A minute or so elapsed, and then Megan replied—I’ll get Allie to take me. NOT Sharlene.—
Caroline smiled, stashed her phone in her pocket, and went inside the apartment’s leasing office.
****
Susan and Patrick met at Peterson’s Coffee Emporium. Since it was an easy one-block walk from Rosslyn High School, she didn’t even bother moving her car from the school’s faculty parking lot. Patrick gave Susan a quick kiss on the forehead as they walked in the door together.
“What’ll you have, ma’am?” Patrick asked in his best Texas drawl.
Susan loved that they were from roughly the same part of the country, giving them all the more in common. “The usual, sir,” Susan drawled back with a wink. But then more seriously she added, “But I’d prefer my latte frozen today. It’s really hot outside.”
“One frozen mocha latte coming up.” Patrick winked back as he went to place their orders.
Susan watched him walk up to the counter and marveled at how she’d gotten so lucky. She now had the exciting teaching job she had waited her whole adult life for, three wonderful and talented daughters, and three years after an ugly divorce, a nice man who wanted to be with her.
“So tell me how your first day went.” Patrick set their frosted cups on the table and held Susan’s chair for her. “Better or worse than expected?”
“Much better.” Susan was charmed with his chivalry. “After I got over being nervous, my only problem was getting lost in the halls, which I did several times. I very nearly missed a meeting because I couldn’t find the room.”
He squeezed her hand and smiled. “One thing at a time. You’re going to be a great teacher.”
Susan felt completely safe and happy for the first time in years. They chatted, sipped their lattes, and enjoyed each other’s company, but eventually they had to part.
“I don’t want to let you go,” Patrick said as he walked her out into the late afternoon heat.
Susan felt the same, but she had so many demands on her time. “Thanks again for meeting me, Patrick, for bolstering my spirits…”
He gave her a sweet kiss. “Go home and take care of your girls. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Susan arrived home both tired and exhilarated, and went straight to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and stared into it. “What’s for dinner?” she asked herself as she perused its contents.
“Mom!” Allie called as she came in the front door. “You home?”
“In here,” Susan called back. She decided the heat called for a cold dinner. Caesar salad would be perfect. She pulled some leftover grilled chicken out of the fridge, grabbed some lettuce and grated cheese,
Allie bounced into the kitchen, grinning.
“I thought you were at Brandon’s,” Susan said, “practicing.” She pulled some croutons out of the pantry, got a large salad bowl out of the cabinet, and set all her ingredients next to it.
“She was.”
Susan flipped around to see Brandon standing behind Allie, also grinning and exchanging glances with Allie. “What’s up, you two?”
Brandon smiled adoringly at Allie and took her hand. “I spoke to my friend in the Admissions Office at Bradley this morning.”
Susan held her breath, eager to hear the results of Allie’s audition. But the two of them just stood there grinning at one another. She tapped her foot impatiently. “And?”
Allie threw her arms around her mother. “And… I’m in!”
“You’re in?” Susan wasn’t sure she heard right. “You mean…?”
“It means,” Brandon told her, “that Allie really impressed both the Dean and the music committee.”
“I’ve been accepted for the fall semester, and they awarded me the full ride scholarship!” Allie said. “Can you believe it, Mom? I’m in the Music School at Bradley University!”
“As soon as you go over to Admissions and sign the paperwork,” Brandon reminded her, squeezing her hand.
Susan felt light as a feather. Her daughter had been accepted to a prestigious private university, with a music school that rivaled Bryce, and all with no added expense that Daniel could balk at. Susan pulled Allie in for another hug. “I’m so proud of you.”
Allie stepped back from her mom and turned to Brandon, giving him a big hug, too. They stood in a silent embrace for a moment, Susan watching with a critical eye. “I can’t thank you enough,” Allie said.
“I’ll consider myself thanked when I hear you play a solo in Central Hall.”
“Can I talk you into staying for dinner?” Susan asked him. “It’s the least I can do.
