AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I call across to Mrs McCain. “Can I take a half hour to run an errand?”
“Sure thing. We’re over-staffed today as it is what with half the kids off with chicken pox. I tell you, if it wasn’t for that donation that came through, I’d have had to let some of you go.”
I see Maddy shaking her head wildly next to me, fingers on her lips. I look from her to Mrs McCain.
“What donation?” I ask.
“Nothing. Forget I spoke.”
I turn to face Maddy. “What donation is she talking about?”
“Like she said. It’s nothing.”
“Maddy.”
“All right. The week after you came back, she came to see me to tell me someone had donated a load of money via their fundraising website. Wanted to talk to you about it. I might have suggested she keep the donation quiet.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because you and I both know who it came from and we also know that if you knew, you’d have sent it back.”
“Damn right I would. How could you do this to me?”
Mrs McCain appears next to us. “Because we were on the verge of shutting down. The town cut our funding by ninety percent in the last round of cuts. I was going to have to close.”
“See,” Maddy says, touching my shoulder. “That money can do good.”
I walk out without another word. I can’t believe he went behind my back. Maddy too. Even Mrs McCain. Everyone’s against me.
I’m barely down the steps before Maddy catches up with me. “Hold up,” she says. “Where are you going?”
I spin around to face her. “I didn’t want to touch that money. It’s come from death. But now it’s tied up with work and you had no right to hide it from me.”
“I’m trying to help you, Clarissa. That’s what friends are for, right?”
“How are you helping me right now?”
“You can’t see it because you’re blinded with anger about him leaving you, but this is your money. It belongs to you. Do some good with it.”
“You sound like him, you know that?”
“It’s true.”
“It’s not true. I don’t want his money. He killed people for it.”
“So what, Clarissa? This is the real world. It’s not all pixies and roses. Bad people win sometimes and good people lose. All you can do is play the best with the hand you’re dealt.”
“Are you telling me I should keep the money? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I’m saying you should think about Sophie in all this. That money is for her, that’s what the will said. In trust for her. Do you have the right to decide she doesn’t get it?”
“I’m her mother.”
“And Jack’s her father. Can’t you two talk about this at least?”
“How the hell am I going to do that? He’s disappeared off the face of the earth. Again.”
“Didn’t Imelda give you her number?”
