LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

      “They pushed that girl off the stage!” Marty reminded on a gasp.

      Cooper nodded. “She was caught by a number of kids who had their hands up, ready to catch her. It was planned. I’m not saying it’s—”

      “It’s a conspiracy!” Twin flags of color rode high in Edina’s cheeks.

      Hal, a voice of reason Cooper learned, reminded his wife, “One of those kids was ours.”

      Marty burst into tears and Edina sucked in her lips, as if she’d tasted something bad. “So, you’ll do nothing?”

      “I’m going to let the school make the decisions,” said Cooper, which satisfied none of them, but at least he got a nod of agreement from Hal.

      “You’ve got my formal complaint,” Edina said, pointing at the form she’d filled out.

      Cooper nodded.

      Caroline, who’d taken in the whole debate, but had said nothing, lingered after the other three trooped out the door. While Hal looking back dolefully at Cooper as he pushed through the exit door, clearly already over the whole debacle, Caroline asked Cooper, “Do you have a number where I can reach you, just in case I need to?”

      Cooper flashed on how he’d shown himself to be receptive to her earlier. He could have kicked himself now. What had he been trying to prove? That he wasn’t interested in Jamie? That he just needed to meet other women? He saw that Caroline may have used this excuse to keep their earlier connection alive. Somewhat reluctantly, he gave out his cell phone number, though he tried to press upon her that it was best to reach him at the station. He could have denied her, but that felt like it would be inordinately rude, especially after he’d acted interested earlier.

      After she’d gone, Cooper picked up said cell phone and scrolled through it for Jamie’s number, which he’d gotten from Marissa before he’d dropped her off. She’d made him swear on her life that he wouldn’t call Jamie and tell her about Harley and her being pushed off the stage, so he wouldn’t, but he was going to follow up later to make sure Jamie eventually got the straight story.

      * * *

      Jamie sat at the small kitchen table in Camryn’s condo, feeling tensions slip away as her old friend regaled her with stories about friends of theirs from high school. Camryn, whose hair was cut in a short, blondish bob and who always seemed to wear a smile, was an aide at the grade school and was in contact with lots of their schoolmates through their kids. Only a few of them had high school kids like Jamie. Camryn said, “Dug Douglas, Icky Vicky, and, well, Cooper, sort of. Some others, I think, but mostly the parents have grade-schoolers or no children at all, like me.”

      Camryn had moved to Portland after college and married an older man with kids who’d been in high school. They’d divorced about four years earlier, and she’d ended up with enough money to buy her condo outright with enough left over to make it easy for her to support herself. “I should do like you and become a teacher. I like it. I like being around the kids. I probably should have had children when I could.”

      “It’s not too late, is it?” Jamie asked. Camryn tried to refill her cup of decaf coffee, but Jamie waved her off. She’d laid out a plate of assorted crackers and cheese, and Jamie, who’d managed half a peanut butter sandwich at home with Emma and Harley, dug in, famished.

      “It’s way too late. For me anyway. I just don’t see it happening. If I’d started when you did and had one already in high school, that would be okay. I think maybe I’m too lazy. I like just taking care of me, and I volunteer at Luv-Ahh-Pet Animal Shelter, a great place. It’s just outside the River Glen city limits.” She pointed northeast.

      Jamie thought of her own responsibilities. The uncertainty of her life was enough to make her yearn for what Camryn had.

      “Oh, by the way. You know whose twins are in one of my classes? Teddy Ryerson’s.”

      Jamie moved sharply in surprise and knocked into her mug, sloshing coffee. Apologizing profusely, she jumped up to help, but Camryn told her not to worry, she’d find a sponge. Luckily, only a little liquid had spilled onto the table and Camryn easily swiped it up.

      “His wife died. Leukemia, I think. So, he’s in charge of the twins, Oliver and Anika. They’re seven now. Second-graders. And Teddy’s some kind of investment guy. He lives at his parents’ old house. You know they divorced. Of course you do.”

      “Yes.”

      Dr. William and Nadine Ryerson had split not long after the terrible attack on Emma, citing irreconcilable differences. Teddy and Serena had stayed with Nadine in River Glen, while William moved on to a new relationship and a new life in a new area.

      Palm Desert, maybe? Jamie wasn’t sure. As soon as Teddy and Serena were of age, Nadine left River Glen as well and had also chosen to live somewhere in the Southwest.

      “She gave the house to Teddy and Serena, right?” Jamie asked. Anything that touched on Emma’s attack made her feel like she was gossiping about her sister.

      “Yes. Serena lives in Portland. She’s a nurse. I think she worked at Glen Gen for a while. Oh, right. Your mom knew her.”

      Jamie nodded. Mom had been very circumspect and careful about Serena Ryerson. She couldn’t look at any of the Ryersons, or their house, without thinking about Emma’s attack. She had made a few remarks about Serena to Harley, whom she spoke with more often than Jamie, but in the long run, she’d grudgingly admitted Serena worked hard and did a good job. Somewhere in the last few years, Serena had moved on to a Portland hospital, and Jamie had heard she worked in the cardiac unit.

      She knew next to nothing about Teddy Ryerson.

      “So, Teddy has twins,” she said now.

      “Yep. They’re cute as buttons. Oliver’s fairly outgoing, but Anika’s shy.”

      “A lot like Teddy and Serena.”

      “Ah, yes. You babysat for them.”

      Jamie nodded slowly.

      “It’s still hard, isn’t it? Especially with Emma, the way she is.” Camryn sighed. “I still wish I knew what happened that night. We all do, I guess.”

      “Yeah.”

      They talked for a while more, but Jamie was starting to feel tired and worn out. It had been a stressful day. “I’d better go,” she said, putting her empty mug by the sink. “Harley’s probably back by now. I’m kind of surprised she hasn’t called me already. And I want to check on Emma.”

      “If you need anything? Any extra help, or anything, anything at all, I’m around, with a lot of time on my hands since I broke up with my last boyfriend. More like a friend really. It never got out of the gate, truth be told.”

      “I’ve had a few of those,” Jamie admitted. Friendships that couldn’t seem to turn the corner to romance, although she suspected it was more her fault than theirs.

      “I was dating this guy for a while . . .” She seemed to want to continue, then said, “Well, it was never going to go anywhere.” She made a face, then changed the subject. “No one in your life either?” she asked curiously.

      “Nope.”

      “You know who I was dating? Nate.”

      “Nate Farland?”

      “He lives in Seattle, so it was kind of whenever he was in the Portland area. His job’s something in tech. He used to live here. We connected on the tail end of that, but then he moved. He made a half-hearted attempt to get me to move to Seattle, but I’m stuck in River Glen. By choice,” she added.

      “Nate . . .” Jamie smiled and shook her head. He’d been a sometime buddy of theirs in high school, never anything more.

      “I know, right? I kind of thought, hey, maybe this’ll turn into something now that we’re mature adults....

Скачать книгу