Page 7 of Is It Casual Now?

seven

Siena eased into one of the last empty parking spots at the school. She’d made it and found a parking spot before the bell to end the day had rung.

With a relieved sigh, she quickly checked herself in the rearview mirror and stepped out of the car.

She finally had a chance to meet Harley’s new teacher for the first time and apologize for having missed last week’s open house—thank God Paula had been able to arrange the meeting while she’d been tied up with the Jamie drama. The guilt still wormed away in her chest, and the desire to overcompensate by spoiling Harley itched closer to the surface.

Tori had already warned her not to, knowing how Siena thought after all these years. And still, she ached to show Harley just how much she regretted not being there. But Tori was right. As she far too often was, having explained how the more Siena made a big deal out of it, the more it would be imprinted on Harley. It had made absolute sense the moment Tori had said the words.

Smiling, Siena stepped away from her now locked car and toward the school building. It was nice to have something other than Jamie Kettlehouse to think about.

Her mind still reeled over this morning’s conversation. What on earth had inspired her to give in? And to give in so easily? She knew it’d be a disaster, but maybe it’d help rid her of the Jamie Kettlehouse effect—the one that had kept her mind returning to those eyes and tits.

She shook her head as though that could rid her of the memory. She knew it was useless, but at least she could force it to hide at the back of her mind for now.

Now was all about Harley. She loved her weeks with Harley. They were always a little more busy, unexpected, and hectic, and she wouldn’t change that for the world.

Tori’s directions led her perfectly through the maze of the school. Stepping through the door, the first thing Siena heard was the sweet sound of her Harley’s voice. The room was filled with color and a buzz of children and adults talking as parents came to pick up their kids from school.

But all Siena cared about was the wild child running full steam toward her.

Crouching down, Siena scooped Harley into her arms and squeezed her.

“Mommy!” Harley squealed a little too loud in Siena’s ear as she wrapped her arms around Siena’s neck and legs around Siena’s waist.

“Are you sure you’re Harley?” Siena spoke into Harley’s ear. “ My Harley?”

“Of course, I am.” Harley giggled, and no matter what else was going on in Siena’s life, everything now settled inside of her, all right once more.

“Really?” Siena adjusted Harley in her arms and lowered her back to the ground. “Because you look far too big and grown up to be my baby. ”

“‘Cause I’m not a baby.” Harley stuck out her lip in indignation.

“Oh no?” Siena tilted her head, fighting to hide the smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

“Nope.” Harley shook her head adamantly. “I’m Batman!”

“Well, of course you are.” Siena couldn’t hold back the smile anymore and gently brushed her short nails over Harley’s soft hair on her head. “Now before we go, I’d love to meet your teacher.”

“Ms. K is the bestest teacher ever!” Harley grabbed Siena’s hand and pulled her over toward a small crowd of parents and children.

Looking around the room at the other parents, Siena felt the weight of her years press a little on her shoulders. Some of the other parents were so young, and instantly she regretted the decision to look closer.

“Ms. K,” Harley’s voice loudly announced as the crowd of parents parted with goodbyes.

Siena stopped in her tracks. Not even Harley’s yank on her arm got her feet moving again.

Had she thought so much about the woman that she had actually manifested her in real life?

“Jamie?” Siena choked out over a lump that had formed instantly in her throat—dry and painful. The panic that had hit her earlier in the day when she’d been on the phone with this very woman came right back into her chest and multiplied exponentially.

“I’m sorry?” The woman tilted her head and looked at Siena like she was crazy.

“Harley, why don’t you run and grab your things and get ready to head home?”

“Okay, Mommy.”

As soon as Harley was out of hearing range, Siena turned back, fire in her veins and poison in her words .

“What the hell are you doing here, Jamie? Here to write some fabrication about my daughter? Is nothing sacred to you?”

“Oh.” The woman’s face fell. “You know my sister.”

“Your…sister.” The words fell hard from Siena’s mouth, the bile taste on the top of her tongue and the back of her throat intensifying.

“Yes.”

Siena studied the woman closer. It was Jamie, but it wasn’t. There was something a little bit off about her, although the features were basically identical. This woman was softer, warmer—easier and less hard edged. Maybe jaded? Was that it?

