Lessons From a Younger Lover

by Zuri Day

  “Brandon, put that game down and listen. Tianna, stop it. Don’t you guys want to know the surprise?”

  As one, the classroom nodded at their pint-sized teacher, who, once it was quiet, turned her doe-eyed gaze to Gwen. “Okay, Miss Gwen, we’re ready for you.”

  “Thank you, Isis.”

  Gwen smiled as Isis preened in the light of leadership. Now, whenever Gwen looked at her, she thought of Ransom. She couldn’t help it. In retrospect, Isis looked just like him. And while Gwen prided herself on not having classroom favorites, little Isis was making impartiality difficult.

  A brown-haired troublemaker across the room threw a balled up piece of paper at the girl sitting next to him.

  “Joshua!” Isis yelled, rising from her desk and marching over to the boy. “Pick that up, now!”

  “Okay, Isis,” Gwen said as she walked over to get between the students before a fight broke out. “I appreciate your help but remember, I’m the teacher.”

  “But, Miss Gwen”—Isis pouted and crossed her arms—“the kids listen to me.”

  “Yes, and you as well as the other students in the room need to listen to me. Now, please take your seat.”

  Isis stood before her with a frown that mirrored the one that had crossed her father’s face when Gwen had spewed her venomous accusations the previous week. The same stubbornness was there too, as it took a few seconds for the teacher’s order to be obeyed.

  Gwen sighed silently as she walked to the front of the classroom. She wondered how long it would take Ransom to get over what she’d said to him. He hadn’t returned her phone calls and after leaving several messages, she hadn’t tried again. It was probably for the best, she realized. Apologizing again in person for her presumptive behavior would be better than voice mail. Today, she’d get that chance.

  As for Adam, Chantay had been absolutely right. Gwen had arrived at school the day after their conversation and approached Adam in the cafeteria.

  “Adam, could I have a word?” The request came with a brief touch on his arm and a bright smile.

  “Sure,” he said cordially, as if the threat of the day before had never happened. They walked a couple steps away from the first graders sitting at the long, white table. A pair of narrowed eyes followed their movement.

  “I had no right to speak the way I did yesterday. After all, you are my superior. So I apologize.”

  Adam’s cocky smile was almost enough to make Gwen regurgitate her macaroni and cheese, but she kept a cheerful smile firmly in place. “Sure, Gwen. Insuring a friendly and productive work environment is my number-one goal, especially with the teachers on staff. I probably said a few out of line things myself—”

  “Probably?”

  “Okay, absolutely. Sometimes it’s hard drawing the line between friend and colleague, especially a friendship that goes back as far as ours.”

  “We weren’t exactly friends growing up, Adam.”

  “True, but when there’s only five thousand people in town…”

  “Okay, point taken. So can we turn the page on our differences and get along?”

  Adam turned so that his back was to the crowded lunchroom. “I absolutely want to get along,” he said as he performed his habitual lip lick.

  “As friends and colleagues, Adam. That’s all I can offer,” Gwen tempered her stern answer with another smile. “At least right now. You know how it is going through a divorce, the damage it does to feelings, esteem, and all the rest. So let’s just start with being cordial…okay?”

  “Sure, baby,” Adam’s voice was low, silky. “Friends.” With benefits, he thought as she walked away. Yeah, man. You still got it. You’re still “the Johnson.”

  Gwen snapped out of her daydreaming and returned her thoughts to the once again restless classroom.

  “All right, all right, settle down. Now, who can tell me what’s happening this afternoon?”

  “The Back to School Blast!” various voices shouted.

  “And who wants to tell me exactly what that is?”

  Several students raised their hands.

  “Kari?”

  “It’s a party with our parents.”

  “You’re right, Kari. We’ve invited all of your moms and dads so they can see where you study, look at the work you’ve done so far, and celebrate the new school year. Because you’ve been obedient, and very good so far this year, I have a special project for you—individual gift bags you’ll make for your parents, and a large sign to welcome them.”

  “How large?” one of the students asked.

