Page 72 of For Your Own Good

“I doubt that.”

“It’s true. You’ll see.” He smiled and walked off to congratulate someone else.

Fallon has spent a lot of time thinking about that conversation, replaying it again and again. Because she still can’t believe how cruel it was.

Back at Belmont now, she sits through the afternoon classes, watching the students more than the substitute. It’s surprisingly easy to read their personalities. While she was in college at State, her parents had refused to give her spending money, so she worked part-time as a waitress and bartender. That experience in the service industry was coming in handy.

When the last class ends, she stays behind, trying to get comfortable sitting at Sonia’s desk. The room looks different from this perspective. She imagines all those teenage eyes staring at her. Waiting for her to mess up. Waiting to make fun of her. Waiting for a weakness they can take advantage of.

Just like she used to.

Not an easy job. Not a desirable one, either. She would rather be in grad school, on her way to getting her master’s and then her PhD. College is where she always wanted to teach.

At the end of the day, she drives through the gate. The road is empty, the reporters gone. Fallon drives across town, as far away from Belmont as she can get and still be in the same county. To the wrong side of town, the wrong side of everything—as her parents used to say. They don’t pay her bills anymore. They don’t pay for anything.

Her apartment is a box, a studio with a kitchenette and a bathroom. Empty except for an inflatable bed, a suitcase, and a single lamp. Almost like she just moved in.

She didn’t.

Although there are no pictures on her wall, she has a lot on her computer. Most are of Teddy, and they’re all organized in separate files: Home. School. His regular corner store.

She’s been watching Teddy for a while.

45

IF IT’S NOTone thing, it’s another. Teddy is wise enough to know that. He doesn’t expect life to be good every day, or for only good things to happen.

But if he could reap the rewards of his hard work for a day or two, that would be great.

He’s on the brink of saving Courtney. The media is going nuts, the police and the DA are under pressure, and, no doubt, Courtney’s high-priced lawyer is right in their face, demanding answers about what’s going on. Anytime now, they’ll drop the charges. They have to. Just days before the trial is due to start, the tide has turned. The jury pool has been tainted. No one likes to try a case they’re going to lose, and the DA knows he will.

Because of Teddy. He had to save Courtney, and that’s exactly what he did.

But does he get to enjoy this?

No. No, he does not.

Tonight, he planned to drink some milk, watch the news, and celebrate his good deeds.

Ruined.

Instead, he sits in front of the TV, and the news is on, but he can’t enjoy it at all. He poured himself a glass of milk, but it’s been sitting too long. Not cold anymore.

Ruined because of Fallon. She had to come back now.

In just a few years, she’s aged quite a bit—and not in a good way. Sometimes, those things can’t be helped, though. It’s all in the genes.

The last time he saw her was the day after she graduated from Belmont. He was heading into Hector’s store when she drove up and stopped at the light. Fallon drove a Mercedes SUV, all black, and she was talking on her phone, gesturing wildly, not paying attention to anything but her call. Despite how unhappy she looked at the graduation ceremony, he didn’t regret what he had done. She was so self-absorbed, so vain. So clueless.

She’s still angry at him. He knows this from her emails, and from the petulant, bratty look on her face today. Fallon hasn’t changed a bit. Hasn’t learned a thing.

If only people understood how difficult it is to teach these students to be better people. He tries and tries and tries, and yet sometimes, even he can’t help them.

Not that he’s going to give up. He never gives up.

It’s for their own good.

MONEY CAN’T BUYeverything.