Bayview Heights Trilogy (35 page)

“Yeah, isn’t it?” He sounded like a proud
father.

“It was a great idea.”

He stared at her unblinkingly. His eyes were
slate blue, rimmed with black. “I could have used the
Herald’s
support in trying to convince the voters to
approve the budget for it.”

Lacey’s whole body stiffened, and Seth wished
he hadn’t let the comment slip. She’d been relaxed, doing what she
obviously loved doing—running. He’d seen her covering miles around
town several times in the last few months. And of course, she’d
been a track star in high school years before he’d taken over the
team. There were a couple of trophies with her name on them in the
display case in the front of the school.

Finally she said, “I should have supported
it, I guess.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I had my reasons.”

“Mind telling me?”

Lacey shook her head, sending to the floor
the tie-thing that held her hair. Seth picked up the band. He ran
the silky material through his fingers. When he looked up, she’d
shaken her hair out. It fell in thick flaxen waves around her
shoulders.

He watched as she threaded her fingers
through the heavy mass and twisted it up in back. It was a
thoroughly feminine gesture that intrigued him. Then she held out
her hand for the tie. He gave it to her. Their fingers brushed. The
contact jolted him and he inched back, still holding the ice around
her ankle with one hand. He stared down.

That didn’t help. He focused on the ice pack.
But it wrapped a beautifully shaped ankle, attached to a sleek,
muscular calf, topped off by a long, lean thigh.

Oh, damn
, he thought as he felt his
body respond.
This is just what I need
.

To counteract the untenable reaction that had
shot through him, he said with as much edge in his voice as he
could muster, “Maybe you should try to concentrate on some of the
good things at Bayview High.”

“Maybe you should do more significant good
things.”

Their gazes locked. He broke the stalemate.
“I have a challenge for you.”

She arched an eyebrow.

“Come to the high school. Spend some time
there. See some of the good we’re doing.”

“Like?

“Like
ten
percent of the kids are
involved in some pretty unselfish holiday projects. Our first
meeting is Monday at three o’clock in the library. Watch them work.
See what they do. Report some of that on your School Page. Then I
can handle your propaganda.”

“My editorials are
not
propaganda.
They are thoughtful, intelligent attempts to keep the community
informed.”

“About the bad things at Bayview Heights High
School.”

Lacey drew in an angry breath. Before she
could comment, he leaned over, bracing his arms on the bench on
either side of her. “What do you say, Ace Reporter? Are you woman
enough to accept my challenge?”

ACE REPORTER? Had the man really thought that
was
funny
? But the challenge worked. She’d agreed to come
to the high school to see for herself what was going on. The
good
that was going on. Now, as she stepped through the
front doorway at two forty-five on Monday afternoon, she stopped
dead in her tracks.

Snow White—clearly a guy in drag—was trailed
by seven perfectly garbed dwarfs. A huge box of M&M’s followed.
A string of witches, vampires and werewolves—appropriately
scary—were right behind them.

As she stared at the figures heading for the
buses, Lacey remembered today was Halloween. When she’d been in
high school, kids never dressed up for the day. It wasn’t cool.
This was kind of nice, she thought as she made her way to the
library’s large meeting room. And healthy. She enjoyed the
menagerie in the halls all the way to the library.

Once inside the meeting room, she slipped
into a chair at the back, hoping to remain unnoticed. The costumes
here were just as vivid and inspired. Up front, a very realistic
Tin Man was trying to get the attention of the students. Sitting in
the first row were Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, Glinda the Good
Witch and a couple of munchkins.

“All right, you guys, listen The Tin Man
began to give directions for the task at hand. Lacey scanned the
room. Off to the side were the teachers. She smiled. Their
concession to Halloween was that each was wearing a special shirt
as a costume. One man wore a medical scrub tunic with a surgical
mask hanging down. Another teacher wore a Mickey Mouse top with big
black ears askew on her head.

Lacey’s gaze landed on Cassie Smith. She’d
chosen a huge football jersey that was snug across her bulging
middle. On the back it said, Smith-Lansing. Number 1. Seeing her
old friend, Lacey was swamped by memories—good ones—of this school
and the years she’d been a student here. Suddenly, a feeling of
discomfort assailed her at the tack her grandfather—and then Lacey
herself—had taken with the paper’s editorials about this place.

