Page 7 of Serenity Falls

‘Yeah. Of course. But not tonight.’

‘Why?’

He clears his throat awkwardly. Sadie knows that throat-clear. It’s what Dad does when he is about to lie or admit to a lie.

‘Dad?’

‘We’ve been invited to dinner by the principal of Serenity Falls high school.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, you know we inherited some money from Grandma, and now, with the new house, we don’t need to worry about a mortgage—’

‘Yeah?’

‘But there are still bills to pay, and big houses are expensive to maintain, and pools have to be cleaned, and we still need to eat …’

Sadie feels a creeping dread. ‘The suspense is killing me.’

‘I’ve accepted a job teaching English at the high school.’

‘Are you fucking serious?’

‘Yes. And no need to sound so happy about it.’

She thumps her head back against the head rest. ‘Oh, I’m thrilled that you’re going to be a constant source of humiliation for me at another school.’

His face falls. ‘Is it that bad?’

‘You still have no idea.’

‘I won’t be teaching you. I’m teaching ninth and tenth grade.’

She supposes that’s a bit better. But it’s still like saying at least there are only nine circles of hell. Could be worse. Could be eleven.

‘And maybe things will be different here. You know, US schools aren’t the same as the ones in the UK. And you’ll be new, interesting. Everyone will love your accent.’

‘Or it’ll just mark me out as even more of an outsider.’

He glances at her. ‘Thought you liked that?’

She sighs. How can she explain to Dad, who is almost fifty? There’s being a cool outsider, with cool outsider friends, and then there’s being a freak – laughed at, pitied or, perhaps even worse, shunned and ignored.

‘Sweetheart—’

‘Uh-oh. The “sweetheart” is coming out.’

‘Okay, look, let’s try to be positive. Give it a chance. If things don’t work out at Serenity Falls High, I’ll look for a teaching position somewhere else. We can make this work.’

He sounds desperate, Sadie thinks. And she gets it. They have to make this work. They don’t have much choice. Dad loves being a teacher, but he hated teaching at Edgerton Academy almost as much as she hated studying there. The overcrowded classes, the poor pay, the lack of funding and resources, the parents. And then there was ‘the incident’. The one they still don’t talk about. The one marked off limits, like a lot of stuff. Sadie wants him to be happy. And maybe, just maybe, that could be here in stupid Serenity Falls in stupid, stinking-hot Florida.

‘I guess,’ she says.

‘Wow. The enthusiasm.’

‘Don’t push it.’

‘Okay. Grudging truculence. I’ll take it.’