding out a folded scrap of paper.

"Miss Carter?"

"Call me Ava." She closed his fingers over the paper with a slight smile and then turned and hurried back to her classroom.

"Aba!" Tali called from the double doors.

"One minute..."

He couldn't help but peek.

Just as he thought. Ten little numbers written in green crayon.

*** ***