Judging Joey (15 page)

Chapter 13

Before Madeline marched her class to music instruction, she had to convince Vanessa to leave her classroom. Madeline used the excuse that Sabrina was waiting for her because they were to use the planning period to work on lessons for the next week. Without Caitlin’s coaxing Vanessa to leave, Madeline was certain that Vanessa would have insisted on staying and giving her helpful hints on how to run her classroom.

“Unwanted advice and unwanted company,” Madeline muttered hastily when Vanessa finally left. Madeline locked her classroom and headed down the hall with her students.

She stopped abruptly when she saw Joey. Well, the back of him anyway, with George, Sabrina’s newest boyfriend. Madeline narrowed her focus. Joey was far from at ease. He stood his entire height, shoulders back, his hands pointing aggressively at George. George looked like an overripe tomato ready to explode.

What in the world?
Madeline quickened her pace to deliver her students to the music teacher. As she dropped them off, she saw Sabrina coming down the hall from the other direction.

“Hey, you two. What’s going on?” Madeline asked in her brightest voice at the same time surveying the area to see if anyone was within hearing distance. She couldn’t help but notice that Joey was sopping wet.

“I was just telling this gentleman to vacate the school property.” Joey scowled, water shaking from his sleeve as he pointed.

Madeline was about to inquire why when Sabrina reached them.

She sidled up to George. “Here you are. I thought you got lost or something.”

Or something, Madeline thought. Both men appeared ready to spit nails, as Uncle Mark would say.

Joey turned to Sabrina. “You
know
this guy?”

Sabrina wrinkled her nose. “Of course. He’s my friend.”

“We’re more than
friends,
Sabrina.” George winked at Sabrina, and she blushed.

Joey twisted his head abruptly. Madeline instantly recalled a horrid scene in the movie
The Exorcist
, and if she believed in that sort of stuff, would have sworn Joey would be spewing green stuff at any moment and not nails.

They were a few feet from the teachers’ lounge. She grabbed Joey’s wet sleeve and dragged him toward it, jerking her head at Sabrina to follow.

“Let’s all go in here where it’s more private.” The last thing they needed was an audience. Only the first grade teachers were at prep at that time and all the lunch periods were already over, so Madeline expected the room to be mostly unoccupied. As they piled in, that was exactly as they found it. Empty.

“I’ll ask you guys again. What’s going on here?” Madeline said, more comfortable now that they could talk without anyone eavesdropping. She reached for some paper towels on the counter and handed them to Joey.

Joey grasped the towels and stabbed them against his chest, mopping up the excess paint water. He glowered at George. “Sabrina, you’re dating this loser? When did this happen and why?”

Sabrina went from being chipper to being stunned. “Huh?” She looked to Madeline for answers. When she shrugged, Sabrina turned to George.

George placed the buckets with paintbrushes down on one of the tables meant for eating. Sabrina slipped an arm through his, and he snuggled her.

“I guess it bears reminding. You’re dangerously close to bringing on a lawsuit, Officer. Slander is a serious offense.” George’s teeth gleamed through a slash of a planted and forced smile.

“That’s the second time today I heard that. And it’s not slander, if it’s the truth,” Joey growled.

“Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” Madeline demanded in her authoritative voice. She threw her hands on her hips like she did when her students tattled on each other. She turned on Joey, and he had the sense to suddenly look a bit embarrassed.

“George is Alex’s ex-fiancé. He broke her heart and left her holding a mortgage for a townhouse they bought. Now what’s she supposed to do?” He shook a finger at George. “It was supposed to be
you
painting and moving furniture not
me
.”

Both Sabrina and Madeline looked at George.

“Of course you’d take Alex’s side. You’re her partner. But it wasn’t like that. I already had a great place. Big enough for all of us. But Alex didn’t want to move into that house. Said it reminded her of my wife. Who, by the way, never lived there. I bought it after she was gone. Alex wanted us to start fresh. So she went ahead and bought that townhouse, without my consent or approval.”

Sabrina nodded. “That’s true. She didn’t even give George a choice. He’d have to sell his place first. And in this market, he’d lose money.”

