by Briar Lane
“Lana Andrews should be back at the school. Anything less than that would to be have less than the best. Thank you.”
The audience had been dead silent throughout my speech so it was hard to gauge their reaction. But the second I stopped talking, I was met with uproarious applause and even a few cheers. I couldn’t control the smile that broke across my face. If I was reading the room right, most of the people here absolutely agreed with me! On either side of the aisle, I was seeing smiling faces and clapping hands.
I glanced over at Mrs. Taylor and found even her face had softened. Her arms were no longer crossed. Surely I hadn’t changed even her mind with that speech… Had I?
I took my seat and Mrs. Taylor took the stand again. She cleared her throat, but didn’t comment on my speech. “There are Scantrons on the left side of the room. We’re going to go ahead and vote on this now. A is in favor of keeping the rule and B is to overturn it. Thank you.”
As everyone got up to go vote, I got a few pats on the shoulder and “good jobs” whispered into my ear. I was grinning. That was the first moment I felt confident that I might have actually done it—I might have actually gotten Lana her job back.
I also stood up to go and vote, but when I whipped around, I was met with the familiar face of the person standing in front of me. My jaw dropped.
“Lana,” I whispered.
She wrapped her arms around me. “Thank you,” she said softly.
“But… how are you here? Why?”
She pulled away from the embrace and raised an eyebrow. “I got a few emails that gave it away.”
I shook my head. “But why didn’t you mention you were coming here? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I figured if you were keeping it a secret, then you were doing it for a good reason. I thought maybe me knowing was going to make you nervous or something. But once I found out, I couldn’t keep myself from coming. I was just standing in the back over there.” Lana nodded her head toward the door.
“So you heard my speech?”
“Every word.” She smiled as she kissed me on the cheek. “You are so incredibly sweet. Even if I’m not able to come back and teach, I’m glad I came if not only to hear you recount our relationship. I know everyone else heard reasons why I should be a teacher again, but I only heard reasons why I am so lucky to have you.”
I smiled softly. “And so am I. Whatever happens, so am I.” I sighed. “It wasn’t because you would make me nervous that I didn’t want you to come,” I told her.
“Oh? What was it, then?”
“I didn’t want to get your hopes up. If this isn’t going to happen for you, I didn’t want to hurt you twice.”
Lana pursed her lips into a small pout. “Baby, my God, that’s so sweet.” She gave me a quick peck. “Holy shit, you are just so damn considerate. I don’t know how I ever got so lucky.”
“I don’t know how I got so lucky, either,” I told her, before looking over at the table where people were scribbling down their votes. “Shall we vote?” I asked.
“We shall,” she said, wrapping her arm around my waist as we walked over.
There were probably as many as a hundred people there that night, but Mrs. Taylor and the other higher ranking members of the PTA were collecting ballots and immediately counting them so we’d have the answer by the end of the evening. I voted, folded my paper, and put it in a ballot box before sitting back down.
The whole process probably only took about fifteen minutes but with my heart racing and sweaty palms, it felt like a lot longer.
Finally, Mrs. Taylor stood up at the podium with the votes in her hand and a smile on her face. Oh, no, a smile… I never thought I’d get a bad feeling from a smile. But if she was happy, it couldn’t mean anything good for us.
“So the votes are in,” she said. “It seems that we will be repealing the rule about teachers being able to date parents.”
I looked over at Lana, wide-eyed. “Did I hear that right?”
She nodded enthusiastically with a smile on her face.
“Miss Andrews,” Mrs. Taylor continued. “I want to apologize. Clearly most of the parents here do not agree with my initial opinion, and I have to admit, even my mind has been changed on the subject. It looks like everyone will be absolutely thrilled to have you back.”
Wow, I was stunned. It took a lot of poise for Mrs. Taylor to be able to say she was wrong in front of the entire audience, and despite the trouble she had caused us, I had to commend her for that.
I wrapped my arms tightly around Lana and she did the same to me as the room begin to applaud the rule change. I could even feel myself getting a little teary-eyed.
Not only did Lana have her dream job back, but I was going to be able to go home and tell my daughter that Lana would be her teacher again. For the first time in weeks, everything felt right. All my hard work had finally paid off.
The clapping subsided. As people began to shuffle out of the room, Mrs. Taylor walked up to Lana and me.
“Miss Andrews, may I have a moment?” she asked.
Lana nodded.
“I just wanted to give you a more private apology. I have to admit that I was very wrong, and that initially I think my movies were very personal… Although it’s no excuse, my wife recently left me for a client of hers and I’ve been struggling very much with that. I told myself that in any situation it’s unprofessional to form those kind of relationships through work, but I realize now that it was my own personal bias. I hope that you can forgive me and we can continue to have a good parent-teacher relationship when you come back.”
Lana smiled at her softly. “Yes, absolutely. No hard feelings.”
