No Way Out - Fern Michaels Page 0,71
the pizza guy in a tizzy, they laughed hysterically at Randy. The embarrassment was bad enough, but then the owner of the pizza shop wanted to press charges against all of them, but he couldn’t, since Randy was the only one driving. If you could call it that. So they dropped the charges down to shoplifting, mostly to teach him a lesson. It will be expunged when he turns eighteen if he doesn’t get into any other trouble. Which I doubt he will. The reason they moved here is to get him into a better school, away from those other kids.”
Colleen sat down on a dining-room chair. “That is such a relief. Thank you so much.”
“From what I gathered, they’re a decent, hardworking family. The father’s an accountant and the mother a librarian. So you have something in common. Books.”
Colleen almost started to cry from the news.
“You still with me?” he asked into the void.
“Oh, yes. Yes. I’m trying to absorb this. I was so worried.”
“I know you were. But you can relax now. Sometimes, there’s a road to redemption.”
“You are so right.” Colleen took in a gulp of air. “How can I thank you?”
There was a moment of silence. She thought they might have been disconnected. “Hello?”
“Yes. I’m still here. Listen, this may be a little unconventional, but after all this is over, the trial and all, and once you get yourself settled, would you consider having dinner with me? I’ll understand if you don’t want to, after all you’ve been through. But it would be nice to have a dinner partner. Someone to talk to and share a meal.”
Colleen was speechless. She couldn’t remember the last time she and Mitchel had “shared a meal” in a nice, quiet atmosphere.
“Are you still there?” Pedone asked.
Colleen laughed softly. “Yes. Yes, I am, and I would be delighted to have dinner and enlightened conversation with you.”
Pedone chuckled. “I can’t guarantee ‘enlightened,’ but I’ll try for entertaining. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good. It may be a while, but it will be something to look forward to.” Colleen was beaming.
“Me too. Remember, if you need anything in the meantime, give me a call.”
“Thanks Officer Pedone,” she teased. “I mean Bob.”
“Anytime, Colleen.” They ended the call, with both of them feeling good about the future. Even if it was only dinner.
When she hung up, there was a spring in her step as she made her way into the kitchen, where Jackson was doing his homework. “Honey? I thought about what you said, and it would be nice if you went over to say hello and introduce yourself. We need to be good neighbors. Do you want me to go with you?”
“Sure. Then I’ll go to Buddy’s.” Jackson was working on his homework—math problems—that day. “Hey, Mom? Did I tell you about how Mr. Chadwick helped me with the solar-system stuff? Which planets are where?”
“No. Tell me about it.” Colleen pulled up a chair.
“He showed me a trick to remember things by using letters. It had a funny name I can’t remember.”
“What was the trick?”
“First, I write the names. I have to remember them first, but I know them. Then I underline the first letter of each name. Then I remember by saying Most Valuable Earth. My name is Jackson. Then S.U.N. for Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. And Pluto is P for the period at the end.”
“That’s terrific. And you remembered everything?”
“Yep. At first I was a little confused, but I figured it out.” Jackson was wiggling his pencil.
“Well, you did a great job. And Mr. Chadwick, too!” She leaned over and gave him a hug from behind.
“Yep. He’s pretty smart.”
“Yes, he is,” Colleen concurred.
“He told me that he was kind of a teacher.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. When he was in the military, he had to teach guys how to do stuff.”
“I bet he was really good at it,” Colleen said.
“Prob’ly.” Jackson continued to work on his multiplication tables.
“How are you doing with your math?”
“OK, I guess. I don’t know any tricks, so can you check it for me?” Jackson looked over his shoulder at his mother.
“Of course. Anything in particular you’re troubled about?”
“Nah. But it does seem hard. I gotta memorize a lot of junk.”
“It’s not junk, but you are correct. It’s a lot of memorization.”
Jackson repeated the word “Mem-o-riz-ation. That kinda sounds like a word Mr. Chadwick used yesterday when he told me about the letters and the trick.”
“You mean mnemonics?” Colleen asked.
“Yeah! That was the word.” Jackson’s delight was evident.
Colleen knew that further explanation would