by Jo Grafford
“Does he have a name?” she asked wistfully.
“He answers pretty well to hey, you,” Josh teased.
“So you’re feeding him?” she pressed.
“Huh!” He snorted. “It’s the only way I can get any sleep. Otherwise, he parks it beneath my bedroom window and howls all night.
She chuckled. “Cats can be pretty persistent.”
“Come inside.” Josh angled his head at the front door.
She moved ahead of him up the porch stairs, noting that the top one no longer squeaked or felt wobbly. He’d repaired it. In fact, everything seemed in excellent repair. The peeling paint had been scraped from the windowsills and a fresh, glossy coat applied. The old porch swing had been removed, along with the flowerpots her mother had always kept overflowing with blooms.
Josh reached around her to open a new oak front door that had been stained the color of hickory nuts. “I’ve been busy doing repairs and upgrades. Katie Burke, from down the road, has been helping me out. She’s pretty handy with a hammer and nails.”
Hope quickly glanced his way, wondering who Katie Burke was and why she was the one helping Josh, instead of a regular construction crew.
“Have the two of you ever met?” Josh eyed her curiously as they stepped inside the wide, vacant foyer.
“No.”
“She’s Enid Remington’s great-granddaughter. She inherited the old homestead from her. Well, technically, she and her sister jointly inherited it. She bought out the other half, fixed up one of the houses, and sold it to cover the rest of the renovations. Interesting story.” Josh leaned closer to tap Hope’s nose. “She’s about to marry the guy who bought the other farmhouse, so the property will be back together again.”
Ah. Yes, the story was familiar, after all. “Actually, my mother did say something about the property being merged by marriage the other night. She didn’t happen to mention Katie’s name, though. I’d like to meet her sometime.”
“You’re welcome to come to their wedding as my plus one.” Josh arched a brow at her as he headed down the hallway. He returned a few seconds later with a couple of bottled waters. “Here.” He pressed one of them into her hand.
“Thanks.” She uncapped it and tipped it up. It felt both wonderful and awkward to be standing inside her childhood home again. “So you live here all alone,” she mused. It was a huge amount of space for one person. There was a big country kitchen with a breakfast nook in the back, along with an oversized spare room that had been used over the years as everything from a children’s playroom, to a music room, to a gym. There was a formal dining room to their right, and a big living area to their left.
Josh took a long swig of his water, downing most of the bottle. “I have plans to change that soon.” Pressing a hand to her lower back, he led her into the empty living room. “Probably should give you a heads up about something. I’ve been man-caving it in the master bedroom.”
“No,” she teased. “I would’ve never guessed.”
“So you’re going to need to decorate,” he continued, giving her one of his crooked smiles. “You know…the entire house.”
Her lips parted in surprise. “You’re going to at least help, right?”
“As little as possible, darling.” He hooked an arm around her and tugged her close, nuzzling the side of her face.
“We’ll see about that.” She turned her face to capture his questing mouth. Gosh, she was ready! For him. For this. For everything. “I probably shouldn’t stay long,” she whispered when he finally raised his head. Not until they were married, anyway.
“I hear you, babe.” He buried his face against the side of her neck and breathed her in. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist. I just needed to see you here, at least once before our wedding.” His voice was muffled. “Back where you belong.”
She dragged her fingers through the thick silky threads of his hair. “It’s not the house, Josh. It’s you. Being with you is where I belong.”
His arms tightened around her. “You say stuff like that, and still expect me to drive you back to the church, huh?”
“I do.”
He groaned. “And now you’re practicing your wedding vows. Cruel!”
She laughed softly. “You leave me no choice, since you’ll be tugging me to the altar so soon.”
He raised his head to gaze deeply into her eyes. “You bet your boots I am.” His smile wrapped around her and nestled deep in her heart. “Fine. I’ll drive you back to your car, but you better keep your phone handy tonight.”
She gave him a bemused smile. “Why’s that?”
“To reassure me when I wake up in a cold sweat that what happened between us today was not just a dream.”
“It’s not just a dream, Josh.” She stood on her tiptoes to brush her mouth against his. “I love you. So much. I never stopped, and I’m never going to.”
“I love you, too.” He gave a low groan. “How am I ever going to survive the next few days?” He pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. “The head principal at work is a real stickler for rules, you know. I hear she’s solidly in the no-PDA camp.”
She smiled against his mouth. “If the waiting gets to be unbearable, I can call you into my office for a closed door meeting.”
“Now you’re talking.” He crushed his mouth to hers.
Josh was very much back in control the next morning at school. If anything, he seemed more tight-lipped than usual, and a little distant. Hope glanced toward his office several times before the first bell rang, wondering why he hadn’t come over to give her his usual update on security measures.
She could hear the chattering of voices grow louder outside her office windows as the student body poured back onto campus. Though she normally used this time for catching up on emails and preparing for meetings, she found herself staring into outer space.
When the first bell rang, she practically leaped from her seat. Yanking on her blazer, she smoothed a hand down her black skirt and hurried to the door. And ran solidly into the side of the man she’d been daydreaming about. They must have exited their offices at the same time.
