Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Wynn had to admit she was having a good morning.
Her sexy make-out session with Garrick had left her smiling, and Hunter had already made plans to spend Saturday night with a friend.
She and Garrick would have the house to themselves and plenty of time to take things to the next level. All in all, a happy chain of events.
Her nine o’clock meeting had been successful, with the bride and groom narrowing down her invitation choices to just three.
Wynn had ordered the samples, and they’d set up a second meeting to talk about the various options.
A local business had ordered postcards for a mailing along with several sets of business cards, and more of Natalie’s special-order paper had arrived.
Wynn did her best to keep her happiness to herself.
Being cheerful was one thing, but giddy tended to confuse her employees and frighten the customers.
During a brief lull, she busied herself putting up seasonal decorations, including a beautiful menorah, a tabletop Christmas tree, a Kwanzaa flag and her silly plastic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs set.
The latter had been a gift from Ms. James, Wynn’s neighbor when she’d been a kid.
Ms. James had always believed in Wynn. Later, when Wynn was a scared and struggling single mom, she would think of Ms. James and vow to make her proud.
She brought out the set every holiday season, mostly to try to show her friend that somehow she’d managed to pull it all together.
Wynn got herself a cup of coffee and retreated to her office.
She had several orders to proof, then payroll information to send over to her accounting person.
She picked up the first flyer and studied the design.
After measuring the borders, she carefully read each word to make sure it was spelled correctly.
She’d just initialed the sticky note attached to indicate she’d reviewed the design when her cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Is this Wynn Beauchene?”
“Yes.”
“Hi, I’m Camilla Henderson. We’re in the process of reviewing Hunter’s Junior ROTC application, and I have a few questions.”
Wynn stared unseeingly at the work on her desk. The caller was unfamiliar, as was the topic. Hunter’s what?
“I’m sorry, but who are you again?”
“I’m Camilla Henderson. I work for the local JROTC director. There are a few items missing from the application. I could get the answers now from you, if it’s a good time.”
“His application to Junior ROTC?”
“Yes.”
What on earth? Hunter hadn’t applied to Junior ROTC. Wynn didn’t even know what that was. They’d never discussed anything like it, and Wynn had never signed any kind of application.
Even as she mentally tried to make sense of it all, a bigger, uglier problem sat down in front of her.
There was no way Hunter could have applied to any kind of program without getting a parent’s signature.
And if Camilla had an application in her hands, one Wynn didn’t know about, then someone had faked the parental approval.
And that someone was most likely Hunter.
Disappointment joined confusion. She still wasn’t sure what was going on, but she was going to have to figure it out.
“Sorry for sounding so distracted,” she said, doing her best to fake a casual tone. “I’m in a meeting. May I call you back later?”
“Of course.” Camilla gave her a direct number and hung up.
Wynn turned to her computer and typed Junior ROTC into the search engine.
Seconds later she was on the website and learning that JROTC was, in fact, a real thing.
From what she could tell, it was a leadership program that was very successful.
She’d heard of ROTC at the college level but not anything in junior high or high school.
But when she checked the local area, his school was listed as having a program.
All of which was interesting, but didn’t change the fact that Hunter had gone behind her back to apply.
He hadn’t bothered talking to her at all—he’d just done it.
What had he been thinking? Did he really believe he could get into an ROTC program without her knowing? Even more to the point, why hadn’t he said anything to her? They talked about everything—or she had thought they did. Now she wasn’t sure about anything where he was concerned.
She got to her feet and circled her desk.
Her stomach hurt, and her head was spinning with questions and thoughts.
This wasn’t her kid. Hunter didn’t act like this.
When he wanted to do something, he asked and they talked about it.
She wasn’t unreasonable. Why had he done this and what was she supposed to do now?
She picked up her phone to text one of her friends, only she didn’t know if any of them would have the kind of advice she needed. After hesitating a few seconds, she texted Garrick.
