“I’m not moving her from your class.” As much as he wanted to. Molly might challenge her authority, but Ron knew Mrs. Steen was one of the best teachers on his roster. A bright kid like Molly needed the challenge that only she could bring. Still, he felt sorry for the kid. “The two of you need to find a way to get along.”
Mrs. Steen didn’t look happy. Her jaw tensed and he saw her grinding her molars. Ron remembered her doing that in his youth when she was thinking up the perfect punishment for a naughty student.
“If I remember correctly, you and the Romano girl’s mother were quite close in your youth.”
“Kylee. Kylee Bauer. We were friends through our entire school years.”
“Princess Kylee,” Mrs. Steen sneered.
Ron had heard that Mrs. Steen’s distant ancestors had held a dukedom. But none of the wealth or status had trickled down the bloodline to her.
Ron had never thought much about Kylee being royal. She’d been noble in her actions. That’s what had always counted for him.
“She’s divorced now, I understand?”
Ron didn’t nod. He wasn’t sure where this was going, but he felt that he was back in Mrs. Steen’s class and she was setting him up.
“Of course, you know it’s against school policy to date any of the parents.”
Ron only raised an eyebrow, but it was clear Mrs. Steen knew she’d gotten under his skin. He did know that policy. He’d used that line a few times on some of the single moms of the PTA, and once with an unhappily married one. But he hadn’t considered it when Kylee had stepped into his office and back into his life. He wasn’t sure he wanted to consider the ramifications now.
Chapter Seven
Kylee was great at tests. She got a perfect score on the SATs four times. She’d never needed to truly study. Once she was told information, she cataloged it in her head, and it stayed in its compartment. When she needed it, she was able to open that cabinet and pull out the details again.
She didn’t have a photographic memory. The visuals of her past were often hazy. But she could remember large swaths of information for long periods of time. And she had excellent organizational skills.
That, along with a true passion for knowledge, enabled her to ace every test she met. Tests were just a system. A system that had made sense to her since her first spelling bee.
She got a thrill when she looked down at the bubbles of a multiple-choice test. She was excited to fill in a blank. The sound of a timer ticking away on a teacher’s desk had never made her sweat. It had always presented a challenge.
Kylee was well-versed in all forms of testing. But these new standardized tests to measure the effectiveness of the education system was a tricky beast. These tests didn’t so much measure the individual kid’s skill as it measured the effectiveness of the test and the teachers of the tests. The standards didn’t measure the uniqueness of the test taker so much as they measured the similarity of them.
Crafting lessons and assessments to prepare kids for these standardized tests was a true challenge. A challenge she’d been shaky on her first few days at Thrive Learning Systems. But now that she’d cracked the code to get into the computer system, it was a challenge she was up for. And like all problems presented to her, Kylee was prepared to ace this one.
“Ms. Romano?”
“Bauer.” Kylee looked up to see the president of the company standing over her desk.
Syd Rowen was in his late forties. But his hair was already graying. Still, there was something about him that cast a youthful air. Or perhaps it was all the twenty-somethings he employed in his company. Mr. Rowen and Kylee were easily the two oldest people in the entire building.
In the two weeks she’d been here, she’d only met him once. That was on her first day. He’d been behind closed doors ever since.
There could only be one reason he was coming to her now. She’d messed up somehow, and he was going to fire her. Great. What would she do now?
Kylee only had a small amount of money left to her by her parents. And the house. Which needed repairs. She could go to her extended family and throw herself at their mercy. Things had changed in the upper echelons of the royal kingdom since her father had been shunned.
Kylee pressed her palms to her office chair preparing to rise and head into Mr. Rowen’s office for a private word that could be a reprimand or a termination. But instead of waving her to his office, Mr. Rowen pulled up a spare chair and sat down beside her.
“I was looking through your file and saw that you’re from the city of Adalia.”
“Yes. I was born and raised here.”