“Whoa, there, Dr. Remington.” Josh politely stepped aside to let her pass, but his dark eyes burned knowingly into hers.
“Traffic jam,” she returned with a short, breathless laugh. “We should probably get a stoplight installed in here.”
Laura glanced up from the reception booth. “Ballots have been delivered to each homeroom as requested. We’ll be ready to rock and roll on the mascot vote, right after the morning announcements.”
It was a big day for Heart Lake High, and everyone seemed to know it. The hallways fairly crackled with excitement. The tension in the air seemed to be at a new high, as well. Hope and Josh received several glowers from the clusters of former north side students.
As they walked past one group, she could overhear one of the girls complaining. “I can’t believe they’re making us change our mascot. I mean, this is our school. It’s like they just came in here and took over…”
Hope kept walking, knowing that some things only time would heal. She caught snippets of other complaints, too. “I don’t care what they paint on the gym floor after today, my dad says once a Pioneer, always a Pioneer.”
It was more proof that the Heart Lake High parents weren’t exactly lending their full support to the newly combined student body after their teens returned home each evening. Though she’d given clear instructions to the homeroom teachers to disperse the former north and south side students as much as possible for locker assignments, it was clear that the students were still very much clustered in the hallways along old town lines and prejudices.
As she passed deeper into the south side clusters of students, the grumblings changed.
“Why do they blame us?” one guy blustered, throwing his backpack into his locker and slamming the door closed. “It’s not like any of this was our choice. If they think for one second we even want to be here…” He caught sight of Hope and Josh
and broke off whatever else he was going to say.
“Good morning,” she announced cheerfully, though she sympathized with his sentiments.
He gave her a wry smile and one of those if-you-say-so shrugs, but didn’t respond.
She kept walking, knowing there was a lot of healing that needed to take place in these hallways. She deeply sympathized with every sentiment she’d heard her students voice this morning. They’d been uprooted and pushed out of their comfort zones. It was up to her and her staff to help them find their sea legs on this new and challenging path they were sailing. The staff posed a good number of challenges, too. She was well aware she didn’t have their full support, either. Change was hard for everyone, no matter what age they were.
As the seconds ticked ever closer to the tardy bell, she clapped her hands and called out, “Alright, everyone! Let’s get to class!”
When one particularly sullen group of boys tried to stare her down, she circled a finger at them and pointed them on down the hallway. After an irritated glance at the man standing beside her, they pushed away from their lockers and trudged off, grumbling.
Hope sneaked a quick look at Josh and murmured in undertones so that only he could hear. “You’re awfully useful to have around.”
“Yep,” he agreed, stepping closer. “The first time you call one of those closed-door meetings you promised, I’ll show you exactly how much.”
She didn’t dare meet his gaze for fear of blushing or swooning.
The week passed in a tense barrage of parents calling to complain about the change of mascot, alumni sending emails to ask for the results of the vote, and teachers reporting a number of classroom altercations over the issue. Hope quietly assigned more in-school detentions for the biggest disruptions and encouraged her staff to handle the smaller ones however they saw fit.
By the time the school’s first spirit rally rolled around on Friday, she was feeling a bit edgy. Maybe Elmer was right. Maybe she should have stepped a little more quietly through the front doors of the high school. Maybe she’d bitten off a little more than she could chew by forcing the mascot change so early in her tenure.
“Buck up, rodeo queen,” Josh muttered in her ear as he held open the door for her to enter the gym. “It’s show time!” There was a suppressed excitement in him that bolstered her courage. As a many-time bull riding champ, he’d tasted the sharp tang of angst again and again, right before he entered the ring. In fact, he thrived on it.
So did she. “Thanks,” she whispered, unsure if he could hear her over the loud chatter of teenagers. It didn’t matter if he heard, though. His words had served as the reminder she needed. Nothing worth having ever came easily. Not a single barrel race or a cattle-roping competition, and certainly not winning the hearts and minds of two distinct student bodies that she was struggling to merge under one roof.
She raised her hands and waved to the occupants of the bleachers on both sides of the room. They were packed to overflowing. She had to spin her head from side to side to include them all. In fact, the stands seemed over-full this afternoon. A quick glance told her why. The marching band had roped off an entire section on the right, nearest the stage.
The drummers filled the front row of the band section. When they caught sight of her, they burst into a spirited drumroll. They kept it going until she took the stage. She sent a much gratified thumbs up to their band instructor, Mr. Charles Tannenbaum, or Chuck as he preferred to be called at staff meetings.
He nodded back, chest puffed out with pride beneath a plain white polo shirt — no logo — that was tucked into black slacks. Bless his heart! Though it was only the second week of school, he had his student musicians all decked out in their red and white marching band uniforms. The only thing missing was their parade hats, since they were indoors. Thankfully, the only emblem on their chests was the HLHS acronym. Whew! It was one less thing she would have to worry about changing after unveiling their new mascot.
