Scrimmage Gone South (Crimson Romance)

by Pace, Alicia Hunter

  “Doubt your child? That would be hard,” Tolly said. “I know that and Kirby isn’t even mine.”

  “Jamie said you promised to help her.” There was doubt in Mr. Fisher’s voice.

  “And I will. She has made a mistake but her life isn’t over.”

  “We think it best that Jamie not return to Merritt High. She mentioned a private school. We can afford to pay for it and her grades are good, but with the school year nearly half over … ”

  “I can take care of that. And I would suggest some counseling.”

  The parents nodded and Jamie looked at the floor.

  “I’ll call the DA to come over,” Tolly said, “so you won’t have to go there.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  It wasn’t book club night but Lanie and Lucy were sitting at Missy’s kitchen table when Tolly went in the back door.

  Lanie sprung to her feet and enveloped Tolly in a hug. “I don’t think we have been here for you, but it all happened so fast!”

  “I have,” Missy said as she poured everyone a cup of coffee. “I’ve been there for her. I’ve surrendered my husband to the cause. I haven’t seen him in twenty-four hours.”

  “I cannot tell you how sorry I am that all this happened,” Lucy said. “But it’s over now.”

  “What made Jamie recant?” Lanie asked.

  “Audrey Evans,” Tolly said.

  “That sportscaster from Birmingham?” Lucy asked.

  “Yes. Apparently, she and Nathan dated some between Lanie and me.” And maybe they would date again now. She seemed a decent sort. Not that Tolly had ever met her. Not that she didn’t hate her.

  “I saw her with him at the country club,” Missy said. “She looks like Tolly.”

  “Anyway.” Tolly added cream to her coffee. “She decided to take a different angle on the story. Usually, by the time a real sexual abuser is accused, he has had numerous victims and, once the cat is out of the bag, others come forward. Audrey nosed around. Flew to Texas and interviewed a whole slew of people where Nathan used to coach. Principal, parents, teachers, former students, and players. Of course, there wasn’t a whisper of scandal. So Audrey Evans showed up on the Fishers’ doorstep asking hard questions. When Jamie couldn’t stand up to the scrutiny, her parents figured out she was lying and the rest is history.”

  “Nathan owes her,” Lucy said.

  “Oh, he does not.” Missy got to her feet. “She didn’t know what she was going to find out when she went to Texas. She was looking for a story. Period. Now.” She turned to Tolly. “I’m going to make you a grilled cheese sandwich before you have to go to that emergency school board meeting with Harris and Nathan. Do you want smoked gouda, brie, or both? Sour dough or ciabatta?”

  “Why is there an emergency board meeting?” Lanie asked.

  “They have to reinstate Nathan,” Tolly said. “But it’s just a formality.”

  “Are you going to answer me?” Missy asked as she set an iron skillet on the stove. “Gouda or brie?”

  “Gouda,” Tolly said. Not that it mattered.

  • • •

  Superintendent Margaret Rockwell said, “Thank you all for coming out tonight on such short notice. We won’t be long. This is just a formality.” She smiled at Nathan, who sat in the front row between Harris and Townshend. There were a handful of other people in the room — Principal Malone, his assistant coaches, some faculty members, and townspeople. The atmosphere was light and happy. Apparently the local newspaper considered this a nonissue, because they hadn’t sent anyone. “This has been a stressful time for all of us, but I know we are all grateful for this speedy and positive resolution. Now, I’m going to turn this over to Board President David Walters, so we can get on with our evening and our lives.”

  David Walters came to the podium and fiddled with his gavel, but didn’t tap it. There was no need. There was already order in the room. And pretty soon, there would be order in Nathan’s life again. As soon as this meeting was over, he was calling a coaches’ meeting. It was two days until the last game of the season, and they had work to do, boys to settle down. He looked at Townshend out of the corner of his eye.

