Triplets Find a Mom

by Annie Jones

  He shambled out.

  Sam stood at the door waving and thanking him until the older man disappeared, then he turned to the group.

  The whole room broke out into a cheer.

  Mrs. Benson threw up her hands and declared they didn’t stand much chance of getting more done today and dismissed the group.

  The girls ran to Sam, throwing their arms up to hug him.

  Polly wanted to do the same, but she managed to control the urge long enough to walk to his side and tell the girls to go to her room to tell Donut the good news, then turn to him and smile. “Why did you do that? And when did you talk to Ted Perry?”

  Sam didn’t look directly at her. “Didn’t say I talked to him. Said I called him.”

  Polly gasped. “You lied?”

  “Nope, I did call.” He turned to her and grinned. “I had to leave a message, but I called. The man knows his dog is in good hands.”

  “Nothing does get in your way, does it?”

  “Is that a good thing or a bad one?”

  “Yes.” She answered looking him straight in the eye as she moved past him, heading back to her classroom.

  “What does that mean? Polly? Polly, what does that…” He took a few steps after her and there they were, in the hallway, alone together. He reached out to snag her by the arm. “If you have something to say to me, Polly, just say it.”

  “Just say it? Really? That’s what you want? And you’ll listen this time?”

  He opened his mouth to say…something…but he didn’t have a chance to form a thought much less a word before she grabbed his sleeve right back and gave a jerk. In three quick steps they were outside a door marked Supplies.

  Polly paused to look up and down the empty hallway.

  Sam followed suit, but before he could turn his head a second time, the door creaked open and she slipped inside the eight-by-five-foot walk-in closet.

  Naturally, Sam didn’t see any reason not to do the same.

  The door shut with a bang.

  She turned toward him, her lips pressed closed and her eyes flashing.

  Emotions that he couldn’t quite nail down played through her expressions and posture. Aggravation? Agitation? Appreciation? Maybe a little attraction, even? It didn’t matter—just standing here so close to Polly with not another soul around made Sam content. And a little bit crazy. But mostly content.

  “First, thank you. Thank you very much for stepping in and taking charge with Mr. Cooper. I am making myself accept that Donut will probably have to go back to his original owner, but I hated the idea of leaving him with the person who had let the little guy run away, then concluded it was for the best to leave him lost.”

  Yes. Content. In the years since Marie’s death he had been resigned, accepting, motivated and even happy, but this was a feeling that he didn’t think he would ever feel again. And here it was wrapped up in the guise of a dark-haired schoolteacher with a big heart and no small habit of butting into his “beeswax,” as she’d put it, where his daughters were concerned. He looked deep into her eyes and smiled what he had to assume was the biggest, goofiest smile he’d smiled in a very long while.

  “You’re welcome,” he said.

  “Well, don’t be too quick to think that settles everything because, you know, you did ask what I thought.” She tipped her chin up and folded her arms, which meant she had to brush against him in the contained space.

  “And I gather you think I’m just a shade shy of perfection, right, Miss Bennett?” He folded his arms, too, which had the effect of ever so slightly pushing her back and at the same time pressing their forearms against each other.

  She looked down where the fabric of his rolled-back shirtsleeves met the lightly tanned skin of her bare arms. For a moment she seemed to lose her train of thought.

  Sam smiled at the idea that just by being close to her he could derail her, if only for a few fleeting seconds. Somehow that seemed to make things a little more balanced out because she had completely knocked him for a loop ever since…well, since he first laid eyes on her, if he was perfectly honest with himself.

  “Well, I…” She inched backward until she bumped against a shelf piled with cleaning supplies.

  A bottle wobbled.

  “And you wonder if I realize that this almost- imperceptible imperfection on my part keeps me from seeing that all three of my girls are struggling just a wee bit with their Parents’ Night projects.”

  “I don’t know that I’d have said—”

  “Imperfection? It’s all right, I’m a grown-up who can handle the criticism.” Mostly by beating her to the punch with humor, he added in his mind. It was a technique he had practiced many times in the years since Marie had first gotten sick—redirect if you must, but remain in control. “Look, all kidding side, Polly, it’s a new school year. There are bound to be bumps. You’ve probably had a few yourself already.”

  “I pulled you in here to talk about the girls, Sam, not about me.”

  “I understand your concerns. Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” He opened the door and stood back, allowing her to go out first.

  He followed and let the door shut with such a wham that three other doors in the hallway swung open—and two teachers and three little girls all peeked out into the hall at them.

  Don’t get any big ideas. The rule still applies. No matchmaking. If the teachers hadn’t been in the mix, Sam would have been tempted to shout out that warning. Instead he managed a smile and the truth, acknowledging that it sounded really weak. “Parent-teacher conference. No big deal.”

  “Are we in trouble?” Hayley wanted to know as Sam and Polly came toward the open door of Polly’s classroom.

  “No, but Miss Bennett has some very, um, legitimate worries that not one of you three is on top of your Parents’ Night projects. We need to do—”

  His cell phone ringing cut him off. He reached for it, explaining, “Got to take this. I’m pretty much always on call because of the pharmacy.”

