In the Eye of the Storm (8 page)

“Yes, well, isn’t that his choice? He told me that you forced him to be part of a group project on Friday and that’s why he acted out and kicked another child.” Mrs. Pendleton’s expression had gotten significantly less friendly than miscarriage just 5"> when she had first arrived. “I don’t have David in school here simply to make friends. He is here to learn.”

Kate was quiet a moment, choosing her words carefully. “Part of the learning experience is working with other children. It prepares them for later in life when they have jobs and children of their own.”

“I think my husband and I can handle that sort of thing at home. You’re supposed to be teaching him reading, writing and arithmetic.”

Was this woman for real?
Kate reigned in her temper and forced a smile. “I understand your concerns. Much of our curriculum requires group activity. I simply can’t give David an evaluation on those activities if he won’t take part or if he strikes out at other children. The time before this, he bit someone. You must understand the health issues involved with biting. It simply isn’t acceptable.”

“So you’re saying that if he doesn’t do group things with the other children you’re going to fail him?” Mrs. Pendleton now looked downright angry.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. The state requires certain areas of curriculum to be followed. Many of our science projects, art and music projects—and even a lot of our flash cards and math games—require more than one student. There simply isn’t enough time or supplies to have each child do everything individually.”

“So it’s about the money.” Mrs. Pendleton’s lips thinned in irritation. “Then I’ll just write you a check.”

For goodness sake, just when Kate thought her day had gotten off to a good start, this is what she had to deal with. Sighing, she tried again.

“Mrs. Pendleton, it is not about money. David is showing signs of social distress. He doesn’t like to play with the other kids. When he does play with them, he is exhibiting mean behavior. It is my job, as his educator, to let you know there is a problem. Personally, I have no issues with your son. As long as he’s by himself in the classroom, he’s fine. But on a social level, he is not. If my child were displaying this type of behavioral problem, I would want to know.”

“Well, David
isn’t
your child so you don’t have to worry about it. Perhaps he would be better suited in someone else’s classroom.” Mrs. Pendleton stood up.

“I don’t think so. I enjoy having him in class and he and I get along fine,” Kate said, also standing. “I would be glad to go to the principal’s office with you and allow Principal Wilson to shine some light on things. Maybe he would have some ideas how we can solve this issue.”

“I think I’ll just go talk to him myself.” Mrs. Pendleton’s heels clicked against the floor on her way out. Kate sat down and took a gulp of coffee.
Great.
Now she would have to spend an extra hour in Principal Wilson’s office today.

The bell rang and children scurried into the classroom. Kate pushed her thoughts of Mrs. Pendleton aside and got to work teaching her class.

By the time the bell rang at three o’clock, she was more than ready to go home. The day had progressed downhill from Mrs. Pendleton’s visit. Kate had been forced to spend her lunch hour explaining her side of the story to Principal Wilson.

Donald Wilson was a middle-aged man with an ice age view on education. Not only that, he was absolutely on either side of her head. ">di scared to death of Mrs. Pendleton. He’d told Kate to work it out with David—ease him into activity at the child’s comfort level. He’d basically told her he knew she could handle it and kicked her out into the hall.

David had behaved well enough for the day. But there was tomorrow and the next day and so on to worry about. She didn’t know what to do about him.

Pulling into her driveway, she shut the car off and frowned. There was a red Volkswagen parked in front of her house that looked suspiciously like Wick Meyers’ VW. But it couldn’t be, could it? She’d all but told him to never come around her again. As the door to the red car opened, her worst fears were confirmed. There were those damned pink, fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror…and there was Wick. She sighed, knowing her day was about to get a whole lot worse.

Unfolding from the interior of her SUV, she turned to greet him. Hells bells, he had flowers in his hands. The man was apparently clueless.

“I came to apologize,” he said, stunning her. He hadn’t seemed like the apologetic type the other night. She supposed she should hear him out before she kicked him to the curb again.

