Read Online Forever With You (Bayou Dreams Book 5) by Farrah Rochon - Free Book Online Page B

close to it. He surreptitiously sucked in a couple of deep breaths and told himself to calm down.
    But how in the hell was he supposed to remain calm? He had so much riding on this it kept him awake at night.
    Being in a position to bring about change in the education system was important to him, but two main driving forces had been behind his decision to go back to graduate school and get his master’s in school administration: making his high school science teacher, Mr. Caldwell, proud and making enough money to help his family back in Houston.
    Gabe hated to be all about the dollar, but with the increase in his salary he would be able to help his baby sister, Daniela, as she entered college in the fall and he would be able to send his baby brother, Elias, to private school for his final two years of high school. Getting Elias away from his current high school was at the top of Gabe’s priority list. He didn’t want his brother wandering down the path he’d been on at that age. Elias didn’t have someone like Mr. Caldwell to save him from himself the way Gabe had.
    “How soon would all this happen?” Gabe asked, hoping he didn’t sound too eager.
    “You would officially take over as assistant principal at the end of this school year.”
    Yes. That was less than two months away. It meant his new salary would kick in around that time, too.
    “There’s just one thing,” Superintendent McCabe said. “The residents of both Gauthier and Maplesville have to approve of the merger. School-board elections are in less than four weeks, and there’s not a single member of the board who will support the merger if residents are against it.” He looked from Gabe to Principal Williams. “I’m counting on the two of you to rally the support of the parents here at GEMS. You must get them on board with this if we’re going to go forward.”
    Dammit
. Gabe knew it was too good to be true.
    Half the parents at GEMS still didn’t know him and the other half didn’t trust him because of the rumor Ardina had started about the Lock-In. How in the hell was he going to convince them to support
anything
he advocated for?
    Gabe’s eyes fell shut as he blew out a deep breath. Now more than ever he would need Leslie Kirkland’s help to get him back in the good graces of the parents in Gauthier.

Chapter 4
    “C assidy, you have exactly one minute to get out of that bathroom,” Leslie called from her own bathroom. “The school bus will be here any minute.”
    “I’m almost done.”
    Leslie pitched her head back and sighed at the ceiling. The child was only nine years old.
Nine
. And already she was a bathroom hog. How was she going to handle the teen years? Leslie had considered adding on a third bathroom in a few years, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to wait that long.
    Leslie stopped in the middle of putting on her eyeliner.
    If she followed through with the plans that had been floating around in her head, they wouldn’t be in this house by the time Cassidy became a teenager. They wouldn’t be here by the time she reached age ten.
    Leslie tried to ignore the nauseating sensation that began to swirl in her stomach as she threw on a touch of mascara and swiped gloss over her lips.
    When she arrived in the kitchen, Cassidy and Kristi were slipping on their backpacks.
    “Have you two checked to make sure Buster didn’t have an accident?”
    They nodded in unison.
    “You looked in all of her usual places?”
    Cassidy ticked the list off on her fingers. “At the end of the hallway, in the corner in the living room and in Kristi’s room.”
    “Under the coffee table?” Leslie asked.
    “Yes,” Kristi said with a firm nod. “No accidents. Buster is becoming a big girl.”
    “With a stupid name,” Cassidy said. She stuck her tongue out at Kristi when the five-year-old protested.
    Leslie would never tell Kristi that the name she’d chosen for the dog—which was purchased on her birthday, thus giving her naming