Page 100 of The Sebastian Guarantee
“You were the principal?” Phoebe asked Clem.
“My wife was the principal,” the man answered and beamed at Amaryllis.
Phoebe felt her cheeks heat. “I’m sorry. I made an assumption—a clearly knobheaded assumption.”
Amaryllis tossed her a wink. “We’ve got to keep on keeping on when it comes to advancing women into positions of power. I’ll admit, it was harder back in my day. But even after all these years, women still have a way to go.”
“I agree,” Phoebe said, feeling the warmth in her cheeks dial down a few degrees.
“Amaryllis and I got to Stratlin when we were newlyweds, barely twenty-three years old. We served the Stratlin community in that very building across the street for nearly seventy years,” Clem added and pointed out the window toward the school.
Phoebe stared at the building. It was strange and oddly enchanting to think of her mother as a girl. “You both remember my mother?”
“We might look a touch past our expiration dates on the outside, but we’re sharp as tacks up top,” Clem replied with a sly grin as he tapped his head.
“What brings you to Stratlin?” Amaryllis asked.
“She’s got a lot on her mind, Mr. and Mrs. Wagner,” Val chimed. “Trouble with a boy and worried about work.”
Phoebe opened and closed her mouth as she tried to think of something that didn’t make her sound like a hot flaming mess. But nothing came to mind. “That’s the truth,” she conceded with a weak grin.
Amaryllis nodded. “Sounds like you’ve found yourself at a crossroads and you’re stuck deciding what to do.”
“How about we get your mind off your troubles for a bit? Come on over to the high school with us. We’ll show you around,” Clem proposed.
Phoebe waved him off. “I would hate to take up your time.”
“You’d be doing us a real favor.” Clem offered her his hand and helped her out of the booth. “We love having a reason to stop in.”
“And you can see where your mama discovered her love of computers and coding,” Amaryllis added.
“I thought she got into coding when she was in college?” Phoebe replied, hardly able to believe she’d stumbled upon this couple. She slipped a bill from her tote and left it next to the coffee mug.
“Oh no, she was coding in high school, and she was a big part of helping the teachers raise funds for the Stratlin High computer lab. It’s still going strong today.”
Phoebe stared at the school as they left the diner. “I had no idea.”
“Oh, yes, Melanie was one of the brightest kids to come out of Stratlin,” Amaryllis asserted as they crossed the street. “Back in high school, during this time of year, she and four of her teachers would set up down the block in the town square. She’d haul her granny’s grill through town and cook up hot dogs and sell chocolate chip cookies to earn extra money for the school. I believe it was Melanie’s idea.”
“It was my mom’s idea to sell hot dogs and chocolate chip cookies?” Phoebe repeated.
“Yes, ma’am,” Clem replied. “I think there was a year in there that she added pizza to the mix.”
Amaryllis chuckled. “That’s right. She did. Melanie was always thinking up something. That mother of yours had a mind like no other.”
Phoebe glanced down the block, imagining her mother serving up hot dogs and selling cookies. “That’s amazing.”
“What’s amazing, Phoebe?” Clem asked.
“Hot dogs, cookies, and pizza are my favorites, too.”
“You should probably get in a vegetable every now and then, but you look like you’re doing okay,” Amaryllis replied with a cheeky grin.
“My uncle would agree—my father’s brother. He and my aunt raised me. He’s a pretty big health nut, but I wore him down as a kid.”
“Tenacious like your mom,” the woman tossed out.
The couple’s words were like a salve to her broken heart.
