Mr. Principal

by Summer Cooper

  I was instantly livid.

  “Slutting it up? First of all, you have no right to judge me. You married a teenager, Tom. Before the ink was even fresh on our divorce paperwork you were already screwing someone else, so save your judgment.”

  He didn’t even blink. “Is he sleeping over at your house?”

  “What I do in my own home is none of your business.”

  “It is my business when my daughter is involved.”

  “You really have some nerve, Tom, trying to tell me how to live my life as if you’re some sort of paragon of virtue.”

  “You’re no mother Teresa yourself,” he snapped back. “If I find out that asshole is staying over, I swear there will be hell to pay.”

  “The only asshole here is you. And once again, you don’t tell me how to live my life or what to do. I’m not your wife anymore. You couldn’t control what I said and did then, you must be crazy if you think you can control me now. And instead of worrying about what’s happening in my relationship, maybe you should worry about your own.”

  I felt I’d already said too much and instantly wanted to backtrack. I didn’t want him to think I’d influenced Becca’s decision. And I knew Tom too well. He always needed someone to blame and I wasn’t interested in being his scapegoat anymore.

  Not wanting to say more, I tried to walk away before he could get in another word.

  He caught me by my elbow and then I heard a voice say behind me, “Everything okay, Dana?”

  It was Carter.

  “Go mind your business, Carter. Dana and I are discussing things that don’t require your input. Not that it would be welcomed anyway.”

  “I’m sure whatever you have to say to Dana can wait. Tonight is about Meredith and the last thing she needs right now is for her father to make a scene.”

  Tom looked at Carter with hatred.

  “You think you’ve won. Don’t you?” We all knew what Tom was talking about. He hated the idea of Carter and I being together. That was no secret.

  “Dana was never a prize, Tom. She’s a person and it’s about time you start treating and respecting her like one.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can tell me what to do? You’re nobody to me.” He took a threatening step towards Carter.

  “Tom—” I said, not wanting things to escalate.

  Carter didn’t take his eyes off Tom. “Go ahead. Try it,” he said, stepping up to Tom until their faces were inches away.

  “Still can’t get over the fact that you were the loser, can you? After all these years, I bet it eats you up that she chose me over you. But what did you expect? You were some dirty, hippie wannabe when what she wanted was a real man.”

  “Stop talking, Tom. You’re embarrassing yourself,” Piper said, appearing out of nowhere as she pushed Tom back, stepping in between the two guys who would have been at each other’s throats by now. “You’re such a prima donna. Everything has to be about you. It’s like you go out of your way to ruin other people’s happiness. We get it, dude. You think you’re special. But you’re not. You’re just like the rest of us—”

  He laughed. “Like the rest of you? Piper, you’re dating a magician. Carter is a principal. How much does that pay? A whopping sixty thou a year? I make that in three months. And seriously, Dana. I traded up. I mean have you seen how hot Becca is? She’s not some broken down, overweight housewife.”

  I flinched. “Get out.”

  He opened his mouth to say something but then his eyes trained on something behind us. Becca stood there with a disgusted look on her face.

  She didn’t even acknowledge Tom as she turned towards us. “Piper, Dana, thanks for having me over. I really appreciate it. And for what it’s worth, I think you guys are amazing.”

  She turned and walked away. Tom scampered behind her and tried to take her hand. She pushed him away and stomped to the car. Words were exchanged, but I couldn’t tell what was being said. And then they were gone.

  My mom and dad, who I hadn’t noticed before, stood there silently. Clearly, they had overheard the drama.

  “I never liked that man,” my dad said suddenly, and my mom nodded in agreement.

  I looked at them annoyed. “A few months ago, you guys were saying that I needed to work to get him back.”

  “That was before you proved you could take care of yourself,” my mom said.

  Coming from my parents, that was a huge compliment. Even if it was sort of a backhanded comment.

  Then my mom added, “I thought you and Meredith were going to end up on welfare for sure, but you proved me wrong.”

  Just when I thought my parents could be kind of warm, of course, she said something like that. Of course.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “Sure thing,” my dad said, clueless to my sarcasm. “We’re leaving now. Be sure you buy Meredith a decent pair of shoes with the gift card we gave her. Her shoes looked old and dusty.”

  “It makes you look poor, dear,” my mom said for good measure.

  “Well, I definitely wouldn’t want to look poor… even though, technically I am, but thanks for that, Mom.”

  She gave me a tight smile and said, “If you keep a job you’ll be out of poverty in no time. In the meantime, at least try not to get into public fights with your ex-husband. It’s kind of unbecoming.” She turned to my dad. “I want to be home before my show.”

  He nodded, gave everyone a cold wave and disappeared with my mom through the door.

  Piper and Carter looked at me with a mixture of shock and pity on their faces.

  “I’m not sure what was worse, Tom’s tirade or my parents’ crazy backhanded compliments.”

  Piper shook her head. “I think it’s a tie.”

  We went back to cleaning up the house. Piper chatted happily, but Carter and I barely said a word. It seemed both of us were deep in thought.

