Oh, Baby!

When ten minutes had gone by with no answer, she realized Joy either had her phone shut off or was simply going to ignore her. She probably figured Sophie wasn’t going to relent on homecoming anyway, so what difference did it make? All Sophie could do was wait, and try to figure out what she was going to do now.

* * *

The house was dark when Aidan dropped Joy off. But Sophie’s bedroom faced the backyard, so even if her light was still on, Joy wouldn’t have been able to see it.

Joy silently let herself in, glad there was no dog to make noise, even though she’d been begging Sophie for months to let her get a Lab. Sophie had finally relented, saying they could pick out a Lab puppy for Christmas. Joy made a face. She guessed she’d probably blown that, too, with her disappearing act tonight.

Why had she sneaked out? She still wasn’t sure. All she knew was that when Sophie had so stubbornly refused to allow her to go to homecoming with Aidan, she was so angry she just wanted to show Sophie she couldn’t control everything in Joy’s life.

You’ve blown it. Totally blown it. Now she probably won’t let you go to homecoming at all.

Joy was still thinking dark thoughts when she reached the top of the stairs—thankfully, not making any noise while doing it—so she wasn’t fully prepared for Sophie’s sudden appearance in the hallway.

“Where have you been?” Sophie demanded.

Joy swallowed. “I was upset. I—I had to get away...to think.”

“To think.”

“Yes.” Joy straightened, abruptly deciding she would brazen this out. She was in the doghouse anyway. Might as well show some backbone.

Sophie sighed heavily. “Joy,” she began.

“I know, I know. You’re mad at me. I don’t blame you.”

“I’m more than mad, Joy. I’m disappointed. I didn’t know where you were or what you were doing. I even bailed out on my book club tonight because I was so worried about you. I’ve been sitting and waiting all night. I know you were out with that boy, otherwise I might have been tempted to call the police and have them look for you. The least you could have done was answer my text, let me know you were safe. I don’t think I deserve this kind of treatment from you. Do you?”

All Joy’s defiance disappeared. Instead she just felt miserable. Because her sister was right. Sophie didn’t deserve this kind of treatment. She was a wonderful person. A wonderful sister. And she’d never been anything but fair and kind and loving to Joy. In fact, Joy wasn’t sure she would have survived losing her parents if not for Sophie. Tears stinging her eyes, Joy shook her head. “No,” she whispered.

“Then why did you do it?”

Joy shrugged. A tear rolled down her cheek. “I—I don’t know. I’m sorry, Sophie. I really am. I—deserve whatever punishment you want to give me.”

Sophie nodded. She reached out and squeezed Joy’s shoulder. “Look, we’re both tired and upset. We won’t make any decisions tonight. And we both have to be up early tomorrow. So we’ll talk tomorrow night, okay?”

“Okay.” Joy was grateful for the reprieve, but she was savvy enough to know that just because she’d been given some time before she had to face the music didn’t mean Sophie was going to go easy on her.

* * *

Thank God it was Friday, Sophie thought as she drove to work. The week had been brutal, especially Wednesday night and last night. Thinking about last night, she hoped she’d done some good, at least for Kaitlyn, the senior who was pregnant. The meeting with Kaitlyn and her parents hadn’t been easy, but at least their beautiful, college-bound daughter was in one piece. By the time Sophie had left for home, the family was in the midst of trying to make the best decision about how to go forward. The one thing all three had agreed upon was that Kaitlyn would still head off to UT next fall. Whether she would give her child up for adoption or go another direction was still up in the air.

Sophie was grateful it wasn’t her decision to make. The decision she had made earlier, before going over to the Macpherson home, was still bothering her. She’d taken pity on Joy and hadn’t forbidden her to go to homecoming, especially when Joy had meekly agreed she would attend with Megan, Jenna and Bethany, her three best friends—all of whom were going stag. Sophie had almost insisted upon picking Joy up when the evening was over, but she’d instead decided to give Joy another chance at trust.

“You’re absolutely not to go home with Aidan Burke. You will stay with your friends and leave with your friends. Understood?”

She hoped she hadn’t made a mistake, but the die was cast. And if she had made a mistake, and Joy disobeyed her, then that would be it. She wouldn’t trust Joy again.

