Trouble Me: A Rosewood Novel

by Laura Moore

  She was left stunned, unable to draw a breath.

  It was happening again. Blair Hood was setting out to annihilate her, but this time with a single, lethal blow. She was going to be sacked from a job she loved and was pretty good at. Once this was in her personal file, it would be highly unlikely another school would ever hire her; she’d be lucky to get an interview.

  That wasn’t the only repercussion. As the scandal got out and word spread, and gossip distorted, there’d be parents who would rather see hell freeze over than enroll their children in her riding program.

  But worst of all was what Rob would think of her. If he hadn’t started to have doubts about whether there could be a future for them, this scandal would clinch it. Jade knew she wasn’t exaggerating in dubbing it a scandal. She’d starred in enough of them in Warburg. Moreover, she knew exactly how fast word would spread in this small town. Her past sins would be resurrected and made even more lurid with each retelling.…

  “Jade? I’d like an answer.”

  “Yes.” Her voice came out a hoarse whisper. “I wrote a biweekly column. To label it a sex column, though, is a gross exaggeration. It was more an advice column—”

  “An advice column pertaining to sex—”

  “Sexual relationships,” she retorted. “Sexual relationships between two individuals of the age of consent.”

  “Which by many would be considered an inappropriate topic for an elementary-school teacher to address.”

  “Only if they were uptight idiots,” she said defensively. “Moreover, I adopted a pseudonym in order to keep my identity private. What I wrote for the college paper was intended for my peers and separate from my actions as Jade Radcliffe. You’ve yet to read a single piece I wrote and already you’re condemning me, Ted.”

  “Believe me, I will read them.” He rubbed the side of his face tiredly. “Listen, Jade. I’m not one of those uptight idiots, but I am this school’s principal. I don’t want to be having this fight with you. I like you, and you’ve been doing a fantastic job in the classroom, and I think you could have a great future as a teacher. But in my official capacity I have no choice but to report your college activities to the school board. They’ll decide whether to allow you to continue to work in the classroom. If, after reading your articles, I can support you in good conscience, I’ll do so fully. I promise you. Given the personalities involved, I believe there’ll be a push to meet on the issue quickly. But until the board makes its decision, I’d like you to take a leave of absence. I’ve already arranged for a new substitute. Sue Wilson will contact you about your lesson plans.”

  As they had throughout Jade’s past crises, her sisters gathered around her, offering their unwavering support. Jade hated that once again she had to watch Margot pace with the protective energy of a lioness and witness Jordan’s quiet distress as she worked her rings around and around her slender fingers.

  The weather reflected the gloomy mood inside the cottage. The temperature had plummeted and the wind howled angrily outside the windows. When she’d started shivering, Jordan had found an extra blanket for her in the linen closet, wrapped it around her, and then gone off to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate. Jade couldn’t drink it, her stomach going queasy at the thought, but at least holding the cup warmed her hands.

  “I was stupid,” she said dully, so tired of repeating a worn truth. Even with her hands wrapped around the mug and her body enshrouded in sky-blue wool, she continued to shiver. “I should have known that the column made me ineligible to teach.”

  “Don’t say that, Jade. You’re a wonderful teacher. Everyone’s been coming up to me and telling me so.”

  Too exhausted to hold it upright, she rested her head against the back of the sofa. “Jordan, that’s because people like you. Of course they’re going to say nice things to you—though you should prepare yourself for a long, dry spell in that regard. We’re back to being Warburg’s principal source for scuttlebutt. You know, one of the things that was going through my head when I drove to school was how wonderful it was that Mom was trying to fix her problems, because, after finding her diary, I’d felt a fair amount of contempt for her as a human being. Now I guess I’m the sole screwup of the family. Sorry.” She closed her eyes.

  Ugh. She was indulging in a major self-pity fest, but losing a job and a future with a great, upstanding, non-screwup of a guy could do that to a girl.

  Margot’s voice had her opening her eyes.