Mrs. Taylor forced a smile back. “Great, I look forward to your return,” she said, before walking out.
I could tell by the way Lana responded that there really were no hard feelings between them. She was such a sweet woman. I imagined she truly empathized with Mrs. Taylor. Until she had explained herself, Mrs. Taylor’s passion for having Lana fired for dating me was confusing, but even I thought her view made much more sense now.
Lana turned to me. “Thank you so much for this. You have no idea how happy this makes me. I can’t believe you’ve been spending you time organizing all this for me.”
I shrugged. “What else could I do? You’re the love of my life. I’ve gotta do whatever it takes to make you happy.”
Her eyebrows raised. “I’m the love of your life?”
Oh, shit. I had never said anything like that to her before. Was it a little too intense to say that at this point in our relationship?
“I mean, you are, but… Should I not have said that?”
Lana leaned in suddenly and kissed me. “No, you definitely should have said that. You’re the love of my life too. Thank you. Thank you for everything. I feel so lucky to have you.”
“So do I.”
Everything felt like it was falling into place.
“Hey, do you remember telling me once that all the struggles in my life were leading me to my happily ever after, which was you?” I asked.
Lana laughed. “I think I vaguely remember that.”
“Well, I think we’re here,” I told her. “I think we’re finally arriving at our happily ever after.”
She kissed my cheek. “I really hope that’s true.”
Epilogue
Katie
My heels were starting to sink into the grass a bit so I leaned back in my chair, even though it was one of those uncomfortable foldable metal ones. I just had to remember that I’d only be sitting on it for the next hour or so.
No, actually, I was probably going to be sitting on it way less than that. How long could a kindergarten graduation really be? It’s not like a real graduation.
But damn, was I excited for it. For me, it might as well have been a high school graduation. My baby was finishing kindergarten!
I had my camera out, and as the graduation march began I started snapping pictures. Several
steady lines of kindergarteners came out onto the grass, each line of kids following their own kindergarten teacher. Luckily for me, Lana and Alex were in the first line.
I looked at them both. They were the great loves of my life. Alex the most, of course. She would always come first. But Lana had become a close second.
I know it hadn’t even been a year that we’d been dating, but it felt like a lifetime. We felt like old lovers. We had a comfort between us that usually only came from years of being in a relationship.
But we were both ready to settle down and we just fell into each other with such ease. We cooked each other dinner, and we helped out at each other’s houses with chores. We talked about our days and we just… loved.
I was so terribly in love.
And Alex loved her too. Lana was already a second parent to her. She adored her presence. There was no awkwardness between them. Especially not after Principal Byron gave Lana her job back and Alex no longer felt any guilt.
I thought about everything it took for us to reach this point. Not just the things that had happened during the year, like Lana losing her job and the effort I went through to save it… I thought beyond that.
I thought of how hard my life was after getting pregnant with Alex… How alone I had been for so very long. Five years of just me raising her alone. It was such a struggle I almost constantly felt like I was at my breaking point.
Not anymore. My entire life was different now. It’s funny how fast things change. Now I’m never overwhelmed. Now I always have someone to look to for love and support. And I’m confident I always will.
I was going to marry this woman. I just knew it. I was going to marry her, and Alex would be our adorable flower girl, and we’d commit to each other for the rest of our lives.
It didn’t have to happen anytime soon. I was in no rush. In my mind, Lana was my forever so there was no reason not to take it slow.
But the day would come. And we’d move in together. We’d build a home for Alex, and perhaps we’d have more kids between us. We were going to be a family. She was everything I wanted.
I waved to Alex and she waved back before they started calling each child’s name. The children all walked up to the center of the makeshift ‘stage’ that was set in the field. When Alex’s name came, I absolutely cheered my head off.
None of the other parents gave me any weird looks for it; they were all doing the same thing. This was a big moment. My baby’s first year of school was over!
Lana got up behind the microphone. “The kids have practiced a couple songs they’d like to sing for you now,” she said with a smile. “Let’s give them all a round of applause!”
We all clapped and then another one of the kindergarten teachers put a CD on. As the sound came through the speakers, I recognized the tune immediately. It was the song “Lean on Me.”
A chorus of little five-year-old voices began to sing the lyrics that I knew so well. Lyrics that echoed themes of supporting and being there for one another.
My eyes went to Lana as the words rang out. They felt so personal. I finally had someone to lean on.
I may have done okay on my own, but I planned to lean on Lana for the rest of my life.
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18
Catherine
I picked up my phone as I sat in the parking lot, attempting to ring my boyfriend who should be here already.
“Hello?” he finally answered on the second call.
“Hey, babe, how far are you?” I asked him.
“How far am I…?” he questioned.
My heart dropped. “The florist, Johnathon! We have an appointment with the florist! Tell me that you didn’t forget.”
“Shit… I’m sorry, I already went home.”
Oh god dammit.