  She had really been there for him, and he was going to figure that out too. He’d never really had to concentrate much on romancing a woman. Usually, he asked and they said yes. If they said no, he moved on to someone who would say yes.

  “As Superintendent Rockwell said, this should be quick. I hereby call this meeting to order. For the record, board member Asa Reed is out of town, but we still have a quorum. The proper channels were followed to call this emergency meeting. Do I hear a motion from the board to do business?”

  “So moved,” Taylor Ledlow said.

  “Second.” That came from Laura Cochran.

  “Discussion?”

  Silence.

  “A voice vote is in order.” David said. “All in favor?”

  A muted choruses of ayes.

  “All opposed?”

  Silence.

  “All right. Do I hear a motion to reinstate Nathan Christopher Scott as faculty member and Head Football Coach at Merritt High School?”

  The “So moved” from the front of the room clashed with a door opening and footsteps in the back of the room.

  Nathan smelled the trouble before he turned his head to see Daryl Grayson.

  “Well, David,” Daryl said. “Looks like I’m just in time. Sure seems like this was a hush hush meeting.”

  Anger flickered in David Walters’s eyes. Everyone wouldn’t notice, but Nathan did because he knew men like David, who made sure everything was in order one hundred percent of the time and, thus, did not like to be questioned.

  “As a courtesy and for the record, I will respond to you, Mr. Grayson, but you are out of order. An emergency meeting may be called in the event of a reasonably unforeseeable situation. We certainly have that here. Notice must be given via the school board’s website and radio announcements of at least three over a four hour period. That has been done. Now, if you wish to remain, please take a seat.”

  It was only then that Nathan turned and looked. Daryl wasn’t alone. There were a dozen people with him, some parents of his players, some parents of his students. So Daryl had raised himself a little posse.

  The anger that should have coursed through him two days ago finally surfaced, and started running the show. And it was big-time overdue. All he’d felt up until now was bewilderment and surprise. He ought to walk out. Skip Lowery from ESPN had called him again this afternoon, after Jamie’s recanting made the news. Skip had said there was still a spot for him there, that he should leave this messy high school business behind, and come talk about real football, and make some real money.

  He’d turned him down politely but definitely. Maybe he shouldn’t have.

  Townshend laid a hand on his arm. “Simmer down,” she whispered. “That is a very small percentage of this town.” Could she read his mind and his emotions?

  She was right. And she was here. Whether she knew it or not, she was with him and that was reason enough to swallow his anger.

  “I have some things to say,” Daryl Grayson said.

  “You are out of order, Mr. Grayson,” David Walters repeated. “There is a motion on the floor to reinstate Coach Scott. If there is a second, at that time, we will entertain discussion from first the board, and then the floor. Now, do I have a second?”

  There was hesitation, not much, but it lasted long enough for Nathan to wonder if it came from doubt or surprise at the turn of events.

  “Second,” Byron Matthews, the owner of Creek View Books said. Nathan took satisfaction in the glare that Byron threw in Daryl’s direction.

  “Is there any discussion from the board?” David asked as if they were going to go straight to the uncontested and
uneventful vote that they had all anticipated.

  After a moment, he said, “Discussion from the floor?”

  “I have something to say.” Daryl strolled to the front of the room, though no one had asked him to. Beside Nathan, Harris cocked his head and let his chin jut out.

  “The fact is, we don’t know what this man did to that little girl. He may never be punished by the law, but we don’t have to let our children be exposed to him.”

  Margaret Rockwell looked fit to be tied. At least she was on his side.

  David was quick to speak. “We have no grounds for that. The student recanted her earlier statements. There was never any evidence that Coach Scott behaved inappropriately.”

  “So you choose not to believe what she said in the beginning, but to believe her now, because you like that better?”

  “We choose to believe the last thing she said,” David replied.

  “And if she was bribed?” Daryl asked.

  What? Every face at board table room looked as confused as Nathan felt.

  “I don’t take your meaning, Mr. Grayson. There has been no talk of bribery.”

