An Invincible Summer (Wyndham Beach), Mariah Stewart [best classic novels TXT] 📗

she wanted was for someone in her space encouraging others to acts of violence. Maybe something had set her off earlier in the day, and maybe by Friday she’d be over it. If not, Grace was going to have to block BlackWido55 from the site. Grace was a lawyer, for God’s sake. She couldn’t have anyone on her blog openly encouraging others to commit criminal acts.

Someone could get hurt. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine the blog being discovered in an investigation. And if the blog was traced back to her, no one had more to lose than Grace.

Chapter Eight

NATALIE

“Hey, Natalie. Wait up.”

Natalie glanced over her shoulder at the sound of her name. She’d been about to open the door to the room into which her freshman remedial English students would soon be filing. Glenn Patton, the second-year creative writing professor at the community college where Natalie taught, closed the gap between them in four quick strides of his long legs.

“Just wanted to give you an update on Ava Beech.” He was a little out of breath. It made her wonder how long he’d been trying to catch up with her.

“Is there a problem?” Natalie opened the door and leaned in to turn on the overhead lights. “Last I heard, she was doing really well in your class. In all her classes, actually.”

“She’s doing fine. More than fine. Her classwork isn’t the problem.” He ran a hand through hair the color of very dark tea. “I asked her if she was going to be taking my class next semester, because I didn’t see her name on the roster that came out yesterday. She said she wasn’t able to come back. Out of funds. Already has two jobs.” He followed Natalie into the room. “I hate to see her quit school. She’s a gem of a student, and she has tremendous talent. She—”

Natalie held up a hand to halt his concerned rush. “You don’t have to sell me on Ava’s ability. She is exactly the type of student my program hopes to help. She had all the talent in the world, but she just needed a little boost to get her where she should be. I love the kid and I totally agree. She shouldn’t even be thinking of quitting school. A girl like her . . .” Natalie shook her head.

“I thought maybe since you worked closely with the first-year kids, you might know of a scholarship or work-study program or something we could recommend her for.”

“Not off the top of my head, but let me give it some thought.”

Several students made their way into the room, chatting and swinging their backpacks onto the floor in front of their chosen seats with little more than a glance at their instructor. It was the last day of the semester, and they were all antsy to leave for the holiday break.

“By the way, there’s a jazz group playing at the Hungry Bee tomorrow night. I was wondering if you’d like to go.” He paused, somewhat awkwardly, which Natalie thought was adorable. “With me. After Yvonne’s Christmas party.”

“I’d like that. If I can find someone to watch Daisy.” She flashed him her best smile. Their colleague from the history department, Yvonne Connor, had a holiday party every year for the faculty. Natalie had gone in years past but hadn’t decided on whether to go this year. “Can I get back to you? Let me see if I can arrange something?”

“Sure. Just text me. Or call. Whichever.” More students were walking past, so he backed out of the room. “I should let you go . . .”

She smiled again, then set her bag on her desk. Glenn was the nicest guy, hands down the most eligible bachelor on the faculty. He was tall and good looking and personable and smart and cared about his students—everything she’d be looking for in a man, if she were looking—and she knew he’d been wanting to ask her out since last year. She liked his easygoing personality and the fact that he didn’t seem to think his good looks entitled him to be a jackass. He always treated the women on the faculty with respect, even that odious Belinda West, who hadn’t said a pleasant word to anyone for as long as Natalie had known her. Still, while Glenn was interesting and nice, there was no spark there as far as she was concerned, and she hated to agree to go out with him and have him think there might be. She’d dated only two men since Jonathan had split, and while they were both nice enough, she hadn’t wanted a third date with either of them. Actually, she hadn’t wanted to date anyone but resisted becoming a once-bitten, twice-shy cliché, so she dated just enough to prove to herself that she could. She understood there were good—great—men in the world. She simply wasn’t looking for one just yet.

At the close of her last class, she checked her mail in the main building before walking to the parking lot, hunching against the fierce wind that had blown in while she’d been inside. There was a chance of snow, which Daisy was very much looking forward to. Natalie, not so much.

She got into her car and turned the ignition before calling up the heat along with the heated seat and steering wheel. She remembered learning to drive in an old Jeep that her father had, which suffered from a faulty heating system. As one who hated being cold, the advances in seat and steering wheel winter comfort were greatly appreciated. While she waited for the heater to do its job, she thought about Ava. The young woman would be anyone’s prize student. Natalie hated the thought that she’d have to suspend her education, but a third job wouldn’t give her any time to study. The steering wheel was slowly beginning to warm as she tapped her fingers on it. There’d been a thought nagging at the back of her