Page 59 of Good Girls Lie
She can hear thetick, tick, tickthat signals her mother is flicking her nails against the table. “Here’s the thing, Ford. The alumni association wants the money. They want to surpass Exeter and Andover, you know that’s been on the ten-year plan.”
“The plan is to have an all-girls school at the top of the private school endowment list.”
“Thegoal, though, is to be first on the list. Goode could not only match but overtake Exeter with this bump.”
“No way, no how, Mother. I can’t believe they’ve sent you as their emissary on this. You, of all people, who drilled into me and anyone else who would listen the vital nature of an all-girls environment. You know we’ll lose more than we gain if we go coed. We’d lose every endowment that specified all-girls.”
“Actually, no, we won’t. There are ways to keep the system intact and still go coed. We’ve been—”
“‘We’? Who the hell is ‘we’?”
“Now, Ford, there’s no reason to get upset. The South needs a win. We must overtake the East Coast schools. This is our chance. The alumni—”
“You aren’t a part of the school anymore, Mother. And trust me, the board will not allow it. I’m shocked you’re even entertaining the thought.”
Jude sighs again. “The alumni association disagrees. Unlike the board, they haven’t cast me aside.”
The recrimination is clear.
“I just didn’t want you to be caught off guard, darling.”
“Thanks for the heads-up. I should go, I’ll need to prepare some numbers.”
“Do that. You’ll see how this can work. One more thing. I saw one of your girls in town today. She was talking tothat boy. I trust you were informed?”
Oh, Mama, if you only knew. And fuck you, Rumi. You really could have given me a heads-up.
He’d met up with Ash? Neither of them had bothered to mention this.
“She’s already been disciplined. It won’t happen again.”
“If you don’t keep control of them, Ford, they will continue to walk all over you. I’ve told you time and again you’re much too loose with these girls.”
“No one is walking all over me. I handled it.”
“I see you still havethat boyon staff. You would do well to get rid of him, Ford. No good will come of your charity.”
“Mother, this entire school was founded on charity for those who are in trouble. Rumi certainly counts. He wasn’t responsible for his father’s actions. He was only ten, for heaven’s sake. Why you’ve chosen him to blame when it was your negligence that got the girl killed astounds me. If you’d told the sheriff that Reynolds was harassing—”
Her mother’s voice is colder than ice. “How dare you? You listen to me, little girl. I most certainly did tell the sheriff. He chose not to do anything, which is why that idiot lost his job. Just like you took mine.”
Ford’s heard this all before. “It’s late. Do we have to do this now?”
“You started it, Ford. I suppose I’ll just go back to New York. You don’t want or need me. You’ve made that abundantly clear.”
“Wait, Mom,” but the call has ended, the phone is back to the home screen.
Since when does her mother speak for the alumni? There’s something bigger going on here.
Ford starts to dial Jude back, then changes her mind. She sends a text instead.
You could have warned me.
The reply comes almost immediately.
I gave you the strength to deal with her.
Strangely, she recognizes the truth in his statement. She’d gone into the call relaxed instead of tense and furious, her usual approach to her mother—and Jude to her. The bad blood between them is never going to be resolved. At least this argument has ended in passive-aggressive nonsense. No harm, no foul. What ridiculousness, to think of taking the money and going coed. It goes against everything Goode is.
