Bayview Heights Trilogy (50 page)

Philip headed straight for the den, and Lacey
was glad she didn’t have to talk with him. Grabbing a pound bag of
M&M’s from the cupboard, she trudged upstairs and ran a bath
while she devoured the candy.

The hot water soothed away some of the
tension. Relaxing in the water, letting down her guard, she
couldn’t stop her mind from replaying all that had transpired
between her and Seth at the pond yesterday afternoon.

After her bath, Lacey felt marginally better.
An hour later, as she sat reading in a stuffed chair by the window,
there was a knock on her bedroom door.

When she asked him in, Philip crossed to her.
Now, instead of being pale, his face was unnaturally flushed. One
vein in his neck stood out more than the others. Suddenly the house
felt cold and she could hear the wind bang a tree limb against her
window.

“What’s wrong?”‘ Lacey asked.

He handed her a sheet of paper. She looked
down at it and her stomach lurched, “What’s this?”

“You know what it is.”

“I thought maybe you’d…”

“Given up on it?’’ he finished for her. “No.
Tonight, after seeing Kevin in there, I wrote it.” He peered down
at her, so much the vibrant, robust man who had raised her that for
a minute she forgot his ill health and disability. “And I feel even
more adamant about it being this week’s School Page editorial.”

She said nothing.

“I don’t have good feelings about things,
Lacey. First you start defending that school, that man. Then, I
don’t know where you are most of the time. Who you’re with.” He
swallowed hard, “Mostly, I’m afraid you’re not telling me the
truth.” He batted the editorial with his other hand. “Print this in
Wednesday’s edition. Prove to me I’m imagining things, that I’m
wrong in my suspicions. I need that from you now.”

Lacey forced herself to face him. This was
the man who had given up much of his adult life to raise her and
her brother. In that instant, she realized she had no choice.

There’s always a choice,
she’d once
told Seth. But staring at her beloved grandfather, she realized
that wasn’t true. She reached for the paper he held. Family always
came first. She had to print the editorial—or admit that she was
falling in love with Seth Taylor.

And that would surely kill the man in front
of her.

o0o

“OH, LOOK, it’s a Tonka truck.” Seth watched
Lacey finger the bright yellow vehicle lovingly. “Kevin used to
have this one.” Checking the aisle to make sure the students they’d
come with were in some other part of the toy store, Seth raised his
hand and squeezed her neck gently.

She looked so sad today, he wanted to whisk
her away to his house, build a fire and hold and comfort her.
Who are you kidding. Taylor? You want her in your bed in a way
you can’t ever remember wanting a woman.

That was true. Since she’d left him Saturday
night, he’d chided himself for the nonstop lust that had been
plaguing him. But coupled with that was a yearning just to be with
her, just to help her through the pain of Kevin’s injury. Right
now, he’d settle for comforting her because he couldn’t bear to
watch her suffer. He knew in that instant that he’d do anything to
stop it.

Even give her up?

Even that.

“Seth?”

He smiled down at the dump truck she held.
“It’s a great toy. Joey had one, too.” He checked the price tag.
“How much do we have left?”

“About fifty dollars.”

They’d divided up the day-care money to buy
gifts for each of the ten children at the Franklin Street facility;
the students had solicited decorations and food for the party next
week from local businesses so the school money could all be spent
on toys. Right now, Hope, Hannah, Nick and Darcy were combing the
store for bargains for nine of the kids. Lacey and Seth wanted to
shop for Josh.

Seth had called her at the
Herald
first thing this morning to see how she was and had reminded her of
this shopping trip. She’d seemed hesitant at first and he’d been
afraid she was going to back out. But she’d come along when he told
her they’d be picking out toys for Josh. She’d been edgy though,
and distant. Damn, there’d been no opportunity to talk to her
privately.

“Go for it,” he said.

She smiled at him.

“That’s good to see.”

“What?”

He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “That
smile.”

“The only thing that makes me forget about
Kevin and Grandpa is Josh.” She lowered her gaze. “I went to see
him again.”

“You need a respite, Lace. Take it from
Josh.”

