Not in Her Wildest Dreams(57)

"So did we," Mrs. Garvey said behind her.

Mercedes sent a questioning glance at L.C.

"Don't look at me. I just got here a couple hours ago." His lips were  well-defined in a masculine way, speaking of strength and purpose and a  restless spirit. "But it seems he doesn't want to be expelled." He  jerked his head at Zack.         

     



 

"Right." She dragged her gaze to Zack.

The young man cleared his throat. "I, um, spoke with the faculty and the  judge, and, um, worked out a way for me to stay in school." He rubbed a  hand against his thigh. Sweating, not surprisingly, with the way the  residents here resisted the cost of air conditioning. "I've, uh, written  this apology." He withdrew a folded envelope from his back pocket and  offered it to Mercedes.

"Hardly sufficient," Mrs. Garvey murmured in the background. "A letter doesn't repair damage-"

"Oh, Ma'am, that wasn't us," Zack said.

"Did he just interrupt me?"

Mercedes turned to see Mrs. Garvey direct the question to Mrs. Yamamoto.

The board had taken their usual seats behind the table. Mrs. Garvey's  narrow cheeks flushed and she sat with her spine very straight, fully  adopting what Mercedes privately thought of as her Stork On A Nest pose.  Her gaze moved to the notebook in front of Mr. Dolinski. His pencil was  poised but not moving, which seemed to displease her. Mrs. Yamamoto  hunched over her knitting and Harrison leaned back, eyes closed,  napping.

"Hooligan," Mrs. Garvey muttered.

L.C. shifted, scraping his boot on the tiled floor.

Mrs. Garvey tensed and lifted her nose, but kept her gaze on the  notebook, tapping the page. "Write down that due to the extensive damage  to the duplex-"

"-that has been neglected for years," Harrison murmured, rousing himself  enough to open one eye at Mr. Dolinski. "Write down that I interrupted  her, too."

Mrs. Garvey made an impatient noise. "The windows were smashed, they left foul messages, and they intended to start a fire."

"Don't forget the sodomy they were planning, Edith."

"Matches were found, Harrison."

"Two of the guys smoke, Ma'am," Zack said. He had his hands deep in the  front pockets of his chinos. "No one was planning on starting a fire. I,  uh, wasn't planning on doing anything. Just some of the guys saw the  hole in the fence and wanted to look around. I tried to stop them."

Mrs. Garvey frowned at the notebook and said, "He's wasting our time."

"I don't lie, Ma'am."

Mercedes lowered the eloquent, seemingly sincere apology she'd been  reading and walked it over to Harrison. He patted his chest and came up  with his glasses.

Mrs. Garvey leaned forward to look past Mr. Dolinski to Harrison. "The  police said they had all been reprimanded and the Dean expelled them for  the semester."

"That's right, Ma'am, but the school is willing to let me finish out the  year if I write a formal apology, serve community hours, and take care  of the repairs to your building. I'd really like to do that, Ma'am.  Finish the year."

Mercedes felt something in her melt. She remembered her first community  hours. The dollar-store earrings she had shoplifted had not been worth  the six weeks of litter pick-up, making her forever averse to repeating  that particular crime. Of course she'd wound up in a stolen car that  other time, but she hadn't stolen it. Those hours had been even more  boring, working in an insurance office, taking calls and filing, but  she'd come away with skills that had ultimately helped her on the job  front. Serving hours worked for the right kids.

Still speaking to Harrison, Mrs. Garvey said, "In my day, we didn't allow criminals off the hook by writing lines."

"It was my idea, Ma'am," Zack said. "Well, the repairs part. The Dean  suggested a hundred community hours and that I serve them here."

Yes. Mercedes mentally had him painting the main lounge, mowing the  lawn, and reading the book club novel aloud before Mrs. Garvey could  say, That's absurd!

"That's absurd! Let a jailbird into our homes?"

"Mrs. Garvey." Mercedes forced a tight smile. "If it's just the one  incident, I'm sure he would appreciate the opportunity to turn himself  around."

Looking among the board members, Mrs. Garvey muttered, "I'd like to know if it is just the one incident."

"Then why don't you ask him?" L.C. scratched the stubble beneath his chin. "Rather than talking around him like he's not here."

Mrs. Garvey flared her nostrils. The rest of the board swung their gazes to Zack.

Please don't help, Mercedes tried telegraphing to L.C., but only got a  hello-there stare that slithered heat from behind her breastbone down to  her pelvis. Her heart gave another skip of response and she jerked her  gaze to Zack.

He shifted his weight, seeming uncomfortable.         

     



 

"Is this the only time you've been in trouble with the police, son?" Harrison asked.

"Well, there was this one other time-"

"Why in hell would you bring that up?" L.C. asked.

"Language," Mrs. Garvey murmured, touching the broach on her sweater.

"I just told them I don't lie." Zack waved his hand at the board.

"It didn't count," L.C. said.

"Now we're playing horseshoes. How could an arrest not ‘count'?" Mrs. Garvey asked Mrs. Yamamoto.

Mrs. Yamamoto set her knitting in her lap and tilted her head questioningly at Zack.

"He was trying to take the rap for his old man," L.C. explained.

"Oh, jeez!" Zack rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "You're supposed to  just look at the repairs with me, all right? I don't need your help with  this."

"Apparently you don't need help at all," L.C. said. "Sounds to me like  they've made up their minds and don't want anything fixed."

Zack's sigh rang with impatience.

Mercedes's feelings of affinity for the young man grew. She knew exactly  how it felt to parent one's parent. She was just about to go to bat for  Zack, despite his convict father, when Zack spoke again.

"Look, that first incident was a big misunderstanding. Dad was accused  of something he didn't do and I- Well, I can give you the name and phone  number of the officer involved. He's my stepdad now."

"He was only aspiring in that direction when he arrested me," L.C.  drawled. "Which had more than a little to do with why he cuffed me."

Harrison snorted. Mr. Dolinski scratched his upper lip. Mrs. Yamamoto lifted her knitting so she could titter behind it.

Mrs. Garvey frowned. "I don't follow."

Mercedes knew that could be the kiss of death for Zack. He'd come so far, too.

She opened her mouth to plead his case but a huge noise, like a redwood  coming through the wall, crashed in the next room. A high-pitched scream  trailed it.

The kids!