“It’s no big deal.” She watched him fidget. The guy actually wouldn’t have been so terrible looking if he didn’t slick his dark hair back with so much gel. It made his skin look pastier than it should. Not only that, the glasses he wore were too thick for his face. They made his eyes seem too large. These were all things he could have fixed for himself if he had a clue—which he didn’t, she reminded herself.

“I got the impression from Richard, that you were quite upset about the other night. I didn’t intend to frighten you.”

“You didn’t frighten me, Wick. You came on a little strong, that’s all. It’s in the past though so don’t worry about it.”

“Well, I brought you these.” He offered her the flowers, a nice bouquet of daisies. Awkwardly, she took them. For some reason, she had a bad feeling she shouldn’t accept them. She didn’t want this guy to have the wrong idea.

“I like you, Kate,” he said, stepping toward her.

She backed up. He was creepy in a very unsettling sort of way.

“I was hoping we could start over. Maybe go to a movie or something?”

“I don’t think so, Wick. I appreciate the offer and the flowers but I’m just not interested.” Better to be direct and to the point.

He frowned. “I’m not gay, Kate. You shouldn’t have told Richard that. It was slanderous.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being gay,” she said, getting a bad vibe now. He looked angry and agitated. Stepping toward her house, she tried to stare him down. “I think you should leave, Wick.”

“I think I will. But not before I let you know that you are dead wrong about me. You shouldn’t be so rash to judge people, Kate.”

“Go home, Wick. You shouldn’t have come here.”

“I wanted to apologize. But I can see you don’t care that you were wrong about me. That’s too bad.”

Something about the look in his eyes made her skin begin to crawl. She turned away from him and hurried to her front door. Once she was safely inside, she locked i his forehead against hers. She he wast and peered through the front window. Wick was standing by his car now, watching her house.
Great.
He was not only a groper but he was crazy too.

She reached for her phone and dialed Richard’s number. “Your friend is a lunatic,” she told him, once he had answered.

“Who might you be referring to?” he asked, sounding amused.

“Wick, who do you think?”

Wick was still standing by his car, apparently in no hurry to go home.

“Wick? What are you talking about?”

“He’s out in front of my house, Richard. He was here with flowers when I got home. He wants me to go out with him again.”

Richard was quiet a moment. “Well, what did you tell him?”

“I told him no, of course. And then he got angry because I told you I thought he was gay.” A little rattled, she backed away from the window. “He’s still standing on the street staring at my house.”

“That doesn’t sound like Wick. Maybe he’s making a phone call or something.”

“Richard, call him and tell him to beat it or I’m calling the police.”

“Kate, calm down. Wick is harmless.”

“I don’t care how harmless you think he is. He’s standing in the street staring at my house
after
I’ve asked him to leave. He’s creepy.”

“Okay, okay,” Richard relented. “Don’t call the police. I’ll call him.”

Kate disconnected the call and watched as Wick looked down at his cell phone. He answered it, and a moment later climbed into his car and drove away. Relieved, Kate turned away from the window. She walked over to the table she had set the daisies on and picked them up, carrying them over and dropping them into the trash with a resounding thud.

Beau looked over the endorsement deal his agent had overnighted him from New York. It was a deal with a popular athletic shoe company. He’d worked with them for years, so he knew the deal was pretty cut and dry. He read through it casually and then signed it. It was crazy the amount of money they were willing to pay him just to use his face.

Shoving the papers back into the envelope, he made a mental note to overnight them back to his agent tomorrow.

The house was quiet. Trey and Kylie had gone out to dinner and he’d opted to stay behind. He wanted to give them a little time to themselves. He was a little worried that he would begin to cramp their style if he didn’t start finding things to do with himself. The problem was, there wasn’t much to do in a place like Riverdale. He supposed he could go to a movie. But the likelihood of someone recognizing him was high. He’d already checked out the On Demand movies. He’d seen most of them and the ones he hadn’t seen, he didn’t particularly
want
to see.

Tossing the remote down, he decided he would turn in early. A little extra sleep never hurt anyone. Before he could head for the bedroom, the phone rang. He answered it with a curt hello.

