The Reasons to Stay (Harlequin Superromance) by Laura Drake Page A

in?”
    The careworn brunette glanced at the open folder before her. “Social studies and all language arts— spelling, handwriting and, most especially, reading. I think all these problems stem from his lack of reading skills. Ms. Hart, he’s reading more than a grade below his peers.” She took off her glasses and laid them on the desk. “Also, this year Ignacio has been acting out quite a bit. He’s been disciplined for talking in class, fighting during recess and throwing food in the cafeteria. This is not unusual for a child who has gone through what he has recently—his mother being sick and then passing.” A shadow of pink rose in her cheeks. “I’m sorry for your loss, as well.”
    “Um. Thanks. I’ll see that he calms down now that he’s settled with me. We’ll work on reading together, too.” She stood. The sooner she got away from schoolhouse memories the better. “Thank you for your time.”
    The principal stood. “Let me know if we can do anything to help. We have special programs—”
    “No, I’ve got it covered. Thanks.” More government help, they didn’t need. Priss shook the woman’s proffered hand, spun on her heel and scuttled out.
    Closing the door behind her, she checked the time. School would let out in a few minutes. She passed a hallway on her way to the front doors. Under the squeak of chairs and teachers’ voices, she heard in her mind a wisp of laughter. Ugly, taunting laughter. The ghost of a pig-nosed blonde girl stalked out of the past and advanced down the hallway, lips tight and hate in her eyes.
    I’ll wait outside. Hunching her shoulders and turning away, Priss headed for the carefree sunshine splashing the world outside the heavy glass doors.
    Minutes later, safely ensconced in Mona, she heard the bell announcing the end of the school day. Kids poured out of the doors, chattering and laughing. They walked to the chugging buses or to the line of cars pulled up in front of the school.
    Priss saw Nacho between the two boys she’d seen that first day. His “gang.” Heads together in deep discussion, they walked toward the schoolyard. She stood on Mona’s seat to be seen above the trolling cars and yelled over the din, “Hey, Nacho!”
    His head jerked up and he looked around. When he saw her waving madly, he spoke to his friends, bumped fists, then walked to the car. “What’re you doing here?”
    “I had a meeting with your principal.”
    He opened the door and slouched into the seat, apparently incurious about the results of the meeting.
    “Seat belt,” she reminded, checking the rearview mirror for a break in the parking-lot traffic. “Where were you going? Home is the opposite way.”
    “We were just hanging out. No big deal.” His face was closed, hard. “Why are you checking up on me all the time? I don’t need a babysitter.”
    She saw a space and gunned the car in Reverse. “Good thing, because I don’t do babysitting.” The lady in a Lexus SUV blatted her horn. If she’d have been alone, Priss would have flipped the woman the bird. But she was now a role model.
    Me, a role model. This kid is in trouble. When they’d inched their way to the exit, she turned left.
    “Home is the opposite way,” he mocked.
    “We’re not going home.” She sped up as the traffic cleared.
    Nacho sat up. “Where are we going?”
    “To the library.”
    He groaned. “Oh, no, not you, too?”
    Raising her voice over the wind, she said, “Me, too, what?”
    “Mom took me there all the time. Boooring.”
    Good to know Mom at least made the effort to improve his reading.
    “She was always looking up stuff on the computer. We spent hours and hours there.”
    “Looking up what?”
    He rolled his eyes. “Like I noticed.”
    Mom wasn’t a reader. As far as Priss knew, her mother had never stepped foot in a library. What would she have been looking up?
    “Can I just wait in the car?”
    She smiled at her brother’s long-suffering look. “You’d better get