Allie shook her head. “No, thanks, Mom, we’re on our way out. I lost track of time practicing at Brandon’s and skipped lunch, so we’re headed out for a sandwich now.” Hand in hand, Allie and Brandon walked to the front door.
Susan almost called out for Brandon to take care of Allie, but she stopped. Of course he would. Allie was safe with Brandon.
****
Caroline fairly danced into the house, a folder full of papers under her arm. “Mom!” she shouted gleefully. No answer. She went through the house, eventually locating Susan and Megan in the backyard playing with Honey on what had turned out to be an unusually warm late-summer evening.
“Mom! Guess what!” Caroline announced. “I signed the lease on an apartment!”
Susan dropped the stick she was about to throw for Honey to fetch. “I knew you had some showings lined up, but I thought you were just looking.” Honey danced in circles until Susan threw the stick, and the dog took off after it.
Caroline walked to the picnic table and poured herself a tumbler of iced tea. “It’s a small two bedroom/one bath, about three miles south of here, affordable, really clean. And it’s right on the Monon Trail! There were some other people interested, so I hurried up and put down the security deposit. I plan to move Labor Day weekend. Of course, I need to think about furniture and…”
“Labor Day weekend?” Susan interrupted her. “That’s the weekend Richard’s getting married, isn’t it?”
Caroline took a big gulp of tea and looked down at Honey, dancing playfully around Megan’s ankles. She would miss being with family, but it was time she got out on her own. And moving September first worked for several reasons. “I’ve been thinking about maybe skipping the whole wedding thing.”
“Caroline, you have to go,” Megan insisted. “I’ll never be able to show my face in public wearing that hideous bridesmaid dress Sharlene picked out if you’re not there.”
“I know Richard wants you there,” Susan said. “But I understand if you feel you can’t go.”
“Hey, tell me about your first day at work,” Caroline said to her mother.
Megan threw the stick for Honey to chase. “Back off, Mom. That’s Caroline-code for she doesn’t want to talk about Richard’s wedding.”
Caroline opened her mouth to contradict Megan, but she couldn’t get a sound out, and anyway Megan was right. Tears came to her eyes. “Oh, I just remembered a call I needed to return for work.” It wasn’t true of course, but she didn’t want her mother and sister to see her crying. She hurried to her bedroom, shut the door, and let the tears flow.
“Car, I’ve got great news!” Allie stopped in her tracks. “You look miserable,” she said, coming the rest of the way into their bedroom.
Caroline looked up. She hadn’t even heard Allie enter. “How long have you been standing there?”
Allie took the box of tissues off the dresser and handed it to her. “Long enough. Is this about Richard?”
Caroline took a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. “No. I just told Mom I’m moving out and…”
“You’re moving?”
Caroline nodded and sniffled. “Labor Day weekend. It’s perfect timing, really. I get my own place…”
“And you get to duck out on Richard’s wedding.” Allie shook her head. “So it is about Richard. Why don’t you just tell him how you feel?”
Caroline l
ifted an eyebrow. “If you mean tell him I hope he’s going to be happy, he already knows.”
“You want him to be happy?” Allie looked puzzled. “With Misty?”
“Well, of course.” Caroline swallowed the lie and went to the mirror to wipe mascara from under her eyes.
“Caroline! Are you listening to yourself? You can’t even look me in the face and spout that nonsense.” Allie came up behind Caroline and looked at their reflections in the mirror. “Be honest, Caroline, you’re in love with him!”
Caroline closed her eyes to blot out that thought. “Love? Impossible. He’s my boss, and he’s about to be married.” The last part got stuck in her throat, causing her a coughing fit.
“Yeah, and if you don’t speak up, he’s going to marry the wrong woman.” Allie patted Caroline’s back till she quit coughing. “Richard doesn’t know he has options.”
