She spent the morning vacuuming, dusting and cleaning closets. Ted kept his house picked up and somewhat organized but, like most men, he didn’t do much deep cleaning. She felt she was making some real headway with that, but she had to break away to fix lunch.

Once she was back in the kitchen, she decided to serve him a grilled panini sandwich with sliced fruit on the side.

It didn’t take her long to prepare it. She tried to deliver his lunch and leave without his noticing so she could return to her music and her war on dirt. But he stopped her just as she was about to shut the door and said he wanted to go over some clerical work he needed her to do.

“Sure. I’ll give it my best,” she said and transferred his meal tray to the coffee table so she could sit down.

He took half his sandwich and came over. “You know how to boot up a computer, right?”

She gave him a look that said she wasn’t an idiot and turned on the laptop. He ate as it went through its paces but he didn’t say anything. He grabbed the rest of his sandwich while she searched for the Excel document he asked her to locate.

“This is delicious,” he said.

She didn’t look up. “Glad you’re enjoying it. You should tell me when you like one meal more than another so I can make a list of your favorites.”

“So far, the salad and sandwich have been perfect. Maybe you could try some sort of pasta tomorrow.”

“I can do that.”

She managed to open the document he wanted, but she’d never worked in Excel, didn’t know the first thing about it, so the nerves she’d experienced during her typing test began to reassert themselves.

“This won’t be as hard as it looks.” His voice was encouraging; he could tell she was a bit overwhelmed.

He brought over a thick stack of paper slips and explained that these were from people who’d signed up to be on his mailing list at the state fair and various other events. He wanted her to add them to an Excel spreadsheet so he could send out a newsletter.

“I’m just inputting names and email addresses?” she asked.

“That’s it. Data entry. Be careful not to type the name or email address incorrectly, though.”

She didn’t think that would be a problem, as long as she could read the handwriting. She’d double-check each one. “What column should I put the names in?”

“I’m about to show you.” He helped her format the page. She could smell his cologne, even feel the warmth of his body as he bent over her and used the mouse to demonstrate how to title the columns and widen them when necessary.

Fortunately, he was right. It took only a few clicks to get her going. Then the work was tedious and repetitive but easy.

As soon as she was sure she had the hang of it, she put a rubber band around the slips and started to close down the computer.

He’d gone back to his own desk by then, but turned when he heard the squeak of her chair. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I haven’t finished cleaning up from lunch. I thought I’d go do that and wrap up a few other things. But don’t worry. I’ll take this home with me so you’ll be able to send out your newsletter tomorrow.”

“There’s no need to work at home if you have time here. The cleaning’s not going anywhere.”

She felt she should at least put her sandwich in the fridge until she could eat it, but figured it would be okay for a while. With a nod, she opened the computer again and went back to work.

More than an hour passed with Ted sitting about eight feet away from her. She’d glance up every once in a while, thinking about how handsome he was and how different her life would’ve been if he’d been Alexa’s father—and then she’d catch herself. There was no guarantee they would’ve had a child or even gotten married. And she couldn’t change the decisions she’d made. She had to live with the results, especially now that he was seeing Eve. Eve seemed to be everything a man could want. Why would he walk away from her?

At two, Sophia began to watch the clock. Alexa would get out of school in an hour. Then, hopefully, she could breathe easier where her daughter was concerned. But it was only five minutes later that her phone rang.

Caller ID indicated it was the school.

She didn’t want to disturb Ted while he was writing. He’d already looked back at the noise. So she answered softly as she let herself out of the room.

“Hello?” Anxiety roiled in her stomach but she tried to sound like her usual self.

“Mrs. DeBussi?”

“Yes?”

“This is Mrs. Vaughn, the principal at Whiskey Creek Middle School. I’m afraid we need you to pick up your daughter as soon as possible.”

The nails of her free hand curved into her palm. “Why? She’s okay, isn’t she?”

“Physically she’s fine. But she’s been suspended from school.”

“What?” When Alexa was part of her former group of friends, she’d had the tendency to socialize too much and not pay enough attention in class. On Back to School night in September, several teachers had commented on how much she talked. But Alexa had never done anything that had gotten her sent to the principal’s office.

“She attacked another girl in her fifth-period class,” Mrs. Vaughn explained. “You should see how badly she scratched her face.”

Sophia wanted to ask if Mrs. Vaughn had seen the damage to her own daughter’s face from yesterday but was still trying to get over the word attacked. She couldn’t imagine Alexa being the aggressor. “Who was it?”

“A student who’s only been in the area a couple of years. Her name is Connie Ruesch.”

Maybe Connie hadn’t been in the area long, but from what Sophia had heard, she’d been causing trouble since the day she moved in. “That’s the girl who jumped Alexa yesterday after school,” she said. “Lex was walking to the corner where I pick her up when it happened. So...are you sure she’s the one who started the fight?”

“According to witnesses, this was an unprovoked attack.”

“Connie hit her several times yesterday. That hardly makes it unprovoked!”

“Whatever happened yesterday happened off school grounds. There’s nothing I can do about it, even if events unfolded exactly as your daughter claims.”

The skepticism in Mrs. Vaughn’s voice really bothered Sophia. “Claims? You doubt her word? You think she’s lying?”

“I think she’d rather Connie be the one to get into trouble.”

“She’s not like that, not...conniving.”

“Trust me, I’ve seen it all.”

“But you know me, know her.”

“She’s well-loved. I applaud you for that, but no child is perfect. And I do not allow parents to rescue children from the consequences of their actions. That’s not how discipline works here at Whiskey Creek Middle School.”

Sophia pressed her fingertips to her forehead. “You mentioned witnesses.”

“Most of the class saw what happened.”

“Including the teacher?”

“The teacher had stepped out for a moment. But she saw what was going on when she returned and pulled Alexa off Connie. We have the accounts of several students to verify what occurred before that. Ella, a child I trust, was one of them.”

But Ella was part of the popular crowd, and she’d been among the girls snickering at Alexa that Sunday at Just Like Mom’s. “Was Babette in that room, too?”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t even have mentioned Ella’s name. We can’t give out that kind of information on someone else’s child.”

“What kind of information?”

“Private information.”

Sophia couldn’t help laughing. Mrs. Vaughn would’ve given her the entire class roster if she’d asked for it a month ago. The school had had no trouble coming to her when they were short of computers in the learning center. Or for the annual crab feed, when they’d needed an organizer and some large-ticket items for the live auction. Last year, she and Skip had donated a trip on their yacht.