Mr. Principal Page 2

  The Primrose Grocery store chain that I worked for was local and family owned. The pay was laughable but the benefits were great. Mr. Jeffries had been generous enough to let me work eight hours in split shifts so I had time to drop Meredith off at school and pick her up. Sometimes her father arranged a transportation service for her, but I still preferred to pick her up whenever I had time.

  Adjusting to my new life had been hard. And sadly enough, I still missed my ex-husband. Well, actually, I’m not sure if I missed Tom or the life he represented. But what did it matter? He had moved on while I was still dealing with feelings that alternated between anger and bitterness. I’d said a lot of things I regretted, but I’d meant them. But knowing that I was still hung up on our divorce while he had easily replaced me made me feel sad and worthless.

  I didn’t know what to expect when he eventually moved on and he had moved on quickly. Our divorce was barely final before he married a nineteen-year-old blonde. I was in shock, but I’m not sure why. He was handsome. He was loaded. And everyone, excluding those that knew him really well, thought he was a great guy. A great guy that hadn’t wanted me. I was angry. But I would get over it. Maybe. It had been nearly a year since my divorce and I still hadn’t gotten over it.

  I was so deep in thought that I hadn’t noticed my shift had been over for at least twenty minutes already.

  “I’ll see you later, Lucy,” I called to my fellow customer service rep as she moved to take my spot.

  “Same time, same place,” she called back giving me a wave.

  I waved back and headed to the area where we kept our lockers and personal effects. I opened my locker, grabbed my purse and hustled for the exit. I waved to another friend as I did, “I’ll see you later, Patrick.”

  Patrick was an older African-American man who worked there greeting customers. I’d heard he’d held that same job for at least twenty years.

  “See you later, Dana. Try to not have too much fun tonight,” he said with a smile.

  “We definitely don’t have to worry about that, Patrick. I’m not doing anything fun.”

  He gave me a teasing smile, “Don’t I know it.”

  I laughed at his quick wit and headed out into the fresh air. It was April in Ohio and colder than usual. I was glad I didn’t live too far from work. My parents had given me one of their rental properties as a wedding gift years ago.

  Tom had wanted me to sell it, but I hadn’t. Now I was grateful I’d stuck to my guns. I’d rented it out while I’d been married and had managed to pay the mortgage off. After our divorce, it seemed the most logical thing to do was to live in it. No matter how much I’d wanted to stay in our town, it had made more sense to live in the city where life was kind of crazy but a lot cheaper than the ritzy town where I’d lived before my divorce.

  It was a ranch style home, modest and practical. I was thankful it belonged to us. The ‘70s wallpaper was hideous, and the bathroom had pink tiles, but I was grateful I didn’t have to worry about a mortgage. If it hadn’t been for that house, I would have probably been still living in a hotel or in a crappy apartment somewhere just barely surviving on public assistance.

  I pushed those thoughts out of my head as I pulled up to the school and saw Meredith, my daughter, standing there with a tall man with long hair. As I pulled closer, I realized that I knew the man she was with all too well. His name was Carter Knight and once upon a time, before I’d made a mistake that I would always regret, he had been my best friend.

  Chapter Two

  “Uh oh,” I said to myself. I hoped she wasn’t in trouble. Meredith was a good kid, but she was rambunctious and strong-willed. I joked that she got that from her father, but I was lying. She was totally a little me.

  I got out the car and smiled at Carter as I approached. It was so good to see him again. How long had it been? Seven, eight years? Too long. Way too long.

  “Principal Knight,” I said formally. “Is my daughter in trouble?”

  He laughed. “Meredith did not inherit her mother’s troublemaker genes.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  We stared at each other, smiling. I’d met Carter in college. He’d lived a few doors down from me in the dorm during our freshman year. We’d instantly become friends. It had been the three of us: me, Piper, and Carter. Piper had been my roommate and was also Tom’s little sister. In fact, I’d met Tom through Piper. We’d all gone to the same college, but Tom had been a senior when the rest of us had been sophomores. Tom had never liked Carter. And I’d suspected, even though Carter never said anything, that the feeling had been mutual.

  Piper, Carter and I had hung out all the time. We’d been a dynamic trio. At least, that’s what we told each other. They had been my best friends. I was able to stay in touch with Piper because I’d married her brother, but unfortunately, I hadn’t kept in touch with Carter over the years. I’d heard from Piper that he had done a lot of volunteer work abroad while earning his PhD in some esoteric subject. But he had a teaching degree and had returned to our city just a few months ago and had accepted the principal position at the private school where Meredith was enrolled. It was an international private school, so lots of kids there were from other places. From what I understood, it was the perfect position for Carter.

  I felt sort of bad that my work schedule had prevented me from ever meeting up with him in the three months since he’d been at Meredith’s school. I only knew he worked there because of the letter that was sent home to all the parents.

  I studied him as my brain tried to make sense of the man in front of me who was no longer the boy I knew. He was tall with broad shoulders. He tanned easily unlike my ex who burned within seconds. I sighed. I was still comparing others to Tom. That wasn’t good, I told myself.