“Do you know much about Clara Barton Elementary School?”
“I… uh... Yes. I went there as a child.”
Mr. Rowen frowned, scratching at the hair on his chin. “So, a few decades ago. You won’t likely have kept in touch with anyone there.”
A few decades? She hadn’t even been alive for a few decades. He was wrong about her age, but he was right about her not keeping in touch. “I just moved back there. My daughter is enrolled at Barton Elementary.”
Mr. Rowen’s frown lifted a bit. Kylee supposed that was his rendition of a smile. “You might be able to help me out with something.”
“Of course,” Kylee offered. Since they were sitting out in the public area of cubicles, she assumed she was safe from a pink slip. She was game for anything that could guarantee her continued employment.
Mr. Rowen leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “We are looking to win a contract with the school system in Adalia. Do you know any of the administrators there at the elementary school? Perhaps your child’s teacher?”
“I… uh…” Kylee didn’t want to have any more chats with Mrs. Steen. She felt bad she had to send Molly to that class every day. Luckily, she also knew an administrator. If there was anyone Kylee wanted to reach out to and see again, it was Ron. “Um, I know the principal at Barton. He and I went to school together.”
Mr. Rowen’s brows raised to his hairline. The movement of those facial muscles in the upper part of his face lifted the ones in the lower part of his face. He looked like he was kinda, sorta smiling. “Do you think you could set up a meeting with the principal?”
“Um, sure. I just met with him yesterday.”
“That’s excellent.”
“We hadn’t seen each other in a long time, so we’d said we’d make plans to go out to dinner. He suggested we go to an old restaurant that we used to go to as kids called-”
“That’s excellent, Ms. Bauer. Follow up with him. See if you can work your angles.”
Her angles?
“If we can get the elementary school on board with our company to offer the test prep for the standardized exam that gives us a leg up to contract with the entire county.”
Kylee looked to the screen where she was just starting to make headway with the test prep and back to her boss. He wanted her to use her angles to get her old best friend to agree to use Thrive as their test prep company. Was that ethical?
“Can I count on you to take care of this, Ms. Bauer?”
“I… uh…”
Mr. Rowen’s mouth thinned into a definite frown. “This would be a big account for this company. If you were the one to get the account, there would definitely be a promotion in your future.”
“A promotion?”
“Crafting your own curriculum and assessments with the college prep side of the company instead of the elementary and secondary levels. You could begin working on our SAT and ACT prep courses.”
Kylee had never liked back-scratching. As the daughter of an outcast prince who married for love, and now a divorcee from an uncommon jerk, she’d always gotten by on what she knew, not who she knew. But Ron did say he wanted to see her. And help her. They were friends. He would certainly hear her out.
“Can you handle this, Ms. Bauer?”
“Yes, sir. Consider it handled.”
Chapter Eight
“So,
you go over the loop, and then pull under.” Ron gave Ricky, Jr.’s tie a tug.
“You're choking me, Principal Kidd.”
Ron wasn’t choking the kid. Like his mother, the little boy did have a flair for the dramatic. Luckily, Ricky, Jr. was one of the lead actors in the school play today.
Ron gave the knot of the tie a tug to loosen it a bit. The kid took a deep inhale and relaxed his small shoulders. “My mom went out last night with a man in a tie. But it looked like a girl’s hair ribbons.”
“A bow tie?” asked Ron.
Ricky shrugged. “She was dating a musician last week. He never wore ties. His pants had holes and he didn’t wear a belt, so his pants hung low enough to see his underwear. Then there was the grandpa she dated.”
“Your mom dated a grandpa?” said a light feminine voice.
Molly Bauer turned to face them in her place next to the curtains. She’d come to Barton a couple of weeks after the school year had started, so she didn’t have a speaking role. But Barton was inclusive, so she couldn’t sit the play out. She was dressed in green to be part of the scenery.
“Ew, your mom dates your grandpa.”