“I shouldn’t. He’s already too attached to
me. Mary says he looks for me every day.”

So do I.

She bit her lip, then whispered, “I wish he
were mine.”

Before Seth could respond, the four teenagers
turned the corner. Hope and Hannah wheeled one cart and Darcy and
Nick another. They laughed aloud and pointed to something they’d
selected. Unhappy at the interruption, Seth nonetheless turned to
the cheerful group.

“Hi, guys,” Darcy said. “Look what we
got.”

Seth watched patiently as they showed off
their choices. All the while he stole surreptitious glances at
Lacey. She was trying to concentrate but he could tell her interest
was feigned. She was really hurting today. “We’re not done yet,” he
told the kids once they’d finished their demonstration.

“Well, we’re gonna check out now.” Nick said.
“Wanna meet us over at Pepper’s for hot chocolate and doughnuts?”
The diner owner had agreed to provide the refreshments all week for
the students who were shopping and wrapping presents for the Good
Deeds Project.

Darcy scowled. “I’m not going to
Pepper’s.”

“Why not?” Hannah asked

“I don’t belong there.”

Nick said, “Come on, Darce, it’ll be
fun.”

When she looked up into Nick’s eyes, Seth
thought.
Uh-oh
.

“I can drive you home after,” the boy
suggested hopefully.

Darcy sighed, as if in spite of herself, she
was getting sucked in. Seth recognized the sentiment. “All right.”
She glanced at Lacey. “Will you come, too, Ms. Cartwright?”

Lacey smiled more genuinely at her. “For a
little while. We’ll be done in about a half hour.”

After the kids left, Seth faced Lacey. “Darcy
likes you.”

“I know. She’s stopped by the paper several
times just to talk. I think it’s because I’m friends with Cassie.”
Lacey stared after the teenagers. “She also likes Nick.”

“I could tell.” Seth scowled. “I didn’t mean
it to go quite that far.”

“Sometimes you can’t help what you feel.”
Lacey’s eyes held such misery, Seth gripped the handle of the cart
to keep from touching her. “But that doesn’t mean it’s right. I
don’t want her to get hurt.”

“Lace, I…”

She turned away. “Let’s finish up here.”

Seth let it go. For the next thirty minutes,
they picked out presents for Josh. It was almost a sacred ritual to
Lacey. She pondered over a Nerf basketball, considering its size
and durability, analyzed an action figure for its safety and
scrupulously read the directions for a board game. Superimposed
over her study of the toys, he kept seeing her with Josh, cooing
over him, cuddling him, closing her eyes as she rocked him.

I wish he were mine.

The thought stayed with Seth.

After they checked out, they headed for
Pepper’s. Seth hoped he’d get to talk to her there, or afterward.
It was almost five and there was a task force subcommittee meeting
tonight. Maybe he could take her somewhere to eat before the
session.

Lacey had refused to ride to the toy store
with him, joining him there instead. But he followed her car over
to Pepper’s and held her arm on the icy sidewalk that led from the
street to the diner. All around them, Christmas winked and twinkled
in the decorations that the town had put up this weekend. Street
lamps were fringed with holly, signs had big red bows on them and
holiday lights sparkled everywhere.

When he reached for the front door of the
diner, it opened from inside. Through the doorway came Philip
Cartwright with board member Leonard Small behind him. Philip was
pulling on his gloves as he confronted his granddaughter—and his
worst enemy.

His face went chalk white.

His eyes widened.

His hands fisted.

He glared at Lacey, then looked at Seth with
hatred so strong it made Seth step back and catch his breath. Then,
without a word, Philip cut between them and headed down the
street.

Are schools
social-service organizations? Should taxpayers bear the
responsibility of providing psychological help for students? These
questions become relevant in light of a task force, a “safety” task
force, that’s been meeting at the high school the last few weeks.
Principal Seth Taylor has charged the committee with the task of
helping to make the school safer. Why can’t the administration
conduct a safe school by themselves? We pay them huge sums of money
to do their jobs—the cost of three principals is exorbitant. Now
they want
more
money to bring in workshops on stress and
aggression management, to set up “student courts”—all examples of
their newfangled approach to discipline. It’s time they went back
to proper, ongoing discipline where the kids don’t have the
opportunity to act out. It’s time they stopped foisting their
problems on the community.

