“We probably should tell the new lawyer about your plans. He might want to make sure you don’t do anything to damage your status with the NCAA.”
She had a point. Then she shocked me.
“What day do you want the flowers delivered?” she asked.
Valentine’s Day was this Sunday, and I’d seen in the news where a kid gave out a flower to every girl in his school last year. I’d jokingly told Caryn about it and didn’t realize she took me seriously. Guess I needed to be a little clearer when I was goofing around.
“Did you already order them?” I asked, hoping she hadn’t.
“To get that many roses, I had to pay for them up front. They need to know what day so they can get them shipped in the night before and ready for you.”
“What do you mean, ‘ready for me’?”
“They have to have the cards I ordered tied to each one. Frank also wants to do a press release. Saul got permission from the studio to put your image on the cards.”
“I don’t remember any of this. Did you show me the cards?” I asked.
“Remember when you told me you only needed to know about things if there was a problem? I didn’t think this was a problem,” Caryn said.
She was clearly enjoying my discomfort. But I knew she was also dying to show me the card. I’d played this game with my mom enough times to know that my best revenge was to play like I didn’t care.
“As long as you have it handled.”
“Oookay,” she drawled back at me.
“I’ll probably need to get permission to do this. There’s a meeting with my guidance counselor at lunchtime to discuss the class projects. I’ll ask her to help me figure out which day will work.”
By now, I’d arrived at school and had been sitting in the parking lot as I talked to Caryn. I about jumped out of my skin when Zoe opened the passenger door and got in the Jeep. It appeared that she had been waiting for me to finish my call, but it was cold out. Zoe looked almost frozen. She reached over and turned the heat on high.
“I’ve got to go,” I said, and hung up.
When I looked at Zoe, she didn’t want to meet my eyes.
“I think I overreacted yesterday,” she offered.
Hmmm, let me think. Zoe acted like a brat to her mom, and I was caught in the crossfire. Yeah, I agree, ‘overreacted’ might describe it.
“So you’re talking to me now?” I asked.
“And I’m horny,” she added.
“Well, yes, there is that. Should we try to do something here in the Jeep?” I asked.
“No. I just wanted you to know that I expect I’ll suffer more than you will because of my actions.”
“Tracy had a problem like yours once. We used a music rehearsal room to help her out. They’re soundproof,” I suggested.
We heard the bell ring.
“Lunchtime?” she asked.
“I have a meeting, but I’ll try to get it done early and send you a text.”
We hurried into school. It really was cold outside.
◊◊◊
At lunchtime, we met at Ms. Jaroslav’s office. When everyone was there, I started the meeting.
“Wolf, how goes the picnic tables?” I asked.
“Ms. Jaroslav received permission for us to do it. I talked to the shop teacher, and he’s agreed to supervise us,” Wolf said.
“Mr. Palm wanted a member of the faculty involved for safety’s sake,” Ms. Jaroslav explained.
“What about materials?” I asked.
“We have two options: we can either buy metal frames or make wooden ones. I expect the metal ones would make it easier to build them and would last longer,” Jan said.
“She’s right. The frame is the hard part, but I’m confident we can do it. Doing it ourselves would save us almost $100 per table. That adds up when we plan to build eight tables,” Wolf said.
“That brings us to money. How are we paying for this?” I asked.
“Mr. Palm said the school would donate the materials if we let the shop class participate. He could justify the expenses as a shop-class project,” Ms. Jaroslav said.
“But then it would be a whole-school project, not a junior-class project,” Alan said.
“Not if the junior class painted them. Maybe the shop class could apply a base coat, and then we could put some sort of mural on each of them. You’d help with one, wouldn’t you David?” Stacy asked.
I nodded and wondered when I’d have time. I was really into delegation right now. Maybe I could get Halle to do it for me.
“We could get Halle and some of the other people in Art to help,” Stacy said, crushing my dreams.
“Do you need anything else right now?” I asked Wolf and Jan.
“Did you want to do the metal frames?” Jan asked.
“I think the shop class needs the experience. If it were just a few of us involved, I would vote for easier,” I said.
“I think David’s right,” Ms. Jaroslav decided.
Alan then showed us the app Stacy and he had created. There would be reserved tables in the lunchroom, and someone would host each one. Then people who wanted to join could click on a chair, and the app would book it for them.
“How do we make it fair?” Jan asked.
“What do you mean?” Stacy asked.
