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“He’s looking much better today.”
She gave the calf a rub behind the ear. “He’s a strong one.” She gave the mama a pat on the side, then walked out to the aisle where her agent for the day was waiting. She put the bottle on the table outside the stall. “I’ll clean that after I call into the school. I hope you don’t mind. I’m all set up in the office.”
“Why didn’t you do it up at the house?”
She eyed him. “Because the Wi-Fi is better down here.”
Max frowned. “Who said that?”
“Your dad.”
He sighed, looked up at the rafters, and said, “They’re all getting in on the act.”
She thought she understood what he was talking about, but said anyway, “What do you mean?”
“Nothing. Use the office. It’s not like I didn’t have a ton of paperwork to do.” The annoyance was written all over his face and tinged every word.
“If you need to work in there, I’ll do it up at the house.” It would mean rushing and probably being late, but if it kept her from irritating him even more...
He waved his hand and sighed. “No. I’ll just do what I need to do later.”
“If you’re just going to do paperwork, you can be in there while I do the video thing. Though I might distract you with the speech I’m giving.”
His eyes went wide. “You’re speaking?”
She nodded.
His voice softened. “Are you sure you’re up to it?”
“I’d do anything for my kids. And right now, theyneed to see that I’m okay. There are rumors about Marcus and me seeing each other. We’d only told a handful of people. So I want them to know I cared about him as much as they did. We all miss him. We all need to celebrate him.”
Max nodded. “I’ll stay out of your way.”
She corrected him. “I’m the one in yours. But this won’t take long, not like my staying here.” She walked into the office and pulled her laptop around on the desk so it was facing the other way and Max could sit in his seat and work.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s fine.” She logged into the chat and waited for Patrice to connect on her end.
Instead of the principal popping up on her screen, she got a view of the entire student body in the gym bleachers.
All the kids would be able to see her on the large screen.
It started slow, with a few of her students pointing at her and waving. Then everyone saw her and waved. Tears gathered in her eyes.
Max looked over at her, his eyes filled with concern, but he didn’t say anything.
Patrice came into view. “We can see you. Can you hear us?”
“Yes. It’s so good to see all of you. I miss you.” She waved back at them.
She spotted the Perry family sitting in the front row.
Patrice turned and addressed the crowd. “Students,faculty, the Perry family, thank you all for being here to honor and remember Marcus Perry, beloved vice principal, coach and friend. It’s been a difficult few days. We’ve all been trying to process this tragic event. Counselors are still on hand to help anyone who needs someone to talk to about processing their grief. Today we gather to express our condolences to Mr. Perry’s family and to shine a light on the man who gave so much to our school, and especially to all the students whose lives he touched. I know you’re all curious about the details of what happened and why. I know you’ve been worried about Miss Baker. As you can see, she is well and here with us today. So I’m going to turn this over to her.”
Patrice turned and gave her a nod to go ahead.
A rising panic washed over her as she thought about the night Marcus died and how she’d explain that to all these kids.
