Certainly Sensible (24 page)

“Mom! Guess what!” Caroline announced. “I signed the lease on an apartment!”

Susan dropped the stick she was about to throw for Honey to fetch. “I knew you had some showings lined up, but I thought you were just looking.” Honey danced in circles until Susan threw the stick, and the dog took off after it.

Caroline walked to the picnic table and poured herself a tumbler of iced tea. “It’s a small two bedroom/one bath, about three miles south of here, affordable, really clean. And it’s right on the Monon Trail! There were some other people interested, so I hurried up and put down the security deposit. I plan to move Labor Day weekend. Of course, I need to think about furniture and…”

“Labor Day weekend?” Susan interrupted her. “That’s the weekend Richard’s getting married, isn’t it?”

Caroline took a big gulp of tea and looked down at Honey, dancing playfully around Megan’s ankles. She would miss being with family, but it was time she got out on her own. And moving September first worked for several reasons. “I’ve been thinking about maybe skipping the whole wedding thing.”

“Caroline, you have
to go,” Megan insisted. “I’ll never be able to show my face in public wearing that hideous bridesmaid dress Sharlene picked out if you’re not there.”

“I know Richard wants you there,” Susan said. “But I understand if you feel you can’t go.”

“Hey, tell me about your first day at work,” Caroline said to her mother.

Megan threw the stick for Honey to chase. “Back off, Mom. That’s Caroline-code for she doesn’t want to talk about Richard’s wedding.”

Caroline opened her mouth to contradict Megan, but she couldn’t get a sound out, and anyway Megan was right. Tears came to her eyes. “Oh, I just remembered a call I needed to return for work.” It wasn’t true of course, but she didn’t want her mother and sister to see her crying. She hurried to her bedroom, shut the door, and let the tears flow.

“Car, I’ve got great news!” Allie stopped in her tracks. “You look miserable,” she said, coming the rest of the way into their bedroom.

Caroline looked up. She hadn’t even heard Allie enter. “How long have you been standing there?”

Allie took the box of tissues off the dresser and handed it to her. “Long enough. Is this about Richard?”

Caroline took a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. “No. I just told Mom I’m moving out and…”

“You’re moving?”

Caroline nodded and sniffled. “Labor Day weekend. It’s perfect timing, really. I get my own place…”

“And you get to duck out on Richard’s wedding.” Allie shook her head. “So it
is
about Richard. Why don’t you just tell him how you feel?”

Caroline lifted an eyebrow. “If you mean tell him I hope he’s going to be happy, he already knows.”

“You want him to be happy?” Allie looked puzzled. “With Misty?”

“Well, of course.” Caroline swallowed the lie and went to the mirror to wipe mascara from under her eyes.

“Caroline! Are you listening to yourself? You can’t even look me in the face and spout that nonsense.” Allie came up behind Caroline and looked at their reflections in the mirror. “Be honest, Caroline, you’re in love with him!”

Caroline closed her eyes to blot out that thought. “Love? Impossible. He’s my boss, and he’s about to be married.” The last part got stuck in her throat, causing her a coughing fit.

“Yeah, and if you don’t speak up, he’s going to marry the wrong woman.” Allie patted Caroline’s back till she quit coughing. “Richard doesn’t know he has options.”

Caroline sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “It hurts too much, but it wouldn’t matter anyway. He’s determined to marry the woman his dead mother handpicked for him.” She stifled a sob. “I want Richard to be happy, I really do. I guess I could even watch him get married if I thought he was marrying the right woman. But Misty is
not
the right woman for him! Even his grandmother told him so.”

“I agree with Adele.” Allie gave her sister’s shoulder a squeeze. “Did you ever tell Richard about seeing Misty in Chicago?”

Caroline began reapplying her smeared makeup. “I tried, but I just couldn’t get the words out.”

Allie sat down on the side of her own bed, her feet propped on the edge, elbows on her knees. “Try again. Before it’s too late.”

Caroline gave up on her makeup when the tears started falling down her cheeks again. She grabbed a fresh tissue and blew her nose. “It’s already too late, Allie.” She didn’t want to hear
I told you so
from her sister or anyone else, but she was beginning to second-guess herself about taking the job at Meadows. “Alienating the boss’s new wife would make my life miserable.”

