“Friendships change a lot,” Iris said.

“Krista told me no matter what, try to be nice, even if it’s hard. Then she said that doesn’t mean you have to be best friends again. Can you believe the same thing happened to Krista? A while ago, but the same thing! Krista—the cheerleader and who was in the homecoming court? Isn’t that unbelievable?”

“I told you, Misty. It happens to absolutely everyone.” She smiled.

“Well, somehow it helped to know Stephanie was getting a little of her own medicine. I apologize for that, but it’s true.”

“We’re only human,” Iris said. “Um, don’t feel obligated to stay late.”

“Oh, I’m looking forward to it. Krista has the car today and is going to give me a ride home. My brother will take the bus from middle school. And, hey—it’s a long time before I get any kind of class schedule for next year, but can I work in this office again? As long as my grades are good?”

“I’d be honored. And I won’t hold you to it if it turns out there’s something else you need to do with that time.”

“The connections in this office are pretty amazing,” Misty said. “It even gets points with the teachers.”

Iris raised an eyebrow, curious. “Good to know I have power.”

It had only been a couple of months and Misty appeared to be finished grieving over being dumped by a best friend. Iris found herself thinking she wished she had been that strong at that age. Seth wasn’t the only best friend she’d lost along the way. There had been girlfriends here and there, as well. It was never easy, letting them go, carrying on alone. And she had been telling the truth—absolutely everyone goes through it and it’s heart-wrenching.

She was patting herself on the back for having done something right even though it had been such a shot in the dark. Decorating with the girls and a couple of their friends who didn’t work in the office turned out to be a major undertaking and Iris was running late. She’d had two calls from Seth and they’d settled on him cooking dinner at her house. She knew he wouldn’t go to too much trouble but was happy it was off her schedule.

She was finally cleaning up her desk at almost six o’clock. The school was quiet and dark except for the basketball practice coming to an end just down the hall.

“How dare you,” a voice said from the door. “How dare you accuse anyone of doing anything wrong!”

She recognized the voice immediately even though she’d never before heard Rachel speak so angrily. She stood slowly. “Rachel, what’s wrong?”

“We’re being investigated! My family, Brett’s family, even some of my friends. All this about someone’s hitting me? We talked about this. You’re crazy. No one is hitting me. No one is hurting me!”

“I’m not sure I’m clear on what’s happening, but if there’s nothing wrong, then nothing more will come of it.”

“But it was you! Don’t deny it!”

“There might be more than one person concerned that you’re safe,” Iris said calmly.

“No, there’s not more than one—it’s you. Why don’t you just mind your own business! I’m fine, I’m happy, I want to be left alone.”

“Rachel, if someone has raised a question, just go through the steps. Tell the truth and move on. Who’s investigating your family?”

“I don’t know—some stupid child welfare person. And I am not a child! I’m sixteen. I’m old enough to get married if I want to. You’re ruining my life! Now everyone is upset. My family is upset. Brett’s parents are furious. It’s just a mess.”

“Rachel, sit down a minute. Let’s talk about this.”

She laughed meanly. “The last thing I’m going to do is sit and talk to you again!”

“Look, stay calm. You know I was concerned about your injuries, but are you so sure I’m the only one?”

“Yes, I’m sure! It’s you!”

And with that she turned and left. Iris could hear her running down the hall.

Wow, Iris thought. The day after Thanksgiving break? After she’d talked to Connie at the DHS office, knowing how busy everyone was, she had not expected this case to be handled so quickly. In fact, Connie had predicted that it could be months if anything at all happened.

Unless there had been more than one report, more than one complaint. Troy would have told her and she knew of no one else. She looked at her watch. It was too late in the day to catch Connie at the DHS office.

Seventeen

The nice thing about the two weeks after Thanksgiving was that Grace wasn’t worked to death. Aside from a couple of funeral bouquets and a centerpiece, there wasn’t a huge demand on her time. There were very few weddings in December and this year she hadn’t contracted any of them. Of course, the two weeks before Christmas would be frantic preparing wreaths, centerpieces, festive bouquets and orders of all kinds from out of town.

She closed the shop a little early and drove out to Cooper’s. She thought about walking there, but after a day on her feet, designing and selling, enough was enough and she drove instead. She walked in the back door from the parking lot and jumped up on a bar stool.

Troy smiled at her. “What’s up?”

“Just checking in. I hope your Thanksgiving was good.”

“As a matter of fact, it was great.”

“How was skiing?”

“I didn’t go. The forecast wasn’t that great and I had a couple of friends in a little town in the mountains in California. I went down there and did a little hunting. Then drove back.”

“Aw, you missed Thanksgiving dinner?”

“No, I had a great Thanksgiving dinner. There’s a little bar in that town—I’m friendly with the owner and my friend works there part-time. They put out a big spread. I had a good time. How about you?”

“Well, I was planning to lie around in my pajamas all day but Carrie found out. I ended up at the McCains’ with their entire extended family.”

“I thought you were going to the Sileski family gathering.”

“I was invited,” she said. “So were you. But in the end the only people I really knew were Seth and Iris and I decided I’d really earned a long day of movies. Well, and the parade. I always watch the parade.”

He gave the bar a wipe. “Drink?”

“A merlot?” she asked.

He poured the wine and put it in front of her. “What will you do for Christmas?”

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I have friends in Portland and a standing invitation, but I don’t mind if I’m on my own. I kind of like it. What about you?”

“I’m committed to family. My mom and dad are in San Diego but my sister, her husband and three rug rats are in Morro Bay on the California coast. We’ll all go there.”

“That sounds fun. Big family?”

“A younger brother and sister. She’s married, he’s in college. How about you? Big family?”

“No, not really. I lost my parents and I have aunts, uncles and cousins scattered around the country. No sibs, but cousins who are like sibs. I’ve been so bad about keeping in touch since I bought the shop. My fault. I could make time. I should make time.”