Dreaming of You and Me

by Kristy Tate

  “Don’t beat yourself up about this,” Nora said.

  “Do you think I was looking for an excuse to sabotage things between us?” Darby asked.

  “No! Stop over-thinking things!” Nora fiddled with a pencil on Donna’s desk.

  “But it makes sense, right? I was so mad at myself for being suckered by Benjamin, who, by the way, is coming for Thanksgiving dinner.”

  “What?” Nora dropped the pencil squealed into the phone, dropping the pencil. She loved Darby’s family. She found them more entertaining than a soap opera.

  “Hmm, Henley invited him. They have a secret little fling going on. Well, I guess it won’t be secret after Thanksgiving.”

  “Your sister and Benji?” Nora asked. “No, that’s just too silly. Besides, how can she possibly be interested him? She knows how he treated you!”

  “Don’t worry about Henley, she can take care of herself...and probably Benny.” Darby laughed. “I gotta go. I only have thirty minutes for lunch.”

  “You’re calling Chad from work?” Nora asked. “I thought your boss doesn’t allow personal phone calls.”

  “Chad is a client.”

  “In that case, shut up and listen to my idea,” Nora said. “The event planner for the Canterbury annual fundraiser just ditched us. You were so brilliant organizing Sloane’s wedding, I immediately thought of you!”

  “A fundraiser? I don’t know anything about putting together a fundraiser!”

  “I’ll send you the details,” Nora said. “I know you can do this! And it will give you a chance to talk to Chad face to face. Plus, it’s a good chunk of money.”

  “I think I should apologize to Chad now. Don’t you?”

  “Absolutely. Why don’t you call him?”

  Darby glanced at her watch. “I will right now.”

  Nora thought about reminding Darby that Chad’s reception wouldn’t be any better than her own but decided not to discourage her. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than for her friend to take up residence on the neighboring ranch and in the P.E. teacher’s heart.

  WEEKS PASSED AND THE dreaded but much anticipated Parents’ Weekend arrived. “I can’t believe you asked Benjamin to help you!” Nora nodded at the hunky but despicable Benji at the next water table.

  Darby shrugged. “I needed cheap labor and he owes me.”

  Nora mulled over all the things she wanted to say to Darby but kept her lips pressed together. After all, she didn’t exactly have a great track record when it came to men, either. She’d formed an instant dislike to for Benjamin even before she’d met him because of how horribly he’d treated Darby. Still, she had to admit he was cute and he’d worked hard ever since he’d arrived at the school.

  “Maybe he’s not the scum-eating bottom feeder we thought he was,” Nora said as she took a long drink from her water bottle and watched the girls, a few of their parents, and hundreds of runners jog past their table. “But what is Chad going to think? Didn’t you say Chad punched Benji at Sloane’s wedding?”

  Darby nodded.

  “And I’ll punch him too if he breaks my sister’s heart.” Darby rolled a water bottle between her hands. “I’m looking forward to that.”

  “You’re pretty sure that’s going to happen?”

  “Oh yeah,” Darby said with a diabolical smile.

  “I’m not so sure. Your sister has always been able to hold her own.”

  Darby snorted. “They’re so ill-matched! He is the antithesis of everything Henley stands for! You know how she’s constantly spouting feminist doctrine and waging a war on the suppression and objectification of women. She says she despises Sloane’s career as a makeup artist, so how can she fall for a guy whose main occupation is dependent on keeping up his beauty routine?”

  Nora watched Benjamin flirt with the females parading past his table. “Maybe she thinks he’s okay since he obviously doesn’t need to be Photoshopped.”

  A barefoot runner sprinted up to their table and Darby put a water bottle into his outstretched hand.

  “Go, you!” Nora clapped and cheered for the small band of girls jogging by their table.

  “He didn’t have to come, you know,” Nora said. “I know you think your brothers are terrifying, but they’re only scary if they know where you are.” Nora tossed a water bottle at a man running with a prosthetic leg. “Good for you!” she called, cheering and clapping.

