Catching Fireflies

“It’s okay. I knew it was a long shot.” She held his gaze, her expression pleading. “You won’t tell my mom about this, will you? I mean you didn’t really treat me, so it’s not like you’d have to tell her, right?”

J.C. was torn. It was true that there’d been no medical issues discussed, but he wasn’t sure he should promise to keep silent when she was obviously in some kind of distress.

“How about we make a deal?” he said eventually.

Her gaze narrowed suspiciously. “What kind of deal?”

“You pick an adult—preferably your mom or dad, but any adult you trust will do—talk to them about what’s going on, and I won’t say anything about this visit.”

She immediately shook her head. “It’s not something I can talk about,” she insisted.

He shrugged off the excuse. “That’s the deal. Take it or leave it,” he replied, his gaze unrelenting. “And I want this person to let me know you’ve talked. I don’t need to know what you said. That can be totally confidential, but I want to know you’ve confided in someone who can help.”

To his surprise, the corners of her mouth lifted ever so slightly.

“What ever made me think you were going to be easy?” she asked ruefully.

“It’s all the lollipops and teddy bears around here,” he said. “A lot of people mistake me for a softie.”

“Boy, do you have them fooled,” she said, though there was a note of admiration in her tone. “How long do I have before you rat me out?”

He thought it over, weighing the risks of waiting against the value of allowing her to get the help she needed on her own. “Twenty-four hours seems reasonable to me. This time tomorrow.”

“And if you don’t hear from someone by then? What happens? Will alarms go off all over town? Is Chief Rollins going to hunt me down and drag me off to jail?”

He smiled at her. “Nothing that dramatic. Just expect me to drop by your house around dinnertime to have that talk with your folks.” He held her gaze. “So, do we have a deal?”

“I’d rather have that note for school,” she said regretfully, “but, yeah, I guess we have a deal.”

J.C. watched her leave his office and prayed he’d done the right thing. If she’d seemed even a tiny bit depressed, he wouldn’t have given her the leeway to work this out for herself. He’d have been all over it. Misty struck him as a kid who just needed a bit of a shove to solve this problem for herself. And, in his experience, the sense of empowerment that came from that could go a long way toward healing whatever issues a teen might be facing.

He’d just spend the next twenty-four hours praying his instincts in this instance had been right.

2

Since he’d sworn off dating, J.C. tended to spend a portion of most evenings at Fit for Anything, the new gym for men that had just opened in town. An hour-long workout before he headed home for dinner constituted what passed for his sorry social life most of the time.

It was a lot easier to pretend working out was a good substitute for dating in this environment than it had been at Dexter’s. Nobody had wanted to spend a minute longer than necessary in that dump. Here, he could even grab a bite to eat before heading home, and since the healthy food selections were supplied by Sullivan’s, one of the region’s best restaurants, they weren’t half bad.

Though it had taken a while because of his working partnership with Bill Townsend—a pariah with some people since his very messy divorce from Maddie a number of years ago—J.C. had eventually become friendly with Cal Maddox, Ronnie Sullivan and a few of the other men involved with the gym. As long as he left Bill out of the conversation, they seemed to get along just fine.

Tonight he found Cal here, just finishing up his own workout.

“You’re late,” Cal noted. “Don’t tell me you finally asked some woman out for coffee and broke the hearts of all the matchmakers in Serenity.”

J.C. chuckled. “Sadly, no. I had an unexpected after-hours visit from a patient.”

Cal immediately looked concerned. “An emergency? Was it a kid I might know?”

Though he wasn’t about to violate Misty’s confidence, he wondered if Cal would have any insights about what might be going on to make her dislike school so much she wanted to quit. “Do you know Misty Dawson?” he asked.

The look on Cal’s face was answer enough.

“You do,” J.C. concluded. “Any idea what’s going on with her?”

“No, but you’re the second person today who’s expressed real concern about her. What did she tell you?” Cal asked, then instantly waved off the question. “Sorry, I know you can’t say anything. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s okay. Actually, knowing that I’m not the only one who’s worried is reassuring. If enough adults are paying attention, hopefully we’ll figure this out and get things back on track. From everything I know, she’s a bright girl with great potential.”

“Laura Reed, Misty’s English teacher, is all over it,” Cal assured him. “I’m looking into a couple of things myself.”

“Good to know,” J.C. said, relieved. “Has anyone spoken to her parents?”

Cal shook his head. “Laura’s trying to dig a little deeper and figure out what’s going on before she stirs things up by going to either her parents or the principal. Want me to have her give you a call, let you know if she finds out anything?”