“He wasn’t my grandpa,” insisted Ricky. But even with his suit and tie on for his lead role performance, Ricky couldn’t pull off an ounce of menace. “He just had a beard and gray hair like a grandpa. I didn’t like him. His skin was wrinkly and he smelled like peppermints. I don’t like peppermints. They make my nose itch.”
Ron wished it was his place to tell Iman to keep her dating life private from her kid until she was ready to make a commitment to a partner. But his place was not in the home, it was at the school. He could only teach the kids.
“Parents deserve to go out and have fun without their kids,” Ron said, deciding to take the diplomatic approach.
“I heard him tell her he wanted to be more than friends,” said Ricky. “Whatever that means?”
Ron wanted to shake his head. But he didn’t. He opened his mouth to offer more diplomacy, but Molly beat him to the punch.
“What it means is say hello to your new daddy,” said Molly.
“But I don’t want him to be my daddy,” said Ricky. “Or the musician. Or the mechanic. Or the chef.”
Now Ron had to put his professional feelings aside and do what was best for the emotional well-being of the child. And a string of men in his life wasn’t.
“I want you to be my daddy,” said Ricky, Jr.
Ron had been down on the kid’s level. That statement rocked him back on his heels.
“He can’t marry your mom,” said Molly. “He’s going to marry mine.”
That rocked Ron in a totally different way. He barely tolerated Iman. But he couldn’t wait to see Kylee again.
“He doesn’t even know your mom,” said Ricky.
“Yes, he does,” said Molly. “They’ve been best friends their whole lives.”
“Is that true, Principal Kidd? Are you gonna marry Molly’s mom?”
“I… well…” Ron began. But his mouth wouldn’t complete the sentence he knew he was supposed to say. He couldn’t deny that he would never marry Kylee. His heart wouldn’t let him deny its greatest wish. “Ms. Bauer and I are just friends.”
“Teachers can’t date parents, dear.” All three of them looked up to see Mrs. Steen looming over them. “It’s against the rules.”
“Says who?” asked Molly.
“Says the boss of the teachers,” said Mrs. Steen.
Molly turned to Ron. “I thought you were the boss of the teachers.”
“It looks like they need you all on stage,” Ron said, taking the cowardly way out. “Have a great show everybody.”
Avoiding Mrs. Steen’s gaze, Ron rose and made a quick exit from backstage. He took the long route to avoid the other teachers, kids, and parents. He didn’t look up or make eye contact with anyone until he reached the back of the auditorium. Once there he leaned against the exit doors. He had an excellent view of the stage and the backs of everyone’s heads.
“Why do you look like you’re hiding?”
Ron turned to face Kylee. His urge to leave out the exit doors vanished, and his feet grew roots. “Because I am.”
“From who?” she stage-whispered, looking around as though she could find his nemesis.
“Students, teachers, moms.”
“Moms?” She turned back to him.
“You may not know this, but I’ve become a hot commodity these last few years.” Ron flipped up the collar of his dress shirt and posed like a model he’d seen in GQ Magazine. “Single professional who’s good with kids and has all his hair.”
“You sure about that?” Kylee reached up to ruffle his hair.
Ron swatted at her hand. “Hey.”
Instead of shoving her hand away, he caught it in his. Somehow, her fingers slid through the gaps his made. To the casual observer, it would clearly look as though they were holding hands.
He’d sat next to Kylee many times in his life and brushed her leg or her shoulder. He’d handed her out of cars a few times. They’d even danced at school functions. They high fived after every test in high school. So, why did he feel like fireworks were going off inside him?
With great reluctance, he pulled his fingers free of hers. “What are you doing here?”
Kylee chucked her thumb towards the front of the auditorium. “My kid’s on the stage.”
“Right. Of course.”
He should mingle with others. Check to see if he was needed anywhere. Chat with a few of the parents. But he stayed put at the back of the room.
