"Mr. Blake, did your family change the pickup list?"
Aaron's smile thinned. Around them the buses sighed and a mother called a name that was not theirs. "No. Why?"
Simone appeared from the direction of the visitor lot as if the question had summoned her. She was thirty-seven, Black American, warm brown skin, long natural curls caught loosely at one shoulder so the breeze could worry the rest. Almond eyes. Camel cardigan over a soft blouse, dark jeans, polished makeup that still looked intentional at the end of a workday. She walked fast without running, the walk of a woman who had seen the sedan and the teacher and the daughter and had begun, already, to calculate damage.
"Aaron, we can talk at home."
Aaron kept Lily's hand and looked at his wife as if the courtyard had narrowed to the space between them. "Talk about what?"
The teacher tapped the clipboard once, a small professional sound. "Another adult was added last week."
Aaron's dark eyes did not leave Simone's face. "Who added him?"
"Mrs. Blake."