Tightening the Knot Page 11

  “Let me explain. Thank you.” A waiter had just placed a steaming dish in front of her, which she left untouched out of politeness. They assumed Meredith’s was on its way. “So yesterday morning, Shawn comes into the gym. He comes right up and says ‘hi’ and I’m thinking he doesn’t know that I know he was still at the gym when he was supposed to have had an ‘appointment’ and I’m trying to decide if I should ask him or just let it go and he says, completely out of nowhere, ‘How do you feel about dating co-workers?’”

  “What is your policy on co-workers?”

  “I don’t know. I just said that I guessed it would depend on the co-worker, and he said that it was his first day in accounting. He hoped that since he was now a co-worker instead of a client that maybe I’d reconsider going out with him.”

  “Yeah, I bet you had to consider that for a long time.” Meredith laughed through her sarcasm. She was genuinely happy for her friend.

  “I don’t think I was too transparent, but was it bad to agree to Saturday?”

  “Were you free on Saturday?”

  “Of course, but isn’t it supposed to make you look desperate if you’re available on short notice?”

  “I think it makes you look honest, and you can go ahead and start eating by the way.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I don’t know where my food is and I don’t want yours to get cold.”

  “Okay.” Jenna picked up her fork. “But are you sure about the not-looking-desperate thing?”

  “It’s not like I’m an expert on relationships, but I would think the only reason to lie about your schedule is if you want to give the impression that you’re dating other guys. Since you’ve always had your attention on one guy at a time, it would seem, to me, that giving a contrary impression would not be true to who you are.”

  “You’re right. And he was the one who suggested we get together so soon anyway so if anyone’s desperate…”

  “There you go.”

  “Oh yeah, and it turns out that when he said he had an appointment, that was the job interview. It was at the club so he really did have an appointment. He must have just come out of it when I saw him.”

  “See! I told you there was no need for the hate-rays.”

  “For the record, I never sent him hate-rays. I don’t even know what that means.”

  “If you figure it out, could you send some to our waiter? I would kind of like to have my food eventually.”

  ╣ Chapter 29 ╠

  There was a tense moment on Saturday when Greg left a few hairs on the bar of soap. Meredith nearly started an argument, but managed to remind him very calmly how disgusting she found this. They silently agreed that it was not worth fighting over and it was a positive step. Saturday night, Greg went out with a friend and Meredith did not feel like he was trying to avoid her. This was also positive. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with her evening alone and was trying to decide the likelihood of finding anything good on TV when the phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Meredith? This is Ellie. Tom’s Ellie.”

  There was something odd about the way she introduced herself. Mostly because Meredith remembered her parents’ friends discussing each other’s kids that way. As in, “Bob’s Jennifer is starting at NC State this year” and “Fred’s Matt is in trouble with the law again.” She pushed the weirdness aside, assuming that Ellie did not have the same associations.

  “Hi, Ellie. What’s up?”

  “Well, I want to thank you again for letting me take your wedding dress.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “And Tom and I have tentatively set the date for August 9th.”

  “Okay, I’ll be sure to mark our calendar.” Meredith’s assertion was followed by a fairly long pause. It gave the impression that there was another purpose to the call, but she wasn’t sure how to prompt Ellie. “Um… so you guys had a nice trip home?”

  “Yeah. It was uneventful, which is good on a plane.”

  “Absolutely.”

  There was another pause. Ellie seemed to take in a breath before diving in with, “Meredith?”

  “Yes?”

  “Now this is a big deal so you can say ‘no’ or if you want to think about it, that’s okay, too. If I’m asking too much I want you to just say ‘no’ and not hate me or anything.”

  “Just ask me. It can’t be that bad.”

  “Since we’re having a summer wedding, I was hoping, well, I just thought that maybe it would be alright if I had the dress altered just a bit. I just want to take the sleeves off. Is that terrible? Would it ruin it?”

  Meredith had been married in the fall. The dress had long, gauzy sleeves attached to a V-neck bodice. She could picture it looking very nice without the sleeves, particularly in August. She tried to put Ellie at ease.

  “I think that’s a great idea. In addition to making it more seasonable, it would sort of put your stamp on the dress. You know, really make it yours for the day.”