  “I know for a fact that Nathan Scott’s girlfriend, Tolly, bribed the Fishers.”

  What? For all her busybody ways, Townshend wouldn’t have done such a thing. She believed him, had never doubted him for a second. When he turned to look at her, her expression was a mix of shock and indignation. She looked at him and shook her head. In spite of his faith that she would not have done such a thing, relief washed over him.

  “Jim Fisher told me himself.” Had there ever been a man more self-satisfied than Daryl Grayson in this moment?

  Harris sprang to his feet. “Jim Fisher told you that?” he demanded. “He was offered and accepted a bribe and he admitted it right out to you?”

  “You are not involved in this discussion,” Grayson said.

  “I beg to differ,” Harris said smoothly. “The board is entertaining discussion from the floor and I am the floor.”

  “You don’t get to ask the questions. I don’t care whose lawyer you are,” Daryl said.

  Townshend looked like she wanted to bite someone and not in a good way. Any second, this would be a free for all.

  But David reeled it back in. “You may be right, technically, Mr. Grayson, but I think we’d all be interested in hearing your answer to Mr. Bragg’s question.”

  “Well, Jim didn’t call it a bribe. He called it a favor and was grateful for it too.”

  Townshend didn’t look so indignant now. She had a little frown between her eyes, like she was trying to read something in a foreign language that she had a nodding acquaintance with.

  “Tell us about this favor, then.” David still didn’t sound like he believed Daryl.

  “Tolly promised the girl if she would come off her story, she’d see to it she got to go to Mason-Harper Academy — that fancy school for girls in Montgomery. The Fishers are on their way there now.”

  Sick. Nathan was sick. He knew before he even looked at Townshend — but when he did, she had an oh shit look on her face.

  Every eye in the room was on Townshend. They were expecting — or at least hoping — she would deny it.

  Daryl took advantage of the silence in the room to twist the knife. “Tolly called her grandmother and had her fix it up. Tolly herself went to that school, just like her mama and Harris’s mama. Plus the grandmother, and who knows who else for how many generations? I guess the public schools where they’re from aren’t as good as Merritt High.”

  Harris and Townshend looked at each other and had some weird silent conversation that only they knew about.

  Townshend rose. “I can explain. I did not bribe the Fishers. And I never saw the help I offered as swapping favors. It was an act of compassion on my part. I wanted to help Jamie tell the truth so she wouldn’t have to live with the lie she told. I knew how hard it would be for her to return to school here. I wanted to help her.”

  Oh, God. That sounded lame, even to him. But he believed her. Her face told the tale.

  “Are you suggesting,” David asked, “that you were more concerned with this student’s welfare than Coach Scott’s?”

  “No. I am suggesting nothing of the kind. Of course I am more concerned for him, but not just because of our relationship. Because I knew it wasn’t true. He was in the right. And I was not unconcerned for Jamie. If I had been, I would have left it alone, let it go to trial. In the end, it would have been awful for everyone, but worse for Jamie. Because she was lying.”

  Okay, Townshend had made a few points. But that panel at the front of the room wasn’t so interested in making this a quick meeting now.

  “I have a question for Ms. Lee.” This came from Laura Cochran. She seemed neutral, but who could tell? “Who is paying this student’s tuition at Mason-Harper? I know it’s quite expensive.”

  “It is,” Townshend said like she was on firm ground. “Her parents are paying. I never offered to secure financial aid for her or to personally meet any of her expenses. I only asked my grandmother to ask the board to consider her late admission.”

  “So, theoretically, she could have been admitted without your help?” Laura was trying to help. That was a comfort.

  Townshend swallowed and looked like she was weighing her words. “Theoretically.”

  “But she wouldn’t have?” Daryl Grayson piped up. “At least, probably not?”

  David Walters was quick to intervene. “You do not get to ask Ms. Lee questions.”

  “You let Harris ask me one.”

