Chapter 21 · Parent Night

"Cole, right? Or is it Vane now?"

The sign-in sheet is sitting on the little kid-sized table outside Maya's classroom, and someone already filled in the father line. CADE VANE. Block letters, black pen, pressed so hard it tore the paper a little.

"It's Cole," I say, and I take the pen out of the volunteer mom's hand before she can ask me to spell it. "Just Cole."

"He's already inside," she says, like that's helpful. "Real charming. Brought flowers for the teacher."

Of course he did.

I walk in and there he is, folded into a chair three sizes too small for him, knees up near his chest, looking like a Fortune 500 cover shot dropped into a kindergarten. Maya's drawing — the one with three stick figures under a lopsided sun — is taped to the wall behind his head like a halo he didn't earn.

"You weren't invited," I say low, dropping into the chair next to him because there isn't another one.

"I'm her father." He doesn't even look at me, just at the drawing. "Says so right there. Three people."

"That's Miss Renata. Maya draws her every week.