“Your twin sister is Jamie Kettlehouse?”

“Yes. I’m Jessie Kettlehouse, and I’m Harley’s teacher this year. The kids call me Ms. K because my name is too long and hard for kindergarteners to pronounce sometimes.” Jessie stuck out her hand. Siena noticed the slight tremble in the woman’s fingers.

“Like hell you are.” Siena stepped back from the offending appendage and turned away, pulling her phone out of her pocket as she did.

Harley stood beside her, looking up with wide eyes filled with confusion and a little sadness.

“Mommy,” Harley whispered. “You said the H word.”

H word? Siena knitted her eyebrows together, trying to remember what she’d said. But all she could hear in her brain was the buzz of anger, and it took everything in her to focus.

“Oh, I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“That’s okay.” Harley instantly beamed a smile, the naughty word already forgotten about.

“I need to talk to Ms. Kettlehouse for a little bit longer before we can leave.” For good. Because she damn well was going to pull Harley from this school as soon as she had a word with Tori. “Can you draw me one of your favorite things about the week?”

“Okay.” Harley’s face beamed as though she’d just been given a pony for her birthday and raced off toward a low table. For a moment, Siena basked in the sunshine her daughter brought to her life. She supposed the mission she’d just sent Harley on was as important as anything else she could have requested.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name. And I don’t think I should be calling you mommy.” Jessie smiled, trying to shake away the tense air that lay thick between them.

“My name is Siena Frazee. I’m Harley’s other mother, and I have no intention of having my daughter in your class.”

“Oh.” Jessie’s face splotched red as her mouth dropped open in a wide O so similar to Jamie’s, it was more than just a little unnerving.

Fucking fantastic!

“Great. So you’ve spoken to your sister lately.” Siena couldn’t look at this Jamie who wasn’t Jamie anymore. She turned her back on the teacher and began typing a little too hard on her phone.

Siena: There is no way in hell our daughter is going to this school. It’s not happening, Tori. If it means I have to cut back on my own things to ensure she goes to a better school, it’s what I’ll do, but there is no God damn way this woman is teaching Harley.

Tori: What are you talking about?

Tori’s instant reply had no emojis or personality, and Siena knew she really would have to fight for this one. But she would fight. She would do anything for her daughter, and her daughter wouldn’t be taught by Jamie—no, by Jessie—Kettlehouse.

“Siena?” Jessie’s voice was nothing like Jamie’s confident flirtatious tones. Still, it sent an uncomfortable shiver racing up Siena’s back.

“My name is Ms. Frazee. Not Siena. Not to you,” Siena snapped back.

“I understand this must be incredibly strange to you, but I think we’ve simply gotten off to a bad start.”

“You don’t understand a damn thing.” Siena hissed. She had to pull herself together, she knew that, but just looking at this woman made all her self-control and professionalism fly directly out of the window. “Did you know I was Harley’s mother? Did you and your sister ,” Siena hissed the familial word, “have a good laugh over how this would play out? And to think I was going to give her a chance to redeem herself after that blog post. Unbelievable.”

“I promise that’s absolutely not the case. I wasn’t aware that you were Harley’s mother. And I’d really like the chance to sort some things out before any major decisions are made.”

“The decision’s already made.” Siena didn’t want to hear any more. The heat in her neck was enough. “You won’t be teaching my daughter.”

“Mommy?” Harley’s small voice came from beside Siena.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing her rage to simmer down into the pit of her stomach instead of letting it spark in her eyes.

“Yes, baby?” Siena turned, a smile as good as she could force out at the moment pressed on to her lips. Her phone buzzed in her hand, and Tori’s name lit up the screen, but she ignored the call. She had to finish this conversation before she could have the next one.

“Why are you being rude to Ms. K? ”

“What?” Siena reeled back slightly.

“Ms. K is nice, and I don’t want another teacher.” Big tears pooled in the corners of Harley’s eyes, and Siena had the mental image of her brain in one corner of a boxing ring while her heart pumped ready for a fight in another. And she had the distinct feeling her heart was beyond pissed off with her, shaking itself back and forth in disapproval at making her daughter cry.

“Harley, it’ll be okay.” Siena softened her voice in a way nothing else could have done except for the sight of her breaking child.