  “Very large,” Gwen answered, underscoring her answer with outstretched arms. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. You get to play with paint and get your hands dirty. Are we ready to study hard so we can have fun later?”

  Various affirmative answers were hurled in her direction. With that, the second Friday since school started began in earnest.

  The next three hours were filled with reading, writing, math, and music. After lunch and recess, the children returned to the classroom to prepare for the party set for four o’clock.

  “Okay class, today we have a room mother who’s here to help us with the party and the special project. Everyone say hello to Kari’s mother, Carol Connors.”

  The children greeted Kari’s mother and after instructions, they became happily immersed in the painting assignment. The welcome sign Gwen planned would hang across the back wall in the gym, where the party was set to be held. The word welcome was painted in several languages and, the best part, the entire sign was adorned with student hands that had been dipped in water-based paint and pressed onto the paper.

  Once finished, it was fan dried and taken to the gym to be hung by the janitor. By the time she and Carol helped the children wash up, the student assistant informed them that the parents were arriving.

  Gwen excused herself and went to the bathroom. The day’s activities had kept her busy but now that the moment of truth had arrived, her stomach was in knots. Today she’d see Ransom and apologize. It would be a serious, somber moment. So why was her heart fluttering? Like…butterflies. The memory of his voice warmed her, even as the memories of her last words to him, the last time she saw him in person, sent a chill up her spine. She washed her hands, reached for a towel, and held the cold damp paper against her forehead. Then she stood up straight, squared her shoulders, and prepared to face “the accused.”

  The sound of children’s laughter spilled out of the gymnasium, the location for the back to school bash. This day in mid-September had burst forth with radiant sunshine, and Gwen had dressed both for the weather and hopefully success in a sleeveless tunic in bold primary colors and a pair of slim-cut pants. She skimmed a nervous and suddenly clammy hand over the cool cotton cloth, turned the corner, and stepped inside the gym.

  She was determined to not look for him. Alas, she didn’t have to. His presence was the strongest one in the room: commanding, magnetic. He stood in his usual stance of power: legs spread, arms crossed, talking to his brother. Best to get it over with, she thought, and proceeded directly to where they were standing. But several of the students and their parents had other plans. She was stopped a number of times before finally making her way across the room. Two sets of eyes followed her, but she was acutely aware of only one of them.

  “Hello, Ransom,” she said with hand outstretched, when she reached his side. “Thanks for coming to our bash. Isis is so excited about school, and about the special gift she made for you.”

  “Gwen,” Ransom replied, casually reaching out to envelop her small hand in his much larger one. His touch was placid, as were his unreadable eyes. His face masked his emotions. If he were playing poker, one wouldn’t know if he had a no pair or five of a kind. He shook her hand in a perfunctory fashion and then quickly released it.

  Adam promptly put his arm around Gwen’s shoulders. She felt the action improper, and wanted to squirm her way out of his grasp. But the last thing she wanted to do was cause a scene…again.

So she turned her head toward Adam and tried to sound casual.

  “Hey, Adam.”

  “You know Gwen and I go way back,” Adam said to Ransom.

  “Is that so?”

  “Yeah, baby girl had the hots for me back in the day!”

  “I did not,” Gwen protested, even as a chorus of oh, oh, oh tuned up in her mind.

  Adam winked and gripped her tighter. “She was hot for your boy.”

  “Stop lying,” Gwen said, playfully wiggling away from Adam, or so she hoped it appeared. She wanted nothing more than to get Ransom to herself for a moment, so she could do what she needed to do, and then focus on her other students’ parents.

  “Ransom, could I—”

  “So you are here! I called your house before I came, but I see Isis was right. You needed no reminder of today’s event.” Carol came up, hugged Ransom, and remained as close to him as wet on water. Gwen immediately copped a ’tude.

  “Hey, Adam,” Carol said, while placing her arm through Ransom’s. She looked up at Ransom with adoring eyes. “C’mon, let me show you Kari and Isis’s classroom. We made a special gift for you.”

