Chapter 5
AVERY
Iwalk out the front door and down the street, breathing in the fresh scent of the spring weather.
It’ll get hot soon, but probably not as bad as Arizona since it’s always tempered by the ocean breeze, making it the perfect place to be.
Cora and I spent a few summers with our grandmother in Phoenix, and I can still recall the feeling of wishing I could live in a bathing suit by a pool during those hot, dry days.
After my parents died when I was a teenager, she was my motherly figure until she passed a few years ago.
My only other experience of living somewhere for longer than a year was Portland, Oregon, or just outside of it. That’s where I went to law school and my internship turned into a career.
“Hey,” a voice calls out, and I turn my head to look around.
On the porch of the bed & breakfast sits Max.
“Hey,” I say, giving him a small smile. I slow my speed but don’t stop. “It looks like you found a place to stay last night. How was it?”
He smiles, and while I really shouldn’t be noticing, it’s a very nice smile. One that pulls you in, like he has a secret to share. There’s a hint of a dimple, which has always been a weakness. My ex-boyfriend, Curt, could flash one of his dimpled smiles to get out of any disagreement.
I slam down any emotion swelling and focus on the present. Not every guy is a sniveling traitor.
“It was really good.” He walks down the stairs toward me. “Are you heading somewhere?”
I sigh. “Yeah, Lila got called to the principal’s office, so I’ve either got to get bail money ready or brush up on my debate skills.”
Max gives me a small smile. “Lila is feisty. Good luck.” He turns into the lane heading to the parking lot behind the B&B.
I wave and continue walking, taking a right at the next street and then walk a block over to the junior high. I could’ve driven here, but it’s close enough, and I don’t mind making Lila sweat a bit.
I may be the favorite aunt, but I’m also practically her parent at this point, and I don’t want her to be a bratty teen.
The secretary doesn’t even look up before she says, “They’re in Mr. Martin’s office.”
I walk past the desk and into the principal’s office, surprised to see a boy sitting in the corner with an ice pack over his eye. His mother is hovering over him, acting as if each of his moans is grounds for a hospital run.
“What happened here?” I ask, maybe a little too loudly.
It’s only then that I see Lila in a chair on the other side of the room, with Mr. Martin behind his desk, looking like an old miser.
“Please have a seat, Ms. Parker. We have a few things to discuss,” he says, pointing to an empty chair next to Lila.
I sit and wait, irritated by the tension filling the air.
“How dare you let your child hit mine. What are you teaching her?” the mom screeches, and as fired up as I want to be right now, I know taking offense will only make things worse.
Instead of waiting for the principal to guide this conversation, I turn to Lila. She’s usually honest with me, and I hope she will be now. Raising an eyebrow, I say, “Care to share what this meeting is about? They called your mom, and she asked me to come check on you.”
Lila’s eyes narrow slightly, and I wonder what I’ve said to make her do that, or if it was something from earlier with this boy.
“Joey has been teasing me for weeks about being a giraffe or about being ugly,” she says, her nostrils flaring. Then her eyes narrow, and she says just above a whisper, “He also says my dad died so he wouldn’t have to see what a disappointment I am.”
My heart rate ticks up, and I have to clench my fists in my lap to keep from reacting.
“Did that happen again today?” I ask slowly.
Lila bent her head, her expression close to steel, and I can understand her emotions. I felt the same after being let go from a job I loved because of some twisted truths I couldn’t prove.
“He told everyone I was a liar when I told my friend about helping Max last night.”
Why would she be talking about Max? “What exactly did you tell your friend?”
“That we didn’t get killed or kidnapped by picking up a stranger on the highway.”
I temper my smile, hoping to keep my amusement to a minimum since the tension in this room is already thick enough to slice like a cake.
So far, I’m not surprised about this. “And?”
“And he said I would never fit in because I don’t have a mom or a dad. So I punched him in the eye.”
I shouldn’t be condoning violence, especially when she’s not the one who started it, but it would’ve been hard to restrain myself as well in her situation.
“What’s your perspective, Mr. Martin?” I ask.
“You’re not even going to ask my kid for his side of the story?” the mother says, leaning toward me with a finger outstretched.
“I don’t need to. I’m not the mediator.” I turn back to the principal, waiting to hear what he makes of the entire thing.
“She punched me for no reason,” Joey says, looking like he’s going to pass out at any moment.
“Mrs. Andrews has said something about pressing charges against your niece.”
I fold my arms across my chest, curious about what he’s going to say next.
When he says nothing, I say, “They want to press charges. That’s interesting.
She shouldn’t have hit him, but Lila has also put up with a lot since she’s been at this school.
How about the number of times she comes home crying because of Joey’s taunting?
That seems like a key point to be leaving out. ”
“You have no proof,” the mother says.
“You need proof that your child is taunting kids who’ve recently lost their father? I would think you’d want to make sure he was more compassionate about people going through grief. But that’s just me.”
Breathe, Avery. Breathe. I don’t need to get all riled up about this.
The mother’s mouth drops open, as if she can’t believe I would say something like that.
“Do you know who I am?” she asks, standing.
“I don’t, actually. But that shouldn’t matter, because this is between your boy and my niece.”
“I’m going to have to suspend Lila,” Mr. Martin says.
“That’s understandable. What are you doing to shut down the taunting and bullying on his end?” I ask, tipping my head toward Joey.
Mr. Martin looks down, shifting his papers on his desk. I know what he’s going to say.
