The Homecoming

And she loved it.

Iris hadn’t known when she was in high school that this was the perfect direction for her, but then her counselor was John Garvey, who had not done one thing to help her discover her aptitude. At the time, neither Iris nor her mother had any idea what Garvey should have been doing with her—a student who’d not only graduated with honors but had done some serious damage to an SAT. Fortunately, Iris had had better guidance at the university and really took to social work. So began her driving need to get her master’s degree and return to her high school as a guidance counselor and do for the kids and teachers what John Garvey had not. Since she’d been at Thunder Point High they’d instituted a no-tolerance drug-and-alcohol program and a zero-tolerance-for-bullying program. And while it hadn’t exactly been an issue, there was also a no-tolerance-for-cheating program in place now. Three absolutely necessary and useful programs that Garvey had neglected if not ignored.

Her desk was awash in paper she’d been struggling to control for hours when Troy Headly gave a light tap on her open door and stuck his head in. “Hey,” he said. “Got a minute?”

She put her pen down and smiled at him. “Are you here on business?”

He didn’t smile, which was very unusual for Troy. Often his visits to her office had more to do with flirting, since they’d been a couple for a while last spring and she’d broken it off, to his extreme displeasure. Troy was a great guy, a lovely man, but it just wasn’t working for her. Troy had been looking for another try ever since. He fully expected her to come around and admit they were right for each other.

“Can I close the door?” he asked.

“Business, then,” she said.

He sat in the chair that faced her desk. “How well do you know Rachel Delaney?”

She shrugged. “I know her a little. She’s never been referred to me. I went to school with her mother.” She grinned. “Back in the day they called her mother Sassy. She was the most popular girl in the senior class.”

“I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Troy said.

“Sassy was kind of mean.”

“Rachel seems to be enjoying similar popular status, though she’s a junior this year. Beautiful girl and I’ve never seen her be mean. She’s very sweet. Know anything about her family? Home life?”

Iris folded her hands on top of her pile of papers. “Where’s this going?”

“Maybe nowhere. Just that I have this hunch...it’s possible she’s being abused.”

“In what way? What gave you your hunch?”

“Either she’s one of the klutziest girls in her class or someone’s knocking her around. A few weeks ago, I noticed some bruising on her neck and shoulder and asked her what happened. She said she got tackled playing football on the weekend. A few weeks later she claimed to have taken a volleyball in the face, causing her black eye. Since then she’s wearing lots of sweaters and high necks.”

“It’s getting cold,” Iris said.

“Yeah, I know. I touched her arm yesterday to stop her from leaving class so I could give her back her paper, which was very well done and I wanted to praise her. But she winced and jerked away. I asked her if anything was wrong and she said she was sore from a big workout. She was very nervous and not too convincing.”

“Do you have any experience with this sort of thing?” Iris asked.

“I have some experience at how people cover it up. When I was growing up our neighbor was physically abusive to his family. He was such a smooth-talking bastard, all smiles, always had the best of everything. Except his wife and kids had no freedom of movement and everything had to be perfect. The wife and mom—she couldn’t even visit at our house for a cup of coffee. My mother kept saying it was all wrong, my dad kept saying she had a wild imagination and should mind her own business. Then one day the police came. The oldest girl was taken away in the ambulance, the rest of them were bruised and shaken up and he was arrested. It had been going on a long time, we learned. My mother could tell. My father wanted her to leave it alone. That’s it,” he said. “That’s all I’ve got. Could be she’s really clumsy or maybe her father is hitting her.”

“Actually, her father isn’t in the picture just now. She, her mom and two younger brothers are living with her mom’s sister and brother-in-law and their kids. It’s very crowded and it’s not a big house. I suppose that could be an issue, but Sassy and her sister were always close. And if you knew Sassy—she wasn’t one to take any crap. From anyone.”

“Is there anything you can do about this?”

“Uh-huh. There’s lots I can do. I can give the PE teacher a heads-up to let me know if Rachel has signs of problems that include injuries. I can talk to her teachers from last year and ask if they had concerns about her. I can check for absences or illnesses, look over her grades, watch her movements around campus. If someone is hitting her or otherwise hurting her, there will be other signs. And then, of course, I can talk to her.”

