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“Most likely not,” Janine said. “Not unless you’ve got someone who loves school. I think Trent was like that. He’s smart and all. His mother told me he was always the one getting in the middle of people’s problems and trying to solve them. But he loved school too. He had to, don’t you think, being an attorney and all?”
She noticed that Janine always talked about Trent when she came down. Saying nice things and filling in some gaps about his personal life.
It made her wonder if Janine was onto them dating. She’d have to ask Trent that later.
“He probably was good at school,” she said. “I didn’t mind it. I won’t say I loved it, but I did my work when it was asked of me.”
She was looking over at Eli and stuck her tongue out at him to make him giggle.
“He’s a good kid. Sorry to bother you, but we’ve got a few lights that are flickering in the conference room. Another is out in an empty office. I only noticed it because Trent was talking about hiring an accountant the first of the year and we are planning the space some.”
Roni pulled her pad out. “I’ll let maintenance know. It’s late in the day so they might not get there until tomorrow,” she said.
“No worries. As I said, one room is empty and we don’t use the conference space all that much either. I’ll let you get on with your day since I’m sure you’ve got a big night planned.”
“We are going trick or treating with my friends,” Eli said.
“I bet you get a lot of good stuff. We’ve got some candy upstairs on my desk if you want to practice and make your way up there and show me your best trick-or-treat impression.”
Eli looked over at her. “Can I, Mom? I don’t have my costume on though.”
“What were you this year?” Janine asked.
“A construction worker. I’ve got the jeans and boots on already and I put a flannel shirt over my T-shirt. Mom got me a tool belt with some tools on it too. Just plastic ones because you get in trouble if you bring real ones into the school. Want to see them?”
“How about you finish your work and we can go up and you can get some candy from Janine’s desk?” she said.
“Great,” Janine said. “See you then.”
Roni sat at her computer and sent her work order to the maintenance department, then turned and opened a drawer and pulled out a bright-colored bag full of candy. “This is for you, Eli.”
“Wow,” Eli said, moving over quickly. “Who is that from?”
“It’s from Diane and Carolyn Fierce,” she said. “They are the wives of my bosses.”
“The ones that bring cookies for me?” Eli asked.
“That’s them. There are two cookies in here and a few pieces of candy.”
“Can I have a cookie now?” Eli asked. “It’s not candy and I’m hungry. I always get a snack after school.”
He was batting his eyes at her. “These cookies are huge, so you can have half of it and a bottle of water to drink. No juice.”
“I’ll take it,” Eli said.
She opened the bag up, found the cookie that was individually wrapped from Payton’s deli. Breaking it in half, she put it on a napkin and got Eli a mini bottle of water from her fridge. “How much work do you have to do?” she asked.
“Just one more page of math. Maybe ten minutes and then we can go see Trent.”
It was funny that Eli said to go see Trent and not Janine when her son hadn’t seen Trent in months.
“We can go do that,” she said. “But I’m not sure if Trent is there. Janine made the offer.”
“I bet he’s there,” Eli said. “I want to tell him that I looked up parkour and it’s so cool.”
She wanted to roll her eyes but chose not to. “I’m sure he’ll think that is great. As long as you don’t try to do it.”
“It looks like so much fun,” Eli said. “Even Dad said it was fun when I told him I wanted to see what it was.”
