Read Underneath It All (Storm Series) for Free Online

can’t make these decisions by myself. I never thought having money to spend would be so stressful.
    Alaina decided to call one of her friends from college who now taught at a Montessori school outside the city.
    Becca answered the phone on the second ring. “Hey girl, what’s goin’ on?”
    “I need your help.” Alaina quickly explained why then swore her friend to secrecy. No way would she disrespect Rob’s explicit wish that the donation not be made public.
    Becca whistled. “Five gran d? And he handed the check over like it was nothing.”
    “He makes millions.”
    “Of course, but still. Not exactly something you’d expect a guy to just do out of the blue, especially since you don’t know him very well. Are you sure he doesn’t have the hots for you?”
    Alaina burst into laughter. “Do you really think he’d feel the need to issue a check for five thousand dollars in order to impart that information? Besides, I’ve got a pretty good notion I am not his type.”
    “ Don’t sell yourself short. You’re going to make some guy very lucky when he’s smart enough to go after you. Okay, let’s spend the boy’s money.”
    “Tell me what your kids use the most in your classroom.”
    “Hmmm. Excellent question. Let me think…”
    Alaina tapped her fingers on the edge of the table while she waited. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this excited , and she didn’t want to mess anything up.
    “They love the art supplies. But what they really like is to march around the room, banging on their drums and such. We play with them pretty much every day, to all different kinds of music and songs. The kids dive for the instrument box every time I get it out.”
    “ March? Oh, that would be cute. Musical instruments. Hang on.” She found a set and added it to her list. “What else?”
    “Stickers, though you’ve gotta be careful with those or they get everywhere.”
    “I see shape stickers here. A crapload of them.”
    “That’s good ,” Becca said. “Get those. Nice and basic and the kids will learn something without even knowing. Perfect. You can use them as rewards, for crafts…”
    “ Oh! Line paper. God, we never have enough of that.” At times she’d been afraid she’d have to put the damn lines on the paper herself.
    “Another excellent and always needed choice.”
    “Alphabet blocks…” Alaina muttered. “Puzzles…”
    Becca cleared her throat. “Do you even need me?”
    Her tone was amused, but Alaina still felt bad for ignoring her friend, since she’d sought out her advice in the first place. “Sorry. Having money is a whole new world. I wish I could get them everything.”
    “I know, hon. And I don’t envy you having to pick and choose. My school certainly doesn’t have unlimited funds, but I can’t imagine making do with what you guys have to. You know how much I admire you for that.”
    “Thanks.” Alaina swelled with pride. She’d been offered a position at a school in a better district, but hadn’t been able to shake the feeling she’d do more good in a Buffalo public school. “Okay. I’m gonna keep looking. I’ll prioritize then e-mail you the shopping cart before I do anything.”
    “Cool. Can’t wait.”
    “And we need to figure out when we can have dinner or something.” With the school year starting a few weeks ago both of them had been busy, and it had been more than a month since they’d carved out time to see each other. Sometimes they went a few months, and Alaina always knew Becca would be there, but she didn’t like leaving it that long. It was easy to make excuses for a few more days when it had already been several weeks.
    “We were going to try that new Mexican place out in East Aurora by my school, right?”
    “Oh yeah. That sounds really good right about now.” And, of course, cheap, which Alaina was always a fan of.
    “Text me with when you’re free , and we’ll figure something out.”
    “I will. See ya.” Alaina hung