But Harley continued to shake her head even as she buried her face into Siena’s shoulder and let the tears out. Siena quietly made the soothing sounds that had always helped her and Harley both during the harder days together. There had been less and less lately and this feeling of going backward tore at Siena.

Behind her, she could hear Jessie’s quiet voice. But she couldn’t quite hear what the woman was saying or any reply from whoever she was talking to.

After a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw Jessie pull a phone away from her ear and slip it into her pocket.

Had she called security?

Siena had to admit that if someone had barged into her office and started snipping at her or any of her clients or staff the same way, a call to security wouldn’t be far from her thoughts.

She had overstepped. She knew it the moment the words had left her mouth, but the importance of that truth began to truly register. Her phone buzzed in her hand where her fingers ached from how hard she clutched the damn thing.

Tori: Siena. Would you please answer me? Is Harley okay ?

Siena: Yes. She’s okay. I’ll call later. I’m going to start looking for new schools immediately.

Tori: Come on over and talk to me about it before you start doing that.

Siena wanted to scream at her phone. She wanted to scream at herself. She knew what Tori truly meant behind those words. Come on over before you waste time being stupid. But of course, Tori would never say it like that.

To be fair, the part of Siena’s brain currently not in control knew Tori would never even mean it that way. Tori would hear Siena out and find a way to make her feel good about whatever they decided, together. Because of course she wouldn’t be able to just move Harley from the school. She would never do something like that without being on the same page as Tori first.

But that didn’t mean she had any intention of backing down from getting Harley as far away from this shit as possible.

This shit that you created. Her mind unhelpfully added.

“Ms. Frazee?” Jessie said, and it was obvious in her tone she had tried to get Siena’s attention more than once.

“What?” Siena snapped far harder than was necessary. Seriously, she needed to pull herself together, to reel back her anger and frustration. But for the first time in her life, or at least the first time in more years than she could remember, she struggled to find that control she’d always been so proud of.

“I’d like to show you some things Harley has done over her first few days at school.”

“Why?” Siena asked, not buying into the sweetness that radiated from this woman’s eyes. Though she did feel like she had just kicked a puppy. “So you can convince me to keep her here? ”

In true Siena style, when she fucked up, she went all in.

Sisters, identical on the surface, but they were unequivocally opposite in many other ways. But that didn’t change any of this. Siena needed to keep Harley away from it all.

Dread uncurled in the pit of her stomach.

Her divorce with Tori had been so ridiculously amicable, even if she’d never touch tequila again thanks to their divorce sex, but amicable during and since. She hated the idea of fighting with Tori now. But when it came to Harley, she would clamp down and do what was right for her daughter.

But was this right?

Yes.

She argued silently with herself as Jessie looked at her, a softness in her eyes and around her mouth. She was gorgeous, in a far more sweet and innocent way than Jamie had been.

Siena looked over to see Harley focusing her entire attention on the piece of art she was creating.

“Fine.” Through clenched teeth, Siena agreed to be shown around the classroom.

After every piece of art or photo Jessie showed her, Siena would look over at Harley, checking she was still happily drawing. After the third item, she turned and noticed Harley’s seat at the drawing table now empty.

Her heart screamed in her chest. It was so loud in her ears, she wondered how everyone could continue as they were as though they heard nothing. Her breath caught and the panic set in.

“She’s over with her friends at the building blocks.” Jessie’s voice cut through the panic, and with a quick look where Jessie pointed, Siena located her daughter laughing with several other children.

“Thank you.” Siena turned to Jessie, the first real smile on her face.

It didn’t last long, when over Jessie’s shoulder, she saw the person responsible for all her current problems step into the room.

“What the hell is she doing here?”

Jessie threw a look over her shoulder before turning back to Siena.

“I called her. I think you and Jamie need to sort out some things so that Harley and I aren’t caught in the crossfire.”

Jessie had seemed such a soft pushover. The quintessential kindergarten teacher. But the tone in her voice brooked no argument, and Siena wondered how much she needed to reevaluate Harley’s teacher.

Jamie’s eyes widened as they landed on Siena. After a beat, her head gave a single solid nod and she walked toward Siena and Jessie.

This is going to be a shit show.