Free Echoes by Erin Quinn

terrifying psychedelic madness out of her shoulders, ribs and thighs. She twisted around to see the splotches on her back as well. Her right arm had an abrasion from elbow to shoulder, adding texture to the color. She was lucky she hadn't broken anything when Grant Weston's truck hit her. Except...he'd said that he didn't hit her.
    She stared at herself in the mirror as something shifted deep in her memory. She tried to grasp it but it sifted through her fingers like dust.
    What in the hell had happened to her today?
     
    Chapter Eleven
     
    Craig Weston was directing traffic in the rain when Tess and Caitlin arrived at Mountain Bend Elementary School. He wore a bright yellow raincoat and held an umbrella with a downpour of colorful ABCs on its dome. By ones and twos he escorted children from the overhang by the school's front door to the waiting cars in the circular drive.
    Tess saw him look their way as she and Caitlin parked in the lot and raced for the door under their own umbrella—blue, no alphabetical adornments. She waved but didn't stop.
    A plump secretary with Doris Day hair and buckteeth smiled sweetly at Caitlin and told Tess to wait in the chairs outside of Mr. Weston's office. The school was small. Tess would have been surprised if it had more than two hundred students. Crayon artwork offered some relief to the beige and brown color scheme, but not much. The hall smelled of pine, green beans and wet wool.
    After a few thinly veiled glances, Doris asked, "Have you heard anything from your mother, hon?" in a voice filled with long southern vowels and soft twangy consonants.
    Caitlin shook her head.
    "Aw, don't you worry sweetie. She'll be home soon. She won't be able to stay away from you for long."
    The implication that Tori was gone by choice was not lost on Tess. She glanced at Caitlin from the corner of her eye, but her niece didn't seem to have caught the double meaning in the words. Caitlin nodded and continued to watch her swinging toes. For the first time, Tess wondered what Caitlin thought of her mother. Was she aware that others perceived Tori in a less than flattering way? Or was she as oblivious to any negativity directed at her mother as she appeared to be now?
    A moment later, Craig pulled opened the door and blew in with a gush of rain. "Damn, where did this storm come from?" he muttered, shaking off the ABC umbrella. He pulled back the hood of his raincoat and shrugged it off. Beneath he wore navy blue trousers, blackened by water to the knee, and a white button down shirt. This morning his formal suit coat had hid his tie. Now the jacket was gone and Tess could see there were frolicking Mickey Mouse characters down the length of it. He'd loosened the knot and rolled his sleeves back to the elbows. He looked tired. She wondered why he'd come to work at all. Surely the school would have understood if he'd stayed at home.
    "Tess," he said, smoothing back his wet hair. "And Miss Caitlin. I wasn't sure if you'd brave the storm after all."
    "It didn't seem so bad when we left, but then it was like the sky just opened up," Tess said.
    He nodded in agreement and squatted down to Caitlin's level with a look of concern on his face. "How are you doing, Caitlin?"
    Caitlin gave him a tiny smile and a shrug.
    "Yeah. Me, too. But we've got to hang in there and hope for the best, don't we?" He ruffled her hair and stood straight again. "How about you, Tess? How are you holding up?"
    "I'm fine." She brushed her hair back from her face and looked away.
    "You don't look fine. I mean—of course you look fine, but—" He stopped. A faint blush crept up his face and an awkward pause echoed in the hall. Doris Day watched them with unbridled curiosity.
    "I suppose Mrs. Sanders is waiting for us," Tess said.
    "I'll show you where her office is. Will you stop by after you see her so we can talk?"
    Looking forward to that with the same enthusiasm she had for dental work, Tess agreed and fell instep beside him. Silently