Page 107 of Mr. B

“Of course.”

“I’ll call you in the morning.”

“Okay. If I get any good news, I’ll call you.”

Wes hung up the phone, leaned back, and gripped the armrests of his chair. When one suddenly came loose in his hand, he let go of it. It fell to the floor, and he stared at it for a moment, picturing Pete West’s face, before picking it up and setting it on the desk. He flexed his hand a couple of times, then picked up the phone messages and flipped through them. “Nothing urgent.” He dropped them on the desk and picked up the phone again.

Polly answered. “Yes, sir.”

“Can you come in here for a moment?”

“Of course.”

Wes was finishing the banana nut bread when Polly knocked once, then opened the door. He waved her in.

“Is everything okay?”

“It seems like it’s not. Were you at the meeting last night?”

“Yes. You did a wonderful job.”

“Apparently not. Paul West has filed a lawsuit, and the trustees have asked me to take some time off until this thing is resolved.”

“Oh my gosh. That is so wrong.” She exhaled sharply. “I can’t believe they’d do that to you.”

Wes smiled. “It’s okay, Polly. It’s a temporary situation.”

She cocked her head. “You don’t sound convinced of that.”

“I will play along and give it some time.”

“When are you leaving?”

“In about five minutes.”

“No.”

“If the trustees want to take over my job and send in a replacement, I’m not going to make it easy for them.”

“Good for you.”

“Immature, but yeah. Yay, me. I told you this because you have a right to know. But the official story will be I’m on medical leave.”

“For your knee.”

“Yes.”

“Okay. I will spread that news.”

“How does Cassandra’s schedule look for the day?”

“She’s pretty open. Not too much going on.”

“Thank you, Polly. I’ll stay in touch.”

“Thank you for trusting me with the truth.” She opened the door, then looked at him. “So…you and Dr. Jordan?”

He nodded. “Me and Dr. Jordan. But that’s not why we were late this morning.”