“Absolutely,” J.C. said. “And I’ll get back to you or to her, if I come up with any answers.”

Cal nodded. “I know living in a small town can have its drawbacks, but in situations like this, I see all the advantages. People genuinely care. They get involved. It’s a great environment for raising kids.”

J.C. grinned. “So there is a positive side to all that meddling, after all.”

Cal laughed. “That’s the way I see it, anyway.” He glanced at his watch. “I’d better get home. Maddie’s probably hit a wall and is ready for backup with handling the little kids’ baths by now, and then I have some sleuthing to do with my stepdaughter.”

“Good luck with that,” J.C. said sincerely. He knew better than most what it was like trying to get information from a teenager. From what he’d observed, they were better at protecting their sources than any experienced journalist had ever been.

* * *

Laura had been feeling restless ever since her talk with Cal and Nancy and her failure to track down Misty before school let out. Over time she’d found that the two best solutions for this kind of mood were ice cream or what she liked to think of as shopping therapy. And she had a coupon in her purse for Raylene Rollins’s boutique on Main Street that might satisfy at least one urge. If a shopping splurge didn’t pan out, Wharton’s was just across the town green and had the best hot-fudge sundaes around.

Inside the store, which was known for its smart fashions, she headed straight for the sale rack. On a teacher’s salary, full price was out of the question.

“Looking for something special?” Adelia Hernandez asked her as Laura checked out what was available in a size eight. “Or are you just browsing, hoping for a great deal?”

Laura grinned. “You know me too well, Adelia. I can’t resist a bargain, and I have a coupon from the paper burning a hole in my purse.”

“Then let’s find something to spend it on,” Adelia said eagerly. “A pretty date dress, maybe?”

Laura rolled her eyes. “I can’t even remember the last time I had a date that required anything fancier than jeans.”

Even though she’d been drawn to teaching in a small town much like the one she’d grown up in halfway across the country, she’d suspected the lack of social life would be one of the disadvantages. At the time, fresh out of college and still deeply scarred by her first great love back in high school and its disastrous outcome, having a social life hadn’t really mattered to her. These days, though, she was coming to regret the serious lack of available professional men. The men who asked her out, while perfectly nice, were, for the most part, not intellectually stimulating.

“You’re obviously looking in all the wrong places,” Adelia said, though even as she spoke, her expression turned rueful. “Not that I’d know. I only have one toe into the divorce process. Dating is way, way down the road, somewhere past never, for me.”

“I was sorry to hear about your marriage breaking up,” Laura said carefully, eager to change the subject but not sure if she was being too personal with a woman she knew only casually.

Adelia gave her a wry look. “But not surprised? I know everyone in town was aware that Ernesto was cheating on me, but they were all too polite to say anything.”

“I’m not sure there’s a good way to broach that particular subject,” Laura told her. “What do you say, ‘Hi, how are you? By the way I spotted your husband out with someone else last night.’”

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.”

“Katie’s friend Misty is in some kind of trouble. I’m trying to help one of her teachers put the pieces together. I thought maybe I could convince Katie to open up about whatever she knows. Those two kids spend a lot of time together. I’m sure Katie knows something.”

“But she’s not talking,” Maddie concluded. “Want me to give it a try?”

He shook his head. “Maybe later. Hopefully I planted enough seeds that Katie will start to worry about whether keeping silent is doing Misty any favors.”

“Do you have ideas about what might be going on?”

“I don’t think she’s anorexic or bulimic, which were my first concerns. From what Katie just said, she doesn’t think so, either. I think she would say something about that after Annie wound up hospitalized. That made a real impression on her, even if she was so young when it happened. And she saw it happening again with Carrie Rollins just a few months ago, before Carter and Raylene got married.”

“I agree. Katie would never let something like that slide. Annie’s near miss scared all of us,” Maddie said. “Which leaves what?”

“An unexpected bad grade, problems at home, boy troubles. It’s hard to say. At that age, everything turns into high drama, doesn’t it?” He sighed. “Remember when the toughest thing in a kid’s life was catching fireflies on a summer night?”

“Those were the sweetly innocent days,” Maddie confirmed, then added, “There are problems at home, by the way. I know because Misty’s mom dropped her spa membership the other day. She said she couldn’t afford any unnecessary expenses right now. Word around town is that her husband wants a divorce and she’s fighting it. I don’t know if that means money’s at the root of their problems, or whether she’s trying to sock away money in case of an eventual divorce or she needs it to pay an attorney.”