What do you think?

FOR A MINUTE, Seth couldn’t breathe. A few
months ago, when he was running outside, he’d stumbled over an
exposed tree root and had the wind knocked out of him. The
sensation was the same now. He drew in deep, painful breaths and
blinked. He couldn’t believe it. This must be some mistake. Lacey
wouldn’t
do this to him.

More slowly, he read the editorial again. And
again. By the time he finished, a lump the size of a fist had
lodged in his throat. Thank God it was six o’clock at night and
everyone in the school, except the custodians, had gone home. He’d
been out of the building all day at district meetings and hadn’t
had a chance to see Wednesday’s
Herald
. Foolishly, he’d
been looking forward to reading what Lacey had decided to print
this week. He’d never expected to be sucker punched.

Sinking into his chair, he shook his head.
How could she do this—to him and all those people on the committee
who’d trusted her? His defense of her to Monica and the others made
him cringe in light of this unfair action.

Struggling to think rationally, he closed his
eyes. All right, she’d been understandably upset Monday when they’d
run into Philip at Pepper’s. She’d gone home after a short stop
inside the diner to see Darcy and the rest of the kids, and she’d
missed the task force meeting that night. Seth had tried to call
her all day Tuesday but she’d been out of the office and had not
returned his calls. Today, he’d been committed to meetings.

Had she planned this all along? Getting in
good with the high school just to sabotage it? No, he wouldn’t
believe that. He could still see her standing up to Jerry Bosco.
And she’d searched the Internet for ideas for the student
subcommittee. It didn’t make sense. Why,
why
had she
written this?

He glanced at the phone. He could call her
and ask her. But some self-protective instinct warned him not to.
Had he been taken in so easily by a pair of guileless light brown
eyes and a soft sweet mouth? Had she seduced him into letting down
his guard? No, he couldn’t call her; he needed to think about
this—long and hard.

Abruptly he stood and tossed the editorial
into the trash. He strode out of the office and down the hall to
the track, which, thankfully, was empty. After changing, he ran
five grinding miles—trying to outdistance the cold anguish seeping
into him. Then he went home. He didn’t answer any phone calls, but
prowled the semi-dark house in an effort to make some sense of what
had happened.

By Thursday morning, he was forced to deal
with the fallout.

At 7:30 a.m., the kids appeared at his office
door.

Darcy McCormick, who he’d once seen stare
down four girls from a gang that was messing with her, had tears in
her eyes. “Why’d she do this, Mr. T.?”

Nick put his arm around Darcy and she stepped
closer to him. “Yeah, why?” the boy asked.

“I don’t know,” Seth answered simply.

“You talk to her?”

“Not yet.”

“Why?”

I don’t trust myself.

His attention was diverted by Zoe Caufield,
who appeared at the door. After the teenagers left, she asked Seth,
“Are you all right?”

“Hey, they pay me the big bucks to be all
right.”

“I don’t understand it.”

He shook his head.
Maybe I just got too
close
. “I don’t, either.”

“Cassie’s at that conference until tomorrow.
Mitch went to Albany with her.”

“Thank God. I couldn’t deal with her
yet.”

“Can I do anything?”

“I don’t think so, Zoe. But thanks.”

As Zoe left, his secretary came in. “Seth,
you have a call from Family Services.”

He wanted to put his fist through the wall to
release the suffocating sensation inside him. “Take a message, will
you? I can’t deal with
that
right now.”

Minutes later, Sue looked back in. “Your
friend George said he’s couriering the forms tomorrow. Whatever
that means.”

“I know what it means.”

Zombie-like. Seth got through that day.
Somehow he summoned the professional side of himself and took care
of business. He staunchly refused to give in to the gnawing pain
that had taken up residence in his heart. He still didn’t call
Lacey. Too much was at stake now and he couldn’t afford to be
fooled again, if that’s what had happened. He’d think it out first,
then act.