taught the elementary and junior-high students, and Buffalo Valley was responsible for the high-schoolers from both communities. It meant busing a lot of kids in a lot of different directions, but the plan had worked, and both schools were doing well.
Dennis gave Calla half an hour to make it home. Then he left Bruce Buechler, his employee, in charge of the station, and he walked quickly to Josh McKenna’s house. He rang the doorbell.
Calla didn’t keep him waiting long, and he could tell from her expression that he was the last person she’d expected to see. “My mom isn’t here,” she announced curtly. She would have closed the door if he hadn’t stopped her.
“I know.”
“My grandpa’s at the store.”
“I know that, too. I came to talk to you.”
She stared at him, frowning. “But I don’t want to talk to you.”
“The least you can do is hear me out.”
She crossed her arms and gave him a bored look. “Okay, fine. What do you want?”
“Let’s sit down, shall we?” He gestured toward the porch swing.
“I prefer to stand.”
He sighed. “All right,” he muttered. Although he realized that it gave her the advantage, he took a seat and let her stand. “As you already know, I care deeply for your mother.”
Calla snickered, and Dennis gritted his teeth.
“Your attitude toward the two of us is tearing your mother apart.”
“You think I don’t know that you’re lovers?” Calla said scornfully.
Dennis stiffened. “What happens between your mother and me is none of your business.”
“You two make me sick.”
“Perhaps when you’re an adult—”
“An adult?” she repeated, sounding vastly amused. “You think my feelings toward you are going to change?”
“I’m hoping you’ll be a bit more tolerant.”
Her chin came up a defiant notch. “Don’t count on it.”
This conversation was not going the way Dennis had hoped. “As I started to say, your attitude is hurting your mother. She loves me.”
Calla pinched her lips together and stared into the street as if mesmerized.
“What’s it going to take for you to understand that I only want the best for you both?”
Her gaze flickered toward him as if his words had caught her off guard. “Then stay the hell out of our lives.”
“I’m not willing to do that. Perhaps if you told me what you find so objectionable about me…”
“For starters, you’re five years younger than my mother.”
“That doesn’t bother us, so why should it bother you?”
“Because it does.”
“Anything else?”
“Yeah.” She faced him then, hands lowered to her sides, fists clenched. “I have a father.”
He wasn’t sure what she was saying. “Yes,” he urged, wanting her to elaborate.
“You think you can take his place in my life.”
Dennis’s head reared back in surprise. “Calla, no! I don’t think that at all.” So that was it. She feared he was going to interrupt the limited relationship she had with Willie Stern. “I wouldn’t do that,” he said, keeping his voice calm and as sincere as he could make it.
“If it wasn’t for you, my mom and dad might get back together.”
Dennis sighed with frustration. “I’m sure that isn’t true.”
“How would you know?” she demanded. “My dad told me—” She closed her mouth as if she regretted having said that much.
“Are you saying your father holds out some hope of a reconciliation?” Dennis asked, unable to believe it. Sarah hardly ever mentioned Willie, and when she did, it was with disgust for the things he’d done.
“He still loves her,” Calla blurted out. “He told me so himself.”
“I see.”
“No, you don’t,” Calla cried. She turned toward the house and jerked open the screen door. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d have a real family.” Then she glared at him with such fierce animosity Dennis felt as if he’d been slapped. “I hate you. You’ve ruined my entire life.” She whirled into the house, slamming the door hard enough to shake the front windows.
Dennis waited for the anger to wash over him. Calla’s, plus his own. So much for clearing the air. She hated his guts. Furthermore, she lived in a fantasy world in which he was the villain.
Not knowing what else he could say or do, Dennis walked over to Sarah’s shop. Luckily she wasn’t in the middle of a class, but he could tell from the way her eyes shifted away from his that she wasn’t pleased to see him.
“Hello, Sarah,” he said, standing just inside the doorway.
She nodded; however, she didn’t return his greeting.
“I have a question for you.”
“All right,” she said, but she stayed on the other side of the room. He understood her need to maintain a distance. It was necessary just then for both of them.
“Is there any chance of you reconciling with Willie?”
Her head shot up and she laughed shortly. “No!” The vehemence of her response told him everything he needed to know.
“That’s not what Calla thinks.”
She continued to stare at him, her eyes narrowing. “You talked to Calla? When?”
“Just now.”
“What gave you the right to talk to my daughter about my marriage?”
“I didn’t. I came to talk to her about you and me.”
That apparently wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear, either. She closed her eyes, mouth tensed, as if trying to hold back her anger.
“You don’t think I should be talking to Calla? Is that it?”
“She’s my daughter.”
“I know, and she hates me. I wanted to find out what I’ve done that’s so awful she doesn’t want anything to do with me. Or worse, why she doesn’t want me to be with you.”
“My
