Mr. Principal

by Summer Cooper

  I learned a lot about his life over the years. It turns out that his stepmother had opened a thriving family law practice not too long ago. I remember her being a no-nonsense woman who freely spoke her mind. I hadn’t known that she was a lawyer. If I’d known that I wouldn’t have used the last bit of savings to take Tom to court over shared custody on an incompetent lawyer that rarely returned my phone calls.

  Besides that, I also realized that Carter was probably the most giving person I’d met in my life. I already knew that in college, but he hadn’t changed one bit. He’d spent time in Suriname working with an indigenous population there. He’d also traveled throughout Brazil, working with teachers and students there to implement technological changes in the schools.

  And most recently, he’d been a principal of a small international school in Guatemala. I was in awe of him. He’d done so much and had positively impacted so many lives. He literally had made the world a better place. I was proud of him even though I’d always known that was the type of person he was.

  I found myself opening up to him about a lot of things in my marriage that I hadn’t shared with anyone, not even Piper.

  I talked about how I felt like I’d just been going through the motions when I was married. I talked to him about how I thought I might have been depressed because some days, especially the days before I was pregnant with Meredith, I’d been so unhappy I hadn’t even bothered to get out of bed.

  And Tom had never noticed. Or maybe he had and just didn’t care enough to say anything about it.

  One thing was for certain, Carter cared. He wanted to know everything about my life over the past few years, the good and the bad. He asked me about my relationship with my parents and if they were still the same. Sadly, I’d informed him that they hadn’t changed a bit and their example of parenting informed mine—I knew exactly how NOT to raise Meredith.

  We covered so many topics— from our disappointments to our proud moments over the years and it was nice to have someone to reflect with. Carter was a great listener. A great lover. A great friend.

  He was everything my ex hadn’t been. And so I was glad that Carter had chosen to fall in love with me. I’m sure he’d met plenty of women over the years that he could have built a life with, but he hadn’t. And part of me wanted to believe he’d been waiting for me. I knew that was a fairytale ideal, but the romantic in me, who I rarely let surface, loved to believe in the impossible.

  Speaking of love, we hadn’t said the “L” word to each other. I thought maybe it would be premature to do so, but honestly, it would be late. Carter had been more than just my college crush. I just hadn’t admitted it. I’d loved him from afar all throughout college, I just thought that love and happiness were a thing of fairy tales. At least, that was what my parents had always led me to believe.

  I realized now that I’d been modeling their relationship. My mom had married an emotionless, absent man and I’d done the same. I’d repeated her mistake. I figured now was the time to stop making the mistakes of others and learn to make mistakes of my own. That way, at least I could own up to it and accept that I’d made a choice even if that choice was wrong.

  The week passed by faster than I expected and the next thing I knew it was the day of the party. I’d solicited Piper’s help and to my surprise, Becca also joined us.

  I was determined to be nice to her. She treated Meredith like her long-lost daughter and made her laugh, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

  “Thanks for letting me help out,” she said to me as she helped hang the streamers while Piper ran out to collect the cakes and cupcakes that I’d ordered.

  I fought with a streamer that had gotten tangled around my arms while saying, “No, thank you for offering to help. Clearly, I need it.” I gave the streamer one firm tug and it promptly fell from the ceiling, undoing about twenty minutes of hard work.

  “Ugghhh…” I said, pressing my palm against my forehead in frustration.

  Becca laughed and jumped down from the chair she had been standing on. “I got it.”

  We worked in silence, fixing what I’d messed up until finally it was done.

  “Not too bad,” I said, looking around at our work.

  “You don’t think there’s too much pink, do you?”

  I pretended to be in deep consideration as I said, “There can never be too much pink.”

  She smiled at me and then her face grew serious. “Umm… Dana? I just want to clear the air…” she cleared her throat nervously.

  I looked at her in concern. Clear the air? What was she talking about? I stared at her for a second, trying to guess what was coming next, but wanting to just run away and hide. Was she going to tell me off or something? I’d thought I’d been nice the whole time, but who knew? “You okay? Everything alright? Did I do something to upset you?”

  She nodded, then thought better of it and said, “Well no. I mean… it has nothing to do with you.”

  Now I was curious. “What’s wrong Becca?”

  “I just want you to know that I was not seeing Tom while you guys were married. I would never ever do that. I swear to God.”

  I raised my brows. I didn’t know where this confession was coming from.

  “You do believe me, don’t you?” she asked me, looking as if she were about to cry.

  “Becca, me and Tom are old news, if you were seeing him while we were married—”

  “I wasn’t! I swear I wasn’t!” she cried, tears welling in her eyes.

  I felt instantly terrible. “Hey, don’t cry! I was just going to say that I’d moved on. That part of my life is over. I don’t care what Tom does or did.”

  She sighed. “Thank you. That means a lot. I just didn’t want you to think I was some conniving whore.”

  That’s exactly what I’d thought she was, before I’d gotten to know her, but there was no way I was going to tell her that.

  “I don’t think ill of you, Becca. I really don’t”

  She stared at me and narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure?”

  “Very.”