For the life of her, Hope hadn’t taken the time to keep a tally of which teachers were being supportive and which ones were not, but it was a huge boon to discover that she had the band instructor in her camp. He must have spent hours issuing uniforms and overseeing the necessary alterations to get ready for today. She made a mental note to pen him a personal thank you for a job well done.
Josh Hawling and Principal Lighthorse took their places on either side of her, stepping back to yield the floor to her while still presenting a united front. She couldn’t have been more proud of them than she was today. Both men were wearing the black suits, white shirts, and red ties she’d specially requested. In contract, she’d chosen to wear the power red suit she’d just picked up from the dry cleaners the night before. She’d figured a little showmanship was in order on a day like this, even from the school administrators.
After beaming a grateful smile at the two men flanking her, she leaned forward to speak into the microphone. The drummers gave a final roll and grew silent. As expected, the students broke into loud cheering. Hope joined them, raising her hands and clapping with energy, because the drummers had truly done an amazing job. Their audience was now primed and warmed up to rally.
“Welcome to the first spirit rally of the school year for Heart Lake High!” she cried into the microphone. Her words were greeted by another boisterous round of cheers. When they petered down, she jumped right back in. “And now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for.” She lifted the remote control resting beside her speaker’s notes on the podium and mashed a button. Behind her, the interview with Kia from the reservation rolled onto the big screen. Hope replayed the final snippet of it.
“So many folks in town have stepped to the plate to help us out on the res, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Firemen, police officers, paramedics, nurses, electricians, plumbers, construction workers, tree cutters, road workers, and more. Too many to name. But there’s one word that I think fits all of them, and that’s the word hero. When those tornadoes touched down, they made me realize that I’m living in a town full of heroes. So I’d like to honor them by naming our new school mascot after them. Wouldn’t it be great if we got to call ourselves the Heart Lake Heroes?”
The screen immediately flashed to Jericho Remington, who’d wowed everyone out with his artwork for the proposed Twisters mascot. The students started chuckling at the comical way the student council had chosen to fast forward the film as he sketched out a few new brainstorms, wadded them up after each try, and tossed them over his shoulder. An enormous pile of paper rose behind him, growing to a size that rivaled the highest peak of the Christmas Mountains, thanks to some very clever video editing.
They’d added peppy background music with a nice beat that the students immediately started rocking to. The music faded to the background as Jericho’s microphone was switched on. “I can’t tell you how honored I was when our student council asked me to commission our new school logo. In case you’re wondering, here are a few of my ideas so far.” The film fast-forwarded again to his sketching. This time smoke rose from his paper on screen. He abruptly stopped and held it up to proudly display a simple stick figure.
He grinned into the camera. “Whadaya think?”
Students across the gym howled with laughter.
The video sped through a few more scenes of him sketching while on a skateboard in the park, sketching while eating a whole stack of pizzas and dripping sauce on his pad, even sketching while standing on his head with his feet propped against the wall behind him.
The final screen rapidly populated with a collage of faces depicting real local heroes — Sheriff Gil Remington, Officer Lincoln Hudson and his K9 partner, Glory, firemen, nurses, paramedics, electricians hanging from power lines, and construction workers with hammers in mid swing. The students pointed and shouted out names as they recognized their friends and loved ones.
The music in the video crescendoed to a grand finale, as the words Heart Lake Heroes flashed several times atop the familiar faces of
the town’s real heroes. The words grew still, but the edges of the letters continued to ripple and burn like fire.
During the temporary pause after the video music finished playing, Hope leaned into the microphone again. “Let’s hear it for the Heart Lake Heroes!”
That was the cue the cheerleading team had been waiting for. They ran onto the gym floor — skipping, jumping, and waving their pompons. They immediately formed three long straight rows, pompons held straight out from their sides to ensure there was enough space between them. Then they launched into their first cheer.
Let’s go, Heroes, let’s go! (Clap clap)
Let’s go, Heroes, let’s go! (Clap clap)
Let’s go, Heroes. Mighty, mighty Heroes.
Let’s go, Heroes, let’s go! (Clap clap)
As soon as the first cheer ended, they launched into the second one.
Bang, bang, choo-choo train.
Come on, Heroes, do your thing.
Get it, get it. Got it, got it.
Uh! And let it roll!
The audience shot to their feet and joined in the rocking and rolling, as the cheerleaders repeated the chant a second time.
While most eyes were on the gym floor, Hope hastily kicked off her shiny red patent leather heels and slid her feet inside the pair of white sneakers she’d stowed earlier on the bottom shelf of the podium. What she had next on the agenda for their spirit rally, nobody except the cheer team knew about. Not even Coach Hawling, the guy she normally made privy to her schedule. She expected to get an earful from him afterward for the stunt she about to pull, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She remembered what it was like to be a teenager, enough to know it was going to take a little shock and awe to convince the student body to get behind their new Hero mascot — preferably before the first football game tomorrow evening.
Waving Principal Lighthorse forward to the podium, she muttered in his ear. “Cover down for me, will you?”