  When Piper walked away to take a call from a client, I finally opened up.

  “Thanks for sticking up for me.”

  Carter shrugged it off. “Tom has always been an idiot.”

  “I don’t know what I ever saw him.”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter now. He’s old news.”

  “And you’re my present,” I said, reaching out for his hand. He took it and brought it to his lips.

  “And maybe your future?” he asked, pulling me into his arms.

  “I think I could get used to that,” I said as he lowered his lips to mine. It was a soft, gentle kiss and as I pulled away, I heard a distinctive giggle.

  I turned in the direction of the door and guiltily pulled myself out of Carter’s arms.

  “Hey, you, when did you wake up?” I said, trying to appear nonchalant as Meredith looked from me to Carter.

  “I saw you two kissing.” Her tone was mocking.

  “Well, we—”

  “Uhhh—”

  Meredith sighed. “You can kiss Principal K all you want Mommy. It’s a free country.”

  And then she just turned around and walked away. I looked at Carter and he looked at me and shrugged.

  “Should we continue from where we left off?”

  I gave him a look and he instantly looked contrite. “Well, it is a free country.”

  I couldn’t help myself. I leaned forward and kissed him, catching him off-guard.

  It felt amazing to be so in love.

  Chapter Nine

  I sat in front of my computer screen, not really seeing what was on the monitor. My mind was elsewhere. I felt like a lovesick teenager. I couldn’t stop thinking of Carter. We’d gone on a couple’s retreat for the weekend and I’d had the chance to meet some of his friends.

  A few months had passed since Meredith’s birthday party and it seemed that Becca had reconsidered the whole leaving Tom idea. I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to her because she no longer answered her phone and Meredith told me she’d gotten a job.

  I had a sneaky suspicion that maybe Becca wa
s just trying to get her ducks in a row before she decided to up and leave Tom. At least, I hoped that’s what her plan was. She definitely deserved more than Tom, just like I’d deserved more.

  The few short months Carter and I had been together really contrasted with the type of relationship I’d had with Tom. Tom and I had never been laidback or fun. I’d spent most of my time just trying to prove that I deserved to be with him. I’d been devoted and stupid.

  Even when I was miserable, I’d still blamed myself. I told myself that I should have been happy, that a million women would love to have my life. I’d been fooling myself. I’d been miserable married to Tom, but too stubborn and pitiful to just quit living a lie.

  My boss walked by at that moment and touched my shoulder. She was the nicest person. She was the opposite of Mr. Baxter and I was happy that I was finally full-time with the company. Not only that, I’d technically been promoted and I was now their social media strategist. I guess all I’d needed was a little exposure and now all of a sudden, I was an expert. And my paycheck reflected it. It was exciting to be able to buy things for Meredith. We’d probably gone on a bit too many impromptu shopping trips since my income increased.

  “Isn’t it time for you to pick up your daughter?”

  I looked at the time and swore softly. It was an early drop-off today, Becca had insisted on it which was unusual. Normally, she always asked for more time.

  I waved goodbye to my colleagues and walked quickly to my car. I planned to meet Becca at the grocery store near my home. I arrived just in time to see her arrive. She pulled up in her little Mercedes and Meredith hoped out.

  She happily walked to me and gave me a big hug. “See you later, Becca!” She climbed into the car as Becca said to me, “Can I talk to you?”

  “Sure, what’s up?” I said stepping out of the car and out of earshot.

  “I’m going to do it tonight. I chickened out before. But I’m going to do it. I have a new job and now I can support myself instead of living off my dad which was my original plan.”

  “Oh yeah, how’s the job going?”

  “Oh, it’s great! It’s at the local community college, so I get to work in the bookstore and go to school at the same time. I start next semester. I’m kind of nervous but excited too.”

  “Great, that’s really great, Becca.”

  “So anyway, that’s why I wanted to drop Meredith off a little early. I didn’t want her home for when Tom found the note.”

  My mouth fell open. “You left him a note?”

  “Oh yeah. I hate confrontation.” She shrugged. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

  I didn’t know what to say so I just gave her a nod and wished her good luck.

  “Meredith doesn’t know yet, does she?”

  Becca looked sad. “I didn’t know how to tell her. So I kind of just wrote her a note too.”

  “What!” I shrieked. “You didn’t give it to her yet, did you?”

  “Nooooo,” Becca said as if I were stupid. She reached into her pocket and said, “I hoped that you would?”

  She handed me the piece of paper and I groaned to myself. Why was Becca making me do the hard part?

  As if reading my mind, she said, “I’m sorry that I’m making you do the hard part, but I just can’t.”

  And then she started crying and I stood in front of her and desperately begged her to stop. “Stop crying unless you want to explain to Meredith right now what’s going on.”

  Becca continued crying. I peeked over my shoulder and said, “If she sees you crying, she’ll know something’s up and then things will REALLY get awkward.”

  “Okay, okay,” Becca said, sniffling.

  I awkwardly reached out and hugged her. She held me like she was going to break and then said, “Thanks for everything.”

  I gave her a stiff smile and got back into the car.