Joey looked at Sabrina incredulously. “You knew about this?”

“Of course. George told me all about Alex and their relationship.”

“All lies, I’m sure.” Joey turned to Madeline. “What about you?”

“This is news to me. I mean I knew they went out, but I didn’t know he was Alex’s ex.” Madeline realized with a pang of guilt that with all that was going on in her life she hadn’t paid much attention to what was going on in her best friend’s life.

Sabrina tightened her arm around George. “Look, Joey, there’s two sides to every story. You of all people should know that. I, for one, stood up for you when Madeline told me about what happened in high school. She painted you as the devil, and I defended you. What she said about you didn’t match with the person I had met.”

Joey shook his head, apparently not going to change his mind as easily. “What are you doing here anyway, George? Don’t have enough clients to keep you busy at work?”

Before George could respond, Sabrina chimed in, “My class mom had an emergency and couldn’t help with painting the pumpkins. George came to my rescue. He took the afternoon off. Isn’t he the best?” Sabrina gazed up at him and fanned her eyelashes.

“No, she’s the best. She’s so nurturing and kind with kids.” George smoothed an imaginary lock of hair away from Sabrina’s face. “My son adores her. And I do too.”

Joey was about to say something when the door to the teachers’ lounge pushed open.

“So this is where you’re hiding. O’Neill, we have work to do,” Alex called out, her tone teasing, but her face fell when she spotted George. She froze mid-step, then raised a finger pointing accusingly. “What’s
he
doing here?” Her gaze swept over Sabrina, who was stuck to George like plastic wrap. Alex zeroed in on her. “Sabrina?”

Oh boy, this wasn’t going to be pretty, Madeline thought. She glanced at the clock. For once, time on her prep seemed to drag out. “Why don’t we all sit down? I could get us a cup of coffee.” Anything to diffuse the situation.

They all examined her as if her red hair had burst into flames. She shrugged, her hope for breaking up this Mad Hatter of a tea party disappearing.

“George and I are dating, Alex. We’re very happy. I’m sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable,” Sabrina said.

Alex raised her chin, her eyes narrowed and darkened. “Sabrina, be careful.” She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say more, but turned on her heels and stormed out.

Sabrina tugged on George’s arm. “Honey, we should leave, too. Let’s clean those brushes.”

“Remember what Alex said.” Joey’s words trailed after them as they headed out. George cast Joey a menacing glance over his shoulder. The door slammed behind them.

Joey ran a hand through his hair and stared at Madeline. “How and when did this happen?”

Madeline gulped, shocked at his bellowing tone. What was so wrong with George? He seemed like a decent guy. She had seen him earlier helping Sabrina change her bulletin board. Only a nice guy would climb a ladder to staple students’ work into a corkboard, right? She didn’t care what the others wanted. She needed a cup of coffee and went to get herself one from the pot on the counter, which had probably been there since the morning. It poured like mud, and it didn’t matter if it tasted like it either. Right now she needed some caffeine. She went to the refrigerator and bent down to search for milk.

“Maddie, I’m waiting.” His voice was softer this time.

She stirred in milk, but the hot liquid burned through the paper cup. She put it down on the counter. “They met at The Grill. The night we were all there.”

He slapped a hand against his head. “I should have guessed. Leave it to George to waste no time. He saw Sabrina with us and made his move.”

“Wait a minute. You think he singled her out? Like some sort of conquest?”

“That’s exactly what I think. You don’t know him like I do. Alex dated him for a long time. Three or four years. He never wanted to settle down with her until she gave him an ultimatum. Then he gave her a ring and she bought this huge townhouse for the both of them. I guess for his son, too.”

“His son is seven or eight, right?”

Joey shrugged. “Alex never mentioned him until recently when I was painting one of her bedrooms blue. She said she picked blue because she supposed George’s son would like the color, and after they broke up, she couldn’t afford to replace the can of color.”

“Don’t you think that’s strange? Sabrina talks about him all the time. In fact, she’s going trick-or-treating with them on Halloween.” She placed a hand on her hip. “I’d bet Sabrina would know what color the boy would like his room painted.”

