Cade hadn’t needed any medical attention outside of what he got from the VA hospital and the physical therapist he worked with in Aberdeen, so he wasn’t familiar with Dr. Annie. He knew her husband, Keaton, from the animal shelter. As he recalled, it was Keaton who’d delivered Shadow to the facility. Since Cade had been volunteering at the shelter, Keaton had stopped by several times. The man was large and intimidating at first glance, until Cade had been around him awhile. He was big-chested, close to seven feet, he’d guess, with hands nearly twice the size of a normal person’s, and it seemed his heart for helping others matched his size.
Hope waved to Willa, who immediately invited them to join her and Sean. Naturally, they sat more than halfway up the bleachers. Cade tensed right away, knowing the climb would be awkward.
Instead of rushing forward, Hope remained patiently at his side, taking one step at a time with him, as if he were the one helping her up the stairs.
She paused halfway up when she spied one of her students. “Hi, Spencer,” she said.
The kid looked up and then glanced away. As crowded as the stands were, there was plenty of space left on both sides of Spencer. It was as if he were being given the cold shoulder by his schoolmates. Clearly no one wanted to sit next to him.
“Where’s Callie?” Hope asked. “Shouldn’t she be with you?”
Several other students stared in his direction. “She’s on the dance team,” Spencer explained.
“Right,” Hope said, as if she should have remembered that bit of information.
Once they were seated and friendly introductions were made with Willa and her husband, Cade asked about Spencer.
“He’s the young man I mentioned. Scott Pender’s girlfriend is the one Spencer is escorting to homecoming.”
“Not his former girlfriend?” Cade asked.
Hope hesitated. “I’m not sure. They seem off and on, so I have to assume this is an off time.”
If not, that could mean trouble at the dance, Cade mused.
Although he didn’t know Spencer personally, Cade was sympathetic. “You mentioned him before, but not by name. He’s the one who finagled the deal with Callie, right?”
“Right. She had some computer problem she wanted him to resolve.”
Cade wanted the facts straight in his mind. “Which Spencer agreed to do if she became his date for homecoming?”
“Exactly.”
He could only imagine what the girl had wanted, and suspected Hope did, too. “Do you know what it was she asked of him?”
Hope’s arm that remained wrapped around his tightened. “That’s the problem, he hasn’t told me. Spencer always manages to change the subject. I’m afraid he’s gotten himself tangled up in something over his head.”
Cade let that settle in, wondering what the poor kid had agreed to do for this girl all because he’d lost his head over a pretty face. From what Hope said, it sounded as if Callie couldn’t care less about Spencer or the consequences from her former boyfriend.
“I’m concerned,” Hope added. “At this point, though, there’s nothing I can do.”
“You can’t blame yourself.”
“But I do. I should never have advised Spencer the way I did. He told me that their families are good friends and at one point they had been, too. All Spencer really wanted was for things to go back the way they once were: to be friends with the hope of something more. He wanted a chance to let Callie know how much he liked her. Spencer is such a great kid.” Lowering her voice, she added, “I know I shouldn’t have favorites, but I can’t help it with Spencer. Yes, he’s smart, but he works hard. Not everything comes easy for him. He isn’t like the others; he’s mature for his age, works part-time with his dad, and has manners and respect for others. You wouldn’t believe how rare that is in this day and age.”
“You’re afraid Callie is using him.”
“I have no doubt. She’s pretty and popular and seems completely self-absorbed. I’m convinced she made sure everyone in school knows that she’d been manipulated into this date with Spencer.”
“I’m surprised he’s going through with it.”
“Actually, I am, too.”
Cade could imagine Spencer had paid the price for the audacity of even asking Callie to homecoming.
“Has the harassment continued?”
She expelled a heavy sigh. “If it has, Spencer isn’t saying.”
“But you have your suspicions.”