  Darby pushed her curls off her forehead. The morning mist had morphed her curls into a beast that couldn’t be tamed by hair -ties. The sun, just a bright spot behind the clouds, hung above the trees.

  “I didn’t think he’d actually show,” Darby said.

  “Maybe he’s really into Henley.”

  “That shouldn’t hurt, but it kind of stings,” Darby said.

  “But you don’t like him, right?”

  “No, not at all.” She pressed her lips together when she spotted Chad and a cluster of school girls jogging their way.

  “When will you apologize to Chad?” Nora whispered, even though Chad and the girls were still a long way away.

  “As soon as I get a chance to speak to him alone,” Darby said.

  “I wonder if he’s seen Benjamin, yet,” Nora said.

  Chad’s eyes widened when he spotted her and almost immediately a mask of indifference fell over his face. The troop of girls surrounding him laughed and joked as they took their water bottles, but Chad remained stoic and jogged past the table without making eye -contact with Darby. He didn’t even look at Benjamin.

  “Do you think he’ll ever forgive me?” Darby asked as soon as Chad was safely out of earshot.

  “Absolutely, because you’re awesome and adorable, and he knows it.” Nora smiled and waved at a group of her students jogging up. These girls all wore bulldog T-shirts with a caption that read, “Bully for you. “And if he doesn’t know it,” Nora continued, “then he’s an idiot and shouldn’t be allowed to influence young minds.”

  BUT NORA KNEW IF ANYONE was an idiot, it was her. Her attraction to Cole burned so bright and so hot she tingled every time he came in the room. Something had to be done. And soon. Working with him was torture, but when they weren’t working...that was even worse.

  She knew there would be dancing at the gala—the Parents’ Weekend’s culminating event—but what she didn’t know was how she could avoid Cole. Because if she didn’t and he asked her to dance, she was pretty sure she would just melt beneath the disco ball.

  But, fortunately, the gala, preceded by the carnival, dinner, and casino games, was still hours away. As long as she was manning the whack-a-mole station, she wouldn’t see Cole since he was sitting in the dunk tank on the other side of the campus. But every time she heard a splash, she imagined him falling into the water and emerging, flinging his hair like Thor in a Marvel movie.

  A handsome sixtyish man with gray at his temples stopped in front of the booth. “I’d like to try my hand at some mole killing.”

  He looked familiar, but Nora couldn’t place him. She took his money and handed him the club.

  As the mole heads started bopping, he grinned and said, “And the poor beetle that we tread upon, in corporal sufferance feels a pang as great as when a giant dies.”

  “Shakespeare,” Nora said, suddenly remembering how she knew him. “Are you Turner Lawson?”

  He squinted at the moles and began to pummel the holes. “Are you trying to distract me?” he said through gritted teeth without even looking at her.

  “Sorry. Don’t mind me. Whack away.”

  And he did. The moles bounced up and down, Turner beat the club on the holey Astro Turf, and after a moment, the buzzer rang. He straightened, pinned her with an amiable gaze, and said, “And you are the upstart English teacher who replaced me.”

  “I’m not sure how that happened.” Nora took the club away from him. “I’m sure that you are much better at teaching than you are at mole whacking.”

  “Well, that would depend on who you ask, of cou
rse,” he said. “Are you enjoying the school?”

  “I love it,” she said. “At first, it was intimidating, but now...I get to read and talk about books for hours a day. What’s not to love?”

  “I agree,” he said.

  “I’m sorry I took your job.”

  “You didn’t take my job, my dear. It’s your job.”

  “But it was promised to you.”

  “And I muffed it up.” He tucked his hands into his pockets.

  Nora instinctively liked a man who could quote Shakespeare and use the word muff in the same conversation. “How so? If you don’t mind my asking.”

  “How so? If you don’t mind my asking.”

  Turner looked over his shoulder. “Irena and I go way back.... I overstepped.”

  “Oh, so I didn’t get my job because I’m so great, but because you offended Irena?”

  “I’m sure you’re great. My granddaughter attends Canterbury and she loves your class. The girls will probably relate more to a pretty thing like you than they would to a salty guy like me.”

