Freshman Just Wanted Dinner — Until Three Bullies Made a Mistake That Cost Them Everything
Chapter 23
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"So, Friday night is still in the system?""If nobody deleted it," Dot said. "And I'm the only one who ever touches the security system. So, yes, it's there."Claire nodded. She thought for a moment. "I'm going to need to come back Wednesday morning," Claire said. "Before 9:00. I have a hearing at 9:00.""I'll be here," Dot said."I might need something from the camera system.""Whatever you need," Dot said. "This is your family's diner in a sense. You have every right to anything in it."Claire looked at her. "Eleanor really did think of everything," she said again.Dot smiled. It was a small smile, the kind that comes from carrying something a long time and finally being able to set it down. "She also said one other thing," Dot said, "when she left the envelope with me. She said, 'When she finds it—and she will find it—make sure she eats something first.'"Claire almost laughed. "I haven't ordered anything," she said."I know," Dot said. "I'll get you a menu."That night, back in her room, Claire sat at her desk. She had the manila envelope open in front of her. She had read both documents four times. She had her laptop open to a case database that Hartwell students had access to through the library: she'd been reading about gift agreements in higher education law, about donor rights, about institutional obligations in the context of charitable donations.She called her mother at 8:30. Her mother answered on the second ring."Hi, sweetheart. How was your Monday?""Interesting," Claire said.She told her mother everything: she started with the complaint Tyler had filed, then told her about going to see Carol Whitfield, then told her about going to Miller's Diner and what Dot had given her.There was a long silence on the other end."Mom?" Claire said."I'm here," her mother said. Her voice was careful—the way her mother's voice got when she was working through something emotionally and did not want to show it."Did you know?" Claire said. "About the gift agreement? About the codicil?""No," her mother said. "I knew about the scholarship. She told me she was creating a scholarship when I was pregnant with you. She said she was going to name it after herself, and she wanted me to understand it was not for ego; it was because she needed the legal paperwork to have a name on it, and she was not going to pretend to be modest about something she had worked forty years to build."Claire almost smiled; that sounded exactly like Eleanor."She never told me about the gift agreement," her mother said. "Not the terms, not the codicil, not any of it." A pause. "She probably thought I would worry.""Would you have?"