Joey said nothing, frowning. She moved in closer.

“About what happened in Roger’s office,” she said, wanting to clear the air and her name.

“Yes?” He searched her face and didn’t back away. “You gave me a scare. You’re feeling okay now? Following the nurse’s orders?”

“Drink plenty of water and take it easy today.” Madeline sighed, inwardly pleased that he was worried about her. That was good. For what it was worth, she wanted him to believe her. More than that she needed him to trust her. Her whole world could come crashing down if he didn’t. “I had no idea Vanessa was Scott’s mother.”

She had to convince him of that. Otherwise, he might think she held a grudge against Vanessa and was making up the whole story about her stealing. Even worse, Madeline knew suspicion would fall upon her. She’d been labeled a thief once and had left this judgmental pitiful town because of it. She’d changed her name. She’d changed her appearance. She’d changed her outlook for her future. She would have never come back if her uncle hadn’t needed her. If she could get Joey to believe that she had never stolen his mother’s jewelry, then he would believe her about Vanessa. For the sake of the students as well as her own, she had to convince him. “I swear to you.”

He reached for her hand and caressed the surface. “I believe you. From the way you reacted to the news, it’s obvious to me it came as a shock.” Then he hesitated and clasped her hands together in his. “But others might wonder how it’s possible that you didn’t know. You lived in this town and knew Scott. If your story of the prank gets out, it’s going to be your word against Vanessa’s.”

She drew her hands away. “It wasn’t a story. It was the truth.” So there it was. His words said one thing, but deep down he had misgivings about her.

“All I’m saying is no one can corroborate your story. Can they?” His expression softened.

Madeline’s skin grew clammy and she grasped the top of a chair in the event she felt faint like earlier.
This can’t be happening again
. “The only ones who know what really happened were the ones who played the prank. I doubt any one of them would tell the truth even all these years later, especially Scott. Allison moved out of state and I have no idea how to contact her. Besides, she didn’t stay the whole time. That’s why she could justify believing Scott’s story that I stole the jewelry. She said I had the opportunity to do it after she ran off.”

“But if you were that good friends, how could she believe lies about you? It doesn’t make sense. People will say if it doesn’t make sense, it’s not true.”

Her heartbeat began to race and she licked at her lips. She reached for her coffee cup on the counter and took a sip. The caffeine was not the best choice at the moment, and most likely her heartbeat would warp to maximum speed, but she needed something to sooth the dryness in her throat.

Joey went to the water fountain and filled a cup. “Here, this is better. The coffee will dehydrate you,” he suggested.

She agreed and gulped down the water he offered. “I think Allison was so humiliated by the prank that she wanted to erase it from her memory. The easiest way to do that was to cut me out of her life. I wanted to go to the police and report Scott and everybody involved, but she refused to cooperate.” She stared into the empty cup recalling that awful night. “That meant you, too. I thought you were there.”

“I understand.” He ran his hand across the top of his head. “Look, Maddie, my chief is on my back about these missing school supplies. He’s on board with Roger keeping it quiet for now if Alex and I can take of it in-house. So I need to be clear on this. Why would Allison believe you stole the jewelry?”

Moisture filled her eyes as she remembered her best friend’s betrayal. Allison had taken the easier path instead of the rocky road because she couldn’t deal with reality. Her betrayal had hurt Madeline worse than anything her parents had ever done to her. She never expected any love or care from them so she wasn’t disappointed when she didn’t get it.

Allison was different. Madeline had thought their bond was strong. Unbreakable. She shared everything with her and had never done that with anyone else before. So when Allison broke that secure connection, she damaged a piece of Madeline’s sanctuary as well. The only other safe haven she had was her new home with her aunt and uncle.

“I had told Allison all my secrets. Up until then, I had never told anyone all the details of my horrible childhood. Not even Uncle Mark and Aunt Patty. My mother was a drug addict. She started with prescription drugs then turned to heroin. My dad loved my mom so much he worked two jobs to pay for her disgusting habit. It went on that way for years.”