Here We Come (Aggie's Inheritance) (101 page)

“I
need
to
talk
to
you.”

“I’m
not
doing
grammar.
We’ve
done
enough
today.”

“I’m
not
here
to
talk
to
you
about
today’s
schoolwork.”

That
got
his
attention.
He
glanced
sideways
at
her
before
asking,
“Then
what
do
you
want?”

“To
apologize.”

This
earned
her
a
turned
head
and
shock
on
his
face.
“For
what?”

Aggie
seated
herself
on
his
bed,
leaning
her
arms
on
her
legs,
and
tried
to
maintain
eye
contact.
“I
had
no
business
dumping
your
paper
into
Luke’s
lap.
It
was
wrong
to
change
up
your
school
authority
like
that
and
it
was
wrong
to
put
him
in
that
position.
I
thought
it
was
right—why
I
did
it
made
sense
to
me,
but
I
see
that
doing
it
was
wrong.
I’m
sorry.”

“Why?”

“Why
am
I
sorry?
Because
I—”

“No,
why
did
you
do
it.
You’ve
never
shoved
our
problems
on
anyone
else
before.”

That proved it
.
He
did
lose
respect
for
her
over
that.
He’d
seen
it
as
shirking
her
responsibility
instead
of
trying
to
be
just.
“Laird,
I
wasn’t
trying
to
shove
anything
on
anyone.
I
see
it
looks
like
that
and
that’s
what
it
ended
up
being,
but
it
wasn’t
my
intent.
I
was
angry.
Your
first
paper
seemed
to
be
a
slap
in
the
face
to
my
authority
as
your
teacher
and
a
parent.
Then
I
thought
maybe
I
was
overreacting
,
so
I
tried
to
have
someone
distant
from
the
situation
look
at
it—someone
who
cares
about
both
of
us
and
who
might
see
it
with
the
eyes
of
an
adult
and
yet
one
who
wasn’t
affronted.
I
didn’t
tell
him
anything
about
what
happened.
I
left
that
for
you.”

“Oh.”
He
was
struggling.
The
muscles
in
Laird’s
face
twitched
with
his
attempts
to
control
them
and
his
lip
seemed
to
quiver.
Even
his
voice
cracked
with
that
one
simple
mono-syllabic
word.

“I
see
how
it
looked
to
you
and
I
put
you
in
a
bad
position.”
She
crept
forward,
hunkered
down
on
her
heels
and looked up at
him.
“You
know
how
Grandma
Millie
is,
right?
You
know
how
we
have
to
keep
her
from
getting
too
tired
or
too
upset.”

“Yeah?”

“Well,
when
she’d
get
upset
she
knew
she
had
to
calm
down,
so
she’d
table
things
and
have
Grandpa
deal
with
them
when
he
got
home.
I
forgot
that
this
isn’t
normal—that
I
have
no
reason
to
do
that.
I
forgot
that
I
can
be
angry
but
talk
about
it
and
see
if
I’m
right
before
I
let
it
take
hold
of
me
like
that.”
To
her
disgust
and
dismay,
tears
choked
her
and
flooded
her
eyes.
“I
don’t
know
how
to
do
this,
Laird.
You
know
that.
I’ve
been
a
‘mother’
for
nine
months.
Most
people
get
that
much
to
prepare
for
one
child.
I
have
eight.
I’m
going
to
blow
it.”