LITMIR.BIZ

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bell and a moment later the quiet erupted into a scene of absolute chaos. Several hundred noisy, rambunctious students began pouring through the doors like salmon frantic to get upstream. He stood out of the way and watched, hoping to catch a glimpse of the determinedly staid Mrs. Gentry in the midst of the pandemonium.

      It took him only a few minutes to spot her. Her red hair was pulled tautly back. Curly strands, indifferent to her efforts at restraint, had escaped to create a halo that glittered a coppery gold in the sunlight. In her slim beige skirt, emerald green silk blouse and sensible beige pumps, she was solemnly leading a perfectly formed line toward one of the bright yellow Dade County school buses. The impression of rigidity returned with a thud, correcting a night of more alluring dreams.

      Then he saw a small girl of six or seven lift a laughing face toward her. Elizabeth’s—Miss Liz’s—generous mouth curved into an answering smile. With fingers that seemed somehow hesitant she reached out and lovingly brushed a strand of hair back from the child’s face. There was an odd sense of yearning in that fleeting touch that wrapped itself around Todd’s heart.

      Contradictions! So many contradictions, he wondered if he’d ever understand them all.

      There’s a lifetime to try.

      The unexpectedly wayward thought careened through his head, slamming into his consciousness with the impact of a fullback charging at full speed. His breath rushed out, followed by a colorful, resistant oath. There was no way in hell this woman—any woman—was going to get to him again. Not after Sarah.

      But his palms were sweating like a lovestruck teen’s and his heartbeat skittered and danced in a way he’d all but forgotten. He seized on past hurts and entrenched bitterness to chase away the symptoms of an imagination gone awry. They did a damn poor job of it, he noted wryly as he waited at the entrance for Elizabeth Gentry to join him. He rubbed his palms on his denim-clad thighs and hoped the heat in his loins would cool.

      While he waited, she stood watching—a lone sentry—until the last school bus pulled away. Again he caught that flash of yearning on her face, the subtle droop of her shoulders when the children were out of sight. An aching need built in his chest, a need that made no sense. A tender wondering filled his soul with questions he wanted to ask, but didn’t know how, didn’t even know if he had the right to ask. Worse, he couldn’t even imagine where all these thoughts were coming from. He covered his confusion with a smile meant to tease away the frown on her lovely face.

      “Why so glum?” he asked softly, stepping from the shadows as she neared the front door.

      Startled eyes met his. He thought there was the beginning of a smile, but it ended before it could brighten her face. She merely nodded in satisfaction.

      “So, you came.”

      “I told you I would. Right on time, too,” he noted as if seeking approval.

      That did earn a full-blown grin. “Are you expecting a gold star for attendance? If so, it will hardly make up for all those zeros.”

      Despite her teasing tone, his voice and his mood went flat. “I stopped worrying about report cards long ago.”

      “Even Kevin’s?” she queried briskly, chasing away any last remnants of the light mood.

      Disappointed and unable to figure out why, he snapped, “You’re all business, aren’t you, Miss Liz?”

      She scowled disapprovingly. The prim set of her mouth wasn’t all that far removed from his original image of her. With an urge of pure devilment, he felt like kissing those lips until they were bruised and swollen and parted on a sigh of pleasure.

      “It’s Mrs. Gentry,” she corrected with that familiar snap in her voice. “And I do try to act like a professional when I’m having a business meeting. Shall we go inside?”

      “By all means,” he said, responding to her cool demeanor with a touch of sarcasm he couldn’t have stopped if he’d wanted to. The woman infuriated him. Worse, something told him she enjoyed it, that she liked watching the barriers go up. He wondered why. Did she need them there to protect her heart? Not from him. He wasn’t interested. Perhaps he should tell her that.

      As soon as they reached room one-twenty-two, she grabbed an eraser and attacked the blackboard as if the day’s lessons had offended her by lingering on display. Chalk dust filled the air with a fine mist and a scent that dragged Todd back nearly twenty years.

      He pulled a too-small chair up beside her desk, turned it around and sat down straddling it to wait. With each moment that passed, his impatience grew. Only when the blackboard was cleaned to her satisfaction and the chalk lined up neatly and the papers on her desk straightened into tidy piles, did she sit down. It took several more minutes for her to lift her gaze to meet his. Only then did he realize that she’d been gathering her composure, not putting him in his place.

      “Tell me about Kevin,” she suggested, idly scratching at a blotchy red spot on her arm. When she pushed up her sleeve, he saw the marks went all the way up.

      “Are you okay?” he asked.

      She regarded him blankly. He reached over and touched one of the raised blotches. “What happened?”

      Red flamed her cheeks. “Hives,” she said curtly. “About Kevin…”

      Hives, hmm? Generally caused by allergies or nerves. He wondered which had caused hers? He decided not to ask. It would give him something to speculate about later, when her image was plaguing him.

      “I thought you wanted to tell me about Kevin,” he said instead. “Isn’t that why we’re meeting?”

      “We’ll get to my observations. I thought it might be helpful if I knew whether his behavior in school reflected his behavior at home. Does he give you any discipline problems?”

      Sarah’s complaints sprang to mind, but he shook his head. “No more than any kid his age.”

      She seemed surprised by that. “Are you sure?”

      “I know what I was like at Kevin’s age. He’s no different.”

      She smiled. The effect was like the sun emerging on a cloudy day. It warmed his heart, even as she said, “But I suspect you were a holy terror. That’s hardly a fair comparison.”

      “I turned out okay,” he countered, responding to her amusement. “For a holy terror, that is.”

      “Don’t you want more for Kevin?”

      He sighed. “I assume you’re thinking ahead to college.”

      She shook her head. “Right now, I’m thinking ahead to passing third grade. He won’t at the rate he’s going.”

      Her somber prediction had the desired effect. It shook him up as none of her vague warnings had. “It’s that bad?” he said skeptically. “Surely—”

      “Mr. Lewis, he can’t read.”

      “He struggles over a few words.”

      “The simplest words.”

      “Then why did he pass second grade?”

      “I can’t account for another teacher’s decision. All I can tell you is that the situation cannot continue without doing irreparable harm. Once a child has lost the chance to acquire solid reading skills, everything else becomes almost impossible. History, geography, science, even math. Kevin is bright, but he’s frustrated and angry. He takes it out on his classmates.”

      The scenario had an all-too-familiar ring to it. “Boys like to fight,” he said defensively. “It’s perfectly normal.”

      “He’s clobbered two girls in the last week,” she said bluntly.

      Todd was genuinely shocked at that. He found he could no longer cling to the hope that this was all a tempest in a teapot. He’d scattered blame and defenses since the conversation began and Liz had countered every one of them. “I’ll see that he’s

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