“No no… It’s Tammy Powers. And I’m not married, just had a little bit of a falling out with someone in my family hence the name change. But yes, Jabari is my son. I’m kind of worried that I got called in for a meeting actually,” Tammy began.
She was trying to keep things professional but she couldn’t deny that she felt madly attracted to Victor Del Toro. As a teen, her attraction had been totally inappropriate. Now whether it was appropriate or not was more ambiguous. Tammy was worried that her nervousness was visible. This was so embarrassing! Señor Del Toro had taught her when she was an awkward teen and he probably had all kinds of memories of her as a nerd.
“Oh don’t worry… I just wanted to see his mother and give a few pointers about what was going on. Jabari isn’t doing very well in this class I have to admit, but it’s all a problem that can be solved with a little bit of hard work,” Señor Del Toro said.
He brushed his hair out of his face and tapped his pencil on the table. A huge smile was still plastered across his face. His blue eyes were gleaming with excitement. He seemed thrilled to come into contact with one of his old students. Victor hadn’t seen any students who knew him during his first year of teaching for a long time. Now, he wanted to catch up with Tammy more than he wanted to talk to her about Jabari’s academic performance.
“What kind of problems?” Tammy asked.
“You know… Let’s talk about that in a bit. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you Tammy. I remember you were such a pleasure in my Spanish Lit class,” Señor Del Toro replied. Tammy noted the subject change and went along with it.
Thinking about Spanish Literature brought a smile to her face. She’d received her best grades at Willowcrest in that class. “I remember that class,” Tammy answered. She twirled one of her twists around her finger. Something about Victor was causing her to regress into her high school “I have a crush” state of being. Tammy unconsciously bit down on her lip.
That Spanish Literature class had been some of the best times Tammy had at Willowcrest. In that Spanish class, Tammy had a crush on another student named Marco Ronaldo. He had been a sweet, nerdy boarding student from Canada. Back then, Marco had seemed more attainable than her sexy young Spanish teacher. Tammy had been totally infatuated. She remembered during that Spanish Literature class she would always get in trouble for passing notes to Marco and for letting him copy her homework.
She wondered if that was what Victor Del Toro remembered about her too. Gosh, she felt like such a little girl right now. Tammy hadn’t felt that way in a while. She had been a grown woman from the moment Jabari had left her womb…
It felt good to have a crush again.
Chapter 3
“So you’ve been around town all these years?” Victor Del Toro asked her. Tammy had just finished catching her old Spanish teacher up on exactly what she had been up to since leaving high school. Tammy had left out many of the details about her ex-boyfriend and baby’s father. That story was for another day. But Señor Del Toro still had more questions.
Tammy nodded, “Yes Señor Del Toro… I’ve been a bit busy so I guess I don’t get a chance to come up to Willowcrest often. I was here for my tenth reunion.”
“You can call me Victor by the way, and I was on sabbatical that year. That explains why I didn’t see you.” Victor replied.
“Really?” Tammy asked. What the hell was that “really” supposed to mean? Tammy couldn’t believe she was acting like such a dweeb. She was always reduced to such a little girl when she came into contact with someone she had a crush on. To make matters worse, Victor was showing signs that he was attracted to. His body language was telling.
“Tammy… I taught you over ten years ago. Of course you can call me Victor,” He responded.
He smiled at her. Tammy wondered if she was imagining some subtext in that smile. Victor noticed Tammy biting down on her lip hard; he couldn’t help but crack a smile. The woman standing across from him was beyond beautiful. It was hard to believe she had been his student. They weren’t even that distant in age…
Victor continued, “Well, I suppose you came all the way up here to talk about Jabari. He is doing terribly in this class compared to where he should be. He’s a bright boy but... It’s almost like he doesn’t do any of his homework. I tried to speak to him but it’s likely cares about his friends and chat chat chat.”
Once Victor started speaking critically about Jabari in any way, Tammy’s attraction to him all of a sudden started to shrivel up and feel quite insignificant. What did he mean Jabari only cared about chatting? How insensitive! Tammy knew that Jabari cared very much about his homework. When he came home each night, he sat at the table and he worked on something. If he was refusing to work on Spanish there must be some other reason… Tammy didn’t appreciate what she saw as critique.
“Oh I’m sure there’s some explanation for this. He seems to be doing homework when I sit with him on an evening,” Tammy began. She was starting to feel embarrassed as if Victor’s words were critiquing her parenting directly.
“Yes… Perhaps there is an explanation but rather than an explanation I will have a solution for you. I think that he should come in for extra office hours a couple times a week. He might have to miss one soccer practice but for an A in Spanish it could be worth it, no?” Victor asked.
Tammy sighed, “Yes… I definitely agree you should come in for more help but I can’t make Jabari miss soccer. It’s where he is making so many friends and I’m worried about him fitting in in.”
Victor raised an eyebrow in a visibly judgmental way. “Are you saying the soccer practice is more important than his grades?” He asked.