  “There’s nothing to apologize for, but I can tell you who’s gonna be super-sorry: the Harrisons, the Hoods, and all their kin.” Margot was still in full storm mode, taking yet another lap around the living room. Jade closed her eyes again so she wouldn’t have to look; she was growing dizzy.

  “Don’t, Margot. I’m sick of trying to get back at them. Besides, it doesn’t work; it only makes them more vicious. I’ll be fine working at the farm as a full-time rider—if you’ll put me on the payroll. It’s too bad about the ponies, though.”

  She heard Margot stop in her tracks. “What do you mean, it’s too bad about the ponies? And don’t be silly, of course you can train and ride full-time—though that’s not going to happen, because you are not going to be fired.”

  “Jade, you don’t really intend to give up the ponies,” Jordan said.

  With a sigh, she opened her eyes and pulled the blanket around her tighter. “I’ll have to if parents don’t sign their kids up for lessons.” At their blank looks, she shook her head. “You guys don’t think that this latest mess of mine won’t spill over into the riding program like so much toxic sludge? It will, and I can’t shoulder the expense of maintaining four ponies.”

  “We’ll help you—”

  “No, you won’t, Margot. The ponies are my responsibility and thus something I have to deal with.”

  “Some of your students will remain loyal, Jade. The Donovans, the Ferrises, and then there’s Hayley. Rob—”

  “I’m not seeing Rob anymore, so that’s the only silver lining in this freakin’ massive dark cloud right now. At least there won’t be the awkwardness of having to interact with him.”

  “You broke up?” Margot asked, astonishment causing her jaw to go slack.

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh, no, Jade. When did this happen?” Jordan sank down onto the sofa next to her.

  “Yesterday. We had a fight.” The room suddenly seemed even colder. Jade huddled miserably under the blanket. “I got a call from Greg Hammond, and when Rob asked me about him, I got defensive and angry. I knew if I told Rob that Greg was a PI I’d hired and what he was doing for me, he’d try to stop me. So I told Rob I didn’t want to see him anymore, that we were finished. Who’d have known it was for the best?”

  “Oh, Jade, I am so sorry.” Jordan wrapped her arm about Jade’s blanketed shoulder, squeezing it tight.

  Margot came over and sat down on Jade’s other side, making of their little group a sandwich of sisterly concern. “Call him and explain everything, sweetie.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Jade, are you in love with him?” Jordan asked.

  A big clump of pain abruptly took up residence in Jade’s throat. “Yeah, I pretty much am, which is why I’m not going to ruin his life by trying to get back into it. I don’t want him or Hayley to be a part of the three-ring circus that’s about to open in Warburg. Don’t worry, I’ll get over it.”

  Even with the comforting support of her sisters beside her, all Jade wanted was to pull the blanket over her head and cry until her tears were spent.

  Not even Miriam’s calling out as she opened the front door with a ringing “Hey, I’ve come to lend moral support” buoyed her spirits. Heading straight for her favorite armchair, Miriam dropped into it and propped her feet on the ottoman. “Okay, here’s the plan. I say we storm the elementary school and stage a protest. This is a major attack on freedom of speech.”

  When Jade only managed a weak smile in response, Miriam said sadly, “This is so effin�
� unbelievably lousy, Jade. You’ve been working so hard with these kids. Since my first idea was a bust, how about I pull out the Whirley Popper and pop us some popcorn and we have a movie fest? We could start with Titanic and then move on to Armageddon. But maybe you’re more in the mood for Contagion?”

  “A movie fest. What a great idea!” Jordan exclaimed, jumping up from the sofa so quickly, she batted Jade on the head. “Oh, sorry, Jade! But, really, a night of movies and popcorn is just the thing to take your mind off your troubles. That, and some girlfriend talk. I’d stay, but I have to run in to town to pick up some groceries—”

  “Gosh, I have to go too.” Margot sprang to her feet as well. “Ellie needs rescuing from Georgiana and Will. I’ll be back in a little while, though—maybe in time for the second movie?”

