She gave him a brief recap of the conversation. Buck’s eyebrows drew further together with every word.
“Crap,” was his succinct summary.
Honey winced. “It must be a disaster if you’re almost swearing.”
“Sorry.” Buck blew out his breath. “Maybe it’ll be okay. It’s still a long step for him to figure out the truth. And at least he knows now that he’s not getting shifting lessons from either of us. Let’s hope that lights a fire under his ass. If this doesn’t make him ask for a different set of counselors, I don’t know what will.”
“Me neither.” With a sigh, she drained the last of her coffee. “Tell me some good news. Did you talk to Archie?”
“Yep.”
“And is he suitably filled with remorse for his behavior?”
“Probably not.” The corner of Buck’s mouth hooked up. “But he will be.”
CHAPTER21
Archie returned to the boys’ dorm at bedtime. Buck was waiting for him on the porch, arms folded.
“Well?” he said. “Have you learned your lesson?”
The look Archie turned on him was haunted.
“I will never,” the boy said with fervent, heartfelt sincerity, “ever be bad again in mywhole entire life.”
“See that you don’t,” Conleth said, escorting Archie like a prison warden. He shot Buck an aggrieved glare as he deposited the boy on the porch. “Next time you need to punish someone, invest in a pair of thumbscrews. Leave me out of it.”
Conleth, Buck noted, was not looking quite so sharp as usual. His red hair was distinctly rumpled, while his tie hung askew. A slash of highlighter pen marred the front of his shirt, and there were tufts of what looked suspiciously like bear fur plastered across his suit. Buck had a fleeting regret that he didn’t have his phone on him, and thus couldn’t capture a picture and send it to everyone he knew.
“I can see you both had a wonderful time,” he said, not bothering to fight down his smirk. “I’m sure we won’t have to repeat this in future. Will we, Archie?”
“He made me do spreadsheets.” Archie had the thousand-yard stare of someone who had journeyed to terrible places and seen too much. “Withnumbers.”
“And for the record, ‘butts’ is not a number,” Conleth told him. “Neither is ‘wiener.’ It’s a good thing I keep backups. And, as it turns out, backups of backups. Offsite. You are henceforth forbidden from coming within a hundred feet of the office.”
“It wasn’t my fault!” Archie protested, some of his usual spirit returning. “How was I supposed to know that button did that?”
“That button was not supposed to do that,” Conleth replied. “I have no idea how you made that button do that. It should not have been physically possible to make that button do anything even remotely like that.Twohundred feet. Minimum.”
“Into the dorm, kid,” Buck said to Archie. “It’s bedtime. Conleth, hold up a sec. I need a word.”
“If you have another misbehaving child, I have just remembered that I have an extremely urgent appointment,” Conleth retorted. “In Beijing.”
“Not that.” Buck hesitated a moment, checking that Archie had disappeared into the cabin. “Any progress on the other matter?”
“Ah.” Conleth tilted his head, eyes narrowing a little. “I assume you mean your previous request.”
A flicker of movement caught Buck’s eye. He held up a hand, motioning Conleth to silence—but it was only Honey, emerging from the girls’ cabin across the way. She cast him an inquiring glance, but he shook his head to indicate that there was no need for her to come over. With a smile of understanding, she settled into a chair on the porch to wait.
“Things seem to be going well,” Conleth said from behind him, dryly. “Given that the two of you just had an entire conversation at a distance of thirty feet using nothing but your eyebrows.”
Buck grunted, feeling vaguely like he’d just been caught elbow-deep in a cookie jar. “I was asking for an update. Not a motherloving commentary.”
“Sadly, few of us ever get what we want.” Conleth straightened his cuffs, taking his time over it, like a cat ostentatiously grooming its fur. “And I’m beginning to wonder if you trulywantme to find a replacement counselor.”
“I’m beginning to want to punch you in the face, if that helps motivate you to get to the point.”
“How I will miss these delightful conversations when you are no longer on the staff.” Conleth smoothed a hand over his hair, setting it back in order. “I have news. Though I’m not sure whether you’ll consider it good or bad.”
