A Child's Wish

He shook his head. “You have no proof of that, Meredith. You can’t keep making potentially slanderous statements without any proof.”

“I’m telling you, not the Republic.”

She needed his help if she was going to be able to have the time to fight this. She had to keep her job.

“If I resign, the episode will go away and Barnett will continue to harm his son. The next article we see on this topic could be about Tommy’s suicide. Or his murder.”

Mark said nothing.

“I have a fourth reason.”

Mark’s lips quirked, almost as if he was holding back a smile. “I’m not surprised.”

“I’m a good teacher, Mark. And I have the test scores to prove that. How does it help the kids if I leave so close to the end of the year? Chances are good they’ll end up with subs over the next two months until school is out.”

He nodded and she took her first easy breath. She could do this, if Mark was behind her.

And not just because he had her job in his hands.

“There’s going to be a scandal, I get that,” she acknowledged. “But there’d be a scandal either way. We’ll just have to do what we can to minimize it, where the kids are concerned.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?”

She was leaning forward. And so was he. His face was close, his gaze connected with hers. And when she felt herself being drawn even closer Meredith stood, taking her cup to the sink.

What in the hell was the matter with her? The man was practically engaged to her best friend. And he was her boss. How could she forget that? Forget herself?

Was her own reaction all she was feeling? Or had Mark been part of it, too? Was she feeling his feelings? Or just losing her mind?

“I’m not sure how to do that,” she told him, a little shakily.

“It would appear that we have two options.”

She spun around when he spoke. His voice had come from just behind her. She hadn’t known he’d left the table.

She sucked in her breath. “Which are?”

“Either we fight fire with fire and go to the paper with your kids’ test scores, your evaluations, with character references from all over the city…”

Only inches separated them, but Meredith couldn’t move again. “Or?”

“Or we do the opposite. We act like it’s a nuisance, like we aren’t the least bit concerned. We keep it in perspective. Carry on with our jobs, business as usual.”

That felt right.

She motioned toward the newspaper on the table behind him. “People are bound to talk after this.”

“That doesn’t mean we have to engage in dialogue with them.” He sounded so sure, all of a sudden, and Meredith actually believed she could go to work and do her job. “If your resignation would imply your guilt, then the fact that you aren’t resigning should have the opposite effect.”

In a perfect world.

“I think we should say something to the kids,” she told him quietly. “At least the ones in my class. And probably to their parents, too. They’re getting the other side, and it’s only fair that they hear our reassurances.”

“I’m not opposed to that.”

“I think you sh

ould be the one to do it.”