“She’s a good student,” Troy said. “And she’s not isolated. Batterers usually isolate their punching bags. Rachel is popular and has quite a posse.”

Iris grinned at him. “Why don’t you get your master’s and work with me? You have such good instincts about this sort of thing.”

“Why would I want to go back to school when I can surf and ski and dive on my time off?”

That was Troy, Iris thought. The fun guy. Active, busy, always on the move, dive trips to faraway waters, ski trips to exotic runs, very athletic and every sport was extreme and on the edge. It was one of the things she had enjoyed about him even if she didn’t share his kind of fun—he was untamed. Adventurous. He was a little younger than Iris—just turned thirty. And he was an exceptional history teacher.

“You can leave this in my hands,” she assured him. “If you think of anything more, let me know.”

Four

Seth hadn’t expected his return to Thunder Point to mean he’d spend so much time with his mother, but he visited her several times a week. He had planned to spend more time with both parents, gradually wearing down Norm’s orneriness. Every week or ten days he’d wrangle an invitation to dinner. “Don’t mention to Pop that I’m coming or he’ll find a reason he’s needed at the station,” he told his mother.

“Oh, I think I know your father by now,” she said. And Seth could see by the look on Norm’s face that he was always surprised to see his youngest son present.

While Seth wasn’t making much progress with his father, something he hadn’t intended at all was showing on his mother. She was growing stronger, more confident and happier because he came around so much. He brought flowers or sweets sometimes. He happily ate her leftovers for his lunch—pot roast and potatoes, chicken, stuffing and gravy, meat loaf, lasagna—all the calorie-rich meals he grew up on. He worked out a lot so he needed those calories. Norm was cursed to be skinny but strong as an ox while Gwen grew ever rounder and softer, her exercise coming from housework and cooking. But her cheeks were definitely rosier, her eyes sparkled again.

The sparkle had left Gwen’s eyes for the first time when he’d been in that accident and lay in a hospital in Seattle, fighting for life, fighting for his leg. And then again some years later when her next-door neighbor and best friend, Rose, died. Gwen was strong—she had carried on. But it was apparent that having Seth home, obviously trying to reconnect with the father who had once been so proud of him, was filling her well.

While he was there for lunch she chattered about her mah-jongg group, shopping, his brothers, Nick and Boomer, and the grandkids. She asked about his business in town—she wanted to know all about the problems he encountered from warning drivers to slow down to the occasional arrest. She scurried, making him comfortable and feeding him. When she finally sat with him she didn’t eat; she just gazed at him and listened to every word he could get in between swallows.

“Do you see Iris?” she asked.

He nodded and wolfed down more of his meat loaf sandwich. “I run into her sometimes. You probably see her more than I do.”

“During school she seems to be busy all the time.”

“That’s understandable,” he said.

“I could have her to dinner! You could come!”

He put down his sandwich. “Let’s not do that, Mom.”

“But Seth, have you spent any time with Iris?”

“Sure. A couple of weeks ago I wrapped up my run at Cooper’s place and had a beer and pizza with Iris and Grace. We caught up on a lot of old stories. But if it’s all the same to you, I don’t want you to set me up.”

“But Seth, you and Iris were always so close and I—”

“Mom, no matter who the girl is, if I’m going to date someone I don’t want to be hooked up by my mother!” He narrowed his eyes a little bit. “Do you understand this?”

“Well, of course!”

“And you swear—no funny business?”

“Humph. I suppose.”

“Behave or I’ll stop buying you flowers.”

“Seth...”

He took another bite of his sandwich. “I have wondered—who’s cutting her grass? I’ve been away a long time,” he said.

“This or that high school boy sometimes, but mostly she takes care of her yard herself. You should see that house, Seth. All she’s done inside since Rose passed—she turned it into a showplace. It was always a nice house, but Iris really made it modern and beautiful.” Then, with a hand cupping her mouth, she continued as if imparting a secret. “I think selling the flower shop gave her a little nest egg.”

Seth laughed at his mother. It was Thunder Point at its best—everyone knew everything about everyone, right down to who they were dating and how much there might be in their nest egg. Plus, his mother really wanted him to see the inside of that house.