“What the heck is your problem?” Dusty’s angry voice came through the phone line and Beau winced.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Beau said, sitting down on the couch. to make him feel better. with di

“I’m talking about the fact that you haven’t been in touch with any of us for weeks. I’ve called your cell phone, your home phone. You want to know who answered at your home? The police!” Dusty said, raising his voice. “What the heck were the police doing at your place?”

Beau shut his eyes and contemplated his answer. How in the hell was he going to get out of this one?”

“Beau?”

“I’m here. Just calm down, I’m fine. I came up here to visit with Trey and Kylie for a while. I’m trying to keep low key so don’t go spreading the news, all right?”

Dusty appeared to calm down a little. “What’s going on at your place?”

“It was a break-in, that’s all. Burglar alarm went off and the cops came. I have a friend who’s taking care of it for me while I’m gone.”

“You could have let us know, man. What were we supposed to think?”

“I’m sorry.” And he was. He hadn’t meant to upset his family. “I suppose you called Mama already?”

“Not yet. I wanted to see if I could hunt you down first.” Dusty paused. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”

“Everything’s fine. Ask Trey.”

“I talked to him earlier. He said the same thing.”

“Then quit worrying,” Beau said, glad that Dusty didn’t know the whole story. The last thing he needed at this point was his oldest brother breathing down his neck. Dusty was like a mother hen when it came to his siblings. He’d been that way their whole lives.

“We decided we’re going to come up there for Thanksgiving. We talked to Trey about it and he and Kylie are excited.”

“All of you? Coming here?”

“Yep. It’s been a while since we’ve all sat down at the same Thanksgiving table. So don’t go trying to take off before we get there. We’ll be coming in about a week or so.”

Beau hadn’t even remembered it was almost Thanksgiving. Dusty was right; it had been a while since they had all sat down at the same table for a holiday. “I’m not going anywhere before then.”

“That’s good. You’re getting a little reclusive, dude. What gives?”

“I’ve just been busy. You know how it goes.”

“Whatever you say,” Dusty said. A moment later, they hung up. He knew his brother was worried about him. Dusty had stepped into their father’s shoes when he had died several years ago. It was in his nature to look after his own. Beau couldn’t deny that his behavior had contributed to his brother’s curiosity. They were a close-knit family and Beau had been pulling back. This had raised red flags.

Setting the phone back on its cradle, he sighed. Now they would all be descending upon Trey and Kylie’s house in a week. He wondered if Kylie was up for all this. He supposed she would have said something to Trey if she wasn’t. Really, Beau would be able to do a lot of the cooking. If Mamaw was there, they could cover things without too much work on Kylie’s part.

The idea of seeing his family began to excite him a little. He would get to meet his new nephew. Kylie Celeb Weeklyonhe was had shown him pictures of the baby the other day. She was right; Lucas was the spitting image of Dusty.

Sighing, Beau checked the clock. He’d been on his way to bed but now he felt restless. He supposed he could go for a run. He’d been lazy about his work-outs since the season’s end. After changing his clothes, he took off for a five-mile run.

Not even fifty minutes later, he was back at the house and bored again. He didn’t really feel like sitting around or going to bed. It was only eight o’clock. Maybe he’d head to the store and pick up some stuff to make a decent breakfast for Kylie and Trey in the morning. It was the least he could do. If he threw a non-descript baseball cap on, chances were no one would bother him.

Kate pushed the cart through the grocery store, absently checking her list. She’d opened her fridge in the hopes of having a quick dinner. No such luck. She generally went grocery shopping once a month. Apparently it had been a little longer than that, judging from the green mold on her small loaf of cheese and the curds swimming in the milk carton. Shopping hadn’t been at the top of her list of priorities lately.

Reaching for two boxes of her favorite sugary cereal, she tossed them into her cart. Next came the toaster pastries—chocolate and strawberry. You never knew what kind of a mood you were going to be in.

For some reason the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She felt like she was being watched. Turning around, she checked the aisle behind her. It was empty. She narrowed her eyes. She’d had a bad feeling on her way into the store as well—almost like someone had been following her. Immediately, she thought of Wick and his angry eyes and shivered. He wouldn’t be following her. She was just paranoid.