  “What’s wrong with Becca?” Meredith asked.

  I sighed. “Honey, you know how much we love you, right? But sometimes adults just don’t get along—”

  “No!” she screamed. “Don’t tell me you’re breaking up with Principal K!”

  “What? No!”

  She sighed. “That’s a relief. He’s a nice guy. A real keeper. That’s what Auntie Piper calls him. And plus, he’s your friend. You shouldn’t break up with your friend.”

  “Well, I don’t plan to.”

  “That would be a tragedy.”

  I laughed at how dramatic she sounded. And then I remembered that I was trying to discuss a serious matter with her.

  “Well, I know this will be hard for you to understand honey, and understand this has nothing to do with you, but Becca has decided that she wants to do something different in her life.”

  “Oh? Is she going back to college? She should. She’s really smart.”

  “Um… maybe, but by different, I mean I don’t think she wants to be married anymore.”

  To my surprise, Meredith sighed deeply. “I’m not surprised,” she said in a rather adult tone. “Becca is like half his age! Danny already told me that his mom said it would never work out.”

  I opened my mouth. Then closed it and then opened it again. “I got nothing,” I said.

  “Mom, sometimes adults don’t get along and they part ways. It’s no one’s fault.”

  Hadn’t I just told her that? “Well, that’s very mature of you, but if you feel sad and you want to talk about it, you just let me know, okay?”

  She nodded and then said a few minutes later, “Does this mean I don’t get to see Becca anymore? I don’t think Daddy will let me see her since he’ll be mad at her, you know?”

  “Well, I don’t know what your dad plans to do, but I know how much you love Becca and I know how much she loves you, so if you still want to spend time with her that’s perfectly fine with me.”

  “I would like that,” she said softly. “She’s my friend.”

  “I know she is, hon.” I reached for the note when I pulled up to a stoplight and scanned it quickly.

  I handed it to Meredith.

  “What’s this?”

  “A note from Becca to you.”

  She read the letter as we drove home.

  “You okay?” I asked as we pulled up to the house.

  She nodded, and I went to the back to help her out of her car seat. She got out without a word and I sensed that all wasn’t well. I sighed. I hated Tom for all Meredith had gone through.

  “What would you like for dinner?” I asked, trying to keep things normal.

  She didn’t answer, instead, she ran to me and wrapped her arms around me and cried. I held her and stroked her hair.

  “It’s okay, hon. I promise you, everything will be fine.” I hated the pain that Tom and Becca’s break up was already causing her. “I promise you, hon, that no matter what, everything will be okay. I love you.”

  She sniffled, gave me a watery smile and said, “I love you too, Mom.”

  I would do anything to protect Meredith, but I knew as she held me tightly and continued to cry that some pain I couldn’t spare her. And with tears in my eyes, I promised to myself that I would do anything in my power to never make her cry.

  Chapter Ten

  My phone was ringing. I only realized that after I fell out of my bed blindly reaching for it. I couldn’t tell the time, but I knew it was before seven since the sun was just starting to rise.

  “Hello?” I said sleepily.

  “You bitch.”

  “What?” I said pulling the phone away from my ear and looking at the number. It was my ex.

  “You think you won, don’t you? You filled Becca’s head with bullshit and now she’s gone.”

  I was now wide awake. “If Becca decided to leave you, that had nothing to do with me. Trust me, you’re reason enough to send any woman running for her life. Goodbye.”

  I hung up the phone and shook my head. I guess he’d read her note.

  I was in a deep sleep when I heard the banging on my door.
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  I jumped up to answer it when a sleepy Meredith appeared in the hallway. “Who’s that, Mom?”

  I pushed her back towards her room and said, “You go lie back down. I’ll check it out.”

  “Who’s there?” I called, tightening my robe that I’d grabbed at the last minute since I preferred to only wear a t-shirt to bed.

  No one responded so I looked through the peephole and saw Tom standing there. He didn’t look so good. He looked like he’d barely slept.

  I opened the door a little and immediately went on the offensive. “What are you doing here, Tom? What do you want?”

  “I’m here for my daughter.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “This is my weekend, not yours. Per our custody agreement, you’ll get her when it’s your time.”

  I tried to close the door when he grabbed the side of it, keeping me from shutting it firmly in his face.

  “Is that asshole Carter here?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  He shook his head. “None of my business? You convince my wife to leave me, yet you’re messing around with Carter is none of my business?”

  I looked behind me and could see no sign of Meredith peeking around the corner, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t somewhere eavesdropping.

  “My relationship with Carter is not up for discussion.”

  “The hell it isn’t.”

  “Get off my property. Now.”

  “Not without my daughter.”

  “She’s not leaving this house until I say so. You can threaten, scream at me, insult me. I don’t care. But unless you have a court order or police escort, my daughter will not leave this house unless I say so.”

  He was so angry his face started to turn red. “Who do you think you are?”

  “A pissed off mom who is about to slam your hand in this door.”

  “You wouldn’t—”

  “Try me.” My voice was cold, my eyes were too. I guess he saw the look on my face because he instantly removed his hand.