Catching Fireflies (24 page)

“Because he can,” Laura said. “And so you know, Misty has rebuffed all of his advances, but that hasn’t stopped him. And that’s only infuriated Annabelle more.” She faced Annabelle, who’d finally looked up at the mention of Greg’s name. “Isn’t that right?”

Annabelle’s cheeks had grown increasingly flushed as Laura spoke. She turned on her furiously. “Okay, yes, I hate Misty. She has no right to Greg. He’s
my
boyfriend.”

“Misty’s never been interested in Greg. She’s never encouraged him,” Laura reminded her gently. “Greg’s the one who’s pursued her.”

Though she looked vaguely rattled by Laura’s calm certainty, Annabelle wasn’t giving up the pretense of being the victim without a fight. “Well, she has to be sending out some kind of message for him to keep chasing her. She’s nothing but a little slut.”

Even Mariah finally looked taken aback by the venom in her daughter’s voice. “Annabelle, that’s enough. You’re not helping the situation.”

“I’ve heard enough,” Don said, his expression resigned. He faced Betty. “What’s next?”

“I have no choice but to suspend her,” Betty said. “I think you can expect legal action from the Dawsons. If there’s so much as a hint of another incident, Annabelle will be expelled.”

Laura thought Annabelle finally looked shaken, rather than defiant, but it was her mother’s reaction that startled Laura. Mariah looked genuinely stunned, as if she’d had no idea where this was leading.

“But that will all go on her record,” she protested. “Don, we can’t allow Annabelle’s future to be destroyed by a childish prank.”

“There is nothing childish about what Annabelle did,” he said. “She’s old enough to understand exactly what she was doing. Like Betty said, we need to think about how we’d feel if someone did this to Annabelle. We’d be out for blood.”

“But she’s our daughter,” Mariah argued. “We have to be on her side.”

“I’m always on her side,” he said. “But sometimes that means making sure she learns that actions have consequences.”

“What if we just took her out of school?” Mariah pleaded. “We could get her into a private school. None of this would have to come out. Wouldn’t that be best for everyone?”

“You’d send me away?” Annabelle said, her eyes wide.

“Not far,” Mariah said. She rushed on, clearly warming to the idea. “There are excellent schools in Charleston or Columbia. I know it’s already late in the fall, but I’m sure we could pull a few strings, find a spot for you somewhere. Don’t think of it as punishment, sweetheart. You’ll have so many more opportunities. You’ll make better friends, the sort of friends who’ll last a lifetime, friends from good families with great contacts.”

“And where’s the money for this expensive private school to come from?” Don asked practically. “Out of her college fund? Then what?”

“I’ll ask my parents,” Mariah said desperately. “When I’ve explained, they’ll want to help.”

Don shook his head. “I’m against this, Mariah. Annabelle needs to stay right here and learn a lesson. You’ve gotten her off the hook every single time she’s done something wrong. That needs to stop.”

“We’ll talk about this at home,” Mariah said, refusing to back down.

“And in the meantime, Annabelle is suspended for two weeks,” Betty said. “I’ll see that she receives her assignments, so she can keep up with her schoolwork. At the end of the two weeks, we’ll see where we stand. If you decide you want to pursue a transfer, let me know.”

“Could I go back to my last class now?” Annabelle asked. “You know, so I can at least say goodbye to my friends before I’m banished?”

“I’m afraid not,” Betty said. “And you’re not allowed on school property until the suspension is lifted. That includes all school activities. You won’t be permitted to attend Friday night’s football game or to participate as a cheerleader.”

The full implication of the punishment finally seemed to sink in. “But Greg counts on me being there,” she protested weakly.

“I’m sure he’ll manage just fine without you this once,” Betty said, her gaze unyielding.

“I guess I’m supposed to live on bread and water, too,” Annabelle remarked bitterly.

“It might not be a bad idea,” her father muttered. “And I’m going to stand right there while you post a sincere apology to Misty on your page online. Once that’s done and had time to circulate, you’ll no longer have access to the internet. I believe we’d better take away your cell phone, too, so you won’t be texting anyone. Now let’s go.”

Laura waited until the door had closed behind them before turning to Betty. “That actually went better than I’d anticipated,” she said. “Don Litchfield seems like a reasonable man, a really concerned parent who gets what a huge mistake his daughter made.”

