Table for five Read Online Free Page B

privately, asking her again if she knew anything about the missing objects. She wouldn’t meet my eye, and when I asked if she’d show me what was in her desk and tote tray, she got upset. I told her it would be a lot less trouble if the items were found sooner rather than later. One of the girls claimed her charm bracelet was a family heirloom, so I was anxious to find it by the end of the day.” She didn’t reveal that the theft victim wasMary Lou Mattson, the class drama queen, who had sworn her father, a prominent lawyer, would sue the school for millions. “Charlie was very cooperative. She went straight to her book bag, opened a zippered compartment and handed over the missing items.”
    “Oh, dear God,” Crystal said, practically whispering. “A harmonica? A charm bracelet? Doesn’t she know I’d buy those things for her if she would only ask?”
    “Maybe that’s the trouble,” snapped Derek. “You’re always giving her everything she wants. She’s spoiled.”
    “Actually,” Lily intervened, “I believe this behavior is more about wanting something else.”
    “What else could she want?” asked Crystal. “What could she possibly want?”
    Lily had a list. “We should discuss that. Let me just finish going through the week with you. I talked the situation over with Ms. Klein and the school counselor. Together we agreed to take a low-key approach. Often when a child steals, the correct response is to require her to give the items back and apologize. In Charlie’s case, we told her I would return the objects and no more would be said. That way, she could save face and the kids would get their belongings back. All I wanted was her assurance that this wouldn’t happen again, and her promise that we would talk about why she did it. On Wednesday there were no incidents, but yesterday I discovered something of mine missing.”
    “Great,” said Derek. “You let her get away with it, so she tried it again.”
    “It’s more complicated than that.” Don’t get defensive, she reminded herself. Just work the problem. “To make a long story short, I questioned Charlie and she handed it over.” She picked up the snow globe paperweight Charlie had taken from her desk. It had been a gift from the Holloways’ firstborn,Cameron, seven years before, when he’d been in Lily’s class. The figure inside the globe was an angel in winter, wrapped in a swirling white robe. “After she gave it back, I called both of you rather than waiting for conference week to go over the test scores.”
    “It was the right thing to do,” Crystal said loyally. “We need to get to the bottom of this immediately.”
    “We are at the bottom,” Derek said. “How much worse can things get with this kid? She can’t read, and now she’s turned to a life of crime.”
    “Maybe she’s troubled by your hostility,” Crystal said.
    “Maybe she’s troubled because you baby her so much she doesn’t know right from wrong,” he replied.
    Lily tried to reel them back in. “Have there been any recent changes in Charlie’s life or routine? I think this behavior could be a response to change.”
    “She was six years old when we separated, seven when we divorced,” Derek said. “She’s had plenty of time to adjust.”
    Lily wondered if he understood what a tough adjustment divorce was for a kid—at any age. The emotional rug had been pulled out from under Charlie, and she was still trying to find her balance.
    “She could be having trouble adjusting to your girlfriend,” Crystal said, clipping off each word with a razor precision.
    “Charlie’s known Jane for three years,” Derek said.
    “Ever since you had an affair with her.” Crystal sent him a look of disdain and turned to Lily. “They say someone always falls for your ex-husband. I should have stayed married to him as a favor to womankind.”
    Lily cleared her throat. This would be an excellent time to bring the conversation back to Charlie. “Actually, Charlie