“We don’t have any proof of what’s happened, and nothing has been documented.”
I point my thumb toward the door. “I can head home and get my notebook. I’ve got every instance documented, and we can go through the security camera footage together. I’m sure we’ll be able to see exactly what happened before she punched him.”
“That’s not what those are for, Ms. Parker.”
I frown. “I’m not sure I follow. You have security cameras in the hallways, but you can’t use them to verify things like bullying? That’s the main reason for having them, isn’t it?”
“We’re not allowed to show them to anyone not in a leadership position in the district.”
“So, we’d need a court order to check those out?” I say, opening my phone. There’s a slight thrill here as my brain goes back to my roots as a lawyer.
Mr. Martin waves his hands. “No, no, we don’t need to take things that far. Lila will be suspended for two days, and so will Joey.”
The boy’s mother lets out a gasp. “Why? He didn’t attack her.”
“Words are just as powerful as a fist,” I say, turning toward her.
Mr. Martin stands up and comes around his desktop to stand between me and Mrs. Matthews. Luckily, she freezes before hitting him.
“Time would be best for both parties. Please take your wards out of the building now. They’ll be able to return Friday morning.”
I gesture to Lila, and we walk out of the office first. The secretary shrinks back, as if she’s been eavesdropping on the conversation.
We make it out of the building, and Lila walks like her feet are plastered with cement as she drags herself along the pavement.
“What’s wrong, Lila?”
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”
I breathe out a sigh. I didn’t think I’d be having these kinds of conversations at this point in my life, especially without the help of a partner. But I love her like a daughter, so I guess this is the natural progression of things.
“You shouldn’t have punched him, but he shouldn’t be given the right to keep bugging you about sensitive topics.”
She gives me a small laugh as we continue walking down the road. “You were kind of scary in there.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ve never seen you like that. You’re calm in a lot of situations, but that was a weird calm. Like you were a viper getting ready to strike her.”
Laughing, I say, “I wouldn’t have touched her physically, but you have rights as a student. I was merely trying to get some attention for them.”
“How come you stopped being a lawyer?” she asks. “You were obviously really good at it.”
I try to push back the flood of memories that hit me. “There were a lot of good things about it. But there were also a lot of not-fun things.”
“Mom says you had the perfect life and let it crumble to dust.”
After a quick glance at Lila, I can tell she’s asking out of curiosity rather than trying to be rude. If anything, I’m more annoyed at my sister for phrasing my life like that, and so casually. She knows what I went through, and yet it sounds like she thinks I was the major factor in the breakup.
Sure, there are two sides to every story, but what I went through wasn’t easy, and I still feel the pain of it even now, months later.
Letting out a long breath, I say, “Sometimes how things look on the outside aren’t always what they seem. I had a boyfriend who dumped me when I received a promotion over him, and then the company we worked for pinned some things on me. It was time to take a step back and move on with my life.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure running a coffee shop is moving on?”
Her tone makes me laugh out loud. “Leave it to you to call it how you see it. I like the coffee shop. I just wish I were better at getting the word out.”
I’ll do more research tonight. I’ve always been good at the research part and then the compiling. I’m just not the best at promoting myself without feeling like a narcissist. Another side effect from dating Curt. But I won’t complain about that, seeing as how we’ve made this all work here.
The future is bright, even if it’s cloudy right now.
“What are we going to do with you for two days?” I say, bumping her with my hip. She almost falls because she wasn’t expecting it.
“Let me rot on the couch and watch TV the whole time.”
“That would only add fuel to the fire. You’ll work with me in the shop. Maybe you can be my marketing ploy. We can make a sign you can wave at all the cars coming down the street. Or we can buy you a costume, and you can hand out flyers.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’d rather clean the bathrooms than do that.”
I tip my head to the side and look at her. “That can be arranged.”
Lila looks like she’s going to go off on a rant, but I pull her to me in an extended hug. She tenses, like she’s about to pull away, but a moment later she’s relaxed against me, wrapping her arms around my middle.
“You know you can always talk to me about anything, right? Anytime you need to talk, I’m here. And your mom too.”
She snorts and pulls back, wiping her hand under nose.
“What was that for?”
“My mom doesn’t have time for me anymore.”
“That’s not true. She’s going through a lot. The only reason she took this job is to pay off some debt, so you can have everything you need.”
She gives me a small smile, and I feel a little better about the situation. I’ve had several thoughts about my sister’s presence in her daughter’s life over the past few weeks, but I’m supposed to be the neutral party.
“Just know your dad was the best thing to happen to your mom. And he loved you like crazy. Your mom loves you too.”
She gives me a look that says she’s skeptical. “I guess.”
“Okay, so let’s put the bathroom cleaning on the board for tomorrow. You can do the ones down in the coffee shop as well. Maybe we take your phone away for two days—”
“Are you serious? I need my phone.”
Well, at least I know where her biggest weakness is. It’s hard to punish someone for something I probably would’ve done as well, but I can’t let it go completely.
“You will survive two days without it. You’ll be so much more grateful for it when you have it back. But for now, what do you want to do tonight? Takeout and a chick flick? Late night stroll along the beach?” I ask, trying to keep my tone light despite my worry.
She says nothing for a moment and then says, “Let’s stay in.”
And with that, I know there’s some hope. “Help me get things cleaned up downstairs first, and then we’ll get to work on that.”
I probably messed up the situation, but she smiled, so I guess I didn’t completely fail.