Laura could see that Misty was still skeptical. How could she not be? Up to now the system had failed her miserably. Even she, though she’d been more attuned to the problem than most, hadn’t put the pieces together for weeks.
“Misty, what can we do to reassure you?” she asked. “What would you like to see happen?”
“I want us to forget all about it,” she said miserably. “Please.”
Les Dawson clearly saw his child’s unhappiness, but he was already shaking his head. “Not a chance,” he muttered. “Helen, I want every action in the book taken in this, here at school, in the courts, whatever it takes. Nobody is tormenting my child and getting away with it.”
“Not even if it’s what I want?” Misty pleaded.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said, his tone gentle. “Not even then.”
J.C. stood up. “Maybe Misty and I could take a walk, while you all sort this out.” He glanced at her. “Would that be okay?”
Looking relieved to have an excuse to escape, she nodded at once. He glanced at her parents and both nodded, Diana’s expression full of relief.
“We’ll be back in a bit,” J.C. said, opening the door and showing Misty out.
Laura looked around and saw exhaustion on every face in the room. She figured her appearance was no less haggard.
“Whatever we decide,” she said, keeping her gaze on Betty, “we have to be sure that child is protected from more bullying. I think she’s had just about as much as she can handle.”
“Agreed,” Betty said at once.
“Should we take her out of school?” Diana asked hesitantly. “I know it sounds extreme, but maybe she’d be happier someplace else.”
Les shook his head. “Or maybe she’ll think she’s being punished, even though she’s not the one who’s done anything wrong.”
“But if she’d feel safe again,” Diana argued.
Hamilton Reynolds reached over and gave her arm a consoling pat. “I know your first instinct is to protect her, but I think Les could be right. Sending her to another school might send the wrong message to everyone. That said, though, maybe it should be Misty’s decision. And maybe we shouldn’t ask her until we’ve dealt with Annabelle and see how that’s played out.”
“I’m inclined to agree,” Helen said. “And I honestly don’t think we’ll have to wait long. I think we can handle this by the end of the day today, tomorrow at the latest. Betty, I’ll call you the minute I know for sure that we have indisputable proof that these posts were made by Annabelle.”
“I want to be here when you confront that girl and her parents,” Les insisted.
“Not a good idea,” Hamilton Reynolds said.
“I’ll be here,” Helen told Les. “Your interests and Misty’s will be protected. You’ll have your chance to face the Litchfields when we take legal action.”
Diana nodded. “Helen’s right. There’s nothing to be gained by causing a scene just because we’d like to tear the child’s hair out.”
Les turned to her with a surprised look. “You, too?”
Diana nodded, a faint smile on her lips. “You have no idea.”
Laura saw him reach for Diana’s hand and give it a squeeze. Maybe there was no reconciliation in store for those two, but at least they’d found one important thing about which they could agree. From what she knew of disintegrating marriages, it was at least a start toward healing.
14
“Want to take a walk into town to get something to drink at Wharton’s?” J.C. asked Misty once they’d left the tense meeting behind.
She gave him a surprised look. “Wouldn’t that be, like, skipping school?”
He laughed. “Probably, but you’re with me and your principal and parents know it, so I think we can get away with it just this once.” He gave her a stern look. “But just this once.”
“Got it,” she said, then cast a sideways glance in his direction. “I never really left school when I skipped before, you know.”
“Really? What did you do?”
“Hung out in a stairwell after the bell rang and did my homework. It was only two classes,” she said with a shrug. “At least until those pictures got posted. Then I hid out in my room at home.”
“With your mother’s permission?”
She shook her head. “I was pretty careful, and she wasn’t really noticing a lot of stuff at home then, anyway. She’s better now. It’s the one good thing about all this. It kinda, like, woke her up or something.”
“You know what they say, most clouds have a silver lining,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “That is so lame.”
“Probably, but it’s actually pretty true. Sometimes, though, you have to look really hard to find them.”
When they reached Wharton’s, Grace managed to hide whatever surprise she might have felt at their arrival. She was also wise enough not to ask a lot of questions about Misty not being at school. J.C. had no idea if it was a rare display of discretion or if she’d heard what was going on and knew it was best not discussed in front of Misty.
“What can I get for the two of you in the middle of the morning?” she asked cheerfully. “I can still rustle up some eggs or pancakes, if you want them. Or would you rather go hog wild and have ice cream? A burger? A milk shake?”
Misty’s eyes lit up, and she looked hopefully at J.C. “A chocolate milk shake would be really good.”
“Yes, it would,” he agreed readily, giving Grace a wink to indicate he was well aware that he was about to finally break his vow to steer clear of the highly caloric shakes. “Make that two, Grace.”
After the woman had gone, Misty gave him a curious look. “How come you’re being so nice to me? I kinda put you on the spot when I came to your office, but you don’t seem mad about it.”
“Because I’m not. I was glad you felt you could come to me, even if I wasn’t able to help you the way you wanted me to.”
“It’s because of me that you and Ms. Reed are dating, isn’t it?” she said, suddenly looking very pleased with herself. “That’s one