“If you can’t tell Richard about your feelings, you at least need to tell him the truth about Misty and Mark. Let him decide what to do with the information.”

That was good advice, but Caroline doubted she had the courage to go through with it. She dabbed at her eyes and let out a huge sigh. “I guess I’m stuck. I’ll have to go to the wedding, and once he gets back from his”—she nearly gagged—“honeymoon, I’ll have to deal with the new Mrs. Meadows.”

Allie brightened up. “Hey, you know the wedding invitation said we could bring a plus one, right? Why don’t you invite some hot guy to be your date?”

Caroline sat with that a minute. “Well, I guess I could ask Jared at the realty office. Lucy thinks he likes me.”

“See? There you go.”

Caroline finally smiled through her tears, feeling like there might be hope after all. “I guess if I have to go, I could do worse than go with a hunky guy who’s got a crush on me.”

“And you could double with us,” Allie said.

“Us?”

Allie grinned. “Mom and I have dates—Patrick and Brandon!”

This time Caroline raised her eyebrow. “Brandon?”

“Yeah, Brandon. He’s been such a good friend to me. That’s
my
good news. He helped speed up the paperwork and got me admitted to Bradley for the fall semester, full ride and all.”

Caroline was happy for her sister, but wary of this new friendship, especially on the heels of her disastrous relationship with Mark. “Well, that’s great, but did you ask Brandon out of gratitude, or is there something else going on?”

“Yes and no,” Allie said. “Yes, I’m grateful, and no, we’re just friends right now, but…” she stopped and looked at her sister.

“But…?”

Allie sighed. “I thought I’d found the love of my life when I met Mark. He was everything I thought I wanted in a boyfriend, but he turned out to be so shallow. At first I thought Brandon was just an old guy with a piano, but as I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve seen what a decent man he really is. He was there for me the whole time I was sick. So I’m taking my time getting to know him, which I didn’t with Mark.”

“Wow, near-death has given you all kinds of insight,” Caroline said with a wry grin.

“So how ’bout it, Car? Ask Jared to be your date?”

Caroline thought about it, but she couldn’t go through with it. An idea came to her. “Hey! I know the perfect ‘date’: Emily and Sara!”

Allie laughed out loud. “Well, I guess you can’t invite one without the other!”

The more she thought about it, the more she knew that asking two close family friends to the wedding would give her the moral support she needed. “Richard won’t mind, and it’ll drive Sharlene nuts to have to add one more to the seating arrangement!” Caroline and Allie high-fived.

Chapter Twenty-One

Susan woke up before her alarm went off. Thoughts of all the classroom preparations she’d made for today’s start of school, coupled with a bad case of nerves, had kept her up half the night. So she was up and dressed with time to spare.

“Megan!” She called down the hall. “Are you ready for breakfast yet? We have to leave here on time!”

Megan called back in a whiny voice, “I don’t know what to wear!”

Susan walked into her youngest daughter’s bedroom and surveyed the scene. Clothing was strewn all over her bed, yet there stood Megan, still in her pajamas. “What do you mean you don’t know what to wear? You have a closet full of clothes and lots of new outfits Sharlene just bought you.”

“I’m so used to just putting on my school uniform and not thinking about it,” Megan said, pouting.

Susan put her hands on her hips. “Well, as much as you complained about those uniforms I’d think you’d be happy to wear something else.”

“But what do kids in public school wear? Jeans, skirts, shorts, pants, what? I wanna fit in, but I don’t know how!”

Susan understood Megan’s frustration, because she was just as nervous as her daughter. “Well, Megan, you saw lots of students there when you went to get your schedule and books, and they mostly dress like you do when you’re going to the mall.” Susan pawed through the pile of clothes on Megan’s bed. “Here, wear these new jeans and this solid white t-shirt, and some comfortable flats because it’s a big school and you’ll be doing lots of walking.” Susan glanced over at her daughter, but Megan didn’t look convinced.

Megan threw herself down on the bed, landing on top of the clothes. “What if all the other girls are wearing skirts?”

Susan sighed. “Then you’ll wear a skirt tomorrow. But I really don’t think these kids are going to be as judgmental as Willowby kids.” She reached down and patted Megan’s knee. “I know you’re anxious about the first day in a new school, but we’ve got to get going. I can’t be late.”

