His time was up long before he’d gotten everyone to understand which way to point the compass, let alone how to change directions.
Valerie grinned at him as she raised her hand for quiet. “Looks like we’re going to need more than one meeting to understand orienteering. For now, all of you can put your compasses back into the bag, and then sit down at the table for snacks.” The girls stampeded toward Rob as he held the bag, then rushed to the table to jostle for their places. Grace and Ginny brought up the end.
“I understand,” Grace said quietly. “My mom and I have worked with compasses before.”
“I could tell,” Rob told her with a smile. “I saw you trying to help the others. I appreciate the effort.”
Her eyes shone at the praise. “You’re welcome.”
“Excuse me.” Ginny’s voice was at its most impatient. “I want some snacks before it’s all gone.” Grace stepped aside and went to sit at the end of the table.
Rob eyed his daughter with disapproval. “That was not polite.”
“Was I supposed to wait forever?”
“You—” He swallowed the reprimand. “Have a seat so everybody can eat.”
After snack came the craft segment, which had to do with making paper chains to represent the food chains in nature. Ginny’s fingers didn’t maneuver scissors well, so Rob spent most of his time cutting out the pictures she wanted from the pages of animals and plants Valerie had provided.
The meeting ended at four-thirty with another circle, standing up this time. “Link hands,” Valerie said. “Like this.” She crossed her arms and reached for the hands of the girls on either side of her. Everyone else followed suit…except Ginny, who couldn’t hold her crutches and cross her arms.
“Just take my hand,” Rob told her. “Don’t worry about it.” But he could tell by the set of her mouth that another storm was brewing.
As they all held hands, Valerie taught them a song about friendship. “This is how we’ll close every meeting,” she told them. “As friends and as a troop. Remember the GO! motto—All for one, and one for all!” At the words, she turned in place, uncrossing her arms as she did so. The girls—except for Ginny, and Rob—followed suit.
Then there were parents arriving to pick up their daughters, book bags to gather and chains to collect, and more excited chatter than Rob had ever imagined.
Finally, the room grew quiet, with only three children left to deal with. Ginny had made her way to a chair and sat there twirling her paper chain around her wrist. As Valerie packed up her supplies, Grace gathered trash from around the room and under the table where girls had let their scraps fall.
Connor had subsided onto the bench of a table and put his head down on his unbandaged arm. “What did happen to his arm?” Rob asked Valerie. “Is he okay?”
She put the last of the construction paper away. “He and another boy got into an argument at school on Monday. When the other boy teased him from behind a window, Connor…” She closed her eyes, then shook her head as if she still couldn’t believe it. “Connor punched his fist through the window.”
“Ouch.” Rob winced. “That had to hurt really bad.”
Valerie nodded. “He’s winding down on the pain medicine now. He didn’t damage anything badly, but he’s got several cuts with stitches and lots of others that just burn.”
“Did the other guy get hurt?”
“No, thank goodness. Then we’d be in an even bigger mess. As it is, they want me to take Connor to the doctor. The psychiatrist, actually.” She pressed her fingertips to her eyes. “They say his behavior is unmanageable. The school nurse suggested medication might help.”
Rob glanced at the little boy. “Do you want to go that route?”
“Of course not. And he’s not unmanageable to me. But I can’t be with him every day, every minute. He’s got to be able to control himself.” Valerie sighed. “He’s so angry.”
“Does he have friends? Play sports?”
“Two weeks in town isn’t long enough for friends.” Her shoulders slumped. “And I haven’t had time to investigate sports programs. I imagine it’s too late to join a team now.”
“I don’t know about that.” Rob picked up the box she’d packed before she could. “What does he like to play?”
“Soccer, of course. Doesn’t everybody?” Valerie reached out to take the box, but stopped when Rob frowned at her. “Fine. I’ll let you carry that one. I’ve got several more.”
“Why don’t you just unlock the car and open the door and let me do the carrying?”
She went to the door of the cafeteria and pointed the remote lock control at the van across the parking lot. After a pointed glance in his direction, she went to pick up a different box of supplies. “You see—I can compromise.”
“Stubborn,” he muttered as he walked past her.
“Independent,” she countered, following him.
The afternoon breeze carried a hint of autumn, and Rob stood still for a second after they’d loaded the van, appreciating the difference. “Every so often we’ll get a day like this, where the humidity is low and the shadows are crisp. Fall comes to this part of North Carolina, but it’s slow.” He looked at Valerie, noticing how the wind brushed her curls back from her pretty face. “I’ll bet you’re used to early autumns and cold winters.”
“Ohio, the last place we lived, had its share of winter weather.” She shook her head. “I won’t miss shoveling snow in the least.”
“We had a big storm here last winter—New Year’s Day, to be exact. We got almost ten inches of the white stuff. But it didn’t stay long.”
“That sounds good to me.” She shut the rear door of the van and turned back toward the school.
But Rob held his ground. He’d got her talking about herself, and he wasn’t about to give up now. “You aren’t from Ohio, right? Your accent says New York.”
“Brooklyn, actually.” She hesitated, as if unwilling to elaborate. “Before Ohio, though, we lived in Maryland for a couple of years.”
He leaned back against her van and crossed his arms over his chest. “Why so many moves? If you don’t mind telling me.”
“Those two moves were both promotions within my company. Great opportunities that I couldn’t turn down.” Valerie looked at him out of the corners of her eyes. “And before you ask, I’ll say that my husband refused to leave New York. Since he’d already moved out, there didn’t seem to be much point in trying anymore, and we filed for a divorce.”
“Ah. How long were you in Ohio?”
“Five years.”
“And now you’re in New Skye. Because…?”
“Because