  “You’re really okay with this?”

  “I really am. I’m just happy it’ll get another use. And hey, now you’ll be the one who has to find a place to store it.”

  Ellie let out a short laugh. “I’m so glad you approve. I was really afraid to ask and almost wasn’t even going to at all. But then Tom was so sure you wouldn’t mind. He told me to call you an Ichabad if you refused.”

  “I’m not surprised.”

  “Well, thanks again. We’ll let you know more details about the big day as we decide them.”

  “Great. I’m looking forward to it.”

  They said their goodbyes and Meredith put the phone down next to her on the couch. Parts of that conversation had been almost cordial. Perhaps there was hope for that relationship, too. She picked up the remote to relax for the evening, but put the phone back on the charger before she got comfortable. Greg preferred it there.

  ****

  Sunday morning’s homily had a theme. Most homilies have themes of course. That particular Sunday, however, Meredith felt that the priest was talking directly to her. He talked a great deal about how people tend to make excuses for not doing what they know needs to be done, and that sometimes those same people spend too much time planning how to do something. Meredith resolved to call the doctor as soon as possible. But not right then as the office was probably closed on Sundays anyway.

  ╣ Chapter 30 ╠

  Sometimes the winter break seemed to fly by and sometimes Meredith came back to work feeling as though she had really been out of the classroom since the previous year. The latter case applied this year, but instead of making the school feel somewhat foreign, it felt new and promising. Her fresh start was going to carry over into her work life. She was confident in that.

  When Jeffrey called her Miss Donna, she tried one more time to explain the difference and he seemed to accept the correction. When Jacob entered smacking a wad of gum, Meredith did not lose her temper nor did she let it go. She calmly asked him to spit it out and invited him to her desk where she filled out the necessary paperwork for detention. And when poor accident-prone Elizabeth fell off some playground equipment, there was no blood. The day even finished with a pleasant, though odd, chat with a fellow teacher. It was pleasant because they shared stories of their time off and Ellen had some interesting characters in her family. It was odd because she kept looking over her shoulder toward the doorway as though hearing an invisible person entering. The only thing that could have improved the first day back was if Greg had been home to hear about it.

  But as much as Monday was steady with Meredith’s happiness and satisfaction, Tuesday was fickle with some of her less popular emotions. First, it brought in a little boy with an empty mouth, which seemed pleasing until he handed Meredith a note from his mother. It read:

  Since my schedule does not have the luxury of an extra half hour to wait for detention, I will be picking my son up at the usual time. I expect him to be waiting.

  Meredith
put the note aside on her desk. It made her furious on the inside, but she refused to take it out on the children. She was going to put it out of her mind until the morning recess, when she could consult with the principal.

  Just before that recess, a package arrived for Meredith. Judging by the company name on the return label, she trusted that it would be safe to open in front of the class. They were as impressed as Meredith with the pretty pink and purple flowers it contained. Meredith looked around the room for something that might work as a vase. She had no actual vase because she had never before received flowers.

  This was not Greg’s fault, not exactly. When they were first dating, Meredith had made what seemed at the time a very enlightened speech about how sending flowers was about the most unromantic thing a man could do. She expressed that this was partially because it had been done so many times already and partially because it had become almost synonymous with a man trying to earn his way out of the doghouse. She had insisted that she would never appreciate flowers and Greg had either taken her at her word, or else used that word as a convenient excuse. At any rate, Meredith had long since realized the speech had come more from immaturity than illumination and was glad Greg had finally seen through it. She assumed he had seen through it. The card in the box actually read “From your secret admirer.” Since Meredith did not have a secret admirer, the flowers must have been from Greg. Meredith ultimately gave up on finding a vase substitute. She laid the flowers across the corner of her desk with the blooms pointing towards the class. That would have to do for today and surely she had something at home that would allow a proper display.

  With the interruption over, Meredith resumed the clock project they had been working on and then walked her class outside. She mentioned to the other first grade teachers where she was headed and then marched to the principal’s office which, unlike bussing trays, felt completely different as an adult. She caught him on his way out.

  “Hey, Will. Do you have a minute?”

  “Sure.” He motioned to the open door and then followed her back inside. “What’s up?” he asked as he sat behind the desk.