“Seems that way,” Betty agreed. “But I wouldn’t do any celebrating just yet. Something tells me Mariah’s just warming up.”

“Do you think they’ll decide to have Annabelle transfer? That could be a real blessing for Misty.”

“It could be, but I have my doubts. All those fancy schools Mariah is picturing have the same strict standards about bullying that we have. Once they get wind of why Annabelle’s parents are interested in a transfer this late in the fall, they’re not likely to welcome her with open arms.”

“You don’t think if the parents’—or grandparents’—pockets are deep enough, they might look the other way?”

“Possibly,” Betty said. “But the side of me that still believes in right and wrong hopes not.”

* * *

Paula had received a call from Laura Reed asking that their get-together be postponed until five-thirty. She gathered that things were, if not under control, at least on their way to being resolved.

As Paula put aside her paintbrush, frustrated yet again with her inability to get the details on this latest work as delicate as they should be, Katie slipped through the back gate.

“Grandma, it’s beautiful,” she said, awe in her voice as she came to stand beside Paula.

Paula glanced at her. “You think so?”

“It’s so real I can almost smell the scent,” Katie insisted. “It’s a stargazer lily, right? How do you do that? When I draw or paint, it never looks anything like the way I pictured it in my head.”

“It takes years of practice to get it right,” Paula told her. “Are you interested in painting?”

To her disappointment, Katie shook her head. “It’s too frustrating.”

Paula smiled at her. “To do anything really, really well, you’ll face frustration from time to time. That’s why I’m often called a perfectionist. For instance, I could show you right now all the things I see that are wrong with this painting.”

“No way,” Katie protested. “It makes me want to touch it to see if it’s a flower instead of a picture. See, it even has that waxy look on the petals and the tiny little spots and that blush of pink. There’s even a drop of dew. It’s just right.”

“Then it’s yours,” Paula told her. “I’d love for you to have it. Just promise not to let anyone put it in a showing of my work years from now, so some critic can write that I’d clearly lost my touch.”

“Grandma, stop saying that,” Katie said impatiently. “You haven’t lost your touch at all.”

Paula smiled at the fierce defense. “Thanks, sweetheart. Now, what brings you by? And on a Monday, no less, when you know Liz hasn’t brought over any cookies.”

“I wanted to thank you. There was a huge meeting at school today. I think Annabelle’s finally going to get what she deserves. I haven’t talked to Misty all day, and nobody saw Annabelle this afternoon, but I think that must mean she was kicked out. I know it’s because you went to Ms. Reed.” She threw her arms around Paula and hugged her tightly. “Thank you so much.”

“I just did what needed to be done,” Paula said. “And you deserve a lot of the credit for coming to me. Thanks to you I was able to point Ms. Reed in the right direction to get this resolved.”

For an instant Katie looked alarmed. “You didn’t tell her that it was me who told you, did you?”

“I promised you I wouldn’t,” Paula reassured her. “But you must know that she probably guessed. You don’t need to worry about it, though. I was very impressed with her. She knows the situation requires discretion. And I’m meeting with her shortly so she can tell me how things turned out.” She glanced at her watch. “In fact, I’d better get this paint off my hands and head over to The Corner Spa right now. I don’t want to keep her waiting.”

Once again, lines of worry creased Katie’s forehead. “Mom doesn’t know about all this, does she? And about what I did?”

“Not from me,” Paula verified. “But remember that your mom is married to Cal. I’m sure he’s put it all together by now.” She tweaked her nose. “And I think you should remember that you could have gone to your mother about this. Not that I wasn’t very happy to have you trust me enough to speak to me, but you should understand that you can always trust your mom, too.”

“I know,” Katie said earnestly. “It was just that I’d promised Misty I’d keep quiet and not tell Mom or Cal, so I needed to find a way to get help without breaking that promise.”

“Understood,” Paula said. “Do you want a ride over to the spa with me?”

“No. I have my bike. I’ll head on home. I want to call Misty and see what happened. I’ll get my painting later, if that’s okay.”

“It’s fine. Maybe I’ll fiddle with it a little more till it’s better.”

Katie grinned at her. “Remember what you used to tell me when I was a little kid and wanted to be prettier? You said it was impossible to improve on perfection.”