  Carter had an easy smile and he surprised me by picking me up and spinning me.

  “Carter! Carter! Put me down,” I yelled through giggles.

  He finally did and then hugged me tight.

  “I’m sorry. I’m a jerk. Did I make you sick?” he asked, pulling away from me with his hands still on my shoulders.

  “Maybe. I’m not sure yet,” I said feeling a little wobbly, but more exhilarated than I’d felt in a very long time. “It’s so good to see you,” I said truthfully. “It’s been years. You look great... very happy.” I wasn't just saying that. He looked like he hadn't aged at all. He had the same cheerful demeanor and easy-going vibe. Clearly, he wasn’t a struggling divorcee. Not that he had ever married... I think. Piper would have told me if he had gotten married, right? I subtly tried to look at his hand to see if he wore a ring.

  He was still smiling, revealing a cute dimple in one cheek. “Thanks. It’s easy to maintain a proper diet when all you have around you is pretty much fruit and vegetables.”

  He slowly released my shoulders and held my hands. He couldn’t stop smiling at me and that made me blush even though we’d known each other for such a long time.

  Carter had grown up. He still had that youthfulness about him, but he looked more mature. When he had once been gangly and kind of scrawny, he’d filled out, becoming much more muscular.

  His face was the same. He had dark brown hair and arresting green eyes. Women had practically fallen over him in college and he’d ignored most of them. He'd been all about studying and helping others. Instead of keg parties, he did community service. Instead of studying abroad to get drunk in Paris, he’d studied abroad in developing nations helping with underserved communities. Carter had practically been a saint.

  He’d been focused, goal-oriented, and as a result, had achieved more in his lifetime than most people his age. His success intimidated me given where I currently was in life.

  He’d traveled the world and done amazing things. I only could take credit for being a divorced, single mom, cashier. My existence wasn’t even good enough to be called mediocre.

  He’d been in town for at least three months and I hadn’t seen him once. Meredith and Piper frequently saw hi
m, but I never seemed to find the time. I added terrible friend to my list of failures.

  I gave him a big smile and said truthfully, “It's great to see you again.”

  He continued holding my hands and surprised me by saying, “You look great.”

  I was still sexy, thank goodness. I’d let myself go a little while I was married and had started looking a little frumpy, if I were truthful with myself. I’d lost forty pounds during the past year because I’d been so stressed about the divorce that I couldn’t eat. So now I was the same size I was senior year in college. And working all the time meant I couldn't just sit around and stuff my face. Admittedly, I’d been guilty of that during my marriage.

  I was glad Carter hadn't seen me when I was a frumpy housewife.

  “Thanks.” I shrugged as if his compliment didn’t mean the world to me. Slowly, I pulled my hands from his and wrapped an arm around Meredith’s shoulder and pulled her towards me. She smiled broadly up at me. She was normally a happy kid, but her smile seemed kind of secretive as if she had a secret she was dying to share.

  “So what’s going on? Why are you waiting outside for me?”

  “Today was early dismissal. Teacher’s work day,” Carter explained.

  My eyes widened, and I pulled Meredith closer. “Oh my God, Carter. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you call me? Why didn’t anyone call me? I’m so sorry I forgot. I have this new manager at work who’s a real ass—”

  “Relax,” he said gently, again touching my shoulder, and cutting me off from swearing in front of my kid. “I figured there had to be a good reason you weren’t here to pick her up and Meredith told me you were working and what time you got off, so it was no problem.”

  I shook my head. “I feel terrible—”

  “Relax. We had fun. And you’re only...” He consulted his watch. “Two hours late. That’s not too bad.”

  “Yeah,” Meredith piped in, “Danny Schultz’s mom is always late. Sometimes I think Danny just sleeps here overnight.”

  Carter frowned. “Hmm...maybe I should have a talk with Danny’s parents.”

  I laughed. “I’m sure she’s exaggerating.”

  “Nope. I saw his sleeping bag,” Meredith said with a sure nod.

  “Maybe he was going camping...?”

  Meredith gave me a dubious look. “At school? He was going camping at school? I don’t think so, Mom.”

  She had a stubborn look on her face which clearly meant that I wasn’t going to win this argument, so I decided to not even try.

  “Thanks for staying with her, Carter, or should I call you Principal Knight since we’re on school grounds and all?”

  He smiled again, and I found myself again thinking of how much I missed that smile.

  “Stop thanking me. It was no problem.”

  I reached out again to give him a hug and he hugged me back. Gosh, I didn’t know how much I’d missed him until the moment I saw him again.

  I pulled away. “It’s great to see you again. Maybe we’ll run into each other again… but you know, not because of a mom failure.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

  “Bye, Principal K,” Meredith said as I took her hand and walked toward the car.

  We climbed in and I gave a final wave to Carter who stood there watching us drive away. He waved back and then started toward his car.

  I looked back at him and noticed that Meredith was staring at me from the backseat of the car. She still had that silly smile on her face.

  “What?” I said. “What’s the big secret?”