  “No. I asked you to answer a question he had asked you — a question that had a definitive answer. Ms. Lee cannot know what Mason-Harper will and will not do.”

  Board member Patty Henry spoke up. “Tolly, I would be interested to know when and how this conversation with the Fishers took place.”

  “It wasn’t with the Fishers. I spoke with Jamie Monday morning. I didn’t speak with her parents until she decided to tell the truth.”

  “Monday morning?” Nathan didn’t like the look Taylor Ledlow was giving Townshend. “Where did you see her?”

  “At the school,” Townshend said.

  Oh, damn.

  Patty frowned. “You went to the school to see her?”

  “I went to the school to see Mr. Malone. I saw her while I was there.”

  “And you spoke to her?” Laura asked.

  “Yes,” Townshend said.

  “Who initiated the conversation?” Patty Henry asked.

  “She spoke first,” Townshend said.

  David asked, “Do you remember what she said?”

  Townshend nodded. “I remember exactly. She said. ‘If you’re looking for Coach Scott, you might want to check the jail.’”

  Silence followed. Finally David Walters said, “Any further discussion?”

  “Yes,” Townshend said. “The Fishers came to see me Tuesday morning. Jamie said that she lied about Coach Scott because she had asked him to dance with her at the Homecoming dance. He told her that he didn’t dance because of his knee injury. Then she saw the two of us dancing and became angry.”

  “Are you insinuating that this girl wanted a relationship with Coach Scott?” Patty Henry asked.

  “I’m not insinuating anything. I am repeating what Jamie said to me in front of her parents.”

  “Coach Scott,” David Walters said. “Did this student ask you to dance with her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you?” David asked.

  “It would have been inappropriate to fast dance with her, which I really cannot — or should not — do. Slow dancing with a student is beyond inappropriate.”

  “Why didn’t you simply tell her it was inappropriate?” Laura Cochran asked.

>   Why hadn’t he? Because his mind was on Townshend. But he didn’t say that.

  “In retrospect, I should have, I guess. But who wouldn’t say the easier thing as long as it accomplished the same thing? I thought she just wanted to dance, so I called one of my players over to dance with her.”

  At the front of the room Laura Cochran stifled a laugh. Townshend turned and looked at him, those mosaic silver and blue eyes as wide and astonished as he’d ever seem them. She shook her head in that you really are an idiot way.

  David passed his hand over his eyes. “Well. Is there any further discussion?”

  Silence. Either Daryl thought he had enough or had nothing else to say. Oddly, none of the posse he’d gathered had said anything.

  David spoke. “Then I will call for a vote by roll call. The motion on the floor is to reinstate Coach Scott. For those of you who may not be familiar with the procedure, Superintendent Rockwell is a member of this board, but she does not vote. As president of the board, I do not vote except in the event of a tie. I will begin the roll call now. Mr. Matthews?”

  “Yea.” His answer was quick.

  “Ms. Henry?”

  There was some hesitation and she had the good grace to look at her hands when she said, “Nay.”

  “Ms. Cochran?”

  “Yea.” She sounded a little angry.

  “Mr. Ledlow?”

  “Nay.”

  So much for a formality.

  David Walters sighed. “This is not what any of us expected tonight. Before I cast the tie-breaking vote, let me be clear. This decision is final. It does not matter that a member of the board was absent. The emergency arose without warning. That’s why it’s called an emergency. We have followed procedure, and how Mr. Reed might have voted is irrelevant. Now, I vote yea.” He tapped his gavel. “Nathan Christopher Scott is reinstated in accordance with his contract. We are adjourned.”

  So he had won. Sort of.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Tolly’s heart hammered so hard she was surprised others couldn’t hear it. She had called for the ice, but it had not come. Daryl and his entourage had left, Taylor Ledlow with them. Everyone else was crowding around to shake Nathan’s hand and give him murmurs of support. Even Patty Henry told him she was sorry to have to vote no, but felt it was her duty if there was any doubt. He was gracious to her.