“You can’t bring that dog in here!” The young woman jumped up from her chair and moved behind it, using it as a barrier.

Denise glared at the girl and decided she hated her on sight. She was already annoyed at being called to the school in the middle of the day because Kimber had been sent to the principal’s office. She’d had to ask Emily to stay and call in one of the volunteers because she didn’t like leaving Emily by herself after Eddie’s threat. Finding Kimber sitting in the outer office still crying had pissed her off even more. She was feeling stabby and this twenty-something, teacher-Barbie chick had put herself at the top of the list with her comment.

“Actually, according to titles two and three of the Americans with Disabilities Act, I can.”

Sprocket, the dog in question, pawed at Denise’s foot and leaned against her. She knew Denise was agitated and was trying to distract her. Unfortunately, this wasn’t something she could be distracted from.

The man behind the desk stood and held out his hand. “Ms. Reynolds, of course there’s no issue with your service animal. I’m Mr. Silverman, the vice-principal. We didn’t get a chance to meet when you came in to speak to Dr. Petersen.”

Denise shook his hand, judging him by his soft and weak handshake. Blame it on too much time spent with people who knew the importance of establishing boundaries with the grip of a hand. She sat in the chair on the other side of his desk and Sprocket sprawled across her feet with her head pointed toward the door and Kimber.

“Why is my niece in the outer office crying?”

“Because she’s a snotty brat,” the young woman mumbled as she sat back down.

Denise white-knuckled the armrests of the chair to stay in it. “What did you say?” she asked through clenched teeth?

The girl crossed her arms. “Well, it’s true. I don’t care if her mom did just die.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Denise looked at the vice-principal and pointed at the woman. “Who the fuck is she?”

“Ms. Reynolds, please watch your language.”

“Answer the question.” She wasn’t going to dignify his request with a response. If she didn’t start getting answers soon, she was going to drop f-bombs like she was carpet-bombing a Taliban stronghold in the Hindu Kush.

Mr. Silverman sighed. “This is Miss Neville, one of our elementary teachers.”

“You let her teach children?”

“I’m a very good teacher,” she said.

“Really?” Denise asked. “You think calling a student a brat makes you a good teacher? Call my niece names again, little girl, and I will end you. I will make it my personal mission to make your life a living hell. Are we clear?”

Sprocket whined and mouthed her ankle.

“Ms. Reynolds,” the vice-principal said. “Please.”

Denise looked back at him. “What. Happened?”

“Kimber was disrespectful to Ms. Neville during class,” he said.

“In what way?” That didn’t sound like Kimber at all.

“She argued with her in class.”

“About what?”

“A math problem.”

“A math problem?” She pursed her lips, tired of the politically correct game these people were trying to play. “Right. Get Kimber in here.”

“Ms. Reynolds—”

“Get her in here. Now. I’m not playing this game. Since you refuse to give me a straight answer and explain the situation fully, I’ll get it from her.”

Looking extremely put out, he picked up his phone and asked the secretary to send in Kimber.

She had absolutely zero fucks to give. All her effort was going toward not unleashing unholy hell-fury on these assholes. She turned in the chair and watched Kimber hesitate in the doorway, looking between the adults in the room.

Denise held out her hand. “Come here, Kimber.”

Kimber entered the office and stood beside her chair. Denise lifted her feet so Sprocket would move and pulled Kimber in front of her. “Tell me what happened in class today.”

Kimber turned her head toward the teacher, her eyes downcast.

Swear to all that is holy, if that teacher threatened her, I’m taking a baseball bat to her car.

She grasped Kimber’s chin and made her look at her. “Hey. Just you and me, okay? Tell me.”

“We were doing math worksheets and I finished mine really fast, so Miss Neville started writing problems on the board and I kept getting them right. She kept putting harder and harder ones up and I was doing them. Then she put a really hard one on the board and she said, ‘let’s see you get this one, Smarty Pants.’”

The woman scoffed and Denise cut her eyes toward her, daring her to open her mouth. She rolled her eyes and looked out the window.

Bitch.

“What happened then?” Denise asked.

“I got it right, but Miss Neville said I didn’t. But I did! I know I did!”

“Okay, calm down.” That was rich, coming from her. Oh well, those that can’t do… “Where did the arguing come in?”

“I tried to show her what she did wrong, but she told me I didn’t know what I was talking about because I’m just a kid. Then she sent me here and told Mr. Silverman I was d—d—disrespectful, but I wa—wasn’t!”

Kimber threw herself into Denise’s arms, crying almost hysterically. She’d always been sensitive and had never liked to be told she’d done something wrong. Being sent to the principal’s office probably felt like being told she had to go to jail.

Denise patted her back and made shushing noises while glaring at the vice-principal. He rubbed his chin and looked at Miss Neville, as if this was the first time he’d heard Kimber’s side of the story.

Dick.

She pulled Kimber away from her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “It’s going to be okay. I’m very proud of you for sticking up for yourself.”

Kimber hiccupped and stood upright. “Really?”

“Yes. Go wait outside.”