“I suppose that could explain it,” Cal said. He shook his head. “Somehow it doesn’t feel right, though. Most of the time when things like that are happening at home, school becomes a refuge. It’s the opposite with Misty.”

Maddie nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Besides,” Cal said, sorting through his thoughts, trying to get a handle on what might be happening, “a lot of people go through divorces. Would Katie feel a need to keep quiet about that, especially if the news is all over town already anyway?”

“Good point,” Maddie said. “That’s one of the reasons I love you. You’re so sensitive.” She kissed his cheek. “And smart.” The next kiss landed on his forehead. “And insightful.” The final, lingering kiss was on his lips.

Cal grinned, then gave her a slow once-over that brought a blush to her cheeks. “Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to seduce me, Mrs. Maddox?”

She gave him an innocent look. “And I thought I was being so subtle.” Her expression turned hopeful. “The little ones are down for the night. Katie’s locked in her room, either on the phone or hopefully doing homework and listening to her iPod. The timing seems excellent for a little alone time for you and me.”

Cal grinned. “Well, why didn’t you say so the minute you walked in here? We’ve already wasted a good fifteen minutes.”

“Talking to you is never a waste of time,” she replied. “It counts as foreplay.”

Cal laughed. “And that is why I love you.”

Marrying this woman, despite all the controversy it had stirred up all over town, was the smartest thing he’d ever done.

* * *

Misty had just finished her homework—all of it, even English and math—when Katie called.

“I just got the third degree from Cal,” Katie announced. “I think he was only minutes away from using torture to get the truth out of me.”

Misty’s breath caught in her throat. “The truth about what?”

“You skipping class,” Katie said impatiently. “What else? I told you it wasn’t going to stay a secret for long.”

“Who’d he hear it from?”

“Ms. Reed, of course. Like you said, Mr. Jamison is clueless. At least Cal never mentioned him.”

Panic immediately set in. “What am I going to do now?”

“Go to class, for starters,” Katie said as if it would be a breeze to walk in and face down Annabelle after all the nasty innuendoes she’d posted online and the sly little threats she’d muttered whenever she and Misty crossed paths. “I’ll be there, too. If Annabelle so much as looks at you cross-eyed, we can punch her lights out.”

Despite her dismay, Misty managed a faint chuckle. “Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.”

“I’m telling you, we could do it,” Katie said. “Ty’s taught me a couple of self-defense moves. He said I might need ’em if some guy gets out of line when I’m on a date. Taking Annabelle down would be a piece of cake. I’ve seen her in gym class. She’s a wuss.”

“I’m not sure getting kicked out of school for fighting would be much better than getting kicked out for skipping class,” Misty told her. “And you can’t afford to get suspended again at all.”

“If we told the truth about why we did it, I’ll bet it would be okay,” Katie said.

“But then even more people would find out what Annabelle is saying about me,” Misty protested.

“The kids at school already know,” Katie reminded her. “It’s online, Misty, remember? Everyone who knows you knows not a word of it is true.”

Misty heaved a sigh. “I know, but there are plenty of kids who believe her filthy lies. I hear them whispering behind my back when they see me. Why do you think I stay out of the cafeteria? Walking in there just gives them a chance to spout all that stuff right to my face. At least in my classes there’s a teacher around. That usually shuts them up, except for Annabelle, anyway. She doesn’t care who’s around. I wish just once Ms. Reed or Mr. Jamison had heard what she said to me.”

“I’ve heard her,” Katie said. “So have some other kids. We’d all back you up if you told someone.”

Misty thought about it. Heck, she’d thought about little else since the school year had started and Greg had asked her out that first time. That’s when the online posts had started, as well. It hadn’t been a coincidence. Katie was right about that.

But even though she knew she needed help, she couldn’t bring herself to ask for it. It would be humiliating if her teachers, especially the ones she really admired, like Ms. Reed, found out what Annabelle was saying about her. They’d think she was some degenerate sex maniac or something. If she’d done even a tenth of the things Annabelle had posted online about her, she’d have probably been knocked up by now. It was disgusting.

And then there was no question her mom and dad would find out. Things were bad enough between them as it was. She didn’t want them fighting over her and maybe even believing those awful lies. She could hear her dad blaming her mother for allowing her to become some trashy kid with no morals. God, it was a nightmare. Her whole life was a nightmare.

“I gotta go,” she told Katie. “I think my mom’s calling me.”

“No, she’s not,” Katie said knowingly. “You just don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“No, I don’t,” Misty said candidly.

“Then we’ll talk about something else,” Katie said at once. “Want to see a movie this weekend?”