Everything We Didn't Say(19)
She could hardly begin to imagine what that might be. Her necklace?
“And do you think what happened to Jonathan is somehow connected?”
“That’s what I plan to figure out.” Everett regarded her for a moment longer, his gaze direct and probing. But she didn’t look away, didn’t crack, and he finally sighed, then slipped the clear bag with her necklace back into his breast pocket. He reached across Cora’s desk and laid a business card faceup on the surface. “If you think of anything, my contact information is all here. I really am sorry. We’re all praying that he pulls through.”
* * *
The halls of Jericho Elementary smelled exactly as they had when Juniper was a kid. Elmer’s glue, hot lunch (chicken nuggets and tater tots, if she could trust her nose), and the slightly curdled, candy-sweet scent of small children. Juniper walked on the balls of her feet, trying to stop her snowy boots from squeaking on the varnished hardwood floor, and fought the urge to vomit.
Reb had texted Juniper minutes after Officer Stokes left, telling her to pick up Willa from school right away; Law would let them know she was coming. Their exchange had been quick and harried—Reb was clearly on the verge of a breakdown—and Juniper didn’t ask many questions. Jonathan was in critical condition, and Law and Reb would arrive in Des Moines within minutes. That’s all she really needed to know.
So Juniper had grabbed her purse, briefed Cora in the barest of terms, and driven over to Jericho Elementary with her coat flapping open and her gloves forgotten in a cubby at the library. She didn’t even feel the cold.
Now she swung open the glass door to the office block as if she did this sort of thing every day, like a real mom would.
“They’re waiting for you,” the secretary told Juniper, and she wondered for a minute if the older woman could read tragedy in the slump of her shoulders. Of course, Jericho was a small town and outsiders rarely darkened the halls of the elementary school, but it still felt wrong somehow to not even flash an ID. It felt stranger still to walk around the curving desk and approach the principal’s door as an adult (as a mother), but on the short drive over, Juniper had tried to prepare herself for anything. For tears and rejection, for Willa to refuse to go with her. She had rehearsed a short speech, but all her careful words disappeared the moment she lifted her hand to knock. Almost immediately the door swung open.
“Well hello there, June.” Henry Crawford had been principal at Jericho Elementary when Juniper was a student, and he looked much like Juniper remembered him. Tall and lean with a navy suit too big for his frame, a tie that had been sloppily knotted, and a patch of fuzz on his chin that he must have missed when shaving. Somehow, it was endearing. Mr. Crawford was relentlessly kind and a lifelong bachelor—any shortcomings in the appearance department had been excused in perpetuity.
“Hi, Mr. Crawford.”
“Please, call me Henry. It’s good to see you, though I’m sorry it’s under such unfortunate circumstances. Come on in.” He stepped back and held the door for Juniper, ushering her into an office she had only glimpsed as a child. A few inspirational posters in cheap black frames, a tidy desk, and a circle of four small barrel chairs that looked brand-new. Seated in the farthest one was Willa.
Her knees were pulled up to her chest, the heels of her army boots hooked on the edge of the pretty, brushed upholstery and no doubt leaving a stain of muck and ice salt and cheap rubber. Mr. Crawford genuinely didn’t seem to mind. Willa had wrapped her arms around her legs and was resting her cheek on her knees, face turned away from the door. The sweep of her long, dark hair hid her face, and for a moment Juniper was sure she was asleep. Her chest swelled with the desire to rush across the room and touch her daughter, even if it was just to lay her hand on Willa’s back to feel the rise and fall of it as she breathed. She had grown up so much since the last time Juniper had seen her. Longer hair, longer limbs. More young woman, less little girl. Juniper felt the tug of her as surely as if they were tied together. Could Willa feel it too?
“Hey, Willa.” Mr. Crawford naturally took the lead as he sank to the edge of the seat beside her. “Your mother is here.”
Juniper felt the pinch of that word in her chest and wished she could ask Henry to take it back. But what was he supposed to call her? Willa called her both “Mom” and “June.” One was natural, the other forced. Juniper had never been able to determine which was which—or how much Reb and Law had coached Willa one way or the other.
“I’m not going with her.” Willa’s voice was muffled, but there was no mistaking the words.
Juniper sank to the edge of the remaining chair and caught Henry’s gaze. “Have you…?” she began, unsure of how to finish.
“Willa knows about Jonathan’s accident,” Henry assured her, guessing the question so she didn’t have to voice it. Juniper was grateful for both his competency and the way he said “accident” without hesitation or insinuation. “Our school counselor, Linda, has already been by to see her, but Willa says she doesn’t want to talk about it just yet.”
Juniper took a deep breath and leaned forward. “Willa, Grandma wants me to take you home. We all think it’s best if you stay with me for a while—at least until Grandma and Grandpa come home from the hospital.”
“No.”