Misty stared at him in shock, then stood up, practically shaking with fury. “That does it,” she said furiously. “One bully was bad enough, but I will not allow a creep like that to freak me out.” She looked at her English teacher. “I’ll be back at school tomorrow and I’ll be in class.”
Both adults seemed startled by her announcement. Misty understood their reaction. She’d been a shaky mess when they’d gotten here. In fact, for weeks now she’d acted as if the things being said about her were true and she had a reason to hide. No more. She was done with that.
Maybe it was standing on that stage on Saturday after all that had given her a different perspective. Even though things had gone horribly wrong at the rally, she’d seen a few people look at her with understanding and sympathy. Some people had gotten it, just the way Ms. Reed had said they would.
Just walking onto the stage and facing the crowd had taken more courage than she’d ever imagined she possessed. Now she would draw on that strength and face the kids who’d made her life miserable. They were the ones who should be ashamed of themselves, not her.
Ms. Reed smiled at her. “Misty, I could not be more proud of you.”
“Me, too,” Dr. Fullerton said, then grinned. “Want a ride to school?”
“Nope,” Misty said decisively. “I’ll go with my friends. I still have some, despite what’s happened. They’ll back me up.” She gave Ms. Reed a knowing look. “You know they will.”
The teacher smiled. “Yes, you have some very good friends. They’ve just been waiting for you to say you needed them.”
“And one of them took matters into her own hands. I know that, too,” she said. “I know Katie’s been feeling guilty for ratting me out to her grandmother, not that she’s admitted that she did it, but come on, who else would talk to Mrs. Vreeland? It’s about time for me to tell her she did the right thing. I haven’t been willing to admit that before.”
“I know she’ll appreciate that,” Ms. Reed said. “And if you need any extra backup at all tomorrow, you can count on me.”
“You two have been great through all of this,” Misty told them, then gave them a sly look. “So when are you going to go out on, like, a real date instead of pretending that you’re together all the time because of me?”
To her amusement, Ms. Reed blushed and even Doc Fullerton looked flustered. She laughed.
“You two are so busted,” she told them. She grinned at J.C. “There’s that silver lining thing, doc. The one you were trying to convince me is always there.”
He looked a little embarrassed, but he nodded. “No question about it, Misty. No question at all.”
Misty wondered if maybe she hadn’t found her own silver lining, as well. It turned out she just might be a whole lot stronger than she’d ever imagined. Tomorrow would tell.
21
“So, are we going to let a teenager call us on being a pair of chickens?” J.C. asked Laura as they left Misty’s.
“You’re the one with the lousy track record who wasn’t interested in dating,” she reminded him. “I’ve dutifully kept from labeling whatever it is we have been doing.”
“Maybe it’s time that stopped,” J.C. said. “Earlier today I was thinking maybe we should have some clarity about what’s going on here. Put our cards on the table, so to speak.”
“I certainly stress clarity in my students’ essays,” Laura said. “It might be nice to have some coming from you.” She gave him a considering look. “Unless you’re still not ready for that kind of conversation.”
J.C. smiled at that. “Willing to let me off the hook?”
“If need be,” she said. “I’ve discovered lately that I’m incredibly patient.”
“What if I admit that I’m starting to see the error of my ways? Not dating, at least right out there in the open and calling it what it is, isn’t really working all that well for me anymore. You deserve better.” Feeling vaguely bewildered, he added, “And it seems I want more.”
To his relief, Laura gave in readily. “Then I wouldn’t say no to another dinner at Sullivan’s,” she said.
“With not a single mention of Misty all evening?”
She held his gaze. “I can do that. Can you?”
He laughed. “I guess we’ll just have to give it a try and find out.”
Unfortunately, getting through the evening without the subject of Misty coming up proved to be impossible. Most of the patrons at Sullivan’s fell silent when J.C. and Laura entered. Then, one by one, many of them approached to offer a few words of support, both for Misty and for J.C. and the pain he’d suffered years ago on losing his brother.
Uncomfortable with all of the attention, he saw no graceful way to make his excuses and leave, but Laura clearly guessed some of the emotional turmoil he was going through.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze and hurrying off in the direction of the kitchen.
When she returned, she was carrying a huge take-out bag. “Dinner,” she announced triumphantly.
“How’d you pull that off?”
“I told Dana Sue what was going on out here and said we needed to leave. She put two meals together in no time, along with dessert and a bottle of wine.” She grinned. “Best of all, it’s on the house. She flatly refused to let me pay her. She said she owed it to us because our dinner plans were interrupted by her intrusive customers.”
“I should thank her,” J.C. said.
“Call her later,” Laura urged. “The kitchen’s a madhouse. Only for you would I have risked going in there uninvited.” She shuddered dramatically. “I’m lucky to emerge without battle scars.”
J.C. chuckled. “It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“Trust me, it was downright dangerous.”
When they were seated in his car, he turned to her. “Thank you for recognizing that I was about to come unglued at all that well-meant sympathy in there.”
“I doubt you would ever come unglued,” she said, “but I could see that you were uncomfortable. Now, shall we go to my place or yours for this feast?”
“Yours,” he said at once. “I stared at my walls way too long over the weekend. I need
