Lauren Takes Leave by Gerstenblatt, Julie (ebooks children's books free txt) 📕

and I instantlywish I was, too, so that they wouldn’t have this advantage of height over me. Dougbegins speaking and comes over to sit near me, which is a nice touch, a showingof solidarity. “When you didn’t show up for work today, Lauren, MarthaCarrington over at the middle school called me at work again.”

“Buh—” I begin. Doug holds up a finger to silence me. Itworks. Especially since I wasn’t sure what I was going to say after the “but.”

“But,” he says, looking from me to the officer and backagain, “as I told her many times, you have been sequestered for the week by theAlden County Courthouse and were expected to be released from your casetomorrow.” His mouth is saying the words but his eyes are telling me that heknows this to be complete bullshit. There are some perks to a twelve-yearmarriage, and speaking volumes without actually talking is one of them.

“Yeah, buh—” I try again. The finger goes up, my mouthshuts.

The officer steps in now, to continue telling the story.“But Mrs. Carrington, working off her own information, seemed to believe thatyou had been released from jury duty several days ago, and that, since thattime, there may have been some foul play involved in your more recentdisappearance.”

Martha gave me up to the feds!

I am quite certain now that I will never ever get theposition of English chair.

Doug is looking down at his hands as the officer speaks,so I can no longer read his expression.

“Further, this Mrs. Carrington felt that your husband knewof your whereabouts but was covering up the real story with falsehoods.”

Oh, and Lauren? Say hi to Jodi and Kat for me.

How can I make my face look completely startled by thisrevelation? I make my eyes wide and fake a gasp, which seems a bit too false,even to my own ears.

The policeman takes my outburst for an authentic bit ofemotion. “I know, I know,” he says. “It seemed farfetched to me, too.”

I smile, and shrug it off as if to say, What a crazyworld we live in, right? Feeling better, I stand and shake his hand beforeleading him out of the house. “Well, thanks so much for coming, officer…” Isay.

“But then…” he says. My right hand meets his extended lefthand, and I realize there’s a folded piece of paper in it. He shakes it to letme know I should take it.

I open the tri-folded white page to find an exact copy ofmy jury duty release form, signed and dated on Tuesday. The officer clears histhroat. “I decided to just call the courthouse and ask about your role as ajuror. Turns out, Mrs. Carrington was correct; you were released on Tuesday.And it only took me about five minutes to clear that piece up!”

Well, doesn’t he seem awfully proud of himself for gettingoff his ass and making a phone call.

“Oh yeah, that,” I say, completely busted.

I need to sit. I hold my hands up to my eyes and try andpush back the tears that are forming. I don’t want to cry because of Martha. Imust not let this officer see me break down. I remind myself that these aretears of anger, not sadness, and that helps me get a grip.

I’m angry for getting caught like this, and I feel like acomplete fool for thinking I could just get away with such a stupid scheme inthe first place. But mostly, I wish I didn’t feel like I had to lie to Dougthroughout this whole adventure, first to get down to Miami and now again uponreturning.

I wish I could have seen some other way to get what Iwanted without sneaking behind Doug’s back. Because that’s really what wascorrupt about this unorthodox vacation choice of mine, the lying to Doug part.Not the cutting-school part; I see that now.

No. My inability to share my plans—and worse, my feelings—withmy spouse is the real crime in my leave of absence.

I worry that my marriage will just crumble before my eyes,a house of cards collapsing, and yet I can’t see any way to hold it all together.

Doug and the officer continue talking as I try to collectmyself. Doug leads the policeman into the kitchen and I wonder, is he offeringhim coffee now? But then I hear their footsteps on the stairs and wonderif he’s giving a house tour.

I mean, we’ll probably get divorced and have to sell thehouse, but it seems a bit premature to show it off for sale at this verymoment, doesn’t it? What kind of a cold husband offers up the family homebefore the divorce papers have even been drawn up, I ask you?

I look around the living room as if I’m seeing it for thelast time, and think, I wish I had spent more time here with the children.I love my home and, even though they sometimes drive me crazy, I love Ben andBecca. I feel safe here, in this warm family room that Doug and I created forour little family. For a moment, I have trouble remembering why I felt I had torun away.

The longer Doug and the officer are gone, the more Iwonder what type of trouble I’m in with the police. Am I about to be charged withchild abandonment, for leaving the kids with Laney? Or is he here to arrest mefor a work-related crime? Do people get thrown in jail for leaving anuninspiring substitute teacher in charge of their English class for more thanthree days? It seems unlikely, although, based on my experiences over the pastfew days, I’d be hard pressed to say that anything is really unlikely anymore.

I imagine I’ll be arrested any minute now, as soon as theofficer is done looking in my walk-in closet or whatever he’s doing. I hopeDoug remembers to tell him that we’ve got central air now, too. That’s a niceselling point. Then I mentally slap myself back to reality. Tears roll down myface, regret mixed with humiliation and fear. I wonder how long I’ll be lockedup and what my sentence will be: community service? Or something real, like afew months in one of those