This was a big mistake. Once Tammy felt criticized, she closed off. Tammy became furious but she knew that she had to maintain her cool. After all, she had worked so hard to look prim and proper for this meeting. The last thing she wanted to do was blow up on this teacher even if she thought he was behaving out of hand. Keep your cool Tammy.
“It’s not….It’s just I want my son to be a well-rounded student. I’ll talk to him and see about the extra sessions,” Tammy replied. She pursed her lips inadvertently. Victor could tell he had upset her but he had already plowed down this path. He knew that his former student would be leaving his office upset.
Victor continued, “You know Tammy… I never expected to see you so soon with a child that age. You were always a star student in my class. Perhaps you can help Jabari a little bit with some of your work ethic.”
Tammy took a step back towards the door. Whether or not Victor was okay with it, this meeting was over. Tammy was going to wait for Jabari and then she would drive home. She couldn’t help but feel a little bit insulted at the way this all had gone down.
“Of course. I’ll work with him and if we don’t see an improvement in another two weeks perhaps we can come up with another solution,” Tammy replied. She flashed Victor a smile which looked suspiciously like a grimace. Living in a town like this, Tammy’s fake smile had been perfected over the years.
“Very well Ms. Powers. I’ll be in touch. I’ll have the admissions office send me your contact information,” Victor said.
“Alrighty. Good afternoon Victor,” Tammy answered before walking away. Tammy had hated everything about that meeting and she didn’t know who to take it out on. Had Victor said anything untrue? Jabari was clearly failing to perform and perhaps it was her fault. Tammy figured that she should be paying more attention to how Jabari was doing in school. Tammy’s sole goal in life had been raising her son to be the best man he could be. He was her pride and joy in any critique of Jabari felt like a critique of her parenting skills. Shit! How could she have thought anything flirtatious was happening?
Tammy felt like a rejected high school girl all over again.
Once Tammy was out of the office and back in her car, she slammed her hands down the steering wheel. She still had to wait 30 minutes for Jabari to get done with this class. During that time her mind wandered to
all kinds of things. What would happen if Jabari lost his spot at Willowcrest? What would happen if she failed him as a mother? Would talking to Jabari about his grades making feel animosity for her? Tammy often struggled between being both the good cop and the bad cop. Regardless, Tammy knew should do what was best for her son. She would talk to him seriously about this and make sure that he performed his best in the class. There was no reason for Spanish take a hit just because he felt like it wasn’t interesting.
Tammy knew her son was talented -- he wasn’t failing Spanish because he was a fool -- and she needed him to start showing it so that his teachers would have no reason to doubt the reason he had been accepted at Willowcrest. Tammy had called in a favor in this particular instance, but Jabari had more than the grades to get there on his own. The only reason he wouldn’t have been accepted was because of possible resentment people on the board of trustees would have about Tammy being a teen mother. That was it.
Tammy didn’t need another foolish reason for the school to discriminate against her son. Tammy needed Jabari to pull through and wow everyone, not just for her but for himself too. She didn’t want Jabari to end up like her, living off of someone else’s wealth. She also didn’t want Jabari to feel the way that she did about her accomplishments. Her son was everything; Tammy felt like she hadn’t done much else with her life to speak of. Without her father’s fortune, Tammy didn’t want to imagine where the hell she would have ended up.
Finally Jabari made his way to the car. He looked exhausted. Tammy could tell that he had a long day. She greeted her son and began the drive home. The parking lot wasn’t as hectic as it was earlier, so making their way off campus was simple. After a few minutes of silence, Tammy began to speak with Jabari about what had gone on in the meeting between her and Señor Del Toro.
“Jabari… I need you to tell me what’s going on. Señor Del Toro tells me that you are not finishing your homework assignments and ‘cause of that, your grades are suffering. What’s going on? It’s not like you to leave something so serious up to chance. I’m getting worried about you,” Tammy began. She hated talking to Jabari in such a stern manner; sometimes it really was necessary.
Jabari turned to the side and looked out the window as if he didn’t plan to respond. Just when Tammy was about to get his attention again, he answered.
“It has nothing to do with Spanish class. I’m trying to keep things together but it’s hard. Mom… I don’t mean to sound weak or nothing but… I just miss my dad. It’s been hitting me hard lately that he doesn’t wanna be in my life or nothing. All my other classes are fine ‘cause I’m naturally good at them. But I just don’t have the effort to try in Spanish. Like I’m tired all the time…” Jabari said. Tammy could tell he was close to tearing up. Jabari was sensitive about his relationship with his father. In a town where everyone had two competent parents, he felt isolated. Not to mention all the racist jokes kids made about his black daddy.
Tammy could see that she had been ignoring her son’s needs. While she considered Randall worthless, Jabari still cared about their relationship. It was hard to say how long this had been eating away at him. It was obviously a pretty big deal for him and she had not even noticed.
“I didn’t realize you missed Randall,” Tammy answered. She cleared her throat and tried to keep a judgmental tone out of her voice. She had to understand that Jabari’s relationship to Randall was far different from hers. He still saw potential in Randall. He had hope. Tammy wondered if Jabari’s belief in Randall would ever cause him to change. That was dubious.