  “Good. Because I’m leaving Tom. And I wanted you to be the first to know.”

  I stared at her in shock and said the first thing that popped into my head. “But you guys have only been married for like a minute!”

  “One minute too long,” she said, swiping at tears. “I just don’t think I love him. And I don’t think he loves me. Call me silly, but I’m only nineteen. I don’t want to be tied down the rest of my life to someone who doesn’t love me only to wake up seven years later and watch him divorce me and marry someone half my age…”

  “Ummm... that’s exactly what he did to me.”

  “I know!” she said, “I can’t let that be my future. I’m not stupid… I know you think I am—”

  “I don’t think you’re stupid, Becca,” I said fiercely. Now I felt terrible for thinking anything bad about her. Clearly, she was hurting.

  “Well, I’m not stupid. A little naïve, but not stupid. The only reason I even stuck around past a month was because Meredith is such a sweetheart and I know what it feels like to grow up in a home shuttled between parents. I just wanted to be her friend, you know? And now I feel terrible that I’m leaving her and her father.”

  She started sobbing then and I reached out to put my arms around her. She was smarter than I’d given her credit for. She was also clearly a beautiful person.

  “Listen to me, don’t you feel bad for an instant about leaving Tom. And don’t stay with him a minute longer out of a sense of guilt. Meredith is a trooper. She’ll adjust. Trust me. That’s why I stayed so long and stayed so miserable. I thought I was doing what was right but I wasn’t. What was right would have been showing Meredith what a functional relationship looks like. And Tom and I were anything but functional.”

  Becca continued to cry, and I awkwardly tried to soothe her. “It’s fine… you’ll be fine. Stop crying,” I pleaded.

  “But,” she said, trying to compose herself
as she pulled away and reached for her bag. She started to fix her makeup. “Will you still let me see Meredith after Tom and I divorce? I know he won’t, but I thought that maybe you would? I don’t want to stop being a part of her life.”

  And I know Meredith would have felt the same way. She went on and on about all the fun things she and Becca would do together. She loved Becca and there was no way I was going to hurt the special relationship they had.

  “Becca, I promise you can see Meredith whenever you want. She loves you and I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize your relationship with her.” I paused then and asked, “You said I was the first to know. Does that mean Tom doesn’t even know yet?”

  She shook her head. “I was going to wait until tonight after the party. Since it’s your weekend, I figured it would be better to do it now so that Meredith wouldn’t hear us argue. My parents argued all the time and it was a nightmare.” She shook her head. “I already packed a bag.”

  “Where will you go?” I said.

  “Oh, to my dad’s… he doesn’t live far from here. He never liked Tom anyway.”

  “Okay. This is awkward, saying this to my husband’s soon to be ex who technically replaced me, but if you need anything we’re here for you.”

  She embraced me tightly in another big hug. “Thank you sooo much. That means so much to me.”

  I pried myself from her embrace and murmured an excuse about needing to pick up some additional things.

  My mind was running everywhere. I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. I wanted to immediately tell Piper but I didn’t even know where she was.

  I got in the car to pick up the remaining things. Becca offered to come with me, so we went together.

  I got to know her pretty well in the thirty minutes that we were in the car together and I felt bad that I hadn’t made an effort to get to know her sooner. But she was married to my ex-husband, so I didn’t beat myself up too badly about it.

  “So where were you raised, Becca?”

  “I’m from here. Born and raised. I haven’t ever lived anywhere else, but my mom and my other siblings live in Oregon. I’m the oldest. I stayed with my dad after they got divorced.”

  “I was raised here too, well about forty minutes from here.”

  “Oh? Do you have family still here?”

  “My mom and Dad.”

  She looked surprised. “Oh, Meredith never mentions her grandparents.”

  I instantly felt bad. “Yeah, my parents are pretty hands-off. They’re not very involved in Meredith’s life, unfortunately. They send birthday cards when they remember.”

  “Are they coming to Becca’s party?”

  I shrugged. “Who knows?”

  Becca frowned. “I hate to judge, but what kind of people can’t make the time to come to their own granddaughter’s birthday party? I know they’re your parents but that’s kind of harsh.”

  I nodded because she was right. “My parents are in a league of their own, that’s for sure.”

  We talked about her dreams and aspirations and I realized that Becca was really smart and motivated. I liked her.

  “So how are things going with you and Carter?”

  I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to tell her.

  “Things are going really well.” I paused and then said, “I always had a crush on him. We were best friends. We met in college—”

  “What? But didn’t you marry Tom right after college?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Carter was your one true love?”

  I laughed, and I was about to brush off her comment when it hit me. “Yeah,” I said to her, “I think that’s exactly it.”

  “That’s so romantic,” she said. “That’s what I want. I want to love someone who will love me more than a year. Like forever would be nice.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, that’s the goal. I wish I’d figured that out a long time ago. If I had I wouldn’t be the product of a messy divorce.”

  Becca grew silent. “Do you think our divorce will be messy?”

  I’d already forgotten that Becca was about to be former wife number two.

  “Well, it’s different for you. You’re getting out before things get complicated. You know, before you have kids.”

  “Oh well, that part was a given. Tom doesn’t want any more kids.”