  Polly nodded and herded the kids inside, calling out to Donut in a sweet, upbeat tone that churned up that unexpected contented feeling in Sam all over again. “Who’s my good boy? Who’s my pal?”

  “The guy who just saved the day and let you keep your dog a little longer.” Sam murmured the answer he secretly hoped was running through her head as he withdrew his phone and pressed the answer button. “Goodacre, how can I help you?”

  “Yeah, Sam Goodacre? The one who left me a message?”

  Sam tensed. “Could be. What was the message about?”

  “My dog. I’m Ted Perry and I think you’ve got him.”

  Sam held back as the rest went inside the classroom. “Yeah, that’s me. What can I do for you?”

  Sam tried his best. He explained the situation about Polly being new in town, all she had done to care for the animal and even played the “owning a dog when you work long hours just for a chick magnet isn’t really a great idea” card. That was one play too many.

  At the mention of the potential for the dog to impress a girl, Ted turned to stone. Totally unhearing, unsympathetic, immovable stone. Sam couldn’t really argue his way around a guy willing to try anything to score points with a girl. Getting a dog and leaving it with a negligent neighbor hardly made for the fuzzy-wuzzy feelings in women. The best the guy would agree to was to let Polly visit when she wanted. Other than that, the guy wanted his dog back and he wanted him back in two days.

  So much for near perfection. Sam rubbed his hand over his face and groaned. He should never have gotten mixed up in all this. He should have stuck with his plan from the very beginning. He should have done things the way he always did.

  His girls were floundering because he hadn’t pushed them enough. Time to fix that. The only way t
o do that was to take control. Sam knew just how to do that, but he might have to break one of his rules to get it done. Hey, as long as he was the one doing the rule-breaking, right?

  Sam didn’t allow himself a chance to rethink the question. He grabbed the door handle and came strolling into Polly’s classroom with his head high. “I’ve been thinking. Because Grover already has an owner and everyone here really seems to have caught a bad case of puppy love…”

  The girls giggled at the phrase.

  Polly’s back went stiff, her eyes guarded.

  Sam slapped his hands together in a thunderous clap and even as everyone jumped he announced his new plan louder still. “So, how about this? If you girls buckle down and get everything done to show well at Parents’ Night on Friday, I will be willing to reconsider one of my rules.”

  “You’re going to date Miss Bennett?” Juliette leaped up.

  “No!” Sam held up his hands. Pressing on without daring to look Polly’s way after the definitiveness of his response, he kept his focus strictly on the girls and said, “I’m going to look into us getting our own dog.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “A dog? He promised those children a dog if they came through with their Parents’ Night projects?” Essie’s disbelief about Sam’s rash decision came out clearly through the phone, then was softened by a laugh. “Did he not think about the implications of breaking his own rules?”

  “Well, that’s the deal with him, I think.” Polly had started off the very conversation with her twin with the incredible news of Sam’s announcement. He had been so proud of his solution, but now, three days and one returned dog later, Polly still couldn’t quite believe it. “It was so obvious that he wanted to make everyone feel better about the situation. Wanted it badly enough to do this. He makes the rules, so he’s just making a new one. That’s okay with him as long as he sees it as progress.”

  “I can see that.”

  “I thought you would. Go, go, go. Win, win, win,” Polly said like a cheer, knowing her sister would revel in it, not take it as criticism.

  With Parents’ Night at Van Buren Elementary only an hour away, Polly used the call to try to calm her nerves as she dressed for the event. She put the phone on speaker so she could contort herself to try to zip up the yellow dress she’d chosen because it looked so cheerful and also because it wouldn’t show any leftover dog hair.

  In the background of the call Polly heard an electronic ding and a car door slam. She gave up with the zipper still halfway open. “Speaking of going, tell me you are not going to drive and talk on the phone at the same time. I know you’re busy, but—”

  “I have Bluetooth, but rest assured I am not driving and talking on the phone anymore.”

  The doorbell rang.

  Polly jumped. Her mind filled with images of Ted Perry returning her dog or Sam showing up with a puppy, even as she told herself that would never happen.

  “Hold on, someone’s at the door.” She hurried through the living room and peered out the small window to see who was on her front porch. “Essie!”

  In a second she’d clicked off the phone, swung open the door and had her arms around her twin. The two laughed and hugged and chattered so quickly that no one else would have been able to keep up.

  “Why? How?” Polly asked, guiding Essie inside, overnight case in tow. “Don’t you have to work?”

  “I deserve a weekend off now and then.” Essie spun Polly away, zipped up the dress, then spun her back.

  “Now and then? Meaning once in a blue moon?” Polly double-checked to make sure the top of the zipper got buttoned down. “You never take time off.”

  “I do when my sister needs me. After that phone call saying you were running away and the email saying how happy you were that Donut had been reunited with his very, very, very nice owner, what else could I do?”

  “Was it that obvious I’m miserable?” Polly started to search for her shoes.

  Essie didn’t even ask what Polly was looking for, just bent to peer under the couch, nabbed them and handed them to Polly. “The last ‘very’ did it.”