She sniffed and wiped her cheek. “Can I take Sprocket?”

Denise took a deep breath. She’s a child. You’re an adult. You can suck it up for five minutes. “Yes.”

Kimber bent and grasped Sprocket’s short lead, taking her out with her.

Waiting until Kimber was in the outer office, she turned back to the teacher. “Was she right?”

The woman cut her eyes to the side. “That’s not the point.”

Denise shut her eyes, stretched her neck, and counted to five while blowing out a breath. “So let me get this straight—you got intimidated and embarrassed by an eight-year-old and your ego couldn’t handle it. So instead of being a fucking adult about it, you abused your authority as her teacher to get her in trouble. That about it?”

She sulked and didn’t respond.

You cannot throat punch her. “Is there another class Kimber can go into until we transfer at the end of the semester?” she asked the vice-principal.

“That won’t be necessary. Miss Neville is a substitute and we won’t be using her services after this incident.”

“What?” Her outrage bordered on a shriek.

“Perhaps next time,” Denise said as she stood, “you’ll ask the student in trouble for their side of the story before deciding they should be punished. Just because someone is a child doesn’t automatically mean they’re lying any more than being an adult means someone is automatically telling the truth.”

She left the office and went to the secretary’s desk. “I’d like to pull Kaden out for the rest of the day. Can I go get him or does he need to be brought here?”

The older woman smiled. “I’ll call down to his class and ask his teacher to send him here.”

Sitting next to Kimber, she pulled out her phone and looked up the number her mom had sent her. Sprocket rose from her position on the floor and laid her head on her lap, looking up at her with her soulful eyes.

Denise closed her eyes while the phone rang and rubbed her dog’s ears. The familiar gesture helped calm her emotions and lower her blood pressure. She timed the movement of her hand and pace of her breathing to the ringing in her ear.

On the fifth ring, it picked up. “Yumi Morris. May I help you?”

“Hi, Mrs. Morris. This is Denise Reynolds, Karen Reynolds’s daughter?”

“Oh, yes! She said you might be calling. How are you?”

“I’m well, thank you.” Kimber was watching her, so she smiled to let her know everything was all right. “I’m calling to see if you have time to fit me in this afternoon to come by to discuss enrolling Kimber and Kaden. I know it’s very last minute, so I understand if today doesn’t work.”

“Hang on, let me see.”

Denise leaned over and kissed Kimber on the head while she waited for Yumi to come back on the line.

“You’re in luck, dear. I can move some things around if you can be here in the next thirty minutes.”

Kaden entered the office and made a beeline for the chair next to Kimber, throwing his arm around her shoulders when he sat.

“We’ll be there. Thank you so much.”

“You’re very welcome. I look forward to meeting you and your children.”

Her heart squeezed a little tighter. Not in the way it usually did that left an ache. More like a pulse of happiness. Her children.

She stared at her cell phone for a moment, then looked at K-Squared. “Let’s go on a field trip.”

* * *

“So, what did you think?” Denise asked as they walked out of the school toward the visitor parking lot.

Kimber skipped beside her. “It’s awesome, Aunt Denny! They have a math club!”

“You’re such a nerd,” Kaden said.

“You’re a geek,” Kimber replied. “I saw you jump when Ms. Morris mentioned the robots.”

“Robotics lab. Robots are cool.”

“So’s math.”

“Is not.”

“Is too.”

“Guys!” Denise said. “Quit fighting. You are both smart and cool.” Holy cow, how had Sarah handled this all the time? “I take it you both like the school.”

“Yes!” they said in unison.

“When can we go here?” Kimber asked.

“Well, that’s the thing,” Denise said as they reached her SUV. “The plan was to wait until next year after we move to Bree’s house during the summer. But if you guys want, we can see about moving sooner and you can transfer sooner.”

She opened the back door and Sprocket jumped in, sitting in the center of the seat. The kids climbed in and Kimber got bathed in doggie kisses as she shuffled to the far side.

“You’re letting us decide?” Kaden asked.

Denise leaned into the car. “Here’s the deal. This affects you two, not me. You’re the ones who have to move to a new house and change schools and leave all your friends behind. I want you to have a say in when we do it. I thought waiting until summer would be easier for you, but if you want to transfer now, I’ll make it happen.”

They looked at each other for a moment.

“I’ll miss my friends,” Kaden said. “But we’ll make new ones.”

“I’ll only miss Melody and she can always come over to play on the weekends.”

It was a lot to ask of them, to make a responsible decision like this, but she’d never had the option growing up. They’d just always moved. While they needed to move houses—and schools—she wanted them to feel like they were part of making the process happen instead of having the process happen to them.

“I really like this school,” Kimber whispered.

“Me, too.”

They looked at Denise. “Can we move tomorrow?” Kaden asked.

Denise laughed and ruffled his hair. “Not tomorrow, buddy. I need get you guys registered and make arrangements with Bree to move into her house. We can probably make it happen in a couple of weeks, though.”

“Okay.”

“Now that that’s settled, how about if we go bowling?”