Paula laughed. “You were exactly the way God intended. This picture…” She shook her head. “Not so much.”

“Well, I think it’s perfect,” Katie said staunchly. “Gotta run, Grandma.”

“Okay, then. Be careful riding home.”

“Always,” Katie said, darting out the back gate.

“And wear your helmet,” Paula shouted after her.

“Got it,” Katie said, her voice fading as she evidently rode off down the street.

Paula smiled as she went inside. Oh, to have even half that much energy again.

15

L
aura wanted nothing more than to head directly home, crawl beneath the covers and sleep for a week to make up for too many restless nights since this situation had come to a head and too much tension today. Instead, she had her promised get-together with Paula Vreeland ahead of her.

News had apparently already leaked out about what had happened at school today, because Maddie Maddox caught her when she arrived at The Corner Spa and pulled her aside.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” she told Laura. “Is Misty going to be okay?”

“I suppose that depends on what happens next,” Laura replied.

“Annabelle’s been suspended, though?”

“For two weeks,” she confirmed.

Maddie shook her head. “What was that girl thinking?”

“She wasn’t thinking, obviously,” Laura said. “She was acting out of spite and anger with absolutely no thought to the consequences, either to Misty or to herself.”

“How’d Mariah take it?” Maddie asked. “Will she turn on you and Betty?”

“She threatened me early on,” Laura admitted with a shrug. “But after all the facts were out there, I think she forgot all about me. Her whole focus is on saving her daughter.”

“At least I’ve figured out why you and my mother were huddled on the patio here the other day. How on earth did she get involved?”

Laura squirmed at the question. Maddie recognized her discomfort at once. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have asked. Are you meeting her here again?”

Laura nodded. “I promised to fill her in.”

Maddie looked up just then and smiled. “And here she is now. Hey, Mom.”

“Maddie, you are not still trying to sell Laura a membership, are you?”

“Actually I’m thinking I should give her a six-month trial membership to thank her for dealing with this mess at school. I may not know all the details, but I do know it’s turning out okay because she got involved.”

“I certainly second that idea,” Paula said.

Maddie grinned at Laura. “What do you say? Six months on the house?”

“Are you sure?” Laura asked, dying to accept but hesitant. “I was only doing my job.”

“Nonsense,” Paula said. “You went above and beyond and you know it. Don’t be modest. It’s highly overrated.”

Maddie chuckled. “You would certainly know, Mother. Everything I ever knew about self-confidence I learned from you.”

Paula looked surprisingly pleased by the comment. “It’s good to know I wasn’t quite so terrible as a mother as I’d thought.”

“You were never terrible,” Maddie protested, looking dismayed. “Just a little caught up in your own world.”

“Never a good thing for a mother, no matter the excuse,” Paula said, then waved off the discussion. “Water under the bridge. I hope I’ve made up for it recently.”

Maddie gave her an awkward hug. “You know you have. Now, head on out to the patio. It’s gorgeous out there, probably one of the last days before it gets to be too chilly to sit outside. I’ll bring you something from the café. Laura, will it be another smoothie? We have mango-papaya today. I can personally vouch for it. I had two before I told Susie in the café to cut me off.”

“Oh, yes, please,” Laura said with feeling. “The last one was fabulous, and mango-papaya sounds even better. I’ll need that membership, if I keep drinking those.”

“And I want a muffin, full-strength if you know what I mean,” Paula said. “None of that low-fat nonsense for me.”

“Done,” Maddie said. “Head on out. I’ll be right behind you.”

Once they were seated on the patio and Maddie had brought their snack, then left them alone, Paula regarded Laura with concern.

“You look as if you’ve had an exhausting day.”

“An exhausting
few
days,” Laura confirmed. “Knowing how high the stakes were for both of these girls put a tremendous amount of pressure on me to handle this well.”

“Then I’m all the more grateful that you’re taking the time to fill me in.”

“If it weren’t for you, it would have been much more difficult to settle this. I’m the one who’s grateful,” Laura told her with total sincerity. “Here’s where things stand.”

She outlined the first steps that had been taken earlier. “Frankly, I’m hoping that the Litchfields will send Annabelle away, but we may not know that for a while. Her father seems inclined to keep her right here so she has to face all the consequences of her actions.”