* * *

There were high school football games every Tuesday and Friday night and when they were home games, like tonight, Seth was absolutely certain to be there. Since he was still fairly new on the job, he wore his uniform. There were two deputies on duty plus school security, but being uniformed was all part of the town recognizing him as the law. A few more weeks and he’d be at the high-profile sporting events in civilian clothes, just as Mac had done the past few years. And with a gun on his ankle and a cell phone in his pocket, he’d be as much at the call of his staff in need of a supervisor as any other time.

Seth didn’t wander around in the stands but stayed at the end of the bleachers, on the track. From that position he had a view of the stands, the field, the parking lot, the concession area. Football was one of the town’s priorities and most of the town was there. As people passed him they said, “Hey, Seth.” Some stopped to talk a minute, shaking his hand. He saw some familiar faces—Mac, Gina and Mac’s younger kids gave him a wave; the coach’s wife, Devon, and their kids, Austin and Mercy, were right behind them. Predictably, there were a few guys he’d played ball with in high school, but it wasn’t the first time he’d seen them—the ice had been broken before he took over the substation.

He saw Iris climbing up a bleacher aisle to a higher perch. She was followed by Troy and Grace. She looked over her shoulder and laughed at something and it made him smile. That might be the thing he missed most—her wit, her unrestrained laugh. When she forgot she was mad at him, she laughed like old times, like that night they had pizza on Cooper’s deck.

“Hi,” a voice said.

He turned and, standing right there, a few inches shorter than him, smiling kind of wistfully, was Sassy. Um, Sue Marie. He smiled at her. He forced himself not to think about a gaping hole in her mouth from a missing tooth.

“I have a feeling we got off on the wrong foot,” she said.

“You still come to all these games?” he asked, because surely she wouldn’t know that he’d be here. He didn’t even live around here.

“I didn’t for years, but my daughter is cheering.” She pointed over to the line of varsity cheerleaders in their short skirts. “Rachel, third from the end.”

Whew, Seth thought. Little glass of wine before the game, Sassy? Her breath smelled like a winery.

“She looks just like you,” he said. “Hard to believe you have a daughter that old. You still look sixteen.”

“Aw. You’re just flattering me. That’s what I remember best about you—you’ve always been such a gentleman. Why don’t we try this again, Seth. Let’s get together for a drink or something. Have a few laughs. We can talk about old times.”

He gave her a very patient smile. “Tell you what, Sassy. I think we’d be better leaving the past where it is.”

“Come on,” she said. “We had a few problems. We were kids....”

He shook his head. “We’ve moved on from high school and I won’t hold a grudge if you won’t. But if we talk about old times, we won’t be laughing. I’m sure I’ll see you around town.”

“That’s a no, then?”

“Not that I don’t appreciate the invitation,” he said.

“I guess you’re seeing someone,” she said.

“Well, not exactly, Sassy, but I—”

“Sue Marie!”

“Sorry,” he said with a chuckle. “You were pretty sassy back then. No, I’m not involved with anyone at the moment. We’ve already tried this and it didn’t work then. I doubt it will work out now.”

“Did it ever occur to you that I might want to make amends?”

He looked at her with patience. Or maybe it was tolerance. “I believe we’ve already done that, too.”

“Oh! I take back what I said about you being a gentleman!”

They weren’t going to talk about the elephant standing right between them, he thought. They dated, she cheated, they made up, dated some more, she cheated some more. And she had married one of the guys she’d cheated with—Robbie Delaney. Robbie, who had once been Seth’s close friend and teammate, though they’d been competitive. He hadn’t known, until coming home, that Robbie had won.

And Seth had dodged a bullet.

“I apologize if I was rude in any way, Sue. Thank you for the invitation. I’m afraid I have to decline the offer. I do wish you the best in everything. Really.”

Against all good sense, she reached out and gave his biceps a gentle stroke. “I guess I’ll have to be patient. It will take time for you to realize I’m just not the same girl.”

He stopped himself from saying, I think we’ve done that before, too. Instead he said, “I guess none of us are the same. A lot of stuff happened between then and now.”

