Unforgettable You by Brenda Novak

Author:Brenda Novak
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-28T17:21:35+00:00

* * *

Maddox was walking out to his car to head home for the night when Aiyana caught him in the parking lot to tell him that Cindy Coates had just called her. “And? What’d she say?” he asked. “Will Annie be attending in the fall?”

“I think so. At least, Cindy hasn’t indicated otherwise. But...there’s a wrinkle.”

He shifted his briefcase to his other hand. He’d filled it with so many files it was heavy. “What kind of wrinkle?”

“Annie Coates is best friends with Maya Brooks.”

Maddox didn’t know Maya well enough to have had any idea until Aiyana mentioned it, but he thought he could guess why it might be a problem. “Don’t tell me once you told Cindy about my history in this town she changed her mind.”

“I didn’t tell her about your history. I prefer to keep talk of it to a minimum. You weren’t directly involved, anyway.”

“So...what, then?”

“Annie doesn’t want to change schools without Maya.”

Instead of shifting his briefcase again, he set it on the pavement. “Are you asking me if Maya can come here, too?”

Aiyana’s expression revealed a touch of chagrin. “Actually, I’m not. That would’ve been polite of me. But I took it upon myself to tell Cindy it would be fine. I even told her we’d waive the tuition. I didn’t mention it to you because I thought we’d done our part by saying yes and Jada would say no, making it unnecessary for us to even have that conversation.”

“And she agreed?” He couldn’t imagine she’d let her daughter come to the school he was running. Or that Atticus or Susan would ever go along with it, even if she did.

“No, she refused.”

As Aiyana had expected. He’d expected the same, so he told himself he shouldn’t feel any of the disappointment that hit him so unexpectedly. He picked up his briefcase. “Well, that takes care of it, right?”

“Not really.” Aiyana fixed the end of her braid since the tie was coming out. “Cindy’s asked me to talk to her. But before I agreed to go that far, I figured it was time to discuss it with you. Would you mind if Maya attended New Horizons? It would mean that you’d have some degree of contact with the Brooks family, of course, including Maya’s mother.”

He wanted contact—at least with Jada. It was the Brookses who wouldn’t be interested in what Aiyana proposed. “I’m not sure we should pressure her.”

“That’s a no?”

He thought about it for a second before nodding to confirm her guess.

She caught him before he could turn away. “But if they let her, they might get to know you, get past what they imagine you to be, and let bygones be bygones. It’s time for that to happen. Then you’ll be far more comfortable here. I daresay you’ll also be more effective.”

“I don’t want to make Jada uncomfortable just to make myself more comfortable.”

“But if they get to know you and forgive and move on, they’ll feel better about everything, too. Don’t you see? It might take some time, but familiarity breeds acceptance.

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