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“All the kids deserve equal opportunities!”
“This is bullshit!”
The door at the back of the room suddenly swung open, banging against the wall, making everyone jump and turn to look.
Beau Hebert stood in the doorway looking a little confused.
But Toby pushed past him with a big smile, striding forward. Beau followed.
Becca sat up straighter, her heart thundering.
Beau immediately located her, his eyes locking on hers as he shoved a hand through his hair. He took a deep breath, blew it out, and then looked over at his mother.
She pointed to where the podium stood at the front of the room facing the dais where the board sat.
“Toby? Beau?” Mark asked as they came to a stop in front of the podium. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah.” Then Beau shook his head. “No, not really. I need to say something.”
“I don’t think you’re on the list of speakers tonight.”
“I’m not. I guess I don’t know how this works.”
Mark nodded. “Evidently. You need to tell us ahead of time that you have something you’d like to say. You, on the other hand,” he said to Toby, “should know how this works.”
“We lost track of time,” Toby said with a nod.
“Well, fuck.” Beau grimaced. “Oops. Sorry. This is a little last-minute.” He turned to face the very full room. “But it shouldn’t be.” He looked back at the board members. He tucked his hands in his back pocket. “It just took me a bit to figure out what to say. Or rather, how to say it. That I needed to comehereto say it. Sorry to interrupt.”
Jacob Morris, Emmaline’s husband, leaned to speak into his microphone. “I’m sorry. We’re to the end of the public statement period.”
“Well, good. Then I’m not cutting anybody else off,” Beau said.
Jacob frowned. “There’s a proper way we do these things.”
Beau nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure. Just like there’s a proper way to treat people. People who’ve given money to the school. People who do things that we judge and think are less important than the thingswelike and value. People who are professional teachers who are giving their hearts and souls to educate the kids here. But since we’ve kind of blown ‘proper’ out of the water with all of this, I’m just gonna say what I came here to say.”
“Mr. Landry,” Jacob started firmly.
“Jake,” Beau said just as firmly. “Give me a break. You’re not using that name as a sign of respect or because we don’t know each other, and I’m sure as hell not gonna call you Mr. Morris, for those same reasons, so let’s just be what we are…” He looked around the room, his eyes landing on Becca and staying there.
She realized she was barely breathing, and she felt like she’d downed an energy drink and was now trying to sit still. She was jumpy and tingly and wanted todosomething. Though she had no idea what.
“We’re friends. We’re a community. We’ve all chosen to live here,” he said. Then he pulled his hands from his pockets and finally tore his eyes from Becca’s to look around the room. “I’ve lived in this town my whole life. I’ve built my business here. I went to school here. Hell, someday maybeI’llbe on the school board. I definitely intend to live and die here. So I feel like if I have something to say, I should say it.” He paused and shrugged. “I suppose we could all go down to Ellie’s and hash this out, but we’re all already here, so we might as well do it now, right?”
Several people around the room nodded.
“We’ll keep talkin’ about this no matter where we are,” someone said.
“Exactly,” Beau agreed. “And we should, right? The things that affect one part of this town affect all of us really. In one way or another. Even if it’s down the road.”
Mark huffed out a breath. “Well, it’s not like Autre’s ever been all that formal. Even in these meetings.”
“I protest,” Emmaline said, rising from her seat in the front row.
“Wow, I’m shocked,” Savannah said from the back row.
“Yeah, whataren’tyou pissed about tonight, Emmaline?” someone else called out.
