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Violet sat in one of the two chairs in front of Boyd’s desk and I watched his eyes flick down at her thighs. Moving to stand behind her, I put a hand on her shoulder and glared at Boyd. He’d be smart to keep his eyes to himself.
After clearing his throat, Boyd started a talk that sounded too rehearsed. “While Ms. Jenny is going to be in charge of this conversation, I’m here to be support for both of you. Getting called in here is never easy, whether you’re the student, or the parent. I’m here to make this as smooth as possible. Ms. Jenny, you can go ahead.”
I wanted to punch the man. I’d been called into enough principal’s offices in my day to know he would back his teacher until his dying breath. He wasn’t support for Violet or Forrest.
“First, let me say that Forrest is an exceptionally bright young man. He’s reading on a third-grade level and will be even higher than that in no time, I’m sure. It’s only been a couple of weeks with him in my class, but he’s brightened the place up. He’s friendly and lovely to everyone. Which is why today was such a surprise.” Jenny took a breath and looked at Forrest. “During our morning read-a-loud, Forrest pushed another student out of his chair. It was shocking, to say the least. We have a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of physical violence at this school. Because of that, Forrest can’t come back to class today. He can return tomorrow, but he’ll need to be prepared to apologize to the other child.”
Violet looked at Forrest. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Boyd cleared his throat again. “No matter what, he’s being suspended for the day, Ms. Channing.”
Ben grunted. “I’d hope that part of the support you offer is listening, Boyd.”
The older man started straightening his desk and stammered. “Of course. Go ahead.”
Violet glanced up at Ben and smiled before looking back at our son. “Tell me what happened, Forrest. Please.”
“Jake was being mean to Sophie. He kept pulling her hair when Ms. Jenny wasn’t looking. I told him to stop but he didn’t. Sophie got sad and he called her a crybaby. He tried to pull her hair again so I pushed him to make him stop. I didn’t mean to push him out of his chair. I just wanted him to leave Sophie alone.” He blinked up at me and his little frown wobbled. “I’m not going to get to play with your dogs today, am I?”
I dropped to my knees in front of him and rested my hand on his tiny shoulder. “As long as your mom says it’s okay, you can play with the dogs every day. It sounds to me like Jake was being a bully and you tried to stop him. That’s pretty cool, dude.”
Violet put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a pointed look before smiling at Forrest. “It is really cool you tried to stop a bully, Forrest. Next time, maybe try to tell Ms. Jenny first, though. I’m proud of you for standing up for Sophie. Let’s try to do it without touching anyone else next time. Okay?”
Forrest scuffed his feet on the linoleum and nodded. “Okay, Mommy.”
“Did you know Jake was bullying Sophie?” Violet had turned back to Ms. Jenny, who looked horrified.
“No. Sophie didn’t say anything. After Forrest pushed Jake, I sent him straight here.” She looked at Forrest. “I’m really sorry I didn’t stop to ask you what happened, Forrest. Your Mom’s right. We aren’t supposed to touch other people without permission, but it was kind of you to stand up for Sophie.”
“So, the suspension…?” Ben looked at Boyd with raised eyebrows.
“It stands. Zero-tolerance is zero-tolerance.” Boyd clasped his hands together on top of his desk and nodded, dismissing us. “If anything like this should arise again, Ms. Channing, I recommend being a little firmer with the boy. He’s bigger than the other kids his age. He could hurt someone. Next time, I’ll make it a week-long suspension. You set him straight at home or I won’t let him back. This is a good school.”
I stood up, ready to rip his head off, but Violet beat me to it. Plus, she did it with a sweet smile on her face. “Thank you for the parenting advice, Principal Boyd, but you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t subscribe to the firmer action I can only imagine you’re talking about. I prefer to raise a son who stands up to bullies instead of becoming one. You have a good day, though.”
Violet took Forrest’s hand and led him out of the office. Jenny followed after us and quickly got ahead of Violet, where she gently stopped her. “I’m so sorry. He’s not normally that harsh. If I’d known the whole situation, I wouldn’t have gotten him involved at all. I’ll be sure to have a talk with Jake and I don’t expect Forrest to apologize in the morning.”
“Thank you. Forrest will apologize for pushing Jake, though. Sometimes we make mistakes, like pushing someone out of their chair, and even if our reasoning was good, the action was still wrong.” Violet smiled down at Forrest. “Don’t worry about this kid, though, because he’s getting ice cream and pie for stopping a bully from making someone cry.”
Forrest’s eyes widened and he stared up at his mom in awe. “Really?”
Jenny held her hand out to Forrest. “Still friends, Forrest?”
He shook her hand and grinned. That smile looked so much like his mother’s that it took my breath away. “Still friends, Ms. Jenny.”
We said goodbye and made our way outside, where Forrest immediately turned to us and let the questions fly.
“Why are you here? Who are you? Are you my mom’s boyfriends? Can Moms have boyfriends? Is that your truck? Where’d you get your dogs?”
Mason laughed easily and held out his hand to count out his answers. “We’re here because we wanted to make sure you and your mom were okay. We’re your neighbors and your mom’s friends. I know we’d like to be your mom’s boyfriends, but that’s up to her. Moms can definitely have boyfriends. That is my truck. And our dogs came from my sister, Jenna. She thought we needed pets to take care of. So, she gave us a giant dog who drools everywhere and knocks people over all the time and a tiny dog who farts at least a hundred times a day.”
Forrest laughed hard enough he stumbled. Mason caught him and they both laughed like they’d never heard anything funnier. I caught the smile on Violet’s face as she watched them, her hand pressed over her heart again.
I inched closer and pressed my hand to the small of her back. “You didn’t freak out over the boyfriend comment. I’m taking that as a good sign for us.”
She rolled her eyes. “Consider it a temporary lapse in judgment.”
CHAPTER 12