  “I’m not so sure about that. We all need salt?”

  “I’ve been teaching for a long time. It was probably time for me to hang up my red pencil anyway.” Turner smiled at her, and the gesture seemed genuine, but also tired. “If you need any pointers, let me know.”

  A kid with a ticket picked up the club and gave Nora an expectant glance. Nora obediently turned on the mole machine. It grew too noisy to talk, so Turner waved farewell and moved away.

  Nora fought the urge to go after him. After all, if he and Irena shared a history, maybe he could tell her if Crystal’s version of Nora’s birth was true or not. Why hadn’t she thought of this before? She didn’t need to talk to her parents or Irena! All she needed was someone who knew Irena twenty-nine years ago!

  And suddenly, Nora wasn’t dreading the gala anymore, because she promised herself a dance with Turner.

  THE TWINKLY LIGHTS suspended on poles crisscrossing the patio swayed in the wind. A darkening cloud blew across the moon. The weather channel had predicted a cloudless night sky. Unseasonably warm, the weatherman had promised. Nora stood in the shadows where she could watch Cole, Darby, and Chad, and wait for an opportunity to dance with Turner Lawson.

  Cole sat at a table with his mom and a group of diamond-flashing parents. Every so often, he glanced around as if looking for someone. Selfishly, Nora hoped she was the one he wanted.

  But that wasn’t fair, was it?

  It was wrong to want him to want her, when—if Crystal was telling the truth—she was the worst possible choice for him. It would be like Oedipus, the ancient King of Thebes, unwittingly marrying his mother. But instead of the Riddle of the Sphinx, the mystery of her birth was the unanswered question.

  “Ah, there you are,” a deep voice droned.

  Nora glanced over her shoulder at Barry. Even from here, she could smell the alcohol rolling off him. She stepped deeper into the shade of a maple tree. Barry followed. His once- crisp white shirt was now wrinkled and covered with flecks of tonight’s dinner. His hair stood on end and his bow-tie was askew.

  “Why are you hiding out here?” Barry leered at her. “Were you looking for me?”

  “No, I...” She touched her forehead. “I’m getting a headache.”

  “Poor baby,” Barry slurred. “Want me to walk you home?”

  “No, I actually wanted to speak to Turner Lawson.”

  “Who?”

  “Turner Lawson. His granddaughter is a freshman here.”

  “I could find him for you.”

  “Do you know him?”

  “No, but he shouldn’t be hard to find. ...Just have the band make an announcement.”

  “I don’t want to do that.”

  “Ah, this is a hush-hush deal, huh?” Barry stepped closer, making Nora feel pinned in the branches of the maple. “Got a thing for him, do you?”

  “No, I... It’s not like that.”

  “You like older, wealthy men, is that it?”

  “I didn’t say that.” Nora tried to edge around Barry, but he wouldn’t move. Finally, she said, “Barry, let me go.”

  He ogled her. “For a price.”

  “Barry!” Nora’s voice bordered on panic. “I said stop!”

  “Come on,” Barry slurred, “what’s a little kiss among friends?”

  Chad strode around the hedge and caught Sprog’s Barry’s shoulder before Sprog he could plant his puckered lips on Nora’s.

  Barry whirled away, stumbled, but then caught himself before he fell on his butt. He narrowed his eyes at Chad before staggering to his feet. “What are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same thing.” Chad’s lips curled when the scent of wine rolled off of Sprog.

  Cole appeared, took one look at Nora’s face, and took her in his arms. “Are you all right?”

  Nora muttered a reply and melted against him.

  “This will not happen again,” Cole said in a steely voice.

  “Nothing happened!” Sprog pointed a shaky finger at Chad’s chest. “Or nothing was happening until this baboon pounced me!”

  “Nora?” Cole pulled away from her, stared into her eyes, and used his thumb to wipe a tear from her cheek.

  Nora sniffed.

  “Come on, Sprog,” Chad said, clasping his hand around Sprog’s Barry’s bicep. “I want you to show me something.”

  “I don’t have to show you anything!” Sprog shook himself free, bobbled on the dew-soaked grass, and fell to one knee with a stunned expression.