Caroline sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “It hurts too much, but it wouldn’t matter anyway. He’s determined to marry the woman his dead mother handpicked for him.” She stifled a sob. “I want Richard to be happy, I really do. I guess I could even watch him get married if I thought he was marrying the right woman. But Misty is not the right woman for him! Even his grandmother told him so.”
“I agree with Adele.” Allie gave her sister’s shoulder a squeeze. “Did you ever tell Richard about seeing Misty in Chicago?”
Caroline began reapplying her smeared makeup. “I tried, but I just couldn’t get the words out.”
Allie sat down on the side of her own bed, her feet propped on the edge, elbows on her knees. “Try again. Before it’s too late.”
Caroline gave up on her makeup when the tears started falling down her cheeks again. She grabbed a fresh tissue and blew her nose. “It’s already too late, Allie.” She didn’t want to hear I told you so from her sister or anyone else, but she was beginning to second-guess herself about taking the job at Meadows. “Alienating the boss’s new wife would make my life miserable.”
“If you can’t tell Richard about your feelings, you at least need to tell him the truth about Misty and Mark. Let him decide what to do with the information.”
That was good advice, but Caroline doubted she had the courage to go through with it. She dabbed at her eyes and let out a huge sigh. “I guess I’m stuck. I’ll have to go to the wedding, and once he gets back from his”—she nearly gagged—“honeymoon, I’ll have to deal with the new Mrs. Meadows.”
Allie brightened up. “Hey, you know the wedding invitation said we could bring a plus one, right? Why don’t you invite some hot guy to be your date?”
Caroline sat with that a minute. “Well, I guess I could ask Jared at the realty office. Lucy thinks he likes me.”
“See? There you go.”
Caroline finally smiled through her tears, feeling like there might be hope after all. “I guess if I have to go, I could do worse than go with a hunky guy who’s got a crush on me.”
“And you could double with us,” Allie said.
“Us?”
Allie grinned. “Mom and I have dates—Patrick and Brandon!”
This time Caroline raised her eyebrow. “Brandon?”
“Yeah, Brandon. He’s been such a good friend to me. That’s my good news. He helped speed up the paperwork and got me admitted to Bradley for the fall semester, full ride and all.”
Caroline was happy for her sister, but wary of this new friendship, especially on the heels of her disastrous relationship with Mark. “Well, that’s great, but did you ask Brandon out of gratitude, or is there something else going on?”
“Yes and no,” Allie said. “Yes, I’m grateful, and no, we’re just friends right now, but…” she stopped and looked at her sister.
“But…?”
Allie sighed. “I thought I’d found the love of my life when I met Mark. He was everything I thought I wanted in a boyfriend, but he turned out to be so shallow. At first I thought Brandon was just an old guy with a piano, but as I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve seen what a decent man he really is. He was there for me the whole time I was sick. So I’m taking my time getting to know him, which I didn’t with Mark.”
“Wow, near-death has given you all kinds of insight,” Caroline said with a wry grin.
“So how ’bout it, Car? Ask Jared to be your date?”
Caroline thought about it, but she couldn’t go through with it. An idea came to her. “Hey! I know the perfect ‘date’: Emily and Sara!”
Allie laughed out loud. “Well, I guess you can’t invite one without the other!”
The more she thought about it, the more she knew that asking two close family friends to the wedding would give her the moral support she needed. “Richard won’t mind, and it’ll drive Sharlene nuts to have to add one more to the seating arrangement!” Caroline and Allie high-fived.
Chapter Twenty-One
Susan woke up before her alarm went off. Thoughts of all the classroom preparations she’d made for today’s start of school, coupled with a bad case of nerves, had kept her up half the night. So she was up and dressed with time to spare.
“Megan!” She called down the hall. “Are you ready for breakfast yet? We have to leave here on time!”
Megan called back in a whiny voice, “I don’t know what to wear!”
Susan walked into her youngest daughter’s bedroom and surveyed the scene. Clothing was strewn all over her bed, yet there stood Megan, still in her pajamas. “What do you mean you don’t know what to wear? You have a closet full of clothes and lots of new outfits Sharlene just bought you.”
