“It’s perfectly fine. I remember being your age. I thought someone my age, which, incidentally, is thirty-five, was ancient, and now that I’m ancient, it’s really not that bad.” She emptied three packets of instant cocoa mix into three mugs, then filled each with steaming water. She stirred the chocolate powder, then carefully handed each girl a cup. Lauren was stalling because she truly had no idea what her next move should be.

Think, Lauren, think, she said to herself.

“Aren’t you three supposed to be in school? Not that it’s any of my business if you’re skipping. I’m just curious.” She could have texted Madison and asked, but she didn’t.

“We just had a morning session today; there’s teachers’ meetings for the rest of the day,” Kiley offered. “That’s why we’re here, plus we wanted to tell you about Lee.”

“Okay, well that’s a big relief. I didn’t think you three were skipping, truly, but since I’m old, I had to ask.” She was saying whatever came to mind, anything to give her a few minutes to come up with a substantive answer, anything that might help Charlotte and Lee. “I think I might have skipped a couple of times in my senior year, but I was lucky; I didn’t get caught.” At that moment, her cell phone rang.

Crap!

“Excuse me for a sec,” she said, then answered the phone.

“He said ‘no,’ ” Angela said into the phone. “ ‘No’ as in no deal. Take it or leave it.”

“What?” Lauren shouted, then, remembering the girls, lowered her voice. “Are you serious? If you’re teasing me, I don’t think it’s funny. I have a very”—she turned her back to the girls and walked toward the back of the office—“delicate situation here, and I’d appreciate it if you’d cut the crap.” Lauren didn’t need this. Not now, when she had a life-altering problem on her hands.

“I’m not kidding, Lauren. He said no. Take it or leave it, his exact words. He’ll give you until six o’clock tonight, which is three in the afternoon Pacific Time, for you to change your mind. If not, he said he’d forget the entire project.”

Lauren took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “Okay, so this isn’t a joke?”

“No, it’s not. How many times do I need to repeat myself?”

“None,” she said. “Call him back and tell him I’m sorry to be so pushy, and that I would be honored to write his biography. Do it, and call me back.” Lauren pushed the END button on her phone. She cleared her throat. “Sorry, girls, that was a personal call. Now, your mom, Lee. We need to figure out a way to keep her in the hospital, at least for another day or two.”

Expecting three teenage girls to brainstorm a solution with her was an invitation to disaster. They’d come to her, maybe not to solve her mother’s health-care issues, but they’d trusted her enough to confide in her, and for that reason alone, she had to do something. “Charlotte, is your mother at Appalachian Regional Hospital?”