“No. I have my bike. I’ll head on home. I want to call Misty and see what happened. I’ll get my painting later, if that’s okay.”
“It’s fine. Maybe I’ll fiddle with it a little more till it’s better.”
Katie grinned at her. “Remember what you used to tell me when I was a little kid and wanted to be prettier? You said it was impossible to improve on perfection.”
Paula laughed. “You were exactly the way God intended. This picture…” She shook her head. “Not so much.”
“Well, I think it’s perfect,” Katie said staunchly. “Gotta run, Grandma.”
“Okay, then. Be careful riding home.”
“Always,” Katie said, darting out the back gate.
“And wear your helmet,” Paula shouted after her.
“Got it,” Katie said, her voice fading as she evidently rode off down the street.
Paula smiled as she went inside. Oh, to have even half that much energy again.
15
Laura wanted nothing more than to head directly home, crawl beneath the covers and sleep for a week to make up for too many restless nights since this situation had come to a head and too much tension today. Instead, she had her promised get-together with Paula Vreeland ahead of her.
News had apparently already leaked out about what had happened at school today, because Maddie Maddox caught her when she arrived at The Corner Spa and pulled her aside.
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” she told Laura. “Is Misty going to be okay?”
“I suppose that depends on what happens next,” Laura replied.
“Annabelle’s been suspended, though?”
“For two weeks,” she confirmed.
Maddie shook her head. “What was that girl thinking?”
“She wasn’t thinking, obviously,” Laura said. “She was acting out of spite and anger with absolutely no thought to the consequences, either to Misty or to herself.”
“How’d Mariah take it?” Maddie asked. “Will she turn on you and Betty?”
“She threatened me early on,” Laura admitted with a shrug. “But after all the facts were out there, I think she forgot all about me. Her whole focus is on saving her daughter.”
“At least I’ve figured out why you and my mother were huddled on the patio here the other day. How on earth did she get involved?”
Laura squirmed at the question. Maddie recognized her discomfort at once. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have asked. Are you meeting her here again?”
Laura nodded. “I promised to fill her in.”
Maddie looked up just then and smiled. “And here she is now. Hey, Mom.”
“Maddie, you are not still trying to sell Laura a membership, are you?”
“Actually I’m thinking I should give her a six-month trial membership to thank her for dealing with this mess at school. I may not know all the details, but I do know it’s turning out okay because she got involved.”
“I certainly second that idea,” Paula said.
Maddie grinned at Laura. “What do you say? Six months on the house?”
“Are you sure?” Laura asked, dying to accept but hesitant. “I was only doing my job.”
“Nonsense,” Paula said. “You went above and beyond and you know it. Don’t be modest. It’s highly overrated.”
Maddie chuckled. “You would certainly know, Mother. Everything I ever knew about self-confidence I learned from you.”
Paula looked surprisingly pleased by the comment. “It’s good to know I wasn’t quite so terrible as a mother as I’d thought.”
“You were never terrible,” Maddie protested, looking dismayed. “Just a little caught up in your own world.”
“Never a good thing for a mother, no matter the excuse,” Paula said, then waved off the discussion. “Water under the bridge. I hope I’ve made up for it recently.”
Maddie gave her an awkward hug. “You know you have. Now, head on out to the patio. It’s gorgeous out there, probably one of the last days before it gets to be too chilly to sit outside. I’ll bring you something from the café. Laura, will it be another smoothie? We have mango-papaya today. I can personally vouch for it. I had two before I told Susie in the café to cut me off.”
“Oh, yes, please,” Laura said with feeling. “The last one was fabulous, and mango-papaya sounds even better. I’ll need that membership, if I keep drinking those.”
“And I want a muffin, full-strength if you know what I mean,” Paula said. “None of that low-fat nonsense for me.”
“Done,” Maddie said. “Head on out. I’ll be right behind you.”
Once they were seated on the patio and Maddie had brought their snack, then left them alone, Paula regarded Laura with concern.
“You look as if you’ve had an exhausting day.”
“An exhausting few days,” Laura confirmed. “Knowing how high the stakes were for both of these girls put a tremendous amount of pressure on me to handle this well.”
“Then I’m all the more grateful that you’re taking the time to fill me in.”
“If it weren’t for you, it would have been much more difficult to settle this. I’m the one who’s grateful,” Laura told her with total sincerity. “Here’s where things stand.”
She outlined the first steps that had been taken earlier. “Frankly, I’m hoping that the Litchfields will send Annabelle away, but we may not know that for a while. Her father seems inclined to keep her right here so she has to face all the consequences of her actions.”
“There’s a case to be made for that, I think,” Paula said. “But it would be easier on Misty, if she were gone. How has Misty been holding up?”
“She’s relieved on one level, but she’s also terrified there will be fallout, that Annabelle’s friends will simply pick up where she left off.”
“Surely not,” Paula said incredulously, then shook her head. “What am I thinking? It’s entirely possible. Children and teens can be incredibly cruel. Lessons at that age aren’t absorbed all that readily, either, are they?”
“That’s my fear,” Laura admitted.
Paula thought about the situation. “You know,” she began slowly, “there is one person who might be able to intervene in this. Do you know Frances Wingate?”
“We’ve met,” Laura said, “but she retired long before I started teaching in Serenity.”
“Well, she has a very long history with a lot of parents in town. She’s well respected for frank talk and for being a tough disciplinarian. I wonder if there’s not some way we could capitalize on that respect.”
“How?” Laura asked, eager to try anything that might help ease the situation.
“Let me think about that,” Paula said. “And I’ll speak to Frances. She’s had some health issues recently, but I know she’d want to help if she possibly can. I’m thinking she might deliver
