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 of those silver lining things, I’ll bet.”
J.C. smiled. “As a matter of fact, it is.”
“Are you serious about her? Because she’s really cool. I wouldn’t want her to get hurt.”
“That seems to be the general consensus around town, that hurting Ms. Reed would be a really bad idea.”
She tilted her head, studying him. “So, do you think you’ll get married?”
J.C. knew he should be used to how precocious kids were these days, but it always surprised him when they failed to censor their curiosity. “I’m not sure that’s a subject I should be discussing with you,” he said, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward and old.
“Because I’m just a kid?”
“No, because it’s a topic that Ms. Reed and I should probably discuss before I talk about it with anyone else. And, before you get any ideas, that does not mean it’s something we’re discussing right away.”
“But you haven’t ruled it out or anything, have you?” she pressed determinedly. “Because, if you have, you should tell her. You know, so she won’t get her hopes up.”
J.C. chuckled at her persistence. At least she was smiling for a change, so he was grateful for that much.
“Why don’t we change the subject?” he suggested.
“And talk about what? Annabelle?”
“I was thinking more about how you’re feeling about school these days.”
“Scared,” she said without hesitation. “I know I’m supposed to feel good about all these people being on my side and stuff, but you don’t get what kids are like.”