Homecoming (A Boys of Fall Novel) by Shannon Stacey

going at the middle school?”
    “Not too bad. I’m dealing with a few kids who aren’t handling the step up in academics very well. And a couple of parents who are really overreaching for their kids. It’s a huge adjustment.”
    “And Em?”
    Jen smiled. She and Kelly knew each other so well they could usually communicate without using names in public. But the restaurant was almost empty and they both had a soft spot for twelve-year-old Emily Jenkins. Her mother had passed from cancer about two years back, and the little girl and her father really went through a rough spot. It had culminated in the police being called when Emily shoplifted feminine pads from the convenience store because she knew money was tight and was too embarrassed to ask her dad for them.
    Luckily the police officer who responded, Dylan Clark, had called Kelly in and the situation was quietly resolved. Jen spent some time working with both of them—especially stressing to Mr. Jenkins that his girl was heading into puberty and didn’t have a mom, so he needed to get comfortable withawkward conversations pretty quickly—and she checked in with Emily on a regular basis.
    “They’re doing really well,” she said. “And now they have a little basket on the kitchen counter where they can leave notes to each other. She’s at that age where father-and-daughter talks can be awkward and make each other uncomfortable, so they write notes back and forth. She said at first it was mostly hard things, like her needing to go bra shopping or talking about her mom, but now they share funny stories and jokes, too. Her grades are good and her teachers say she’s bouncing back.”
    “I’m so glad.” Kelly leaned back against the booth. “That’s one of the things I love about being part of a small-town police force, especially in my hometown. We have a better chance of helping people
before
things get too bad.”
    “Speaking of, anything on Spruce Street?” Jen had gotten a tip over the summer that one of the high school students might be involved in a drug situation, though she hadn’t been given specifics.
    Kelly shook her head. “Nope. We’ve been patrolling and we even got an undercover from the county task force to go in as a strange face and look around. Nothing at school?”
    “Nothing.” Besides the random locker checks that were a regular part of the school policy, they’d been keeping a close eye on the student. “I’m starting to wonder if that little tip was somebody just looking to cause trouble. Maybe they thought we’d bust down the door first and ask questions later.”
    “Maybe.” Kelly brought up another name and they went through the list of kids they’d had concerns about before or were keeping an eye on now.
    The list was a lot shorter than it had been earlier in the year, which Jen was thankful for. Stewart Mills had been amess for a while. When the economy tanked, families were stressed—some of them beyond the breaking point—and the kids started acting out. More drinking and more petty crimes. And then they took away football.
    Things were looking up now, though, and by the time their breakfast came, they’d run out of problems to talk about. Just a few minutes after the server left their plates, Kelly frowned and leaned over to see past Jen. “What the hell?”
    Jen turned in her seat to see Sam walking toward them with Coach McDonnell. Her stomach knotted at the thought of the guys joining them because Kelly would definitely notice her staring at Sam Leavitt’s mouth the entire time. But Cassandra peeled off and set two menus on a table over by the wall, so she blew out a sigh of relief.
    “Does Mom know you’re here?” Kelly asked, standing to kiss her father’s cheek.
    “She does.”
    Kelly narrowed her eyes. “And she doesn’t care?”
    Sam laughed. “She called me and told me if I didn’t get him out of the house, she was going to put a pillow over his face and count to five hundred.”
    “That