There was no sign of Seth Taylor.
Administrators were too busy to participate. When Lacey had been in
school, she remembered teachers heading up the activities and the
administration being pretty invisible except when discipline was
required.

Lacey focused back in on what the speaker was
saying. “As you all know, Ms. Spearman, the senior class vice
principal, is in charge of Christmas Good Deeds this year.” All the
kids clapped when a woman dressed in a cat shirt with cat ears
peeking out of her short dark hair waved at them. “Before we show
you the groups we’ve assigned you to,” the Tin Man continued, “Mr.
Taylor wants to say a few words.”

As if on cue, the door flew open behind the
Tin Man and in bounded Seth Taylor. His dark blond hair was mussed
and his cheeks red from hurrying. He wore a meticulous navy blue
suit, white shirt and tie. Over the latter, he had on a blue and
red superhero jersey. The Tin Man joked, “Okay, super guy, it’s all
yours.”

Seth took the mike. “In case you didn’t
know,” he said, plucking at the T-shirt, “the student council gave
this shirt to me this morning.”

The kids laughed.

“Seriously, though, it’s great to see all of
you dressed up for Halloween. What was our participation this year,
Mr. Ransom?”

A black-leather-jacketed biker called out
from the teacher group, “Seventy-five percent.”

The kids cheered loudly and Lacey copied down
the statistic in her notebook and next to it wrote, “Great morale
builder.”

“Now, on to Christmas. Thanks for
volunteering to work on the Good Deeds Project. Today’s meeting
will focus on families and organizations we support. After
Thanksgiving, we’ll get into soup-kitchen volunteering, and Kris
Kringles. I’ll give the mike back to the student council
president...er...the Tin Man, but I just wanted to tell you how
thrilled I am at the turnout for a very important activity.”

The students applauded, and some whistled.
They seemed to like Taylor. Of course, Lacey thought, the
atmosphere is cheerful today anyway, and might be influencing their
attitude toward him.

But they gave him a superhero
shirt.

Filing away the thought, Lacey watched as the
student council leaders projected a sheet on an overhead screen
with the assignments for each student. They already had the
students divided up and linked to families or organizations. There
were eighteen groups altogether.

“The groups will stay as they are, except we
need a few volunteers to work with the Franklin Street Day Care
Center. Mr. T. okayed our request last week and is willing to be
one of the staff supervisors. He’s looking for another adult to
help him. He needs four students. Who wants to go with him?”

Hands all around the room shot up, including
the Tin Man’s. Because of Taylor, or the day care? Lacey wondered.
Ms. Spearman stood and picked out four teenagers.

“Time to break up into groups,” the Tin Man
said. “Just one warning, guys. If you find out you can’t hold up
your end of the deal, tell me or Ms. Spearman right away. Otherwise
you could be leaving a five-year-old without any toys on Christmas
morning.”

Lacey sat back, impressed. The kids were
organized, enthusiastic and mature. What a wonderful thing for
teenagers to do for other people at Christmastime.

As the students found their groups, Lacey
wandered over to Cassie’s and stayed far away from Taylor’s. When
Cassie looked up from her list and saw Lacey, her gray eyes lit up.
She struggled out of her chair, spilling her folder and purse all
over the floor. “Lacey, it’s so great to see you here.” In seconds,
Lacey was enfolded in an enthusiastic embrace.

Lacey hugged Cassie back, deluged again by
memories of her adolescence. It was hard to connect this mature,
responsible adult with the kid Cassie used to be. Lacey had heard
Cassie was pregnant, but still the leap was hard to make. As Lacey
held on to her friend, she felt a strong nudge against her stomach.
Cassie’s baby had kicked her. A wave of longing shot through Lacey;
it brought tears to her eyes.

Drawing away, Cassie said, “Welcome back to
Bayview. Listen, I’ve got to get this group moving, but can you
stick around? I’d love to talk afterward.”

“Of course I can. Mind if I stay and take
notes? I’m here for the paper.”