  “Mom?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Was Principal Knight your boyfriend?”

  “What?” I sputtered. “No. We were just friends. You know buddies. Just like you’re friends with Danny Schultz.”

  “I’m not friends with Danny. He just sits next to me at school.”

  “Okay… well, a long time ago, Carter, umm, Principal Knight and I were really good friends. We went to school together.”

  “Like elementary school?”

  I smiled and shook my head. “No. Just college.”

  “He’s really nice. Was he really nice in college, too?”

  I nodded. “He was always a nice guy. The nicest guy, actually.”

  “Are you guys still friends?”

  “I think so. We just fell out of touch—”

  “Because you married Daddy?”

  I shrugged. Could I really blame my marriage for falling out of touch with friends?

  “Sometimes life just takes people in different directions, hon. I got married. Carter went to China or Cambodia. Somewhere. People just fall out of touch when they get older.”

  “Well, Principal Knight is nice. You should be his friend again.” She paused and then her eyes grew large in sudden excitement. “I know! I know!”

  “What?”

  “You should invite him to Auntie Piper’s birthday party.”

  “Dammit,” I mumbled under my breath.

  “Mom, don’t say bad words.” Of course she’d heard me.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. I’d completely forgotten about Piper’s party. It was this weekend. I didn’t have a gift and I didn’t have anything to wear. Piper had been working out of the country for the past two years but before then, her birthday parties had always been a huge affair.

  “We need to find Piper a gift. I forgot to go shopping. We should—”

  I didn’t have a chance to finish my sentence because I heard a loud sound that sounded like a gunshot and then, the unmistakable sound of a flat tire.

  “Grrreeat,” I groaned, doing my best to pull over to the side. Traffic wasn’t too heavy, but I wasn’t the best driver. In fact, driving sort of scared me and I tried not to do it too often. I thought it had too many unknowns and I was right. A flat tire was definitely proof of that.

  I wondered if I had a spare in the trunk. I didn’t think I had a spare in the trunk. If I did, I didn’t put it there. Tom had always taken care of all the car stuff. The car I was driving was about five years old and Tom had been the person to keep it maintained. I’d gotten the car in our divorce.

  I crossed my fingers a spare would be in the trunk. And then it dawned on me: I didn’t know how to change a tire. I was definitely winning the mother of the year award.

  After a lot of swearing under my breath and frustration, I managed to get my car to the shoulder of the road. With a feeling of foreboding, I opened the trunk and looked inside. Nothing. Today was just not my day.

  Sighing, I reached for my cell phone. I would have to have it towed. I didn’t know how much it would cost, but I was pretty sure it would be more than I could afford.

  I placed my hand on my forehead, trying not to get upset in front of Meredith who was watching me with wide eyes.

  “I’m going to have to call a tow truck, okay? Just sit tight.” I hoped my voice sounded reassuring and confident. I didn’t feel very confident.

  I was dialing the number to a toll service I saw on one of my neighborhood forums, when suddenly a car pulled up behind us.

  I instantly tensed up. All sorts of scenarios ran through my head. None of them good. I’d heard about people killing people on the highways all the time. Okay, maybe they were just urban legends, but all urban legends had to come from somewhere, right? Even an urban legend had a grain of truth.

  But then I noticed the person behind the wheel and sighed in relief.

  “Flat tire?” asked Carter, stepping out the car and coming towards me.

  “Yeah. And no spare.”

  “Well, that’s a problem.”

  “No kidding.”

  “Hi again, Principal Knight,” Meredith shouted looking at us through the back window. She was having a fun time apparently.

  He waved to her and then turned back to me. “I have a spare.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not taking yours. What if you need it?”

  He looked at me with an incredulous expression. “Dana. I th
ink the chances of both of us needing the spare are pretty slim.”

  “I don’t know....”

  But he was already heading to his trunk. He quickly got the tools he needed and made his way back to my car.

  “Hey, you,” he called to Meredith. “This will only take five minutes. Want to time me?”

  “Yes!”

  “Okay… tell me when to go...”

  I gave Meredith my phone. She set the timer and then shouted, “On your mark, get set, ready, go!”

  She cheered him on exuberantly as I watched. Carter pushed his sleeves up his forearm, showcasing some very well-developed biceps. When had Carter gotten into weightlifting?

  Or maybe he had occupied himself by doing pull-ups in the jungle? I felt ridiculous for the thought, but the image made me giggle.

  My face must have mirrored my amusement because he looked up at me and said, “What’s with the goofy smile?”

  I answered honestly, “I just thought of you doing pull-ups in the jungle and it made me laugh.”

  “What about changing a tire makes you think that I did pull-ups in the jungle?”

  I didn't dare mention that I’d been checking him out. Instead I said, “Well, you did live like Tarzan for a few years. At least that’s how Piper made it sound.”

  My answer caught him off-guard and he let out a bark of laughter.

  “Time!” Meredith yelled out, interrupting whatever Carter was going to say next.

  “No fair. Your mom distracted me.”

  Meredith shrugged. “Too bad, so sad.”