She flashed him a brilliant smile and then turned away. Those jeans of hers couldn’t possibly have gotten any tighter. And he wondered if she found boots with platform soles and four-inch spike heels inconvenient on the dirt track or in the bleachers, but so far she was maneuvering very well.

He turned to look up at where he’d last seen Iris and met her eyes instantly. She’d been watching. She didn’t look very happy. And he smiled.

* * *

This was the problem with never getting over what you were determined to get over. Iris saw Sassy approach Seth and her brain went into rewind, remembering every detail of her senior year. Sassy in her short skirt with her pom-poms, her blond hair flouncing, her blue eyes shining at every male within a twenty-mile radius, her big straddle jumps that showed off her itty-bitty panties. Sassy had been a cheerleader since about the sixth grade while Iris couldn’t even dance, much less leap into the air. She’d probably kill herself trying.

“God, are you into him?” Troy asked.

“What?” she replied, turning to look at Troy.

“The new deputy. He seems to have your complete attention. Crush time?”

“No! I grew up next door to him, you know that. I’ve known him all my life! We’re barely even friends now—just acquaintances. We’ve hardly seen each other in years. But that woman is Rachel’s mother.”

Troy squinted toward the track where Seth stood and watched as Sue departed. “Looks like she could be Rachel’s sister.”

“She’s our age. Up close you can tell she’s not a teenager. Even if she dresses like one. Apparently she’s into him—Seth.”

“You were watching her?” Troy asked.

“Shh,” she warned. “Let’s not talk about this in a public place.”

Of course she’d been watching Seth, but Iris had managed to remain circumspect until she’d seen Sassy saunter over to him. And even though they were quite far away, it looked as if she’d stared up at him with adoring eyes as he’d looked down at her with a sweet smile. And then she’d affectionately rubbed his muscled arm. I’ve been here before, she thought dismally. And she wasn’t entirely surprised to note that it bothered her just as much.

It was another win for Thunder Point and when the game was over, Iris, Troy and Grace headed out of the stands. “Let’s get something to eat,” Troy said.

“You had two hot dogs!” Iris reminded him.

“I’m a growing boy and you girls are starving, I can tell.”

“I’m getting out of here,” Grace informed them. “Saturday is a work day for me. I have a wedding tomorrow—I’ll be up to my eyeballs in flowers by nine and the wedding is in Coos Bay. See you later.”

Grace bolted for the parking lot but Iris and Troy were sidetracked by students and teachers who stopped to say hello and talk about the game a little. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Seth walking away from the field and noted that he didn’t have much of a limp. She frowned. Maybe he wore that lift in regular shoes but not in his running shoes? Then he keyed his radio and jogged away toward the parking lot.

“Come on, Iris, let’s get something to eat. How about pizza?” Troy said.

“Do you know what that place is going to be like after the game? It’ll be all night before we get one.”

“I’ll take you to Cliff’s. We’ll get something light—oysters or crab cakes or something. Come on.”

She stopped dead in her tracks. Seth and one of the other deputies had a trio of boys with their hands braced against the police SUV. Seth was on his phone while the deputy was patting them down. “Are those our boys?” she asked.

Troy squinted toward them. “I don’t recognize anyone. Maybe there was some trouble from the other school.”

Iris strode purposefully toward the scene and when she got closer she nearly bumped into the assistant principal, also checking this out. “What’s going on, Phil?”

“Just a little scuffle,” he said. “Except two of those boys are from Canton and one of them is ours. Looks like two on one.”

“What’s going to happen to them?”

“Seth is taking the two Canton boys to his office, Charlie will bring in our boy. They’ll sort it out from there.”

“But if our boy wasn’t doing anything wrong...”

“If he wasn’t, and I think he wasn’t, then he’ll make out fine.” He nodded. “I’m sure Seth and Charlie know what they’re doing.”

“I’m sure,” she said. But she watched while the boys were loaded into two different Sheriff’s Department SUVs. She had great math skills—that would leave only the high school security guard at the stadium while it was being emptied of football players, cheerleaders, band members and fans, and one on-duty deputy to keep an eye on the town tonight. But then, Seth wouldn’t leave Thunder Point until he was comfortable that everything was under control.

