The Last Letter(107)

Oh boy. She looked so hopeful, and uncomplicated, and not Ella.

“Thanks, I’ll…keep that in mind.” It was the best I could do without offending her.

“You do that.” She smiled again. A lot of smiling. I bet she was happy most of the time. That she wasn’t fighting to keep her kid alive, or dealing with the death of her brother and the betrayal of the man she loved. She was all shiny, like a new penny.

But in the last eighteen months, I’d learned that I liked a little bit of tarnish. It gave depth to the lines and made the shiny parts all the more eye-catching. Ella was beyond beautiful for what she’d been through. Tragedy hadn’t broken her, it had refined her.

Jennifer knocked and opened the door to the principal’s office, and I entered, my eyes immediately locking onto Colt’s.

His flew impossibly wide.

“Principal Halsen,” I addressed the administrator, who motioned to the empty chair beside Colt.

I took it, sitting next to a very rigid Colt. Every line of his little body was tense, and his mouth was all pursed up. His hand gripped the armrest, and I reached over, giving him a reassuring squeeze. His posture softened the slightest bit, but it was enough.

“Mr. Gentry. I’m so sorry to call you in here, but in this kind of incident when there’s violence, we do need to send him home.”

“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked Colt.

“He attacked a classmate—”

“I’d like to hear it from him, first, if that’s okay,” I interrupted Principal Halsen.

“We were on the playground, and Drake Cooper wouldn’t leave Emma alone. She doesn’t like him.” Colt kept his eyes forward. “She told him to leave, and he wouldn’t, and he tried to kiss her.”

Drake. Recognition hit me. Letter number three.

“Is this the same kid who went after Maisie with that kiss-tag stuff?” I asked. It was the first time I’d ever used something only Chaos would have known. Of course, Colt didn’t know that, didn’t realize that as I sat next to him. I felt an odd merging of the guy who had written those letters and the man who had adopted Colt.

“Yeah. I guess he didn’t learn.”

“Guess not.”

Principal Halsen gave me a disapproving look, which I blatantly ignored.

“So I pulled him away and hit him,” Colt finished with a shrug. “He tried to hit me back, but I dodged.”

“Nice,” I said with a nod.

“He’s slow.” Another shrug.

“Mr. Gentry, as you can see, your son instigated violence in an unprovoked attack. He’ll be sent home today and suspended tomorrow. We have to send a message that this kind of violence isn’t tolerated.”

“I’m not his son,” Colt whispered.

Yeah, you are.

“Right, sorry, Colt,” Principal Halsen corrected and sent me another pointed look. He knew about the adoption from the records point of view.

“I have no problem with taking Colt home or him being suspended. You’re right, he did swing first. But my question is what you’re going to do about Drake.”

Colt’s head swung toward me in shock.

“I’m sorry?” Principal Halsen asked.

“My guess is that you’ve told Colt he’s purely at fault here, right? After all, he swung, he did what you thought was escalating violence.”

“He is in the wrong.”

“Maybe. But so is Drake. And he was already in the middle of an act of violence, which Colt stopped.”

“I’d hardly call playground antics like that violence,” Principal Halsen scoffed. “Drake has been told that his actions are unacceptable. But you know how little boys with crushes are, I’m sure.”

I glanced at Colt, who had the same look on his face Ella did when she was about to blow a gasket.

“Actually, I do. They act like Colt and protect the girls they like. What the other kid did, whether or not you see it, is wrong. And sure, you can brush it off as a playground antic, like I’m sure you’ve done for the last thirty years you’ve been at this school. The problem isn’t this one time; it’s the pattern. You did nothing last year when it was Maisie. Now we’re here, and that kid is another year older. So sure, I can take Colt home and give him a stern talking to about when it’s appropriate to use force. But I’ll probably end up showing him how to throw a better punch, because one day that other kid will be sixteen, and it won’t be just playground kisses he’s taking by force.”

Principal Halsen dropped his jaw, and I stood. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I’ll be sure his mother takes appropriate action. Colt? Ready to go? I think ice cream is in order.”

Colt nodded, scooting off the chair and swinging his backpack over his shoulder. We walked out of the office, through the double set of doors, and into the brisk March air. Colt was silent as we climbed into the truck and he buckled into his booster seat.

I hadn’t removed it in the last month. That action seemed more permanent than when Ella had walked out of the cabin.

“Your mom hasn’t called,” I said as I checked my phone.

“She’s in Montrose with Maisie,” Colt answered.

“Yeah. Who is taking care of you since Ada and Larry are on vacation?” I pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Solitude. Traffic wasn’t too bad this time of day, but as soon as the sun went down, it would be mayhem as usual during tourist season.