29. Chapter 29
Chapter twenty-nine
“Even the mighty fall.”
After a lovely weekend with Wes, Cassandra was reluctant to return to work. His absence made it worse. The first thing she noticed when she pulled into the parking lot was a strange car in Wes’ spot. When she entered the main office, she went straight to Polly.
“There’s someone parked in Wes’ spot.”
Polly glanced at the closed door of Wes’ office. “He’s in there.” She leaned closer. “All smiles. Not apologetic at all for taking over Mr. Buchanan’s office.”
“Who is it?”
Polly shook her head. “He’s from White City. Ryan Thomas.”
“Oh, Ryan, the vice principal. I know who he is. I worked with some of the kids from the high school.”
“What’s he like?”
“Um…ambitious.”
“Oh no.”
Cassandra patted Polly’s hand. “He’s not getting Wes’ job.”
Lester came into the room and scowled at Wes’s closed office door, then looked at Cassandra. “Can we talk for a minute?”
“Of course.” She smiled at Polly. “Everything is going to be okay, Polly.”
She and Lester went to her office, and Lester closed the door behind him. “The rumors are flying out there.”
“I know. I’ve heard a few of them.”
“This obviously isn’t about his knee.”
“No, it’s not.”
Lester sat in the chair in front of the desk. “We can’t let him take the fall for this. We were senior staff, too. It falls on all of us.”
“I’m more than willing to stand right next to him. But he’s not going to let us do that.”
“I think we need to…I don’t know. Protest or something. Rally the teachers.”
Cassandra smiled. “My daughter said the exact same thing on Friday. She wants to get the students to show their support.”
“Well, hell. They can’t ignore the whole school, can they?”
“No, especially if the parents are standing with us, too.”
Lester pointed at her. “Yes. That might work.”
“I’ll talk to Theresa. She knew who would come to the fundraiser. She’ll know how to spread the word.”
They both looked at the door when someone knocked. Cassandra whispered. “Do you think that’s him?”
Lester stood and opened the door. Ryan Thomas strode into the room. “Dr. Jordan, nice to see you again.”
“Mr. Thomas.” He smiled and turned to Lester. “Coach Porter?”
“Yeah.” Lester reluctantly shook Ryan’s hand.
“Can I have a few minutes with Dr. Jordan?”
“Sure.” Lester glanced at Cassandra, then left the room.
Ryan closed the office door. “It’s been a while, Cassandra.”
“Don’t get too comfortable in Wes’ office, Ryan.”
“Even the mighty fall.”
“Not this time.”
Ryan laughed. “I’m just filling in. You sure seemed to have gotten attached to your new boss rather quickly.”
“What did you want to talk to me about?”
“I wanted to make sure that, in spite of our last encounter, we can maintain a congenial professional relationship.”
“Of course.”
“Excellent.” He cocked his head. “You’re looking…good, Cassandra.”
“If that is all you wanted, I have work to do.”
Ryan stood. “Of course. If I have any questions, can I come to you with them?”
She went to the door and opened it. “Polly can answer any of your questions. She’s been working with Wes for seven years.”
He left the office, and Cassandra swung the door shut behind him. It banged a little too hard, but she didn’t care. She returned to her desk. “Arrogant bastard.” She picked up the phone and called Polly.
“Yes, Dr. Jordan?”
“Will you get a message to Mrs. Alpert and ask her to come see me when she’s done for the day?”
“I’ll do it right away.”
“And I apologize ahead of time for Mr. Thomas. I told him to ask you if he had any questions.”
“That’s fine. He seems a bit…prickly.”
“Just don’t let him get too comfortable.”
Wes held up the teak plank, looked down at its smooth surface, then set it back down and continued sanding.
It was his second full day off work, and he was trying to stay busy.
The weekend with Cassandra had been great, and he’d been sorry to see her go home last night.
But she’d promised to stop by on her way home from school.
The sound of a vehicle pulling up brought him outside. Abe stepped out of his truck with a white plastic bag. “I thought you might be hungry.”
“Pizza?”
“Burgers from Molly’s.
“Even better.” He smiled. “Currently. In this situation. Not—”
“Don’t hurt yourself, brother. I get it.” He walked into the garage and set the bag on the workbench. “The boat is looking good.”
Wes went to the old refrigerator that had once been in the house, took out two beers, and handed one to Abe. “Are you off today?”
“Yeah. Maggie went to White City to shop and took Kai with her, so I’m a free man for a few hours.”