She turned and bumped right into Troy. “Oops, sorry. I think maybe you’re right—we should get a pizza.”

“We could be standing around for a long time,” he said. “Unless you want to drive over to Bandon...”

“No, I thought maybe it would be a good idea to hang around Thunder Point tonight in case there are other kids from Canton who aren’t happy about the results of the game.”

He smiled, shook his head and chuckled. “What are you going to do, Iris? Bust up fights?”

“Hey, you’ve never seen my right hook.”

“A testament to my good manners. I’ll meet you over there.”

* * *

There had been no trouble in town after the game, but hanging around the pizza place made for a late night. Troy was a very popular history teacher—and surfer, skier, scuba diver, white-water kayaker—a young legend with some of the students with similar interests. He tended to draw teenagers like a magnet. Iris was popular in her own right. Though her title was guidance counselor, she liked to think of herself as a social worker assigned to a high school. The result of Troy and Iris hanging out in town after a big game was typical—they were surrounded by a crowd. Everyone wanted to know who was being taken away in the police cars, or wanted to talk about the game, or wanted to gossip about teachers, students, townsfolk. And of course the girls always questioned Iris. “Are you dating Mr. Headly? He’s so hot.”

The evening even ended in a fairly typical way, with Troy following her home and jumping out of his car to catch her before she got inside her house. He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. “The whole high school wants us to be dating again.”

“They don’t know we were dating before,” she reminded him. They had mutually decided it wasn’t a good policy unless they were serious. If they turned serious the staff at least deserved full disclosure.

Troy had been serious. Iris had decided, after giving it a great deal of thought, that they weren’t really right for each other. Not that there was a single thing wrong with Troy. For her, there just weren’t any bells.

“Kiss me good-night and see if you suddenly change your mind,” he begged.

She laughed and touched his lips with a finger. “You’re just about my favorite teacher in the world. There’s not another at the high school I have more respect for. And you’re fun! I want to hang out, do fun stuff, be your friend, but that’s all I’ve got. Troy, if you don’t hear me on this, then we can’t even be friends.”

“I think you could be making a big mistake here, Iris,” he said. “You could be giving up the best thing that ever happened to you!”

“Oh, you could be right. But I have to go with my instincts here. Are we on the same page or do I have to stop walking to class with you?”

“Whatever,” he said, backing off. “Really, I think I’d rather you hate me than find me so appealing in all areas but one.”

“There’s no but,” she said. “I think you’re wonderful in all areas. But I don’t think we have a future together because I’m not in love with you. I think you’ll eventually find someone more suited to you and agree. Someone who makes your whistles go off in a huge way. But not if you keep looking at me and neglect keeping your eyes open for the one who’s really right for you.”

“You’re just about out of time,” he warned. “Pretty soon I’m going to get sick of trying.”

She gave him a brief, sisterly kiss on his cheek. “I love you in every way except the right one. The one you’re looking for. Besides, if I took you as my chosen one, it would break the hearts of countless high school girls.”

“And of course I take great consolation in that!” he said with heavy sarcasm. “You’re going to regret letting me get away.”

In fact, she knew she might. It kept her awake very late into the night. They’d known each other for about a year when he’d asked her to go mountain hiking in late spring. They’d gone river kayaking in the summer. They’d also taken in movies, eaten pizza and popcorn, sat on the beach for quite a few sunsets. And they’d made love. Yes, they’d tumbled into bed after the third or fourth date and it was good. Very satisfying and completely five-star. But it hadn’t done to her heart what she’d been looking for, what she’d been needing. She’d had several long talks with herself about being ridiculous—there was nothing about being with Troy that put her off or sent up a red flag. But there was also nothing that made her chest expand and brain completely lose focus. She didn’t think about him constantly, didn’t want to phone him at three in the morning, didn’t miss him horribly when he went on his rafting or scuba trips. She could marry him and probably be 75 percent content.

But if she could see a life as 75 percent happy with a man before she even met him at the altar, what were the odds of them having a successful family life together? Shouldn’t she be at least 100 percent first? Then maybe after marriage and all its familiarity and struggle and predictable disharmony from time to time, 75 percent would look pretty good....