  She slid her feet into the practical but pretty flats, then headed off for the kitchen to grab her purse. “Ted Perry is a nice guy.”

  “I’m sure he is but he’s not the guy I want to know about.” Essie followed along and had hardly gotten through the kitchen door when she plucked up Sam’s hat. When she brandished it, she didn’t need words to warn Polly that she had her all figured out.

  “I keep meaning to find a way to have that fixed.” Polly sighed. “Though I’m almost convinced he doesn’t really want it back. It’s all about this moving-forward idea of his. He thinks it is progress. I think it’s a way not to deal with the pain of his loss.”

  “Some things you can’t fix, Polly. This hat is only one of them. A grown man who has made up his mind about how he wants to live his life and raise his kids is another.”

  “But those girls need some balance in their lives.” Polly reached out and took the hat from Essie’s hand. “And Sam? Sam looked good in this hat. Though I have thought he’d look better in this smoky-brown trilby with a black band that I found online.”

  Essie laughed and stood up. Smack off a ten-plus-hour drive, she looked fresh and ready to go without doing anything more than whisking her hand down her navy blue skirt and then over her slicked-back black hair. “In other words, it’s too soon for you to give up on them.”

  Polly had never thought of it that way. For all her big ideas about slowing down the pace of life and taking things as they came, did Polly have her own drive to succeed, to try to make things turn out “her” way?

  It was with that question in her mind and a jumble of emotions—sadness over Donut, anxiety about the girls’ big night tonight, joy at seeing Essie and conflict over whether to tell her twin there was dog hair on her blue skirt, mingled in with her tender feelings about Sam—pinging around inside her, Polly and Essie headed for school and Parents’ Night.

  “Mrs. Williams says my collage is super-creative, Daddy.”

  “It’s not all pictures of dogs, is it?” Sam teased Juliette as he stood by the open side door as the girls climbed out.

  “Not all of it,” she shot back with a sly smile. “Just one, I think.”

  “You think?” He watched her lead the parade of redheads into the school building. “Girls, wait!”

  “We can’t wait, Daddy, we have to go-o-o,” Juliette called as they hurried along the hallway.

  The threesome reached the little girls’ room and Hayley turned around and waved him away. “Go get us a seat in the bleachers. A good seat.”

  Caroline added, “Don’t wait for us, Dad. We’re not babies.”

  “I guess they told you.” Polly came out of the restroom brushing dog hair from her dark skirt, wearing a smug smile and her usually untamable hair in a tight ponytail at the back of her head.

  He started to say something, but nothing came readily to his lips. He knew she was still smarting from having to hand over the little lost dog, but it was not in him to dredge up pain or loss that belonged in the past.

  It didn’t matter because Polly didn’t linger long enough to chat. She gave a wave and headed off to her classroom.

  That made sense, of course, because parents were already arriving, although he couldn’t contain a subtle grin when he spotted her peering in at the doorway a little bit later during the Go-Getters square dancing routine.

  Mrs. Benson took her position and called to the children to get their “sets in order” and they all took their places. Sam stole a peek at Polly only to find she had whipped out a cell phone, clearly to record the event.

  The song began and he could hear Juliette and Hayley cheer her on, but he admittedly missed some of Caroline’s
performance. Partly because he wasn’t sure he wanted to see it, missteps and all. But also partly because he kept glancing Polly’s way hoping to catch her delighting at Caroline’s willingness to stick with it no matter what.

  Juliette gasped.

  Hayley giggled.

  Sam whipped his head around to see Caroline falter, overcorrect and start out doing an allemande left in the wrong direction, then give a twirl and correct herself.

  “That a girl.” Sam beamed with pride in Polly’s direction only to find she had left.

  When the music stopped, Sam was the first on his feet applauding, which seemed to embarrass Caroline and then Juliette and Hayley rather than impress them. For all his talk of pushing them ahead, in that moment it dawned on him that they were growing up so fast.

  He leaned down to Hayley, who had been sitting next to him, and asked above the shuffling of children as the Go-Getters left and the next group of performers came onto the floor. “I don’t suppose you girls want to take me to your classrooms to see your projects now, do you?”

  The two exchanged looks, then searched to find Caroline in the crowd. Hayley put her hand on his leg and gave him a nudge away from them. “You go on, Daddy. We’ll stay and watch the next group.”

  He didn’t wait around to be told twice. Of course, he started with Caroline’s teacher first. “Hey, saw you got the big square-dance number on your phone.”

  “I, uh, yes.” Polly’s ponytail bounced as she looked around the large metal cart where she’d been adjusting the feeds hooked to a big television set. A slide show of smiling faces and school projects faded in and out accompanied by a hit-or-miss audio track. “Look, I think you should know—”

  “You don’t have to apologize.” He held up his hand. “It worked out well for the girls and that’s what matters.”

  “Apologize?” She stood straight and narrowed her eyes at him in a way he’d never seen her do before. She shook her head and pointed her finger at him in a way that felt like if he’d been closer, she’d have jabbed him in the shoulder as she spoke. “Oh, I get it. You’re talking about that entirely ill-conceived ‘win a pet for your performance’ deal you made with your daughters, aren’t you?”