I have a kid problem I need to talk about. You have any free time today?
It took only a minute for him to answer. I could grab a coffee right now if that works.
It does. Thanks.
They settled on a place. Wynn took her handbag from the drawer in her desk, told her office manager she would be gone for about an hour, then drove into the center of town where she parked and walked to the coffee shop by the river.
She ordered two lattes and carried them to a table in the corner. For once the view of the Rio de los Suenos didn’t make her happy, nor did she appreciate the beauty of the day or the little Santa on the table.
Two minutes later Garrick walked in. He spotted her and headed for the table. Under normal circumstances, she would have appreciated seeing him looking all manly in his uniform, but even that wasn’t enough to distract her.
“I got you a latte,” she said. “I hope that’s okay. Or do you only drink black coffee?”
He sat across from her and picked up the drink. “I enjoy a latte from time to time. Thanks for getting it for me. What’s going on?”
“It’s Hunter.”
One corner of his mouth turned up. “I kind of assumed that, with him being your only child.”
She tried to smile back at him, but couldn’t, then explained about the unexpected phone call.
“I went online,” she said. “Junior ROTC really exists.”
“Sure. They’re at the high school. Ninth graders in junior high can also join the last semester before they graduate.”
“How do you know that?”
“I know about all the extracurricular activities going on at both the high school and junior high. I know which ones make my day easier and which ones don’t.”
Interesting, but Garrick being good at his job wasn’t something she could care about right now.
“He lied to me,” she said, doing her best to stay in her head. If she gave in to her emotions, she would end up losing control. Later, when she’d figured out what to do, she would cry and scream and throw things, just not now.
“He lied to me,” she repeated. “He doesn’t do that.
” She held up a hand. “I’m not saying he never lies—of course he does.
He messes up. He can be lazy and forgetful.
He’s a normal person. But this is different.
It’s out of character for him, and I don’t know why he did it.
Why didn’t he talk to me in the first place? ”
She looked at Garrick. “He never mentioned the JROTC thing at all. I had no idea he was thinking about it. I didn’t even know it existed. I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t he bring it up in conversation? Why wouldn’t he ask? He went behind my back and faked my signature. How can I ever trust him again?”
Garrick put his hand over hers. “Breathe.”
“I’m breathing.” Sort of. She pressed her free hand against her chest and consciously tried to relax. “Where did this come from and why didn’t he talk to me? I know I keep saying that, but it’s a real question. Why not discuss it the way we talk about everything else?”
“Do you have any opinions on the military? Anyone in your family a former sailor, Marine, whatever?”
“What? I don’t know. It was just my mom and me. I never knew any extended family, so I have no idea if anyone ever served.” She paused, trying to formulate an answer to the question. “I support the military. I appreciate those who serve. We need a strong defense.”
His gaze was steady. “‘But not my kid?’”
The question was a kick in the gut. She withdrew her hand. “I never said that.”
“I know. I’m asking if you think it. Do you make it clear to Hunter that’s not an option?
Not overtly but in subtle ways? JROTC isn’t a direct line to joining one of the branches, but it would expose him to the idea of it.
Would you be okay with that?” He shook his head.
“No, would he think you’re okay with it? ”
She wanted to say she’d never even hinted that he shouldn’t consider the military, but stopped herself. Was that true? While she knew she’d never said anything directly, she wondered if somehow she’d had a bias.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I might have said something. I wouldn’t have meant it in a bad way.
I’d be worried about his safety, and I have no real experience with the concept.
It’s just not part of my world. It’s not like we’re near a military base or anything.
” She clutched her coffee. “Does it matter? At the end of the day, he went behind my back and he was dishonest.”
“I agree that’s the bigger issue. I was just trying to find out if there was an obvious reason.”
“Not one I can see. I’m going to have to talk to him,” she said. “He is going to be in such trouble. I don’t even know where to begin with the punishment. And when we—”