“Ron?”
“Hmm?”
“I was actually hoping I could talk to you about something. It’s work-related.”
“Oh, Molly’s doing great today after our talk.”
“No, not your work. Mine. I told you the other day that I work for Thrive Learning Systems. We’re a test prep company and we’re doing very innovative work on test prep for standardized testing. I was hoping to schedule a meeting to pitch you.”
“Done.”
“Really?” She tipped her head to the side, eyes wide with surprise.
“Really.”
“Just like that?” She tipped her head to the other side, grinning hugely with what Ron knew to be giddiness.
“Just like that,” he confirmed.
“Because I prepared a whole speech.”
Ron chuckled. Of course, Kylee had prepared and practiced. He took a dramatic inhale and then waved his hand. “Come on, let’s have it. Do you want to deliver the speech now?”
“No.” She held up her hands in a stop motion. “No need. I already aced it.”
“Why don’t we talk over dinner tonight?” he said.
“So, I can butter you up?”
“Well, I do like butter.”
A parent in the back row turned around and shushed them with a glare. Ron noted a few teachers were watching them from the sidelines. A number of moms in the front row gave Kylee a death glare, which apparently Kylee took notice of.
“Wow,” she said. “You weren’t kidding about the hot commodity bit. I think I’m gonna go over and sit with the grandmas to, you know, get out of the line of fire.”
“See you tonight?” Ron called out to her as she approached an empty seat in the last row.
But when she went to sit down, the mom sitting there suddenly put her purse in the seat. Kylee looked back up at Ron and glared at him, as though it were his fault she no longer had a seat.
It was good-natured joking. And it was. Just joking. Just dinner. Nothing against the rules there.
Chapter Nine
“Is that what you’re wearing?”
Kylee had begun her descent down the stairs to check on dinner. Molly was in the middle of the staircase, likely headed to her room. The two girls met in the middle.
Molly looked up at her mother. Her round face was contorted in what could only be described as aghast. Kylee looked down at herself in search of what
her daughter had found so offensive.
After coming home from a long day of lesson building and problem creating, Kylee had done what she always did. She’d kicked off her heels, slipped out of her confining dress skirt, unbuttoned her starched blouse, discarded her binding bra, and slipped into a pair of yoga pants and a graphic t-shirt.
“He’ll be here any minute,” said Molly. “You should change. And shower. And for goodness sake put on some makeup. Ricky Wright, Jr.’s mom always has a ton on first thing in the morning when she drops him off.”
“What?”
Kylee’s head was spinning. Just what was her daughter talking about? Ricky Wright? The only Ricky Wright Kylee knew was the old high school quarterback. She’d heard the rising star had flamed out in college. But she’d also heard that Ricky and Iman Hilson, Adalia’s real live mean girl, had had a kid. A boy, if Kylee remembered right. But what did Ricky and Iman’s kid have to do with Kylee needing a shower and some makeup?
Kylee leaned against the banister and crossed her arms over her chest. “Molly, what’s going on?”
Molly rubbed at a non-existent mark on the wall. “I just think you should look your best tonight when Principal Kidd comes over. You always make me get cleaned and presentable before I go to school every morning. Well, school is coming to our house so you should…” Molly wrinkled her nose and waved her hand at her mom in a shooing motion. “You should really go clean yourself up a bit.”
Kylee smoothed a hand over her t-shirt. She had washed her face, reapplied deodorant, and put her bra back on. She was perfectly presentable to have a relaxing evening of catching up with her old friend. “It’s just Ron, Principal Kidd. He doesn’t care what I’m wearing. He’s been here many times before. He practically lived here before you were born.”
“Great. Then he’ll feel right at home.”
There was that sparkle in her daughter’s eye again. Jason had had that same sparkle early in their relationship when he’d been sweeping her off her feet. He barely looked at her the last few years of their marriage. And when he did, his eyes were dull with wariness.
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