Page 46 of Welcome to Forever
Chapter 12
Kat’s stomach turned at the mention of Mayor Flowers being on the other line.
“Thanks, Val. Put him through.” She plopped down in her black leather office chair and sucked in a deep breath. The mayor was just a person, a parent like any other. She’d simply explain that Seaside Elementary was cracking down on misbehavior this year, and no student was exempt.
“Principal Chandler.” The mayor’s voice was deep and smooth. She imagined him wearing the plastered smile that politicians wore as he sat behind his cherry desk, paid for by the good citizens of Seaside. “I hear we have a problem.”
She grabbed the stress ball from her desk drawer and squeezed. “We do, sir. But as I told Mr. Markus, two weeks and your daughter is free to go back to her normal after-school routine.”
“You see, Ms. Chandler…” the mayor began.
Kat noted that the “principal” title had been dropped.
“That’s the problem,” he said. “Kimberly has sports she has to attend to. She can’t be held behind with a bunch of, shall we say, less-than-honor-student children, to pick up litter and do gardening. I’m sure you can see why a man in my position couldn’t have that.”
Kat closed her eyes, squeezing the ball in her hand until pain seared through the divots in her knuckles. “When you enrolled Kimberly here, sir, you told me that you wanted her to be treated like everyone else.”
“And I do, Katherine.”
Now her last name had been dropped, too. Next, he’d be calling her Kat.
“How about I make a generous donation to support your little effort? The Friendship Club, is it? I’m sure you could use some monies to help the kids out. Does five hundred dollars sound sufficient?”
Kat’s mouth fell open and she dropped the ball on her desk, then she looked up as someone knocked on her door. The person behind it didn’t wait for her to reply. He just slipped in.
Micah.
She held up a finger, silently asking him to hold on. “That’s very generous of you, Mr. Mayor.” And part of her was doing the math. Five hundred dollars could buy new equipment. They could even build a greenhouse. And she’d always been interested in doing a recycling program at the school. She could start by having the after-school kids organize it.
The mayor chuckled. “Good. I’ll have my assistant—”
“But the answer is no. Sir, this club is making a difference in these kids’ lives, on school property and off. I know it is. And your daughter means too much to me as a principal to let her get away with treating others with disrespect. This is the period in her life when her moral code is being developed. The lessons she learns here, as a student at Seaside Elementary, will influence who she becomes as an adult. If she doesn’t serve her time in the club, she can’t play sports. That’s my decision.”
Kat locked eyes with Micah. The world was spinning and he was her focal point.
“I see.” The mayor cleared his throat, his tone of voice sharpening dramatically. She could no longer hear the plastic smile behind the receiver. “That’s a shame, Kat,” he said. “I was hoping we could work this out civilly.”
“I hope you understand.” A sick feeling crawled through her stomach as she listened.
“I do. I understand that you’re the youngest principal to ever work at one of the Seaside schools. There was a lot of talk about whether or not you were up for the job when you came on. Personally, I think it was the sympathy vote that got you into office. Everyone knows the story about you and your fiancé.”
Her throat tightened so much that her hand actually went to her neck to pull the loose fabric of her shirt away. “Maybe that’s true, Mayor Flowers. But hopefully it’ll be my professional achievements that keep me in this position.”
Micah took a step closer, his brows lowering with weighing concern.
“We’ll see,” the mayor said. “Have a good day, Katherine.” And with that, the line went dead.
With a shaky hand, she set the phone back in its cradle. For a long moment, she was afraid to move, afraid to talk, to look up and meet Micah’s dark eyes.
“Everything all right?” he asked, moving around to her chair. He reached out a finger and gently tipped her chin upward, forcing her to look at him.
With eyes burning, mostly out of anger, she shook her head. “I think…the mayor just threatened my job if I don’t let Kimberly off the hook.” Now her entire body was shaking.Damn it.
Micah pulled her into his chest, wrapping his strong arms around her. “You did the right thing,” he whispered.
And she knew he was right. Shehaddone the right thing. “But what if—”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said, as if he knew what she was going to ask. “Honor, courage, commitment. That’s what a Marine stands for. I’d say you just showed all three of those qualities.”
