Catching Fireflies

Adelia chuckled. “You’re right. I doubt Emily Post covered anything quite like that in her etiquette books.”

“At least you can laugh about it now,” Laura said approvingly. “That has to be progress.”

“Yeah, on the days when I’m not furious, bitter and resentful, I’m a barrel of laughs,” Adelia said, tempering the remark with a smile. “But the truth is, every day is better than the day before. I can thank my kids and this job for keeping me focused on the future, rather than the past. And my attorney has been a godsend. Helen’s not letting Ernesto and his dirtbag lawyer pull anything.”

Laura nodded. “I’ve heard Helen is an amazing ally in a situation like this.”

“The best,” Adelia confirmed as she plucked a dress out of the size-twelve section of the rack. “This is an eight, and it would look fantastic on you. This soft sage-green would be perfect with your coloring. It’ll bring out the green in your eyes and the blond highlights in your hair.”

Laura studied the simple, A-line design of the linen dress. On the hanger it didn’t look like anything special, and she’d never before worn any shade of green. She’d always thought it would make her skin look sallow. “Are you sure?” she asked doubtfully.

“Trust me,” Adelia said. “You’ll thank me the minute you see yourself in the mirror. Go. I’ll keep looking, in case there are more size eights that have been misplaced on the rack.”

Two minutes later, Laura was gazing at herself in the dressing room mirror with astonishment. The dress skimmed over her curves, slimming her hips, caressing her breasts and showing off just the right amount of cleavage with the V-neckline. The sage-green did, indeed, turn her eyes emerald. Her cheeks bloomed with unexpected color.

“Holy cow,” she murmured, just as Adelia arrived with the perfect flowered silk scarf to add a splash of extra sophistication and style.

“Told you so,” Adelia said with a satisfied grin as she adjusted the scarf in various ways to demonstrate the possibilities.

“Could you come to my house and dress me all the time?” Laura asked, only half kidding. She never put outfits together with the pizzazz Adelia had accomplished in minutes. It seemed every time she complimented one of her friends on a new look, the credit always went to Adelia. No wonder Raylene’s store was doing a booming business these days.

“Find yourself a hot date and I’m there,” Adelia promised with a chuckle. “I yearn to live vicariously.”

“I haven’t even looked at the price tag,” Laura lamented. “I’m going to cry if this is beyond my budget.”

“It’s on sale and you have a coupon,” Adelia reminded her. “And who can put a price on looking as smashing as you do?”

“You’re really good,” Laura complimented her as she changed back into her clothes and then followed her to the register. Though she winced at the total, she handed over her credit card with barely a whimper.

She consoled herself with the thought that the shopping excursion had been so successful, she no longer needed that hot fudge sundae. Good thing, since to pay for this, she’d be dining on cereal or peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches for dinner for the next month.

* * *

After years of coaching and teaching at Serenity High School and a good long while being married to Maddie and dealing with stepchildren and their own two little ones, Cal thought he had some pretty finely tuned instincts when it came to those children lying to him as Katie was doing right now. He’d asked her to hang out with him in the kitchen after the dinner dishes had been put into the dishwasher. She’d reluctantly stayed behind.

They were sitting at the kitchen table now, and she was doing her best to avoid looking him in the eye as she skirted every question he’d asked so far.

“You’re being very careful to sidestep what was a direct question,” he told his stepdaughter eventually. “Let me try again. Do you have any idea why Misty is skipping Ms. Reed’s English class?”

“Shouldn’t Ms. Reed be asking Misty that?”

“Believe me, she will. I was just hoping you could fill me in before this whole thing blows up and Misty winds up being suspended. Ms. Reed doesn’t want that. She’s trying to help before Betty Donovan gets involved. You know for a fact that Mrs. Donovan has a zero-tolerance policy for skipping. Didn’t you learn that the hard way all too recently?”

Katie squirmed uncomfortably. “Misty shouldn’t get suspended,” she protested weakly. “Not when there are, what do they call ’em, extenuating circumstances.”

“Oh, why is that?” he asked, wondering at her logic and even more interested in those extenuating circumstances.

Katie looked as if she realized she’d already veered onto dangerous turf. “Come on,” she said with a hint of belligerence clearly meant to cover her mistake. “She’s only missing a class or two, not a whole day or anything.”

Cal regarded her impatiently. “Don’t play dumb, Katie. You know suspension is mandatory for a repeat offense, and apparently Misty has been skipping regularly.”

“But…” she began, then fell silent.

“But what? If there’s a good reason for her skipping class, fill me in.”

Katie’s chin set stubbornly. “I can’t say anything.”

“Because you don’t know or because you’ve been sworn to secrecy?” he pressed.

“Because it’s confidential,” Katie said heatedly. “What kind of friend would I be if I blabbed someone else’s secrets?”

“Maybe the kind who could keep a friend from getting in more trouble than she can handle,” Cal told her. “I admire your loyalty. I really do.”

“Then stop asking me all these questions,” she pleaded, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

Cal held firm. “Sorry, I can’t do that. Sometimes there are things that kids need adults to resolve. I suspect this is one of those times.”

She regarded him thoughtfully. “You mean like when Sarah and Raylene kept quiet about Annie not eating back when I was little,” she said, proving that she wasn’t as naive as she’d been pretending to be. “They should have told.”

Cal nodded. “Exactly like that.”

Though Annie had survived her nearly fatal anorexia and was now happily married to Ty, Katie’s older brother, what had happened to her back then had made an impression on all of them. It was a lesson Cal thought bore repeating now.

“There’s nothing like that going on with Misty, is there?” he asked.

Katie’s immediate shake of her head was reassuring.

“I’d never keep quiet about that, Cal. I promise. Every time I turn around either Mom or Annie or Ty is all over me about that kind of stuff. I probably know more warning signs of anorexia than any kid in school.”

“Is this potentially as serious?” he asked, now that he had her full attention. “Is there some kind of situation that’s getting out of hand?”

Again, Katie squirmed uncomfortably. “It’s not like that,” she said carefully. “If it were, I’d tell you, no matter what promise I made. I swear it.”

“Okay, then,” he said, relenting. “Just promise you’ll come to me or your mom, if you think Misty’s in any kind of danger, okay?”

Katie regarded him earnestly. “I already asked her to come talk to you herself, but she wouldn’t,” she said with unmistakable frustration. “It’s not like I don’t know there should be an adult involved.”

Cal frowned at her tone. Clearly she was upset about whatever was going on. “Okay, what am I missing?” he asked more gently. “Isn’t there something you’d feel comfortable sharing with me?”

“It’s complicated,” she told him, again looking near tears.

“But you believe with everything in you that Misty will ask for help if she needs it and you promise me if she doesn’t, you’ll come to me or your mom before this gets any worse?” Cal pressed.

She nodded. “Promise,” she said, then all but ran from the room before he could try one last time for more information.

Sighing, Cal went into the living room to join Maddie on the sofa. She immediately snuggled in close.

“What was that about?” she asked. “Why did you want to speak to Katie? I figured it had something to do with school, so I left the two of you alone.”