  Jade had no idea why they were making such a production about leaving. They’d been with her from the moment she walked into the main barn, shell-shocked by the events of the day. They hadn’t even had a chance to absorb everything she’d discovered about her mom and Dr. Myszkiewicz, because then she’d told them about Ted Guerra and started shaking and crying.

  “Yeah, sure. Okay.” She made an effort to inject some energy into her voice but from Margot’s worried expression figured she’d failed.

  “It’ll be all right, Jade, I promise.”

  Where Margot got her fierce optimism, Jade hadn’t a clue.

  “Yeah, I know.” That was a real whopper. Unlike Margot, Jade was a realist. She knew better than to think anything would be all right for a very long time.

  At Emma’s call of “All right, last set of clap push-ups in three, two, one—go!” Rob grunted and lowered himself from his plank position until his nose was an inch away from the gym’s black rubber matting. Then he pushed himself off the ground as rapidly and high as possible, clapped his hands and put them back down, and lowered his body again. By the eighth rep of this final set, his muscles were straining, screaming, and sweat poured in rivulets from his shoulders and face. He continued, welcoming the fatigue, driving himself past the pain even when Scott, working out beside him, collapsed to the ground.

  “Son of a bitch, Em, you’re a sadist,” Scott panted.

  “Damn straight. Come on, you wuss, you have five more seconds. Go!”

  With another curse, his brother heaved himself back into position and pulled off a few more push-ups while Emma counted down the seconds. “Okay, time’s up.”

  Both Rob and Scott shifted back onto their hands and knees, gasping for breath. From above came Emma’s evil chortle. “This is such a satisfying sight. I only wish Aaron were here to make the picture complete. The Cooper boys laid low.” She snickered again.

  Scott lifted his head. “You’re skating on real thin ice, kid,” he warned.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Their baby sister was unfazed. “So, you guys ready to call it quits and crawl on home? Or should we end the workout on a high note and finish with some burpees and then some Russian twists?”

  “No way!” Scott exclaimed as Rob said, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

  Scott frowned at him. “You’re in a hell of a masochistic mood. What’s up?”

  He’d blown it with Jade, that’s what.

  Out loud he answered, “Nothing. Are we going to do these or what? I don’t have time to waste. Hayley’s gymnastics class ends in forty minutes.”

  Burpees were a vicious form of torture, an exercise that began with a squat, then a back thrust into a plank, followed by a push-up, a quick jump into a squat, and then a vertical jump before landing in the squat again—in order to start all over. The goal was to jump as high as possible and maintain a fast pace even as one’s muscles began to feel as if they were filled with battery acid.

  Driven by thoughts of Jade, Rob hardly felt them. Christ, what had happened in her cottage? Things had been going so well between them. Then that phone call had changed everything.

  Had he really been too pushy in asking Jade who Greg was? He knew he’d been spurred by jealousy, but there was more to it than that. The shuttered look on Jade’s face as she’d spoken to Greg, the way she’d shut Rob out completely when he’d asked her about the telephone call, had troubled Rob and made him press the issue.

  Then suddenly she was telling him that they were over, as if the connection between them, the feelings he knew she had for him, were nothing.

  Only a day had passed since she’d told him she didn’t want to see him anymore, but he missed her so damned much. A pain far greater than the one the burpees were causing sliced through him.

  “Time’s up,” Emma said. “Nice job, Rob. Scott, take my advice and cut back on the stout at the Brass Horn.”

  “Shut up, Em. I think I’m gonna puke.” Scott was bent over, his hands propped above his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.

  “Save it for later. We still have the Russian twists,” Rob said, before grabbing the bottom of his T-shirt to wipe the sweat off his face.

  Scott raised his head and cast him a baleful glare. “Jesus, Rob, whatever’s bugging you must be pretty major if it ain’t out of your system—” He broke off as his gaze shifted. “Hallelujah,” he said, straightening. “Much though it breaks my heart, my dearest siblings, I believe we’ve come to the end of our workout. Rob has visitors.”

  Rob dropped the hem of his damp shirt and looked where Scott’s attention was focused, stiffening in surprise to see Margot and Jordan Radcliffe threading their way past the elliptical machines. They were definitely heading toward them.