Megan looked dubious but picked up the jeans her mother had suggested and held them up in front of her while checking the mirror. Susan quietly closed the bedroom door and said a silent prayer to the wardrobe gods. She went back to the kitchen to try to quiet her nerves but accomplished just the opposite by gulping down a cup of black coffee. Megan appeared a few moments later, dressed in a jeans skirt, a pink camisole underneath a white button-down shirt, and high-heeled sandals.

Susan, in her best noncommittal parent voice said, “You look nice.”

Megan shrugged, poured herself a bowl of cereal, and sat down to eat.

“Do you have your book bag all ready to go?” Susan asked. “School supplies, schedule, lunch money?”

“Yes, Mom,” Megan said as she rolled her eyes. “I know how to do that much at least.”

Oddly enough, that classic Megan eye-roll was reassuring. “Okay, then I guess we’re ready for our first day.” At least she hoped so.

****

The first bell rang, signaling the start of the day, and a small number of students shuffled into Susan’s classroom, shy and giggling. Her name, Ms. Benedict, was written on the whiteboard, along with the day’s date and, in bold block letters, “Welcome to Freshman English.” She looked around the room at the diversity of her students and smiled, both at them and to herself. There were African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, whites, and one Native American child, all with eager eyes trained on her.

It’s showtime
. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.”

The first class of the day went smoothly, the next class was Susan’s planning period, and then the third class arrived, a talkative group of very bright students. Some of them seemed to know each other already, probably from middle school Susan assumed, but as she listened to their conversations, she learned several students had come straight from a private K-8 Catholic school. They seemed as intimidated as Megan about entering a big public high school for the first time.

Susan walked to the front of the classroom to begin her lesson. Just as she had them quieted down, a voice on the PA said, “Good morning, Rosslyn Wranglers, and welcome to a new school year!” Susan sighed and hoped the announcements wouldn’t go on too long, so she could get her lesson started. Unfortunately, they did and she didn’t.

Before Susan knew it, the morning was gone, lunch was over and the class right after lunch was a test of her patience. She had thirty-five chairs in her room, and so far forty-two students had shown up. And they were still coming! Clearly there was some sort of clerical error here, but she didn’t have time to stop and call the main office because the students were very loud, rowdy, and jockeying for seats like a game of musical chairs.

She tried speaking over the din. “Students, can we please quiet down and be patient till the office straightens out the scheduling problems?”

“Miss, uh, Teacher, can you sign my schedule change?” A very tall and thin young man thrust a form under her nose. “I’m supposed to be in athletic conditioning this period. Basketball.”

Five more children came into the room, laughing and waving their schedules. The noise level rose as they all greeted one another after the long summer break, shouting and jockeying for an empty space.

“Mrs. Benedict!” shouted one kid in the back of the room. “There ain’t no more chairs!”

She took a calming breath before speaking. “Yes, I’m aware that we have a problem, but it can’t be taken care of until tomorrow. In the meantime, please try to find a seat somewhere and get quiet.”

“Miss Benedict,” said a very large young man with a booming voice, “can we sit in the windowsill?”

Susan was ready to tear her hair out, because three more students just arrived, bringing the total to fifty. “Yes, I suppose. If you don’t have a seat, find someplace to sit.
Not
on top of the desks!” Susan noticed several girls sitting two to a desk and said, at the top of her voice, “Only one person to a seat, please!” Fixing this fiasco was at the top of her to-do list the minute the final bell rang today.

“Ms. Benedict?” A timid girl with thick glasses near the front of the room raised her hand. “Do we have any homework?”

Susan smiled at her and announced, again very loudly, “Your homework assignment is on the board.” Somehow she doubted the work would get done.

“It’s got to get better,” she muttered to herself as the final dismissal bell rang. She slumped into her desk chair in exhaustion, kicked off her shoes, and rested her head on the wall behind her chair.

Susan realized she hadn’t seen Megan all day except for a quick glimpse in the hallway before lunch. She wondered how her daughter had gotten along in this huge school. Susan forced herself up from the chair and began straightening desks, picking up trash, and stacking books.