“I’m so used to just putting on my school uniform and not thinking about it,” Megan said, pouting.
Susan put her hands on her hips. “Well, as much as you complained about those uniforms I’d think you’d be happy to wear something else.”
“But what do kids in public school wear? Jeans, skirts, shorts, pants, what? I wanna fit in, but I don’t know how!”
Susan understood Megan’s frustration, because she was just as nervous as her daughter. “Well, Megan, you saw lots of students there when you went to get your schedule and books, and they mostly dress like you do when you’re going to the mall.” Susan pawed through the pile of clothes on Megan’s bed. “Here, wear these new jeans and this solid white t-shirt, and some comfortable flats because it’s a big school and you’ll be doing lots of walking.” Susan glanced over at her daughter, but Megan didn’t look convinced.
Megan threw herself down on the bed, landing on top of the clothes. “What if all the other girls are wearing skirts?”
Susan sighed. “Then you’ll wear a skirt tomorrow. But I really don’t think these kids are going to be as judgmental as Willowby kids.” She reached down and patted Megan’s knee. “I know you’re anxious about the first day in a new school, but we’ve got to get going. I can’t be late.”
Megan looked dubious but picked up the jeans her mother had suggested and held them up in front of her while checking the mirror. Susan quietly closed the bedroom door and said a silent prayer to the wardrobe gods. She went back to the kitchen to try to quiet her nerves but accomplished just the opposite by gulping down a cup of black coffee. Megan appeared a few moments later, dressed in a jeans skirt, a pink camisole underneath a white button-down shirt, and high-heeled sandals.
Susan, in her best noncommittal parent voice said, “You look nice.”
Megan shrugged, poured herself a bowl of cereal, and sat down to eat.
“Do you have your book bag all ready to go?” Susan asked. “School supplies, schedule, lunch money?”
“Yes, Mom,” Megan said as she rolled her eyes. “I know how to do that much at least.”
Oddly enough, that classic Megan eye-roll was reassuring. “Okay, then I guess we’re ready for our first day.” At least she hoped so.
****
The first bell rang, signaling the start of the day, and a small number of students shuffled into Susan’s classroom, shy and giggling. Her name, Ms.
Benedict, was written on the whiteboard, along with the day’s date and, in bold block letters, “Welcome to Freshman English.” She looked around the room at the diversity of her students and smiled, both at them and to herself. There were African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, whites, and one Native American child, all with eager eyes trained on her.
It’s showtime. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.”
The first class of the day went smoothly, the next class was Susan’s planning period, and then the third class arrived, a talkative group of very bright students. Some of them seemed to know each other already, probably from middle school Susan assumed, but as she listened to their conversations, she learned several students had come straight from a private K-8 Catholic school. They seemed as intimidated as Megan about entering a big public high school for the first time.
Susan walked to the front of the classroom to begin her lesson. Just as she had them quieted down, a voice on the PA said, “Good morning, Rosslyn Wranglers, and welcome to a new school year!” Susan sighed and hoped the announcements wouldn’t go on too long, so she could get her lesson started. Unfortunately, they did and she didn’t.
Before Susan knew it, the morning was gone, lunch was over and the class right after lunch was a test of her patience. She had thirty-five chairs in her room, and so far forty-two students had shown up. And they were still coming! Clearly there was some sort of clerical error here, but she didn’t have time to stop and call the main office because the students were very loud, rowdy, and jockeying for seats like a game of musical chairs.
She tried speaking over the din. “Students, can we please quiet down and be patient till the office straightens out the scheduling problems?”
“Miss, uh, Teacher, can you sign my schedule change?” A very tall and thin young man thrust a form under her nose. “I’m supposed to be in athletic conditioning this period. Basketball.”
Five more children came into the room, laughing and waving their schedules. The noise level rose as they all greeted one another after the long summer break, shouting and jockeying for an empty space.
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