  “Yeah, I think you do.” Chad retook possession of Sprog’s Barry’s arm, hauled him to his feet, and propelled him away. “Especially if you want to keep your job.”

  “My job? Screw this job!” Sprog said.

  “You might feel differently in the morning—or on Monday. Or when you find yourself without a classroom, students and a place to live.”

  Barry stumbled along beside Chad, looking dejected and yet defiant. “Where we going?”

  “I want you to show me what’s in your locker.”

  “Let me take you home,” Cole said in her ear.

  “But you need to stay here,” she said. “The parents...”

  “You need me more,” Cole said.

  Nora tore away from him. “No!” She gave a strangled cry and ran.

  I'm in an industrial building in New York. I'm on the second floor and I want to go to the first floor. I get on the elevator and ask the others if they are going up or down. They don't reply. I decide that it doesn't matter——it's not a big deal if it goes up or down; I can ride it both ways. It won't take too long. But then the elevator goes sideways. For miles. Outside the elevator is rubble, like bombed buildings. People are picking through the debris. I'm going way out of my way to a place I don't want to go. There's no choice but to stay on the elevator until it returns to the building and I can go to the ground floor.

  From Nora’s Dream Journal

  CHAPTER 8

  Nora sat at the top of Signal Hill with her phone clutched in her hand so tightly that her fingers began to ache. The dew-soaked grass was probably going to her ruin her dress, but she didn’t care. She had to talk to her parents. Her thoughts went back to all the times she had reached out to her parents—and all the times they hadn’t been there, physically or emotionally.

  In second grade, the whole class was had gone on a field trip to Lake Arrowhead to play in the snow, but her mom had neglected to send her with winter clothes and so she’d had to spend the day in Mrs. Anderson’s first-grade class. She had repeatedly tried to call her parents, but neither had answered.

  “I was in court, pet,” her father had answered that evening.

  “Why would you want to play in the snow?” her mother had asked without offering an explanation for why she hadn’t responded to the calls from the school. “Miserable wet and cold stuff.” Her parents had shared a smile that didn’t include Nora.

  That disappointment
had only been a precursor for too many more. The most painful of which occurred just after Nora’s first of many miscarriages. “It’s just as well,” her mother had said. “Children are horribly inconvenient. Needy and messy.” Letting her know that her own mother had found her inconvenient. Perhaps, her mother resented Nora’s birth as well.

  Given what she’d learned from Crystal, this made sense.

  Nora sniffled, pulled up her knees, and buried her face into the folds of her dress. She shivered as the cold seeped into her bones and she repeatedly pressed the redial call button icon on her phone.

  “Nora?”

  Nora lifted her head to watch Irena climb the hill. She also wore heels and, a dress, but she had a faux fur wrap tucked around her shoulders. Irena reached down for Nora’s hand. “Come, love. Let’s warm you up.”

  Nora shook her head, wondering if she could ever find warmth. She’d been raised by cold parents, she’d married a distant man—they all had had their reasons for holding Nora at arm’s length, but that knowledge did little to fill the void inside of Nora.

  “I’m t-t-trying to call my parents,” Nora stuttered.

  “Then you can use my landline,” Irena said. “It’s much warmer in my house than out here on this hill.”

  But Nora couldn’t hold the conversation she needed to have in front of Irena.

  “If you need some privacy, I promise you will have it. I need to get back to the gala. I just came to make sure you were all right.”

  Nora climbed to her feet and Irena took off her fur wrap and draped it over Nora’s shoulders. Nora tried to shudder a protest, but Irena stopped her.

  “It’s partly my fault you’re upset,” Irena said.

  “How—”

  Irena put her arm around Nora’s waist and pulled her close so that their hips bumped together when they walked. “I should have known Barry’s problem had gotten worse. Of course, he can’t stay on unless he gets help.”

  “Do you think he’ll see someone?”

  “He will if he wants to keep his job. An alcoholic, especially a man, just can’t work at a school with young girls. I’m sorry if that sounds sexist and unfair but it’s true.”