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“Meredith,” Allie said stiffly. “If this is about a planning committee issue, you could have sent me an email. Or called. You didn’t have to come all the way down here to see me.” She was pointedly ignoring him. Cute.
“No.” Meredith shook her head. “I’m afraid it’s something about Darcy. Maybe we should go somewhere private.” Meredith looked apologetically at him. “Sam, I’ll look forward to Saturday. You have my cell.”
If Allie’s glare had been chilly before, it became positively glacial at hearing they’d exchanged numbers.
Wait.
Was Allie jealous?
He looked back and forth between the two women. Nah. There was clearly something else going on here than the fact he and Meredith were getting coffee this weekend. Allie whirled before he could say anything and followed Meredith out of the lounge.
Sam was curious to know what they had to discuss in such privacy. Based on the hostile undercurrents—he’d have to be an idiot not to pick up on that—he wondered if he should be on hand, in case there was blood.
He’d give them a couple minutes and then mosey on down to her room.
Just to be sure.
…
Allie was not in the mood for small talk with Meredith. From the blazing look in Meredith’s eyes—which Allie had noticed she’d been careful to hide from Sam—Meredith wasn’t in the mood, either. Allie shut the door of her classroom and took a seat behind her desk. She gestured to the chair across from her then took a sip of coffee, waiting for Meredith’s other shoe to drop.
“I’ve had a rather interesting talk with my daughter,” Meredith said far too casually. “She was explaining to me how she no longer wants to attend the school she’s had her heart set on her whole life. She thinks, for some strange reason, she wants to go to Wellesley College. Incidentally, the same college I seem to recall you attended. To study English, of all things. Do you want to tell me what the hell this is about?” Meredith’s voice rose louder for each word.
The other woman’s anger only fueled Allie’s own, since try as she might, she couldn’t block thoughts of Meredith’s impending date with Sam. And it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to launch herself across the desk to gouge Meredith’s eyes out…
With great difficulty, she kept her tone even. “I think it’s about Darcy pursuing what truly interests her. She’s really excited about becoming a writer, and the curriculum at Welles—”
“I can’t help noticing you already know about her acceptance,” Meredith interrupted. “How long have you known?”
Crap. Darcy had trusted Allie with her decision to apply to Wellesley back in her junior year, when she first started sending out requests for catalogs and applications. Most of them were for colleges in the Northeast. Neither Darcy nor Allie’d had to vocalize the obvious—that Meredith would freak out if she were to discover Darcy’s intention of moving so far away from her stepmother’s…guiding hand. Frankly, Meredith’s interest in her stepdaughter had always been a bit of a mystery to Allie, who wasn’t used to seeing her former friend act so…selflessly. But Allie had chalked it up to Meredith’s need for control, as opposed to any kind of affection for the awkward teen. And now, if Meredith were to discover her stepdaughter confided in Allie over a year ago… Yeah, it would not go well.
But she also wasn’t comfortable lying. Even if it was to Meredith. “Last week,” she answered truthfully.
Meredith’s eyes narrowed. “And how long have you known she was applying to Wellesley?”
“Since she asked me for a letter of recommendation.”
Meredith shook her head angrily. “We both know this isn’t about Darcy. This is about you and me. You’ve always been jealous of me, and now you’re getting your revenge by manipulating a vulnerable teen. You’ve stepped over a line.”
Good heavens. Allie’s patience evaporated, and she couldn’t help but bark back, “Darcy is a smart, independent girl. In case you haven’t noticed, she loves to read, her writing is brilliant, and Wellesley has an excellent reputation for academics. It’s a tremendous honor to be accepted. You should be thrilled.” She stopped herself and took a breath. “Frankly, Meredith, this has nothing to do with you or me and everything to do with what your daughter wants with her life. Maybe you should listen to her sometime, instead of just trying to control her life.”
Meredith’s nostrils flared.
Oops. Wrong choice of words.
“You don’t know anything about me or my daughter. For someone who has a lot to lose here, I would be a little more careful how you speak to me.”
Allie’s brows went up. “I have a lot to lose? What are you talking about?”
“You seem to forget I’m the chairwoman of the planning committee. Without my support, your plan to put together some kind of video homage to your precious Mr. Williams will come to nothing.”
“Meredith, you seem to be a little slow on the uptake here,” she said incredulously.
Meredith’s eyes tightened into slits. “I beg your pardon?”
Now Allie was just being peevish, but she couldn’t help herself. “With the fire last Friday, I have nothing to put into the video. Everything in the archives is gone. Destroyed. So your threat seems somewhat pointless.”
Meredith’s mouth dropped open, then snapped shut. “Well. Maybe I should have a little visit with the detective who’s investigating Mr. Williams’s death. Mention all the late nights the two of you shared, alone, in the press room. I think there was something more going on than you’ve let on. Maybe when he dumped your sorry ass, you cracked his head a good one and hid the body yourself.”