“I appreciate you coming to see me.”
“I figured you could use some company. When was the last time you had a few days off?”
“Not since I was teaching and had summers off.”
“How long are they going to drag this thing out?”
“I don’t know.”
Abe took a bite of his burger. “Why aren’t you more pissed?”
“I’m plenty pissed.”
“I know just what you need.”
“Am I going to live through it?”
“Most likely. It might piss your girlfriend off, though. I know it’ll piss off mine.”
“Hmm. What did you have in mind?”
Wes and Abe finished lunch, then left the house in Abe’s truck. After stopping by his house to pick up two motorcycles, they headed to the dirt racetrack on the outskirts of town. Forty-five minutes later, they were straddling the race bikes, with two trails splitting ahead of them.
Abe adjusted his helmet. “Let’s take the outside course. It’s a two-mile loop. If it gets to be too much for your knee, let me know, and we’ll head back.”
“Just try to keep up, little brother.” Wes took off down the dusty trail, which was wide enough for two bikes side by side for most of its length but narrowed at a few spots to barely enough room for a single bike. Abe took off after him.
Staying in front of Abe kept the dust manageable.
But when Abe darted around him before a narrow turn over a rise, Wes was hit by a cloud of silty soil flying off Abe’s back tire.
Aside from the dust, the trail was rough, with numerous washboard bumps, holes that snuck up on you and were sometimes unavoidable, and two spots where you either jumped the pit on the far side of a rise or soared over it to the next rise.
Wes flew over one and rode down the other.
He and Abe jockeyed for the front position the whole way.
When they reached their starting point, Abe was ahead, and he slowed down, then stopped. Wes pulled up next to him.
“You’ve still got it.”
Wes laughed. “Man, that was fun.”
“Should we go again?”
“My knee is screaming, but yeah. One more time.”
“Should we slow it down?”
“Nah.” They took off again to make a second run.
Before he finished the second loop, his leg was throbbing from the knee up and numb from the knee to his toes. But the wind, dust, and sun on his back were wonderful, and when he pulled up and stopped next to Abe, he was grinning.
“I’d say go again, but I think my leg will literally fall off.”
Abe got off his bike, then went to Wes. “I’ve got the bike. Can you get off?”
Wes took a moment, then stepped off the bike and sat on the ground with a groan. “I need a minute.”
Abe looked down at him. “Damn, Cassandra is going to kill me.”
“It’s not like you dragged me out here.”
“Stay there. I’ll put the bikes in the truck.”
Wes took off his helmet and gloves as he watched Abe load the bikes. It was a job for two men. Fortunately, Abe was as strong as two men. He expertly loaded the bikes, then walked back to Wes.
“Give me a hand up.” Abe held out his hand, and when Wes took it, Abe pulled him to his feet. Wes sucked in a breath as he tried to put weight on his bad leg. “Might need some help getting to the truck.”
“I’ve got you.” Abe put his arm around Wes’ waist, and they slowly headed for the truck. Wes got into the passenger seat, and Abe went around to the driver’s side. Once inside, he turned to Wes. “Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.”
“It was a great idea.”
Abe took Wes home and helped him inside, then set him up on the couch with an ice pack and some Tylenol. “Is Cassandra coming over tonight?”
“She should be here soon, actually.”
“Then I’m out of here.”
“Thanks for today.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Stay off it the rest of the night. And no hanky-panky with the girlfriend.”
“I’ll try to behave myself.”
Abe left the house, and thirty minutes later, Cassandra arrived. She came through the door, then stopped when she saw the ice pack on Wes’ knee.
“What happened?”
“Um…I had a bit of an adventure today.”
She sat on the ottoman and rested a hand on his foot. “What kind of adventure?” She looked closely at him. “You’re covered in dust.”
“I tried to brush most of it off.”
“How did you get covered in dust?”
“I spent a couple of hours with Abe. But it’s not his fault.” He grinned. “I had a lot of fun.”
“Doing what?”
“Riding a motorcycle at the racetrack.”
“Weston!”
“Say whatever you want. I really needed it.”
She moved onto the couch next to him. “I’m glad you had a good time.”
“Really?”
“Of course. How bad is your knee?”
“Hmm, well, it might be worse than when I first fell.”
She cupped his face in her hands, then kissed him. “Can you stand long enough to take a shower?”
“I can if you come in with me.”
She stood and held out her hands. “I can’t refuse that request a second time.”