Save Me - Lisa Scottoline [50]
“Right.” Rose smiled.
“That’s what I like about Googie. We both have a spot.”
Rose blinked. Funny, she’d never made the connection. They’d gotten a Cavalier because she’d had one as a child and they were great with kids.
“I tell her not to be sad about her spot. The Countess gave it to her, and that’s just the way she is.” Melly shrugged, stroking the little spaniel. “I tell her, the spot is part of her. Just like Harry Potter. She has other spots, too.” She pointed to the small spots on the dog’s leg. “I told her she shouldn’t worry about any of her spots.”
“What does she say?”
“She says she doesn’t. Other people do.” Melly kept petting the dog, whose eyes stayed closed, fringed with red eyelashes. “When I see her, I don’t see the spots, I just see her. And she’s beautiful.”
Rose felt her throat catch. “I feel the same way. She’s the most beautiful dog I ever saw.”
Melly looked up. “Am I beautiful, Mom?”
“You sure are.”
“As beautiful as you? You were a model, in magazines.”
“Yes, and you know what I learned from all that?”
“What?”
“That beauty doesn’t really have anything to do with what we look like. It’s who we are inside, and what we do, in life. Googie’s beautiful because she has a beautiful little spirit inside her, and so do you.”
“And so do you, Mom.” Melly smiled sweetly, and Rose smiled back.
“Thanks, honeybun.”
“I can go to school tomorrow.”
“Okay, good idea,” Rose said, hoping it sounded like the truth.
Chapter Thirty
Rose tucked Melly in, checked on John, changed into jeans and a T-shirt, then went downstairs. She padded into the kitchen and hit a button on her laptop, and while it woke up, placed a decaf pod in the coffeemaker, got a mug from the cabinet, and hit BREW. Hot coffee spurted into the mug, and she thought of Leo. He hadn’t called her back yet, and she knew he must be busy, so she texted him.
Love you. Canton quit. Call anytime.
She grabbed the mug of coffee, took it to the laptop, and sat down. She logged onto Facebook and looked at the first three messages on her wall. She didn’t know the people who had posted, but she recognized the names from class, and the messages were familiar:
I think you are a terrible person …
You should leave and go back …
I saw you at Fiore’s and you must be crazy if you think …
Rose didn’t read any further. She logged onto Account Settings, then Deactivate Account, and clicked Yes, ending her Facebook account. She sipped her coffee, strong and bitter, then logged into her email account and read the list of senders. She didn’t know any of them, and their email wasn’t friendly:
You are so fake …
I will not let my son …
If I am unlucky enough to see you at school …
Rose was about to delete them but spotted an email from Principal Lucas Rodriguez to the Reesburgh School Community, and she opened it:
We all mourn the loss of Marylou Battle, Serena Perez, and Ellen Conze, and we will have an assembly in the gym to honor them, on Monday morning (students only). We’ll also hold a meeting for parents (parents only) in the auditorium, at 9:00 a.m., and administrators and dignitaries will be there to answer any questions you may have. Please drive your child to school and try to calm any emotional reactions. It’s time to put the past behind us and move on.…
Rose read between the lines. Mr. Rodriguez wanted peace at school tomorrow, and so did she. She went into her email account and navigated around until she figured out how to deactivate it, then did. It left her with one thing to do. She logged onto the website for the TV station, which burst into the screen with PHILADELPHIA’S BIGGEST NEWS at the top. She skipped the SCHOOL FIRE EXPLODES IN CONTROVERSY and scrolled down until she found Tanya’s one-on-one interview with Eileen Gigot. She wanted to know what was going on to prepare Melly, if she had to. She plugged in the earphones she used when John was sleeping, and clicked the play arrow on the video.
“I’m Tanya Robertson,” the anchorwoman said. She was sitting across from Eileen at