VALOROUS (A Quantum Novel)(71)

I grab it off the bedside table and see Leah’s name on the screen. “Hey,” I say, curbing a yawn. “What’s up?” It’s eight here, so eleven there. “Why aren’t you in class?”

“I am in class,” she whispers. “I’m hiding in the supply closet, but I’ve got the door cracked so I can watch the monsters.”

“Why are you in the supply closet?”

“I have news. Sue told me this morning that the board wants to reinstate you, but Mrs. Heffernan refused. She said it was either you or her. According to Sue, they chose you.”

I sit straight up in bed. “Are you kidding me? They picked me over her?”

“Before you take that as a huge compliment, you should know that Flynn’s lawyers were playing hardball with them. They were looking at a huge lawsuit if they didn’t reinstate you. But Sue said they all felt that it was wrong for Mrs. Heffernan to let you go for the reasons she did, especially when the parents were so pleased with the job you were doing.”

“Wow. I don’t know what to say.”

“Apparently, you’re going to hear from the board chair later today. I wanted to give you a heads-up, but don’t tell them I told you.”

“I never would. Don’t worry.”

“What’ll you do, Nat? Do you want to come back?”

If she asked me that on the day I was fired, I would have said of course I want to go back. But now… now everything is different. “I don’t know. I need to talk to Flynn and figure out our plans.”

“Well, no matter what you decide, they’re doing the right thing offering you your job back. People here have been in an uproar over the whole incident. The way she treated you was wrong, Natalie. Everyone thinks so.”

“Thanks for that, and please tell the others, too.”

“I will. I gotta go before the little bastards get a big idea to lock me in here.”

“They are not little bastards!”

“Yes, they are. Call me later and let me know what happens.”


“I will. Thanks for the info.”

“No problem.”

I end the call with Leah and call Flynn.

“Miss me already, baby?”

“You know it, but I just got off the phone with Leah, and there’s news on the job front.” I relay to him what Leah told me. When I’m finished, he’s totally silent. “Flynn?”

“I’m here, sweetheart, just processing it all. What’re you thinking?”

“I don’t know. On the one hand, I feel sort of glad that Mrs. Heffernan is leaving because she wasn’t mean to just me. Everyone dislikes her.”

“What’s on the other hand?”

“You, me, our life together. You’re here. Not so sure I want to be three thousand miles from you for even a day or two.”

“While this is entirely and completely your decision to make any way you see fit, your thinking matches mine on the three-thousand-mile thing.”

“I had a feeling it might.”

“Do you have to give them an answer right away?”

“I’m not sure. Leah said they’re going to call me today sometime to ask me to come back.”

“See if you can think about it for a day or two, and we’ll talk it over tonight when I get home.”

“All right. I will.”

“I’m happy for you that a terrible wrong is going to be righted, no matter what happens next.”

“I’m happy, too. Leah said the board was intimidated by whatever Emmett said to them.”

“Good, they should be intimidated. What Mrs. Heffernan did set them up for a huge liability. I’m glad they were able to see that.” He pauses before he adds, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just processing it all.”

“We’ll talk more later, okay?”

“Sure. I’ll see you then.”

“Love you, baby. So glad they’re doing the right thing.”

“Love you, too. Thanks for not letting them off the hook.”

“Never. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“I’ll be here. See you then.”

I return the phone to the table and snuggle into bed, my mind racing with the implications of getting my job back. After lying there for half an hour, it’s clear I won’t be going back to sleep. I decide to get up and make myself useful by doing the ton of laundry that has accumulated over the last two weeks.

I gather our clothes into a basket I find in the master bedroom closet. Flynn told me the laundry room was “up there somewhere,” gesturing to the second floor of Hayden’s sprawling house.

I head up the stairs, enjoying the view of the beach through the two-story windows as I go. I try to imagine what it would be like to make enough money to afford a place like this. “Not going to happen in this lifetime,” I mutter to Fluff, who follows me upstairs. Because there are six doors to choose from, I put down the basket at the top of the stairs and head for the end of the hallway to find the laundry room.

The first three doors open to spacious bedrooms that look out over the beach. There isn’t a bad view to be had in this place. Behind the fourth door is a massive master bedroom. Intrigued, I venture inside to check out the biggest bed I’ve ever seen. It is easily twice the size of Flynn’s California king. What does a single guy need with a bed that size?