Page 96 of Molly's Mr. Wrong
“And how did you see this ending?”
Molly blinked at her. “I guess I didn’t think about that.” Who thought about things ending when they were just beginning?
“So the relationship was just going to peter out?”
“Yes?”
“Did it?”
Molly wasn’t certain she liked this line of questioning, but Allie, being one of four sisters, was doing a pretty good job of sticking her nose into Molly’s business in a way that Molly almost felt as if she had to hear the answers—even if they came out of her own mouth.
“No.”
“Why do you think that is?” Allie set her chin on her folded hands, watching her carefully.
“Because I let it go too far,” Molly said automatically.
Allie nodded thoughtfully, as if she were a doctor making a diagnosis. “Just one more question,” she promised.
“Go ahead.” What did she have to lose?
“Why did you let it go too far?”
“Because Finn is hot and I have no willpower.”
“And that’s all?”
“You said only one more question.”
Allie smiled a little. “Well, maybe you can just think on that last one.”
* * *
THEMEETINGWITHthe Simons showed every sign of being more of the same. The Simons were there to protect their son and to secure punishments for those who had wronged him. Molly pretty much being the major wrongdoer of the day.
After smiling at both Simons and forcing them to shake hands by offering hers and hoping aloud that they were well, Molly took her seat and waited for beleaguered Dean Stewart to start the meeting.
The office door opened and Molly looked back to see one of her colleagues come in.
“This is Mr. Cortez,” the dean informed Mr. and Mrs. Simon.
Molly nodded a hello, taking care not to look too friendly, since Mrs. Simon was watching her carefully. She and Luis Cortez hadn’t spoken often, because he was almost as shy as she’d once been, but she’d covered his classes while he’d had the family emergency. Of all the faculty, she was glad he had done the grading. She trusted him to be fair.
“I’ve had Mr. Cortez review Jonas’s papers,” the dean explained, bringing the attention back to him. Mrs. Simon sat a little taller. “In fact, I had copies typed of two of his problem papers and had Mr. Cortez grade them blind and then compared his results to those of Ms. Adamson’s.”
He set four papers on his desk. “Mr. Cortez marked in blue. Ms. Adamson in red.”
Everyone leaned forward and it was all Molly could do not to smile. One grade was the same as hers and the other was two points lower.
Mrs. Simon sat back with an audible sniff. “Did Mr. Cortez know that Jonas is a high school student?”
“In this class he isn’t.”
The Simons didn’t like that pronouncement. “So,” Mr. Simon said slowly, as if he was in the process of making either a major realization or a major accusation, “you’re saying that Jonas is a B student.”
The guy appeared to be flabbergasted.
“It appears so,” Dean Stewart replied. “Given the evidence before us.”
