CHAPTER 19
Kayla was making her way to school on a cool Wednesday morning. It was the day before Thanksgiving. She had the music playing on the radio, Starbucks coffee in a cup holder to her right. She was singing along to Third Day's song 'Soul On Fire' when a car pulled up behind her. A siren sounded along with red and blue lights flashing. She looked in her rearview mirror at the cop car behind her. She followed protocol and pulled over to the right of the road.
She reached into her purse for her id, then in her glove compartment for the registration for the car when the cop began approaching her vehicle. Kayla rolled down her window as the officer made it to the driver's side door.
"License and registration please?"
Kayla eyed the cop in shock. "Dean?"
Dean tipped his hat to her. "Ma'am."
"Why did you pull me over? I thought I was going the speed limit."
"You were. I just wanted to say a quick 'hello' to you before you went off to school."
"Well...hello."
"I still need to see some ID."
Kayla handed over her license to Dean and he eyed the picture, then looked at her. "Wow. Picture doesn't do justice," he commented handing back the identification. "You're even more beautiful in person."
"Why thank you. Did Shannon and Seth get ahold of you for going over to their house for supper tomorrow for Thanksgiving?"
"Got a call last night from Seth. Told him I would be there."
"Me too. Well, I guess, I had better get to school."
"Need a police escort?"
"No, thank you. I'll be fine."
"Okay. See ya later." Dean stated as he began to walk away.
"What? No kiss?"
"Oh, yeah," Dean said skidding to a stop. He quickly walked back and planted a quick one on her lips. "Bye-bye."
"See ya."
-"Okay, class. Who can tell me the year that Christopher Columbus discovered America?"
All 13 hands went up at once.
"Oh my. Let's see. Um...Jake."
"1492."
"Perfect. And who can give me the name of the 3 ships that sailed with Christopher?"
The hands of Kayla's student's went up again. "How about...Stacy?"
"The Pinta, the Santa Maria and the Nina."
"Excellent! Now you guys and gals will need to remember this for the history test we will be having next week."
A knock at her class room door interrupted the lesson.
"Excuse me, class." Kayla went to the door and was greeted by the principal. "Mr. Wells. How can I help you?"
"I need to speak with you in my office. It's urgent."
-"Alright, Amy. Let's see how you're doing so far. How about you go ahead and step onto the scale and let's see what progress has been made."
Amy stepped onto the scale as Shannon had requested. It took a second for the numbers to come to a stop to read the results of Amy's new weight. Shannon gasped.
"Congratulations. You're down 3 pounds from last week."
"Really?" Amy exclaimed. "It doesn't seem like much."
"It may not to you, but it's getting you closer to your goal. You're doing great. Go ahead and step off the scale."
The African-American mother of 1 stood in front of Shannon. "Thank you so much for helping me with this. I really appreciate it."
"It's my pleasure. You're doing a great job. Keep up the good work."
"Again, thank you. It's nice to have somebody believing in me for once."
"I believe in you and your little boy believes in you. You have a wonderful fiancee that believes in you too."
"A few more pounds and I'll fit perfectly in that wedding gown."
"I'm sure you will glow like the halo of an angel. Heck, you already look like an angel."
"A sweaty angel."
The two women shared an embrace as one of Shannon's coworked stepped foward. He whispered something into Shannon's ear.
"I'm sorry, Amy. I have a phone call to make. Michael, could you help her with her bike exercises, please?"
"Sure."
"Thank you."
Shannon made her way to the locker room to use the phone. She was given the message that she was to call Kayla immediately.
-Seth was in his office looking over the numerous blue prints on his desk. The measurements were spot-on. It had to be perfect, especially for the new preschool that was to be constructedthe week after Thanksgiving. He grabbed his cup off his desk and went to the coffee pot sitting on the counter. After mixing the creamer and the sweetner to his liking, he took a sip and sighed. Just the way he liked it. And it wasn't that pumpkin spice stuff that came around this time of year. Cup in hand, he walked back to his desk to gaze again at the blue prints.
He went to take another sip of his warm beverage when his phone vibrated. He looked at the name on the screen of the phone. LOVELY WIFE along with her picture shown on the face of the phone. He hit the answer button and brought the phone to his ear.
"Hey, Shannon. What's up?...Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down a minute. Take a deep breath...There ya go. Again...Good. Now. Tell me again. What's going on?"
Seth sat his coffee cup on his desk.
"What happened?"
Seth listened as Shannon told him the terrible news. It was now Seth that was breathing hard.
"When?...Kayla told you?...Where is she?...Okay. I'm leaving work now. I'll meet you there. Bye."
Seth disconnected the call and flung his coat on. He quickly grabbed his keys hanging on the wall by his desk and was rapidly out the door. He told his boss something came up and he had to leave. His boss understood and told him things would be covered while he was away.
Dean Ambrose tried to save a gas station attendent. It was a success. However, in a robbery-gone-bad while protecting the gas station cashier, Dean Ambrose had been shot in the chest twice and was being rushed in an ambulance to the hospital.