“It’s shocked me, too,” Laura admitted. “And I guess I just never expected it from a girl who’s from a good family with all sorts of advantages. Maybe that’s the problem, though. Annabelle’s gotten away with a lot, and she’s come to feel she’s entitled to behave however she wants.”
“We still don’t have all the facts, though,” Cal reminded her. “This could be more complicated than we know.”
“Oh, I’m sure it is, but with Betty on the case, there’s little doubt we’ll get to the bottom of it. I have to say I’ve never seen her quite so furious or determined.”
“How was Katie when she left Betty’s office? Should I check on her?”
“I think she was mostly relieved that she wasn’t in trouble and proud of herself for defending Misty. Still, it wouldn’t hurt for you or Maddie to have another talk with her after school. Maybe she’ll open up this time, now that she knows it—whatever it is—is all going to come out sooner or later.”
Cal nodded. “We’ll do that. Thanks for filling me in, Laura. And if you need any backup on this, let me know. It makes me sick to think that Misty and Katie have been trying to cope with this on their own, that they haven’t trusted any of us enough to ask for help. I know Katie has a good relationship with her mother, and I thought she and I had a good one. It kills me that she was dealing with this and we didn’t know.”
“Well, they’re not on their own anymore,” Laura assured him. In fact, the team of people on their side was getting stronger by the minute.
* * *
Paula Vreeland knelt in her garden deadheading flowers and snipping dead stalks from the perennials in preparation for winter. Though she had soothing classical music on a nearby radio, the air was frequently laced with muttered curses about the various aches and pains that made doing one of her favorite tasks so uncomfortable.
“Grandma, I didn’t know you even knew words like that,” Katie said as she slipped into the yard through a back gate, an impish grin on her face.
Paula winced. “Just because I say them doesn’t mean you should,” she told her granddaughter sternly. “Now come over here and help me up, then go inside and pour us both huge glasses of lemonade. It’s much hotter out here than I realized.”
Katie helped her to her feet, then gave her a hopeful look. “Are there cookies, too?”
Paula gave her an amused look. “When was the last time I baked anything?”
“Not for a long time, but I know Liz Johnson stops by here on Thursday mornings and she always brings cookies.”
Paula laughed. “So, that’s why I get these surprise visits on Thursday afternoons. I thought it was because you love me.”
Katie embraced her in an exuberant hug. “I do love you,” she said. “More than anything.”
“Good answer, kiddo. Now get the lemonade and cookies—they’re in the jar on the counter like always—while I try to work out some of these kinks from being down on the ground so long.”
When Katie came back outside with their snack, she curled up on the chaise lounge in the sun. “How come you’re not painting this afternoon? Did you finish the picture you were working on last week? Can I see it?”
Paula shook her head. “I painted over the canvas. I wasn’t happy with the way it was going.”
The truth was, none of her paintings pleased her these days. After creating amazingly detailed botanical artwork for so many years, after showings all over the world and landing her art in several very prestigious collections, she seemed to have lost something. It was true her vision wasn’t what it had once been and her hand was less steady, but she thought it was more than that. Whatever it was, it made painting now more torture than passion.
Katie regarded her with shock. “Grandma, it was beautiful. You could have given it to me, if you didn’t like it.”
She smiled at her granddaughter. “Next time I paint something, if you like it, it’s yours.” She studied the usually bouncy teen across from her and thought she detected an unusual hint of worry in her eyes. “Now, tell me what’s going on with you these days. How’s school?”
Katie shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”
Paula frowned. “Something wrong?”
“Not with me. My classes are all good and my grades are okay.”
“Then what’s the problem?” One of her greatest joys over the past few years was having her grandchildren drop in just like this to share their lives with her. She’d been too consumed with her painting to listen half as attentively to Maddie, and their relationship still suffered because of it. Since Maddie and Cal had married, he’d worked to bridge that chasm, and there had been strides for which she’d be eternally grateful to him.
One thing she’d also learned was patience. When Katie didn’t immediately respond, she waited, allowing the silence to linger.
“One of my friends has a problem,” Katie admitted eventually. “I’ve been trying to help her, but I don’t really know what to say. And today things went really crazy. I got hauled into the principal’s office for trying to defend my friend.”
Paula studied her face to try to assess if that was code for saying that Katie herself was the one with the problem. “Tell me,” she said neutrally. “I thought you’d been on your best behavior lately since that suspension earlier this fall. You can’t afford another suspension.”
“I know, but it really wasn’t my fault. I had to say something,” Katie said earnestly. “It was the right thing to do.”
One of the things Paula admired about the way Maddie had raised her children was that each of them had a well-developed sense of right and wrong.
Oh, her grandson Ty had certainly made his share of mistakes, mistakes that had almost cost him the girl he’d loved for most of his life, but he’d recognized in time that he was on the wrong path. Kyle, thank goodness, seemed steady as a rock, choosing his friends with care. Now here was Katie, as sweet as any mother or grandmother could hope for, in trouble for the second time in a few months. It didn’t make a bit of sense.
“Maybe you should let me decide if