Jabari mumbled, “Yeah… It’s just… I never know when he’s going to be around and stuff. I wish you would talk to him Ma.”
Jabari looked over at his mother with widened, pleading eyes. He was desperate for that connection to his father.
Tammy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. But she couldn’t say no to her son. If he was worrying about not having a relationship with his father, the least she could do was help without judging him. If she tried to push them away from each other, she knew they would only end up getting closer together. Tammy wanted Jabari to make his own judgments about Randall Combs. As far as Tammy was concerned, she won by getting the Powers last name on Jabari’s birth certificate.
“I don’t know… I’ll see if I can get through to him,” Tammy answered. She smiled at her son to let him know that broaching such a taboo topic was alright. Tammy empathized with her son. She knew what it was like to end things on a bad note with a parent…
They were getting close their house and she was glad that their conversation about Randall could come to an end. Just hearing the name Randall Combs pissed Tammy off. His name had put her on edge since the day he’d left her high and dry with a baby boy and no money to speak of. Tammy was always worried that some grave negative detail about Randall would slip in front of her son. She just wanted to protect him, even if that meant lying about the depth of his father’s cruelty.
Once they arrived home, Tammy sent Jabari upstairs to do all of his homework. Even Spanish. In exchange, she promised to call his father and confront him about the noted absence in his son’s life. Tammy prepared herself for war as she dialed Randall’s number.
“Randall,” Tammy began in a huff. She wanted him to know that she meant business. Randall interpreted any type of kindness as an invitation to re-enter Tammy’s life.
Randall coughed and took a swig of something. He replied, “Yes babygirl. Finally giving me some love for the night…”
Tammy was disgusted. As usual, Randall tried to turn the topic of conversation from her disappointment in him to something nasty and sexual.
“No. I need you to start taking an interest in your son! Randall! Jabari misses you. Now I can’t tell him you ain’t shit… But if you don’t get involved more I might have to!” Tammy half-yelled, half-whispered.
Randall coughed again and then replied, “What you mean involved babygirl?”
“Don’t play stupid with me…” Tammy growled.
“Alright, alright… I’ll call him or something,” Randall mumbled. Randall tried to downplay his response like he didn’t recognize he’d had his ass handed to him.
Good. Tammy finally seem to have gotten through to him on some level. A promise to call was more than she usually got out of Randall. She didn’t want to have to tell Jabari that his father wasn’t interested in seeing him so she was happy things didn’t get a lot dirties. Tammy hoped that Randall would get his ass into action fast. She didn’t want to think of what kind of legal mess she could drag him into. Randall already didn’t pay a lick of child support.
The second Tammy hung up the phone, she received a call from an unknown number. Who could it be? She didn’t have many people who called her on her cell phone. Most of her friends used video chat or Facebook.
Tammy picked up. Hopefully it’s not a stupid telemarketer.
“Hello?” She asked. Tammy was still out for blood since her conversation with Randall and it showed in her tone.
“Tammy. It’s Victor Del Toro,” Victor said. His voice was gruff and sexy. Tammy had never felt so close to swooning before.
“Oh. Hi. Is everything alright? I just sent Jabari off to do his homework like you suggested during our meeting today,” Tammy answered. Her mood changed the moment she recognized Victor’s voice. But then, just thinking about the meeting they’d had earlier reminded her of the line Victor had crossed. She wasn’t too happy about that. Being sexy didn’t give him the right to be disrespectful. Tammy pursed her lips. Now that she wasn’t in the same room as Victor, she didn’t have to hide how she felt about the exchange.
Then Victor redeemed himself. Victor cleared his throat and then replied in his suave gravely accent, “Right. About that meeting. That’s why I’m calling… Heh.”
He sounded nervous too.
Victor continued, “I didn’t like the way it ended. I said some pretty offensive things and you took it gracefully but didn’t have to. I’ve be
en thinking about you… I mean… I’ve been thinking about this since you left my office. Can I make it up to you over coffee? Consider it a parent teacher conference with a free drink.”
Was he asking her out on a date? Tammy put the idea out of her mind. He probably just felt bad and and wanted things to end on a better note. After all, it was a good idea to have the wealthy parents of students on your good side. That was how Stan Duffy got the board of trustees to appoint him the headmaster of Willowcrest. Tammy didn’t want to say no to such a generous offer.
Tammy answered, “Sure. We can do coffee Saturday at 11 if that works for you.”
Victor paused for a second. “That sounds wonderful,” he sighed. Even over the phone, his relief was palpable.
Chapter 4
Randall’s increasing involvement in Jabari’s life coincided perfectly with Tammy’s coffee date. Saturday morning at eight, Randall was there bright and early to bring son out for the day. He seemed proud of himself too, like he was doing her a big favor. You’re supposed to spend time with your son asshole! Tammy wanted to scream at Randall while giving him a good shake, but she resisted the urge. She wasn’t going to let Randall ruin another day of hers.
Prepped For Love: BWWM Pregnancy Romance Novel Page 3