  She sounded sad.

  “You want kids one day?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I want a ton of kids.”

  “What’s a ton?”

  “Like five.”

  I laughed hard. “Five? Wow.”

  Becca smiled. “I grew up with a ton of younger siblings so I’d be so bored with just one. I want a bunch of kids so that none of them are lonely.”

  “Becca, you really are a sweetheart.”

  “I swear I’m not an evil stepmother.”

  “Well, Tom is sure losing a jewel.”

  She smiled at me. “That’s so nice of you to say.”

  “I mean it. And I’m glad you’re going to stick around in Meredith’s life.”

  “And I’m glad you found love with someone else,” she said as we pulled up to Piper’s house. And as we did, the subject of our most recent comment popped up.

  Carter stepped out of his car and pulled out a few bags and then waved at me as best as he could.

  “Hey there! I brought a few more things to eat. I figured you can’t have too much.”

  He then walked up and kissed me on the cheek. Upon seeing Becca, he smiled at her. “Becca, right?”

  She nodded. “You remembered.”

  “Of course, I do. Meredith speaks of you very fondly.”

  She practically glowed at his compliment.

  “You’re definitely a keeper,” she said to Carter. “Definitely an upgrade from Tom,” she said before excusing herself and heading back into the house.

  “Hmmm, what was that comment about?” Carte said looking confused. “Trouble in paradise?”

  “She’s planning to leave Tom.”

  His eyes widened. “Really? They haven’t even been married a year, right?”

  “Apparently she’s a smart woman who knows her worth.”

  “But still a shocker. Does Tom know yet?”

  “Nope. She’s telling him tonight.”

  “Yikes. This is your weekend with Meredith, right? So she won’t be there when Tom’s world implodes around him.”

  “Yep it’s my weekend, but Tom is going to be pissed. Totally blindsided, I bet. So yeah, he’ll pretty much feel exactly like I did.”

  Carter shrugged indifferently. “Sucks to be him.”

  We didn’t get a chance to talk more about it because the party quickly started. About twenty students from Meredith’s class showed up and some of them brought siblings. I was grateful that Carter had thought to bring more food. I even got to meet the infamous Danny Schultz and his mom. I was starting to think that maybe Meredith had a crush on Danny. She grabbed him by the hand as soon as he arrived and made him shake all the gifts with her as they attempted to guess what was inside each box.

  Tom showed up in the middle of the party, but I noticed Becca attempted to keep her distance. Whenever he was on one side of the room, she was on the other. I knew he was pissed about it and I could see the frown on his face. Tom wasn’t a yeller. He liked to tear you down with targeted insults and the silent treatment. And I knew he wouldn’t make a scene at the party, but I knew it was clear as day that Becca was avoiding being near him.

  What I’d thought was going to be a pretty low-key party turned into quite a huge affair. To my surprise, my parents did show up. They murmured something about being in town. I ignored the fact they were always in town and lived only fifteen minutes away from where we currently lived because I was just happy that they showed up at all. I always invited them, but they rarely showed up to any event concerning Meredith.

  Carter was surprised to see them as well.

  “Wow, I think that’s only the second time I’ve seen th
em since we’ve known each other.”

  “Yep,” I said. “That’s probably the second time Meredith has seen them in like her whole life.”

  “They’re still a piece of work.”

  I sighed and nodded. “I don’t miss being married to Tom but I do miss his mom. She had been really kind and motherly. I wish Meredith had gotten the chance to meet her.”

  Carter nodded. “She was a sweet lady. Piper took her death pretty hard.”

  “Between you and me, I think that was the reason Piper stayed away from home so long. I think she just didn’t want to deal with the pain of losing her.”

  “That’s something I understand all too well.”

  He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and I reached for his hand. I felt that he was talking about me. But I didn’t want to be presumptuous. I missed him though. I realized that now. I’d been unhappy because I’d been so alone. Tom had worked all the time and emotionally checked out of our marriage early. I’d done the same. I’m not sure why we’d married each other. We’d both clearly been unhappy.

  Carter went off to go supervise the kids in the bouncy house in the back that I’d rented. Piper had been in charge of the bouncy house at first, but she had invited her magician boyfriend to the party so her attention had been torn. I guess now they were official. She had abandoned the bouncy house to perform some tricks for the children, so she was acting as her boyfriend’s trusty magician assistant. She even had her own uniform. She looked like she was having the best time.

  The end of the night was approaching and slowly the students began to go home. The parents thanked me, and Meredith was a gracious host, happily saying goodbye to all our guests before breaking down and letting out a sleepy yawn.

  It wasn’t even seven o’clock, but we were all tired.

  I had Piper take Meredith to her room for a nap while Carter helped me clean up. Tom looked on angrily. Eventually, he approached me and asked me if he could talk to me in private for a second.

  Carter looked concerned but didn’t interfere.

  When we were out of earshot, Tom said, “I really would appreciate if you wouldn’t flaunt your relationship with a man you’re not even married to while Meredith is over here. I’m trying to raise her with morals and watching her mom slut it up with a school administrator doesn’t make a good impression.”