A flicker of unease crossed Cassie’s face.
She’d never been able to hide her feelings, Lacey remembered. It
was one thing that had gotten her into so much trouble. Her old
friend’s reaction brought back the discomfort Lacey had felt
earlier for all the negative press she’d given the high school.
People were doing good work here, as Taylor had said.

Lacey watched Cassie and her partner, Zoe
Caufield, turn the entire show over to the kids. As she scanned the
room, she noticed other staff members doing the same. Her gaze
hooked on Taylor. He was answering questions and smiling
broadly.

Soon the groups broke up and the students
trailed out. Lacey watched Cassie say goodbye to the teenagers,
then stand and approach her. Before Cassie could say anything,
though, big masculine hands grasped her shoulders from behind. “At
least you were sitting down,” the man said.

Cassie turned and Lacey could see love
suffuse her friend’s face. “Don’t start, big guy.”

Gently, the tall, dark-haired man tucked a
strand of hair that had gotten loose from Cassie’s braid behind her
ear. The intimate gesture sent another wave of longing through
Lacey.

Cassie grabbed the man’s hand and tugged him
toward Lacey. “Come on, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

The man indulged himself with one more small
squeeze on Cassie’s shoulder and turned to Lacey. Piercing green
eyes focused on her intently.

“Lacey Cartwright,” Cassie said, “this is
Mitch Lansing. My husband.” Lacey noticed the pride in Cassie’s
voice as she emphasized the word,
husband
.

“Nice to meet you, Mitch.” Lacey had come to
Bayview in April after Mitch Lansing had been hurt trying to keep a
gang from infiltrating the high school. She had read back issues of
the newspaper about the harrowing events.

“Ms. Cartwright.” Mitch’s voice was deep.
“I’ve read the
Herald
with interest since you’ve taken
over.”

And not liked what you’ve seen
, she
thought. His tone gave him away. Lacey hadn’t realized she was
making so many enemies.

Just then, Taylor approached them. Clapping
Mitch on the shoulder, he said, “Hi, Captain.”

Mitch smiled. “Nice shirt!”

“Lay off. When the kids gave it to me, I was
going to stick it in my drawer.” He shot Cassie a disgusted glance.
“But your wife was there and insisted I put it on.”

Mitch’s hand went to Cassie’s neck and curled
familiarly around it. “Now, why am I not surprised?”

Watching the exchange between the two men,
Lacey felt left out. Their ease with each other and their
friendship was palpable. Warmth emanated from all three. Until
Taylor’s blue gaze turned to her. His eyes lost their teasing
glint. “Ms. Cartwright. I see you made it.”

“Yes. I said I would.”

“What did you think of our meeting?”

In spite of her antipathy for the man, Lacey
couldn’t hold back her smile. “It was wonderful. I’m very
impressed.”

Shock registered on his face, but he regained
his composure quickly and said, “As you should be. Countless hours
go into the Good Deeds Project. That’s why we start on Halloween
every year. It takes a good two months to pull it off.” He reached
inside a folder and drew out a couple of sheets. “I asked Carolyn
Spearman to work up a description of the project—how it’s
organized, how we get the names of the families and institutions to
help, where the money comes from.” He handed her the document.
“I’ll be glad to answer any questions—” he glanced at his watch
“—but I’ve got to meet with Mitch for a few minutes. Can you
wait?”

Lacey looked at Cassie. “Yes. Cassie and I
were going to talk, anyway.”

Cassie smiled at her, but it turned into a
scowl when she faced her husband. “This is about the Safety Task
Force meeting next week, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Mitch’s tone was firm. “The task force
I’m
on and you’re
not
.”

“I don’t like being excluded from this,
Mitch.”

He arched an eyebrow. “And I don’t like that
you’re participating in
this
.” He waved his hand around
the library. “You shouldn’t be taking on anything extra with the
baby due so soon.”

When she opened her mouth to speak, he said,
“Cass, we agreed. You’ll do the Christmas thing, but evening
meetings are out. End of discussion.” He turned to Seth. “Let’s go
before I change my mind about the Christmas project.” He looked at
Lacey. “I hope the school gets some favorable coverage for this
activity, Ms. Cartwright.”