Pelican Court (Cedar Cove #3)(42)

He knew that, but he was already flustered by Janice’s resignation. Now his daughter had made it her personal mission to screw up the rest of his day.

“What are the consequences of her skipping classes?” he asked.

“Is this her first offense?” Mrs. Duncan asked. She paused and seemed to be scanning a chart or a computer screen. “Ah, I see here that it is. Has there been any upheaval in the family lately, Mr. Cox?”

“My wife and I were recently divorced.”

“That will do it. Well, I hope you can get the situation with Allison squared away.”

“Will she have any detentions?”

“Not for the first offense. She’ll need to attend Saturday school if it happens again.”

It wouldn’t; Zach would make sure of that.

“A third time means automatic suspension.”

“There won’t be a second or a third time,” Zach assured her.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Cox.”

“So am I,” he muttered as he replaced the receiver. He didn’t remove his hand and automatically dialed South Ridge Elementary, where Rosie was currently teaching fifth grade. She’d just been hired onto the permanent staff, which was both a blessing and a curse. It meant longer hours and more preparation time. He knew from Eddie’s comments that Rosie was often exhausted at the end of the day.

“This is Zachary Cox. Would it be possible to speak to my wife?” he asked the school secretary, not remembering until after he’d spoken that he was no longer married to Rosie. “It’s important.”

“Please hold.”

He must have waited five minutes before Rosie picked up the extension. “Zach,” she said, alarm in her voice. “What is it?”

“Allison skipped school.”

“What?” Rosie was as shocked as he was. “Today?”

“That’s right. She conveniently missed the bus, but I insisted on dropping her off. I should’ve known something was up, because she wasn’t happy with my offer to chauffeur her.”

“Where is she?”

“I don’t have a clue.” His initial reaction had been anger, but now he was alarmed. Allison was fifteen years old. His mind whirled with countless possibilities, none of them pleasant.

“I’ll meet you at the house as soon as I can.”

“You can leave the school?”

“I can if it’s a family emergency, and if this doesn’t qualify, I don’t know what does.”

Zach got to the house ten minutes before Rosie did. Zach watched her pull into the driveway; the car jerked forward as she stepped hard on the brakes. The driver’s door was open before the engine was completely dead.

“We need to call Hannah’s mother,” she said as she rushed past him and into the house.

Zach hated letting Rosie see what a mess the house was. After all the complaints he’d made about her housekeeping skills, the state of the living room was embarrassing. Thankfully she barely noticed as she ran into the kitchen and opened the drawer below the telephone, which was mounted on the wall.

She rummaged through the drawer until she found the address book. Then she squared her shoulders and lifted the receiver from its cradle.

The transformation was truly amazing. As soon as the other woman—presumably Hannah’s mother—answered the phone, it seemed Rosie didn’t have a care in the world.

“Hello, Jane…yes, I know it’s been ages. Good to hear your voice, too.”

Rosie caught Zach’s gaze and rolled her eyes. He smiled for the first time that day. Grabbing a kitchen chair, he straddled it as Rosie did her investigative work.

“I understand Hannah and Allison are in the same algebra class. Yes, she’s doing really well. She has her father’s head for numbers. I think she’ll probably be put in the advanced class next tri.”

If that was true, it was news to Zach. The last school papers he’d found—by accident, when Allison had left them on the kitchen table—gave every indication that she was close to flunking out of math class.

“I heard Hannah went to Homecoming with J. T. Manners. Isn’t he a friend of Ryan Wilson’s?”

Zach watched as Rosie made a few murmurs of agreement. Her eyes narrowed and she reached for a pencil and hurriedly wrote something down. Zach stood and looked over her shoulder. In an instant his anger flared back to life. Rosie had written: She took the ferry to Seattle.

The very thought of his daughter wandering around downtown Seattle by herself was enough to make the hair on the back of his neck stand up. A second or two later, he realized Allison probably wasn’t alone. That no-good biker-wannabe boyfriend was most likely with her.

After a few more minutes, Rosie replaced the receiver.

“How do you know she’s in Seattle?” he demanded.

“Jane sings like a canary the minute she knows she has an audience. She knew and was dying to tell me.”

“Hannah isn’t with her?”

“Who knows.” Rosie was angry, too. She started suddenly for the front door.

“Where are you going?” Zach asked.

“To move my car. I want the two of us to be waiting here when she comes sneaking back.”

Zach liked the idea of lying in wait for Allison. It was the best way he could think of to prove to his rebellious daughter that she wasn’t going to outsmart him.