Chapter 21
“Idon’t know how you could let this happen.”
Mel tried not to flinch at the words. They’d been expecting them. And had expected to be hit with them as soon as they’d stepped into the directors’ office. The head director, Dirk Johnson, did not disappoint.
The only surprise was they’d been here a good ten minutes first.
“I wasn’t on the premises at the time.”
“Yes, we are well aware of that fact,” one of the other directors, Blaine Sherman, said. “You know minors are not allowed to be on the property with no supervision.”
“The kids who come here did not have anything to do with this,” Mel said. “It wasn’t a matter of them being left unsupervised.”
“Can you be sure?” Veronica Lawton asked. Which sucked, because she was usually the one Mel could count on to be on their side. She was even the only one of the directors who had bothered to visit the center after it opened. Mel had thought they could depend on her.
“I didn’t do it.”
Maybe Liam really hadn’t done it. Mel wanted to believe him. They wanted to think that he’d been gathering the courage to come inside. Not that Denny was right, and he’d been hanging around to gloat in what he’d done.
The boy they’d seen certainly hadn’t appeared to be gloating.
Mel still couldn’t say for certain he didn’t have anything to do with it. Or who else had been involved.
“Your silence speaks volumes, Mx. Garcia.”
“I do not understand why the kids who comes here would wreck the one safe space most of them have. It does not make sense.” Even if the cop insinuated the same about Mel. After all the work they’d put into this place, why? Maybe the directors were also looking for the easiest scapegoat.
Or a reason to shut the place down. Mel didn’t know why they approved it in the first place if they didn’t want it open. Dirk and Blaine were always trying to convince the remaining three directors that it had been a mistake.
Mel knew the group managed a couple other youth centers in the area, providing funding and resources, and they doubted those ones, focused more on a general youth population, faced nearly the same amount of pushback.
They could just be projecting, but since the directors still hadn’t approved hiring an actual counselor, they didn’t think they were. They hadn’t been able to bring themself to outright ask.
“Because a delinquent would care if they’re hurting themselves in the process,” Dirk said.
Mel wouldn’t have been surprised if he rolled his eyes, too, no matter how immature a response that might be.
“Some of them only care about inflicting as much damage as they can. I’m not sure if this is worth even fixing.
They’ll just come back in and do it again. ”
“You say that as if you know who did it,” Mel said.
His eyes narrowed. “Just what are you accusing me of, Mx. Garcia?”
“Absolutely nothing,” Mel said smoothly.
“I can’t control what other people decide to do.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to offer these kids a safe place to go.
They deserve that as much as any kid does.
I’m not even asking you to hire someone to make repairs.
I’ve already sent out a message to volunteers and plenty of them want to help.
We should at least be able to handle most of that on our own.
Especially if I can get some of the kids to come in and lend a hand. ”
“That sounds like a liability waiting to happen,” Blaine muttered.
“Not if they sign waivers,” Mel said. “Which all the volunteers have or will. I’ll do the work if I have to, but if we have the help, why not use it?” There would be some costs to replacing items which had been broken and destroyed, but they’d tackle that later. One thing at a time.
Dirk was still scowling at Mel, but Veronica leaned in with Blaine and one of the other directors.
She spoke quietly to the other person before looking back at Mel.
“If you have volunteers willing to help, then we aren’t going to argue with making what repairs and clean-up you can.
If there are kids who have permission from their guardians and those guardians sign waivers, they can help, with supervision, as well. ”
“I didn’t sign off on this,” Dirk said.
Veronica glanced briefly at Dirk. “You’ve been outvoted,” she said calmly. “This is a good thing.” She looked at Mel. “If there’s repairs you can’t handle, note them down and we’ll decide whether to approve them or not.”
“I’m not happy about this.” Dirk pushed back from the conference table.
“We know,” Veronica said, and Mel thought her lips twitched.
Dirk scowled at Mel. “You’d better not let something like this happen again. Or you will be finished.”
Mel would make sure they did whatever they could to be certain that didn’t happen. Right now, they needed to get to their shift at the coffee shop. Then head over to the center and figure out how much work it would be to put things to right.
Mel had a line in front of them and couldn’t check their phone when it pinged.
If it was Denny texting from their table in the corner, they were going to…
well, probably send them another scowl. They’d been in a mood when Mel picked up their siblings this morning, and it only gotten worse since Mel came back from the meeting with the directors.
