ten years, after all. And from what I’d heard back home, he left Philadelphia at eighteen and never looked back.”
“It was time to move on,” I said coldly. “All good things have to come to an end.”
At that moment, Kurt knew something was wrong. Perhaps it was my body language, or the way every word was spoken with an acidic tongue. I needed to get out of the office -- but I couldn’t risk leaving Bobby alone with Kurt, either. I took a breath, then stood up in front of the both of them.
“Bobby, why don’t you and I go uptown? I know a place where we can grab lunch and talk about the case in further detail.”
“Jesse,” Kurt said. “Are you sure that’s…?”
“You have the business,” Bobby said, all but cutting Kurt off. “I’ll have the Board of Directors begin the paperwork and we can begin the monthly retainer soon.”
“Excellent,” I said. “Kurt, I’m going to take Bobby uptown, probably Central Park West. We’ll have some coffee, maybe grab a bite to eat at an Italian bistro I know on Seventy-Ninth and Amsterdam. I’ll be reachable on my mobile if you need me?”
Kurt hesitated, but ultimately agreed. “We’ll catch up later this afternoon.”
“Thanks, boss.” I turned to Bobby, cocked my head towards the door. “You ready to go? We have a lot to catch up on. And if there’s anyone who knows the kind of things that happen at New Hope Academy, it’s definitely me.”
Chapter 10
“Bobby, have you completely lost your mind?”
We sat on a bench facing the lake in Central Park. Sunlight rippled off the surface of the water while the skyscrapers of Manhattan loomed in the distance.
Bobby stared at the water, completely silent.
“I asked you a question,” I snapped. “What are you doing here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he said. “In my first few years as principal of New Hope Academy, I’ve completely fucked up.”
“I’m not inclined to argue. But that still doesn’t answer my question. Why the fuck did you track me down and come all the way to New York City when there are plenty of firms in Philadelphia that can help you through this?”
“I wanted the best, Jesse. From what I understand, you’re one of the most successful graduates New Hope Academy has ever seen.”
“Is that why they call every year asking for money?” I paused, put on my sunglasses. “Are you sorry for what you did? For what we did all those years ago?”
Bobby hung his head in shame. I assumed the irony wasn’t lost on him. It took a special kind of man to come to a PR firm seeking crisis counsel for a teacher having sex with a student -- when he’d done the same exact thing a decade before. What was he more embarrassed about? His failure as a principal or the idea that someone was having sex with a student right under his nose?
“Did you have any idea this was going on?” I asked him. “Or did you find out when everyone else did?”
“There was chatter for a few weeks, but I didn’t take it seriously. Simone had impeccable references, no criminal record. I never saw something like this happening.”
“Don’t you think you should have been a bit more skeptical? Seeing what happened between the two of us?”
“And what did happen between the two of us, Jesse?”
My stomach clenched inside my belly. I didn’t know whether Bobby meant to be cruel or if he just wanted my honest appraisal of things. How many times had I thought of this moment in the past ten years? The day when we would finally come face-to-face, and I would be able to voice every unspoken thought that’d lingered within?
“Jesse?”
“You shouldn’t have done what you did,” I said. “No ifs, ands or buts. You crossed a boundary that no teacher -- no adult -- should have. I don’t care what was going on through your mind. Having those kinds of impulses is one thing, but acting on them is completely out of line.”
“You didn’t resist,” he said. “At no point do I ever
“It was time to move on,” I said coldly. “All good things have to come to an end.”
At that moment, Kurt knew something was wrong. Perhaps it was my body language, or the way every word was spoken with an acidic tongue. I needed to get out of the office -- but I couldn’t risk leaving Bobby alone with Kurt, either. I took a breath, then stood up in front of the both of them.
“Bobby, why don’t you and I go uptown? I know a place where we can grab lunch and talk about the case in further detail.”
“Jesse,” Kurt said. “Are you sure that’s…?”
“You have the business,” Bobby said, all but cutting Kurt off. “I’ll have the Board of Directors begin the paperwork and we can begin the monthly retainer soon.”
“Excellent,” I said. “Kurt, I’m going to take Bobby uptown, probably Central Park West. We’ll have some coffee, maybe grab a bite to eat at an Italian bistro I know on Seventy-Ninth and Amsterdam. I’ll be reachable on my mobile if you need me?”
Kurt hesitated, but ultimately agreed. “We’ll catch up later this afternoon.”
“Thanks, boss.” I turned to Bobby, cocked my head towards the door. “You ready to go? We have a lot to catch up on. And if there’s anyone who knows the kind of things that happen at New Hope Academy, it’s definitely me.”
Chapter 10
“Bobby, have you completely lost your mind?”
We sat on a bench facing the lake in Central Park. Sunlight rippled off the surface of the water while the skyscrapers of Manhattan loomed in the distance.
Bobby stared at the water, completely silent.
“I asked you a question,” I snapped. “What are you doing here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he said. “In my first few years as principal of New Hope Academy, I’ve completely fucked up.”
“I’m not inclined to argue. But that still doesn’t answer my question. Why the fuck did you track me down and come all the way to New York City when there are plenty of firms in Philadelphia that can help you through this?”
“I wanted the best, Jesse. From what I understand, you’re one of the most successful graduates New Hope Academy has ever seen.”
“Is that why they call every year asking for money?” I paused, put on my sunglasses. “Are you sorry for what you did? For what we did all those years ago?”
Bobby hung his head in shame. I assumed the irony wasn’t lost on him. It took a special kind of man to come to a PR firm seeking crisis counsel for a teacher having sex with a student -- when he’d done the same exact thing a decade before. What was he more embarrassed about? His failure as a principal or the idea that someone was having sex with a student right under his nose?
“Did you have any idea this was going on?” I asked him. “Or did you find out when everyone else did?”
“There was chatter for a few weeks, but I didn’t take it seriously. Simone had impeccable references, no criminal record. I never saw something like this happening.”
“Don’t you think you should have been a bit more skeptical? Seeing what happened between the two of us?”
“And what did happen between the two of us, Jesse?”
My stomach clenched inside my belly. I didn’t know whether Bobby meant to be cruel or if he just wanted my honest appraisal of things. How many times had I thought of this moment in the past ten years? The day when we would finally come face-to-face, and I would be able to voice every unspoken thought that’d lingered within?
“Jesse?”
“You shouldn’t have done what you did,” I said. “No ifs, ands or buts. You crossed a boundary that no teacher -- no adult -- should have. I don’t care what was going on through your mind. Having those kinds of impulses is one thing, but acting on them is completely out of line.”
“You didn’t resist,” he said. “At no point do I ever
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