Page 27

Her mouth opens and closes, but no words come out. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone look truly flabbergasted. Her pale skin is fire-engine red, and just when I think her head is about to explode, Luke walks in with a giant tray of rainbow cupcakes and hammers the final nail into the coffin.

“Good after—” He cuts himself off when he catches sight of Jacqueline standing next to me with one hand on her hip and the other full of sunscreen. “What are you doing here?”

“Why do you think I’m here, Lucas?” Jacqueline snarls with so much venom in her voice, I have no idea how Luke doesn’t pass away on the spot. “I don’t know if you forgot, but just because we’re divorced doesn’t mean I stopped being Isla’s mom. It’s her birthday. I brought goodies.”

She gestures to the bags I’m holding, but it’s useless. Luke is focused on one thing and one thing only.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He zeroes in on the Petunia Lemon products like a bull to a red flag. His knuckles turn white around the cupcake tray and his entire body goes on high alert. “Please tell me you aren’t using my daughter to hawk that shit.”

“Our daughter,” Jacqueline spits back, meeting his glare with one of her own, and it’s the weirdest thing. She seems almost…I don’t know, excited about it? “And as far as I know, it’s not illegal to give out gifts on our daughter’s birthday.”

“Actually—” I start and shut up just as fast when her poisonous glare cuts to me. Holy shit. How can somebody so pretty be so scary? “You know what? You don’t need me. I’ll just leave you both to this.”

As a Bravo superfan, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like watching drama—it’s one of my favorite pastimes—but there’s a huge difference between watching drama and being in the middle of it.

Like literally, smack-dab in the middle.

I stick the bags in the closet as fast as I can manage, trying my hardest to shield the bag filled with more Petunia Lemon from Luke and get the hell out of Dodge.

“Come on, Jac.” The familiar nickname is directly at odds with his tone dripping with disdain. “A lot of shit is legal, but that doesn’t mean you should do it at your kid’s fucking school.”

“Oh? Like using filthy language in her classroom?” She doesn’t hesitate before she claps back. “You’re such a hypocrite.”

I wouldn’t pick a side if there was a gun to my head, but even so, I can’t help but acknowledge she scored a point with that one. And much to his dismay, neither can Luke.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have said that.” He turns to look at me, ignoring the memo that states I’m trying to make myself invisible over here. “I apologize, Miss Pierce.”

I wave them off and busy myself with straightening the books I already organized today. “That’s alright, the kids aren’t here.”

“Did you see that? Do you see how I can own up to my mistakes?” He throws his apology in her face, and if Jacqueline didn’t scare the absolute crap out of me, it might’ve made me laugh. “That’s something you’ve never been able to do.”

“Oh please tell me, great and wonderful Lucas, what mistake have you ever owned up to?” She closes the space between them, and I take this as a threat.

“The way you dismissed my feelings about New York? The way you prioritized your work over me? How you tried to give me an ultimatum and give up the one thing that made me happy and feel like myself after having a baby?”

Her voice rises steadily with every question, and by the time she finishes, she’s flat-out screaming. I double-check to make sure the classroom door is closed, but I still wouldn’t be surprised if someone sends the school resource officer to come check on things.

“I dismissed your feelings about New York?” He stares at her in disbelief.

“I quit the job I dreamt of having my entire life because I took your feelings so seriously. We moved to Colorado! And don’t you dare throw that company in my face.

You know how supportive I was. You’re the one who almost ran through our entire savings account to impress a bunch of people who didn’t care if we couldn’t afford our mortgage as long as they made a buck off of you. ”

The headache I’ve been nursing all day makes a sudden, bordering on violent reappearance.

I came to school prepared for kid screaming, but I don’t deal well with adults behaving poorly and as entertaining—and by that, I mean horrifying—as this has been, I think I’ve reached my limit.

I really don’t want to intervene, but I’m not sure I can let this go on any longer.

They’re like a black hole and the nasty back-and-forth between them feels like it might swallow this entire school whole.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt,” I say in the same voice I use when my students are throwing a tantrum.

“I obviously don’t know what’s going on between you both, but it doesn’t seem like you’re going to reach a resolution today.

My students, including Isla, will be back soon, and the last thing I’d want her to see or hear on her birthday are the two people she loves the most arguing.

I think it’d be in everyone’s best interest for you both to take a break and continue this conversation another time. ”

I read somewhere that domestic disputes are the most dangerous situations, and I feel like I just threw myself to a pack of angry wolves…

even though wolves might be preferable. Jacqueline’s back goes ramrod straight, and her eyes turn to ice when they cut to me.

The hairs on my arms stand as the air in the room goes static and I brace for impact.

“Excuse me?” Her whisper sends shivers down my spine. “What did you just say?”

I don’t want to repeat myself. Hell, I don’t even think she wants me to repeat myself!

If this were up to me, I’d be sitting at my desk, scrolling on my phone until the kids come back.

Which—according to the clock that was probably mounted on the wall sometime during the seventies—will be any minute now.

“I respect that you and Mr. Miller have things you need to discuss, but it’s a discussion that needs to be held outside of this classroom.

” My voice is filled with the confidence I don’t at all feel, and I’m praying that the old adage of fake it til you make it holds true for me.