The door opened again, and Mel glanced up, their chest tightening. Their shoulders slumped when a woman in her mid-thirties, she came in at least once a week, stepped in, taking off a pair of sunglasses to look up at the menu.
Mel didn’t know what was wrong with them.
They certainly shouldn’t be looking forward to seeing him.
It would be better if he did stay away. Denny was already obsessed with him.
Mel had thought the hyperfocus on baseball was one thing.
When Denny leveled that on a single person, it really made them worry.
Distance would definitely be good. For all of them. When thoughts of the center hadn’t been keeping them awake the night before, it had been remembering the way he’d smiled at them.
“Get over yourself,” they muttered as they started on the next customer’s drink. He probably smiled at everyone that way. At least the people he saw as a female. It never mattered what they did, there were people who would only ever see Mel that way.
He was probably one of them. Mel had dealt with his type of jock before.
Caleb wasn’t like that, despite being an athlete.
Though he’d quickly learned if he started talking about any of that sport stuff with Mel, they’d send him a blank look.
And he stopped. Mel couldn’t understand how someone could allow their whole identity to revolve around something as inane as sports.
Yet they couldn’t stop thinking about Rhys.
Well, they needed to. They finished making the drink, added some chocolate sprinkles on top of the whipped cream, and passed it over to the customer, working up a smile for the young dad. He came in every Monday and Thursday after passing the children to their mother for their shared custody.
Sometimes Mel felt like the morning version of a bartender with all the details they knew about their customers. People tended to be open when they were too tired to think.
“How are your daughters?” they asked him.
“Full of more energy than I’ve ever had,” he said, but his lips were curved up in a smile. “I’m going to sleep every spare moment the next two days just so I can keep up with them this weekend.”
Mel highly doubted that. He was active in the community, had a busy job, and he’d mentioned before owning a dog. They didn’t see him getting much sleep. It was a reminder Mel wasn’t the only one with a lot on their plate. Somehow everyone else still managed to get it done without dropping anything.
They took the next order, trying to keep their mind on what they were doing. Not the voice whispering in their head.
“If someone else had been in charge, the vandalism wouldn’t have happened. Someone better would have protected the center and those kids better.”
Mel fumbled the cup full of coffee, but just managed to keep it upright. They finished the order, handing it over, smiling even as it felt like it was a strain to keep it there.
What happened at the center was not their fault. They knew that. Mel had followed every protocol. Sometimes bad things happened.
If only the directors didn’t see this as a strike against the program. Mel would get it cleaned up, and once they knew who was responsible, maybe something could be done to keep it from happening again.
The door opened, and Mel cursed themself at how fast their head came up. It didn’t matter who it was. Their heart fluttered and the cup almost fell from their fingers.
That damn smile. They weren’t sure they liked what it did to them. They couldn’t stop it. They turned away from the counter and nearly ran into Frank.
“You’re distracted.” Their boss took the cup. “Go on and take your break.”
Mel flinched. “Sorry, Frank.”
He waved that off. “You’re allowed when you’ve got so much going on. Go, relax, get your head straightened out.”
“Never going to happen,” Mel told him as they took off their apron then stowed it under the counter and grabbed their phone.
He rolled his eyes, and Mel laughed. They took a couple different types of pastries out of the display, rounding the end of the counter and heading to the table in the corner, where Denny had their face buried in their phone, and Sonia was reading a book.
They glanced over at Rhys, but he had his gaze glued to the menu board, as if the answers to his problems were written there.
Honestly, it was the way they felt about coffee sometimes, so fair.
Mel pulled their eyes away from him and dropped into a chair at their siblings’ table.
Denny didn’t look up from their phone, barely even grunting as Mel set a couple pastries in front of their siblings. That was pretty much all Mel had gotten out of them today. Sonia picked up a brownie, pushing a strawberry filled pastry closer to Denny.
Their strange attraction to one man didn’t matter. Being here for their siblings did.
Sorting things out at the center mattered.
Getting it ready to open again was definitely higher up the chain of priority than some passing attraction.
They could not let things fall apart, not now.
No one, certainly not a man who forgot them as soon as he left with his coffee, was worth losing something which made such a difference in their community.
They needed to remember that.