Take Me Home for Christmas

down the computer.

He’d gone back to his own desk by then, but turned when he heard the squeak of her chair. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I haven’t finished cleaning up from lunch. I thought I’d go do that and wrap up a few other things. But don’t worry. I’ll take this home with me so you’ll be able to send out your newsletter tomorrow.”

“There’s no need to work at home if you have time here. The cleaning’s not going anywhere.”

She felt she should at least put her sandwich in the fridge until she could eat it, but figured it would be okay for a while. With a nod, she opened the computer again and went back to work.

More than an hour passed with Ted sitting about eight feet away from her. She’d glance up every once in a while, thinking about how handsome he was and how different her life would’ve been if he’d been Alexa’s father—and then she’d catch herself. There was no guarantee they would’ve had a child or even gotten married. And she couldn’t change the decisions she’d made. She had to live with the results, especially now that he was seeing Eve. Eve seemed to be everything a man could want. Why would he walk away from her?

At two, Sophia began to watch the clock. Alexa would get out of school in an hour. Then, hopefully, she could breathe easier where her daughter was concerned. But it was only five minutes later that her phone rang.

Caller ID indicated it was the school.

She didn’t want to disturb Ted while he was writing. He’d already looked back at the noise. So she answered softly as she let herself out of the room.

“Hello?” Anxiety roiled in her stomach but she tried to sound like her usual self.

“Mrs. DeBussi?”

“Yes?”

“This is Mrs. Vaughn, the principal at Whiskey Creek Middle School. I’m afraid we need you to pick up your daughter as soon as possible.”

The nails of her free hand curved into her palm. “Why? She’s okay, isn’t she?”

“Physically she’s fine. But she’s been suspended from school.”

“What?” When Alexa was part of her former group of friends, she’d had the tendency to socialize too much and not pay enough attention in class. On Back to School night in September, several teachers had commented on how much she talked. But Alexa had never done anything that had gotten her sent to the principal’s office.

“She attacked another girl in her fifth-period class,” Mrs. Vaughn explained. “You should see how badly she scratched her face.”

Sophia wanted to ask if Mrs. Vaughn had seen the damage to her own daughter’s face from yesterday but was still trying to get over the word attacked. She couldn’t imagine Alexa being the aggressor. “Who was it?”

“A student who’s only been in the area a couple of years. Her name is Connie Ruesch.”

Maybe Connie hadn’t been in the area long, but from what Sophia had heard, she’d been causing trouble since the day she moved in. “That’s the girl who jumped Alexa yesterday after school,” she said. “Lex was walking to the corner where I pick her up when it happened. So...are you sure she’s the one who started the fight?”

“According to witnesses, this was an unprovoked attack.”

“Connie hit her several times yesterday. That hardly makes it unprovoked!”

“Whatever happened yesterday happened off school grounds. There’s nothing I can do about it, even if events unfolded exactly as your daughter claims.”

The skepticism in Mrs. Vaughn’s voice really bothered Sophia. “Claims? You doubt her word? You think she’s lying?”

“I think she’d rather Connie be the one to get into trouble.”

“She’s not like that, not...conniving.”

“Trust me, I’ve seen it all.”

“But you know me, know her.”

“She’s well-loved. I applaud you for that, but no child is perfect. And I do not allow parents to rescue children from the consequences of their actions. That’s not how discipline works here at Whiskey Creek Middle School.”

Sophia pressed her fingertips to her forehead. “You mentioned witnesses.”

“Most of the class saw what happened.”

“Including the teacher?”

“The teacher had stepped out for a moment. But she saw what was going on when she returned and pulled Alexa off Connie. We have the accounts of several students to verify what occurred before that. Ella, a child I trust, was one of them.”

But Ella was part of the popular crowd, and she’d been among the girls snickering at Alexa that Sunday at Just Like Mom’s. “Was Babette in that room, too?”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t even have mentioned Ella’s name. We can’t give out that kind of information on someone else’s child.”

“What kind of information?”

“Private information.”

Sophia couldn’t help laughing. Mrs. Vaughn would’ve given her the entire class roster if she’d asked for it a month ago. The school had had no trouble coming to her when they were short of computers in the learning center. Or for the annual crab feed, when they’d needed an organizer and some large-ticket items for the live auction. Last year, she and Skip had donated a trip on their yacht.

The principal’s voice grew even starchier when Sophia didn’t seem to be taking her seriously. “Those are the rules, Mrs. DeBussi.”

“When they’re convenient,” Sophia muttered.

“I didn’t call you to argue. I’m merely trying to inform you that your daughter started a fight, and now she has to be punished just like anybody else.”

Sophia was so close to letting the anger inside her erupt, but she ordered herself to override that impulse. She had to consider how her actions would affect Alexa.

Keeping a tight rein on her temper, she tried a different approach. “Mrs. Vaughn, I don’t have to tell you that Alexa recently lost her father. Whatever you hold against him, or me, please don’t let that influence how you treat her.”

“I’m offended that you’d even suggest I could be capable of taking out what I feel for a child’s parents on the child,” she responded.

But that was precisely what she was doing. Couldn’t she see it? Before Skip cheated everyone, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Mrs. Vaughn would’ve believed Alexa immediately. “I’m not suggesting anything,” she said. “I’m just asking you to be aware of the potential for prejudice and to guard against it. I mean...isn’t there something else you could do to punish Alexa? Give her a detention after school or—or have her come in during lunch? I know she’s not responsible for that fight. I know it. It doesn’t seem fair that she’ll be punished so harshly. For one thing, she’ll fall behind in her classes if she misses the rest of the week. She’s already struggling...in more ways than one.”

“Maybe that’s why she acted out. Makes sense, doesn’t it? I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

When Mrs. Vaughn hung up, Sophia wanted to throw her phone. Instead, she pounded it against her forehead. “Damn it,” she whispered as she lost her battle with the tears that had welled up. “Can’t anything go right? Can I really be so terrible as to deserve all this?”

“What’s going on?”

Dropping her hand, she whirled to see Ted standing behind her. She hadn’t heard him come out. How long had he been listening?

She dashed a hand across her cheeks. “Nothing. Alexa needs to be picked up from a school a little early, that’s all.” Hoping to escape the scrutiny of those dark eyes, she moved away from him. “I hope you don’t mind if I go now instead of in forty minutes.”