“My students will be back soon and it will be best for everyone if you’re not in here when they return. ”

I think it sounded good, but there’s so much blood rushing through my ears that I can’t be sure.

“How dare—” she starts, but then, to my immense gratitude and relief, Luke cuts her off.

“Come on, Jac.” Where there was anger in Jacqueline’s tone, there’s shame in his. “She’s right, you know this isn’t the place to have this conversation. Neither one of us wants Isla to see us like this and if you want, I’ll promise to bring her to your house after school.”

“You’d do that?” Jacqueline’s eyes glisten, and I watch the hardened mask she wears so well crumble to the ground. “It’s your night.”

“It is.” He nods, looking hotter than he’s ever looked before. “But it’s our girl’s birthday and she’s going to want to see her mom. I’d never get in the way of that.”

Jacqueline wraps her arms around Luke, burying her face into his chest once her tears begin to fall. “Thank you.”

I know I just wanted them to stop arguing, but somehow, this moment is so intimate that it’s even harder to watch than the fighting.

As a person who’s struggled for a long time to show any emotion other than happiness, I get how vulnerable they must feel right now. Thankfully, before this can go on too much longer, the lunch bell rings.

“The kids are on their way back.”

This time I don’t have to say it twice.

Jacqueline keeps her eyes down, careful to avoid me as she hurries out of the room. Luke follows after her, his steps much slower as he goes.

“I’m sorry,” he mouths.

“Please.” I wave off his apology like this is something that happens all the time and not the most intense argument I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life. “It’s not a big deal. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure Isla gets the cupcakes. She’s going to love them.”

He nods once before pausing at the door.

I wait for him, desperate to hear what he has to say, but when the front door to my room swings open, his sad smile is the last thing I see before a class of rowdy kindergartners led by a very special girl wearing a very special birthday crown come flooding into the classroom.

And despite the crazy lunch with her wild parents, we still manage to have the best day ever.

···

I’m wiping rainbow frosting off the desks after all of the kiddos have been picked up when I get paged to the front office.

I never get called to the office.

I avoided it when I was a student because I was Goody Two-shoes would’ve rather died than get in trouble.

I don’t get called now because I’m not cool enough to have friends visit me at school and I’m too poor to ever order Uber Eats.

When teachers get in trouble, they’re summoned by email, not speaker, but even though Jacqueline didn’t seem upset with me when she left, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t.

Knowing how close she is with Nora, I can’t help the way my brain spins through every worst-case scenario during my walk down the long hallway.

“Hey, Lisa.” I wave from the other side of the sliding plexiglass window. I try to sound normal and not like I’ve just convinced myself that I’m going to be blacklisted from every single Denver public school. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s great,” she says, but something about her tone sounds off. “Why would you ask such a thing? Is there something going on with you? Anything you’ve forgotten to tell me about? Anything at all?”

Oh yeah, that’s not suspicious.

I narrow my eyes and look at her out of the corner of my eyes. “Why are you being weird?”

“I’m not being weird,” she says…sounding weird.

“Lisa…” I use the sternest teacher voice in my arsenal, knowing it won’t faze her. She’s been the receptionist at this school since her kids went here over twenty years ago, and she’s completely immune to any and all bullshit. “You are being so weird.”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing today. I didn’t realize that was a crime.” She’s using that tone my grandma used whenever she was trying to make my mom feel guilty about something, and Lisa might be good at it, but she’s not Irish Catholic immigrant good.

“Tell me what’s happening or I swear to god, I’m going to run out that door and bicycle my butt home.”

I actually do need to leave soon. I don’t know when the sun officially begins to set, but I refuse to ride my bike in the dark.

She must hear the truth in my threat, because she finally gives in.

“Fine! Here.” She reaches to the side and, as if by magic, pulls out a white paper bag spotted with grease stains. “This was delivered by a very handsome gentleman who I could’ve sworn I’ve seen a time or two before.”

From anyone else in the school, I would take this as a threat, but not Lisa. She might love to hear the gossip, but she never spreads it. The woman is a vault. I think it’s because she knows she’ll get all the good stuff if people trust her not to spread it around the school.

She’s a genius.

“Is that”—I look closer at the yellow logo on the bag to make sure my eyes aren’t tricking me—“from Denny’s?”

My favorite breakfast spot in the world?

Lisa nods and I swear her smile triples in size. “There’s a card too.”

She hands me a blue envelope.

Logically, I know I should take my food and my card back to my classroom and open them up alone. But who has time for logic in a situation like this? Not me, that’s for damn sure.

I rip open the envelope and pull out a card with the cutest picture of a little bulldog puppy. He’s all wrinkly and adorable and he’s wearing sunglasses! I love it and it will definitely be framed on my hallway wall before the night is over.

Or so I thought…

I open the card and all of my hammer and nail plans melt away because I melt away. Inside, written in scrappy handwriting, only two words appear.

I’m sorry .

There’s no name, but I don’t need it. I know exactly who this is from, something that’s confirmed when I open the takeout box and find my Moons Over My Hammy sandwich.

The one I told Luke was my favorite meal ever. The one I told him about almost two months ago and he still remembers.

I knew he was obsessed with me!

It would just be so much more fun to hold over his head if I wasn’t starting to feel the same way about him.