Stella MacLean - Unexpected Attraction

Scott’s accusations about her worthiness as a parent came to her. He would think this was her fault. Scott, who had fought so brutally to get custody of Shannon, would gloat if he could see Andrea now. Yet where was he when his daughter needed him? He had moved on, remarried and was happily caught up in his new family. A family that didn’t include his daughter. No, he’d abdicated his responsibility for Shannon except when he could use her to punish Andrea.

She straightened and shook off those thoughts before they spiraled out of control. She normally didn’t feel sorry for herself, but after last night she couldn’t seem to stop the feeling that somehow Shannon had moved away from her, away from her support and caring. In less than a day Andrea had gone from being a mother who could trust her daughter—who could take joy and pride in the person Shannon had become—to someone who didn’t know what was going on in her own home.

A movement near the door caught her attention. She turned, a smile forming to thank Melody for the coffee. Instead of Melody, Jake Polegato stood there. “What are you doing here?”

“They called me to sit in on this meeting,” he said as he moved to the chair beside her.

Andrea felt the heat of anger smolder. She intensely disliked this man. He’d nearly taken her daughter from her. “I will not talk about my daughter with you. Did Scott send you?” She was conscious of the need to remain perfectly calm.

He held up his hand. “Please let me speak.”

“You have nothing to say to me. I will not have you meddling in my life ever again.”

“I’m not meddling, Mrs. Taylor.”

She wanted to scream and yell at him, but she knew that he’d only see that as further proof that she wasn’t a good, stable parent. There was only one thing to do. Andrea picked up her purse. “I’m leaving,” she said, heading for the door.

Melody met her at the entrance, a cup of coffee in her hand. She glanced from Jake to Andrea. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to make the introductions. Andrea, this is—”

“I know who this man is. And I won’t discuss my daughter with him in the room.” She moved to leave, but Melody stopped her.

“Andrea, I’m sorry. Please let me explain,” Melody said. “I didn’t know that you and Mr. Polegato knew each other.”

Angry and feeling betrayed by the whole world, Andrea turned her back to Jake. “Did Mr. Polegato happen to mention what he did to me?”

“I’m truly sorry,” Jake said. He shifted until he was within Andrea’s line of sight. “When the school called saying they had an urgent situation on their hands, I felt I had to help. But I can see that you’re upset, which means I won’t be much help or support. I should have anticipated that you’d feel this way. Again, I’m sorry.”

Through her anger she could see that he was sincere, but she didn’t care. She still suspected Scott had arranged for Jake to get involved, but she didn’t give voice to those suspicions. It didn’t matter how he’d come to be here; it only mattered that he not be involved in their lives again. “I don’t want you here. Have I made myself clear?”

Melody touched Andrea’s arm. “We need to talk about Shannon. If you’d rather that Jake isn’t part of the conversation, I’ll respect that. But your daughter is in serious trouble. The school feels we need to support Shannon in whatever way possible. I’m not qualified to give her the help she needs. I want to do what is right for her and for you. That’s why I asked that there be a psychologist at this meeting.”

CHAPTER FOUR

JAKE SAW THE anger in Andrea’s eyes and realized that not much had changed with this woman in the four years since he’d last seen her. She was still angry, still determined to have her way and still fighting for control. The things he’d found so unlikable about her four years ago were the same traits that would make helping her daughter a challenge no matter who tried to work with her.

Could she not see it was critical to put Shannon’s interests ahead of her own? If they were to help Shannon, they had to focus on her. He kept his expression neutral as he met Andrea’s hostile gaze. When the school had explained the dramatic change exhibited by Shannon Taylor, Jake felt compelled to do what he could to help. Faced with Andrea’s aggressive behavior, he realized that he could not allow this woman to set the agenda. “Your daughter needs your help and support—”

“She has it!” Andrea said, her fists forming balls against her thighs.

Jake held up his hand to prevent her from going further. “Let me finish. Once I do, I won’t say another word. Understood?”

She nodded.

“I’m here for only one reason. I want to help Shannon. You do, too. As does Melody. We’re all here to support your daughter. Agreed?”

Andrea nodded again, although her expression left him with no doubt about her feelings toward him. Seeing the tense set of her shoulders and the fidgeting movement of her hands, he continued carefully.

“It’s in your daughter’s best interest to get to the bottom of what’s going on, wouldn’t you agree?”

Andrea made a small sign of assent, anguish visible on her face, and he felt empathy. Every parent deserved support in dealing with issues around their children. Andrea was no exception. “Let’s try to work this out together.”

“Have a seat, please,” Melody said.

“As long as you do not try to tell me what I should do,” Andrea said to him. “And if I ask you to leave, you will.”

Why was she being so aggressive when her daughter was in serious trouble? But maybe Andrea didn’t know the full extent of the issues around Shannon’s behavior. “Agreed.”

Jake chose a chair next to the wall, making himself as unobtrusive as possible so he could observe the meeting.

“As near as we can determine, Shannon’s problems started about a month ago, around the third week of September,” Melody said after taking a seat. “She didn’t show up for volleyball practice one week and didn’t offer any explanation. After that she often arrived late or seemed distracted on the court. The coach is concerned about her performance on the team.”

Andrea straightened. “Shannon loves to play volleyball. I’m sorry, but I didn’t know about this. I’ll speak to Shannon.”

Jake saw the genuine surprise in Andrea’s expression. If she hadn’t known about this, there was a communication breakdown between her and Shannon.

“I understand your alarm, but there’s more. She and Stuart Jameson were yelling at each other outside the classroom after a math test a week ago. A teacher had to intervene. Shannon has also left the junior prom committee, something she wanted to be involved with when school started in September. She’s been late to class on a couple of occasions, which has never happened with her.”

“I don’t understand,” Andrea said, her voice sounding shaky. “Shannon has never, ever behaved this way. She loved working on the junior prom committee, and I can’t see her yelling at Stuart Jameson unless she had a reason... All I know about Stuart is that Shannon doesn’t like him very much. But if she yelled at him, he had to have said or done something.” She seemed to struggle to maintain her composure. “I drop Shannon off at school most days unless Kyle drives her. How could she be late for school?”

“She didn’t say. We asked her to make up the time. She stayed late to do extra math, the class she missed those days, and it was after one of her makeup sessions yesterday afternoon that the incident occurred.”

“There has to be an explanation.” Andrea rubbed her temples as she mumbled, “This is so not like Shannon.”

Jake wanted to ask if anything had changed at home, if there was anything different in Andrea’s relationship with her daughter. But he had promised not to say anything, aware that she might take his questions as an attack on her parenting, as she had four years ago. They needed to gain her cooperation in addressing these issues before he could take any active role.