  We made? Let “me” show you? Gwen saw the necessity to immediately set a few things straight. One, that she was the teacher, not Carol. Two, that we hadn’t made anything, but that Gwen, along with her students’ work and Carol’s mere presence, had put together the gift bag that Ransom would enjoy. Three, that this was her moment to right a wrong. And four…Gwen realized she didn’t have time to mentally list the myriad of reasons she suddenly disliked the room mother she’d formerly praised. Let alone dissect the reason for said sudden dislike.

  “Actually,” she began before Carol could drag him away, as if he, still and strong as an oak tree, was going anywhere. “I was just getting ready to lead that tour myself. I’d like to discuss Isis’s work with her father. Ransom, do you mind?”

  When he didn’t say no, she took a step toward the gym doors.

  “I’d like to discuss Kari too,” Carol said, preparing to go along.

  “Yes,” Gwen answered, stopping as she did so. “I look forward to discussing your daughter. She’s very bright. But my job is to speak with each parent one-on-one. That’s why I gave out a schedule, with the meeting times outlined. Did you not bring yours?”

  “I did but, really, there’s nothing you’ll tell Ransom that I don’t—”

  The look Ransom gave Carol extinguished further argument. “Fine, I’ll just…uh…wait here.” She barely concealed the pouted mouth and narrowed eyes that watched the man of her desire leave the room. She rummaged through her purse and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper that was the parent/teacher “quick conference” schedule, designed so that Gwen could spend a brief solitary moment with each student’s parents. Carol’s pout turned to an all out frown when she saw that Ransom’s scheduled appointment was still thirty minutes away.

  She interrupted me on purpose. She wants him! Carol immediately began plotting. She’d worked on Ransom for years, longer than he’d had full custody of Isis. Nobody was going to waltz into town and disrupt all the groundwork she’d laid on the path to his bedroom. She looked across the room and immediately spotted an ally. Her frown turned to a smile as she hurried toward her goal.

  Gwen and Ransom crossed the shiny wooden court and exited the gym. A mixture of parents, students, and teachers were in the hallway, walking from various classrooms and then outdoors to the ultracon-temporary playground. The playground Ransom’s company built, Gwen thought with further embarrassment. Adam had told her this during a recent recess, when they’d had a cordial, barely flirty conversation the week before. When he had tried to pry out her true feelings for his sibling. And failed.

  They entered the classroom. A couple parents were inside, walking around the room as their children pointed out various posters, charts, and drawings. Gwen headed in the opposite direction of where they stood, toward her desk.

  When she was as far away from them as she could get in the medium-sized room, she stopped and began talking softly. “Ransom, I’m terribly sorry for what I said the other week.”

  “What?” Ransom sat on the desk, which put him at about eye level with Gwen and made it easier to hear her whispering.

  “I said I’m—”

  “Daddy!” Isis and Kari burst into the room. “I don’t feel good.”

  Carol came in behind the girls. “She’s a bit hot, Ransom. I think she might have a fever.” She didn’t look at Gwen but the satisfied smirk on her face said it all. “I know you’re in a meeting. Do you want me to take her home with me? You can stop by and get her later.”

  Ransom eyed Gwen a moment before getting up off the desk and stooping to eye level with his daughter.

  “You don’t feel good, Princess?”

  Isis shook her head no.

  Ransom placed his hand on her forehead and then her neck. She felt a little warm, but then again it was the time of the Santa Ana winds. It was one hundred degrees outside.

  “Maybe we’d better go,” he said to Gwen.

  “Of course,” she replied. “Here.” She walked over to a table filled with gift bags and picked one up bearing his name. “This is for you.”

  “I made it, Daddy,” Isis said softly.

  Gwen noticed Isis’s usual exuberance was gone. Maybe the child really wasn’t feeling well.

  “It’s beautiful, baby.” He turned to Gwen. “Isis is very happy to be in your class. She talks about you all the time. Thanks for everything you’re doing.”

  “Oh, no worries, it’s my job. Isis is doing great. We’ll chat about it another time.” She patted Isis on top of her head. “Feel better, Isis.”

  Both Carol and Gwen watched father and daughter walk through the doorway. “I’ll have to chat with you later as well,” Carol said pointedly. “Ransom needs help with Isis, and that’s my job.”