Driving into the teachers’ parking lot, Sophie saw a tall, dark-haired figure getting out of a black Toyota Tundra truck. Her heart skipped as she realized it was Dillon. Parking as far from his truck as it was possible, she waited until he was halfway to the entrance of the school before exiting her little Prius. She felt unsettled enough today without having to contend with another meeting with Dillon.

By the time she entered the school, he was long gone, and she headed for her office. This was one of the days she was very grateful to be the guidance counselor and entitled to a private office—minuscule as it was—rather than a teacher who could only escape into the teachers’ lounge, where there was never any privacy.

The moment she entered her office, she saw the note. It was propped against her keyboard, and the handwriting on the envelope was unmistakably Principal Gordon Pearson’s.

“Oh, great,” she mumbled. “What now?”

A quick scan of the note simply told her he wanted to see her, immediately if not sooner. She sighed.

Dumping her tote containing the files she’d taken home, she straightened her layered tees, checked her hair to make sure it was as neat as she could make it and headed for Pearson’s office.

“What’s up?” she said to Janie, the principal’s secretary.

“Oh, just a homecoming emergency,” Janie said. “He’ll tell you all about it.”

Sophie frowned. Homecoming emergency? She couldn’t imagine what that might be.

She didn’t have to wonder long. She’d no sooner entered Principal Pearson’s office than he said, “I hope you don’t have plans for tomorrow night, Sophie. I need you to chaperone the homecoming dance. Jackie Farrow’s mother took a turn for the worse, and she’s flying to Denver this afternoon.”

Jackie, a freshman math teacher, was one of the four teachers who’d drawn chaperone duty this time. And if Sophie wasn’t mistaken, Dillon Burke was also a chaperone. Oh Lord. The last place Sophie wanted to be was a dance—with him. And from her experiences chaperoning school functions, she knew all the teachers would be seated together. There would be no way to avoid him.

For one second, she thought about fudging, saying she did have plans, important plans she couldn’t change, but she knew that wasn’t a good idea. The principal would expect her to elaborate, and she wasn’t a good liar. She always stammered...or blushed...or both. She’d give herself away in an instant.

So she smothered a sigh, said, “No, I don’t have plans” and agreed that she would fill in for Jackie.

Well, she thought philosophically as she walked back to her own office, at least now she could keep tabs on Joy. Heck, she might even take advantage of having to be in Dillon’s company by quizzing him about his nephew. See what she could find out about the boy.

That decided, she only had one other serious problem.

What in the world would she wear tomorrow night?

* * *

Dillon took a quick shower after the game—which Crandall Lake had won by ten points—and changed into the clothes he’d brought to wear to the homecoming dance. He wasn’t thrilled about chaperoning, but when he’d tried to get out of it, Principal Pearson had been quick to let him know he had to take a turn just like everyone else on the faculty.

“It wouldn’t be fair for me to let you off the hook,” Pearson had said. “Would look like I think you’re better than the others, and that isn’t the way things work around here.”

Dillon knew the man was right. He tried to operate the same way with his team. Yes, some of the players were much more talented and vital to the team, but there was no way he was going to act as if that were the case. The worst possible thing a coach could do for the morale of his team was play favorites.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to chaperone tonight’s dance, he told himself as he headed for the ballroom where the dance would take place. It might even be fun, like reliving his own high school days.

When he arrived—later than the other chaperones since he’d had to shower and change clothes after the game—he saw the other three were already seated at their assigned table.

Oh, hell. He hadn’t known Nicole Blanchard was also chaperoning tonight. The woman had been driving him crazy ever since the beginning of the school year. She followed him around, flirted shamelessly and seemed to think he welcomed it. No matter what he said or did, she didn’t take the hint that he wasn’t interested. She was pretty enough, but he’d only had to be in her company for one day before he knew she was bad news. If he paid her the least bit of attention, she would have them engaged and married. He’d been avoiding her as much as possible, but that would be tough to do tonight.

Then he noticed who was sitting across the table from Nicole.

Sophie.

Their eyes met and held for a brief moment; then she abruptly stood, said something to the others and walked away. He stood there, watching her. She looked amazing. Her black dress was short and formfitting, hugging that shapely bottom of hers in a way that left nothing to the imagination. And those legs! There ought to be a law against spike heels for someone who had legs like hers.