  “Well, that clears up today’s mystery.” Suddenly Scott sounded annoyingly happy.

  “It certainly does,” Emma agreed, and Rob would have been deaf not to catch the amusement in her voice too. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you need to cut back on the stout, Scott, unless you want your butt kicked on a regular basis. And, Rob, you need to work on sharing. I had to hear it from Hayley about the recent pumpkin cream-cheese muffin purchase you made.”

  “Get lost, both of you,” he replied absently. As Margot and Jordan crossed the expanse of the gym to where Emma had been training them, his mind was awhirl at their unexpected presence. Was it possible something had happened to Jade? The thought turned the sweat on his body to ice. Then he calmed, realizing that if Jade were injured, her sisters would be running, not striding, toward him.

  It was far more likely they’d heard that Jade and he had fought and they were coming to skin him alive. Protective as they were, the Radcliffes might overlook the fact that he was the injured party.

  “Hey, Rob, you ever heard the term killjoy?” Scott asked. “Come on, Em, let’s go pick up Hayley. I’ve got a feeling Rob’s going to need some emergency babysitting.”

  He looked at them. “Thanks, guys.”

  Emma smiled. “You’re welcome. It’s pizza night, right? We’ll save you a couple of slices.”

  “You’re the best, Em. You’re okay too, Scott.” He switched his focus back to Margot and Jordan, now within earshot.

  “Ladies,” he said neutrally.

  “Rob,” Margot returned, while Jordan said, “Hello, Scott; hello, Emma. We’ve come to speak to Rob about an important matter.”

  “Your uncle told us where to find you.”

  They’d already been to the police station. It must be serious.

  “If you need privacy, you can go into the staff lounge,” Emma offered. “Nobody uses it at this hour. I’ll tell Mike at the desk so he knows.”

  Margot nodded. “Thank you. That might be best.”

  Rob scooped his sweatshirt off the mat flooring and tugged it over his head. He figured if they’d tracked him here, they’d prefer to talk to him now, sweat notwithstanding, rather than wait for him to shower and change. Besides, like a starving man, he hungered for word of Jade.

  As Emma had predicted, the lounge was empty. Neither Rob nor Jade’s sisters bothered to sit on the black upholstered sofa or the metal folding chairs positioned around the small circular table. Instead
, Jordan said without preamble, “We wanted to talk to you before you heard the rumors that will soon be making the rounds, if they haven’t started already. Jade may be fired from Warburg Elementary.”

  Nothing could have astounded him more. The notion was preposterous and miles from anything he expected to hear. “Are you kidding me? Why would she lose her job?”

  “Because the Harrisons and the Hoods like nothing better than to drag the Radcliffe name through the mud, and Blair Hood in particular despises Jade. But, believe me, that’s going to stop,” Margot answered fiercely.

  “What do the Harrisons or the Hoods have to do with her being fired? I know Christy Harrison was upset about Eugene getting stung at the orchard, but Jade did everything and more to ensure Eugene was all right. I don’t think she left his side for a minute. They have absolutely no ground to stand on if they try to fire her.”

  Margot and Jordan exchanged a look.

  “They now have more potentially explosive ammunition,” Jordan said.

  For a second Rob wondered whether they were referring to Jade and him. But to fire Jade because she and Rob had slept together would be completely over the top. He was a widower and she a single woman. So what if she happened to be his daughter’s second-grade teacher—correction, Hayley’s substitute teacher, hired only through Christmas.

  He was damned if they were going to fire the woman he loved, just because the timing of his falling in love was awkward.

  And, yeah, he’d fallen in love with Jade. Completely and absolutely. He knew the signs; the sick fear he’d experienced minutes ago at the thought that she might be injured was only one of many revealing beyond a doubt that Jade Radcliffe was in his heart, now and forever.

  “What kind of ammunition do they have?” he asked.

  “Jade wrote a column in college. It was an advice column, a sex-advice column.”

  Floored, he gaped at Margot. “Excuse me?”