  20

  Gwen almost had to sit on her hands to keep from calling Ransom. But she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t! She eyed the clock, and then her purse, tempted for the umpteenth time to drive to Kristy’s. But she wouldn’t do that either, because she wanted him to be there. Reaching for the floral pillow beside her, she grabbed it and flung it across the room. Two more pillows quickly followed. She knew she was being childish but she didn’t care. She felt about to explode, and there was no one around to help calm her down.

  Chantay was the first one she’d tried. She was surprised when Sharonna answered, especially since it was a Friday night. But she had, and promptly informed Gwen that Chantay was out…on a date. Of all the nights, Gwen had inwardly wailed. Her fingers had itched to call Chantay’s cell phone, but Gwen figured her friend had finally finagled a yes out of the coworker she’d been chasing. And Gwen knew Chantay. Friends came first until a man bumped them to second. Especially on a first date.

  After the back to school bash ended, she’d tried to stay busy, keep her mind off Carol and images of her and Ransom spending the evening together. She’d left the school, gone through a drive-through for a chicken sandwich, and hit the highway. Not for one minute did she mind rush hour traffic. The longer it took her to do whatever she was doing to busy herself, the better. She’d spent a couple hours with her mother, literally tucking her into bed. Resisting the impulse to curl up on the couch and spend the night because it felt too much like hiding from her heartache, she’d stopped by another drive-through, ordered a large chocolate shake, and let the syrupy sweet ice cream and The Very Best of TLC accompany her home. On the way, she’d stopped at a Walmart, roamed the aisles, bought stuff she didn’t need and would probably return, and seriously eyed a theater before deciding that going in and watching a movie alone would not make her feel better.

  And the worst part of the evening was the fact that her phone hadn’t rung one time. She’d wanted it to, willed it to, with Ransom on the other line. She’d even checked it to see if maybe the battery had died. Unfortunately, all three bars were clearly visible—fully charged.

  “This is crazy!” Gwen declared to the empty room. She got up, walked into the dining room, and snatched said phone off the dining room table. She punched speed dial. While waiting for an answer, she walked into the kitchen and placed a large bag of chips and a large container of French onion dip on the table. She was about to hang up when the familiar voice sounded on the other end.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, brother.”

  “Gwen?”

  “How many sisters do you have?”

  “One too many, it sounds like.” When the smart retort Robert expected wasn’t flung back at him, he got serious. “Are you all right? Is it Mama?”

  “No, Mama’s all right. I mean, everything’s fine.”

  “Are you sure? You sound upset.”

  Why did I think calling my brother was a good idea? “It’s nothing, just work stuff.”

  “Adam messing with you? You know I’ll come home and kick his butt if he’s getting out of line.”

  Gwen smiled. “I know, brother…forever my protector.”

  “You got that right. I’ll always be your big little brother.” Robert muffled the phone and conversed with someone else.

  “Is that Denise? I didn’t even think…am I interrupting?”

  “Oh, we had an informal dinner party, and some folks just don’t know when to leave!”

  Gwen knew from the laughter she heard in the background that Robert’s loud comment was a jest meant for the friends he was entertaining. It was time for her to get off the phone.

  “I’ll holler later, brother.”

  “All right, sis. But you’re cool, right? Everything’s okay?”

  “Yes, everything’s fine.”

  Gwen hung up the phone wishing what she said was true. Everything wasn’t fine. Everything was far from fine. But in that moment, Gwen decided things could be better, and that she would do what she could to help turn the misery-making events in her life around. Once again, she reached for the phone.

  Ransom smoothed Isis’s hair away from her face. His little cherub was finally asleep. It was touch and go for a while. Isis’s temperature had spiked earlier in the evening and they’d almost ended up in the emergency room. But after he’d talked to his father and made tea the older man had suggested, Isis’s stomach seemed to calm down. He’d fed her vegetable soup, loaded with herbs his father had also suggested, and was glad she was sleeping comfortably. His world now revolved around this angel at whose bedside he sat. Watching her sleep, he was hard pressed to remember a time in his life when that was not the case.

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