“Home is an hour away!” I snapped. We lived together out in the country, about an hour from the city where we both worked at different companies. “You’re never going to make it!”
“Uh… no, I can’t, sorry.”
The worst part was that he didn’t even sound disappointed. It seemed like he was actually happy he wouldn’t be able to come.
“You know, this is incredibly frustrating, Johnathon! You haven’t made it to most of our wedding appointments so far.”
“I know, I know. I’ll make it up to you.”
I took in a deep breath and sighed.
“Baby, come on,” he pushed. “It’s not like I care about any of this wedding shit. You care, you’re the one who’s going to be picking out everything, so… just keep picking things out. It’s whatever for me.”
But it wasn’t whatever for me. I wanted him to care so badly about this stuff, and it was a blip on his radar.
“Fine, I guess I’ll go in by myself.”
“Cool, cool…” he muttered. “You think you could grab dinner on the way home? There is nothing to eat here.”
This only frustrated me more. “I don’t know, I’ll see. Bye,” I hung up quickly.
The appointment didn’t start for another five minutes, for which I was grateful, because I really needed a moment to myself. To breathe, to relax, to try not to be frustrated with my clueless fiancé.
I couldn’t be too mad. I’d known what kind of guy he was when I’d agreed to marry him. And he was certainly the kind of guy who hated weddings or anything he deemed ‘girly.’
And I hated that. Especially since I was not even a particularly girly girl. I mean, I may look girly, with long blonde hair and perfectly set make up, but my interests are actually very gender neutral.
And I didn’t plan on having an overly feminine wedding. Isn’t this supposed to be about the both of us? I wanted to include him in things. I want this to be something we both enjoy, not just me.
I mean, really, if he was going to hate wedding planning so much, why did he even propose?
I’m guessing because of time. We’ve been together since freshman year of college, nearly six years, and he was getting pressure from all sides to propose. Not really from me, I’d never wanted to press the issue, but certainly from my family, his family, and all of our mutual friends.
It was very romantic the way he did it. He took me to this beach that we’d gone on for our first date and had roses lain out in the sand where he had carved, ‘will you marry me?’
By my guesses, he’d been more than enthusiastic about asking me to propose. Now, I felt like it might have just been the pressure. Which I wish I would have known, because I certainly wouldn’t have wanted him to propose to me out of obligation.
But, whatever, maybe he’d never be the kind of guy who was interested in weddings. As long as he was interested in marriage, I’d be okay. I mean, really, this was one flaw (among several others) of an otherwise perfect man.
Truly, I love him so much. I’ve known since we met freshman year that something great was going to happen between us. He was just my type… dark brown hair, very muscular, a jock at our school. He’d gotten in on a full-ride football scholarship and had been the star quarterback at our alma mater. He’d used that-full ride to get a degree in accounting.
Which he didn’t love. I have to admit, I think he’s still nostalgic for the days of college. Where he’d been a well-known football star stud. This settled-down life of a country house an hour commute to work didn’t seem to suit him.
But a house an hour outside of the city was all we could afford, and I’d really wanted to have a house before we got married. Although I was the one who technically bought it, he just didn’t have the credit, it was the house that we’d use to build our future. It was the house where our kids would grow.
And it is a nice house. Personally, I like the countryside. It feels quiet and safe.
I got out of my car and pressed the keyfob
to lock the door behind me. I tried to enjoy this day anyway. I didn’t love everything about wedding planning, but I really did love flowers. I was going to enjoy looking at them briefly.
I walked in and was greeted by the smile of a cute brunette woman.
“Hello! Welcome to Ellie’s flowers. How may I help you?”
“Hi, I’m Catherine,” I extended my hand to her, and she took it gracefully.
“Catherine, hello, nice to meet you, I’m Ellie.”
“Oh!” I said, suddenly realizing. “You’re the owner of this shop, then?”
“I am,” she smiled.
This surprised me. She seemed so young… and from what I’d read online, this business had been around for quite a few years. She couldn’t have been older than thirty, though.
“I was expecting someone a bit… older,” I commented, though I was purposefully careful to not sound rude.
“I get that a lot,” she nodded. “I actually inherited the shop, I didn’t build the business myself or anything.”
“Inherited it?” I asked. “And it’s called… Ellie’s flowers?”
She smiled gently. It was a nice, warm smile, and I found myself wanting to smile when she did.
“Yes, actually, my father named it for me when I was just a toddler.”
“Aww!” I cooed. “That’s just about the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard!”
“Yeah, he was an awesome dad.”
The way she said ‘he was’ made me think he was no longer around, which would explain her inheriting the business at such a young age. But I didn’t want to comment on that fact… it seemed too personal.
“Anyway, what can I help you with today?” she asked. “You’d like to pick out wedding flowers, right?”
“Right, yes,” I nodded.
“Well, you just go have a seat, and I’ll go ahead and bring out a sample bouquet. What are your wedding colors, again?”