  “Yesterday I gave a student detention for today.”

  “Jacob, right? I saw his name on the list.”

  Meredith nodded. “And today he came in with this note from his mother.” She put the paper on the desk and pushed it towards him as though glad to be rid of it.

  Will took only a few seconds to read the note, then groaned, put the paper down and rubbed his right palm against his forehead. She recognized the gesture of frustration. His forehead generally received a good rubbing at least once during staff meetings, usually while the lunchroom monitor schedule was on the table. “Alright,” he said finally, “let me get all the details.” He pulled a notepad from a side drawer and grabbed a pen. “This is Jacob Tenney, right?” Meredith nodded. “What did he do?”

  “Gum.”

  “And you gave him plenty of warnings?”

  “It’s been an issue all year.”

  Will sighed. “And I suppose you already tried sending a note home?”

  “His mother sent back a fairly snotty reply and I’m pretty sure he was chewing gum when he gave it to me.”

  “So that didn’t work, huh?”

  Meredith let out a slight laugh and shook her head.

  “Obviously, I’m going to back you up on this. She signed the handbook so she agreed to detention as a possibility. We’ll just try to avoid a scene, especially in front of Jacob. I’ll find out who’s on carpool duty and let him or her know what’s going on. Hopefully, we can get his mom to pull through and come inside so she doesn’t hold up the line. It could be that she’s had time to think about it since writing the note or will just be less confrontational in person. Let’s hope for the best.”

  “Okay. Thanks for your help. I really should get back outside.”

  Meredith got to recess just in time to find Jeffrey and another boy screaming at each other because their ball had gone over the fence. She went out to retrieve it and forgot to look for goose droppings.

  “Great,” she muttered, furiously scraping her shoe on the sidewalk. “It’s not even lunch time.”

  ╣ Chapter 31 ╠

  Expired yogurt is generally not something about which anyone spends a great deal of energy being concerned. But when that someone is already having a lousy day, it becomes worth at least a few minutes of irritation. Meredith chastised herself for not checking the dates at the store more thoroughly. She hoped her smaller than usual lunch would last until she could get home. She was annoyed enough to have convinced herself that she was hungry before she even got up from the lunchroom table.

  Shortly after lunch, the kids went to Art. Meredith took the opportunity to call Jenna to make dinner plans. She enjoyed cooking for one less than she enjoyed cooking for her mother-in-law and still hadn’t heard about the first date with Shawn. Unfortunately, she only got through to voice mail so would need to wait on plans.

  Gavin walked in as she hung up. “Hey, what’s up in first grade?”

  “Hello. Mostly the usual, but things could honestly be better.”

  “Sorry to hear that. I just wanted to say that Mercy called to tell me she’s going to bring the baby in today to show her class. I figured she’d probably try to stop in here, too.”

  “Oh, that would be nice. How’s your day going by the way?”

  He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. “Not bad except for this stupid argument that will not die.”

  “What’s that about?”

  “For some reason, these two girls started arguing about which one of them has longer hair.”

  “Shouldn’t that be fairly obvious?”

  “Maybe, if anyone really cared.” There was some frustration in his voice as he felt a little silly just explaining the frivolous argument. “Apparently, one of them has her hair up today, like in a pony tail, and claims that just makes it look shorter. I thought I had successfully gotten them to move on, but have had to squelch the same argument two more times. The last time they had even gotten a third girl involved. She was holding a piece of paper up to one head to mark the length.”

  Meredith smiled. She didn’t want to revel in his distress, but it did feel good to know she was not the only one having some difficulties. “Don’t worry, maybe tomorrow they’ll both wear pony tails.”

  He smiled, too, feeling better having shared the story. He turned to leave, but then noticed the pile on her desk. “Hey, you got flowers, huh? Your day can’t be all bad. Don’t you have anything to put them in?”

  “The best thing I could come up with is that bucket for the Legos, but then we’d have Legos all over the floor, so not really.”

  “I think Mercy has a vase in her room. I’m sure she won’t mind. I’ll go get it.”

  Gavin was back in a moment with a pretty blue striped vase. He set it on her desk and then went to fetch his students from Music. Meredith left for the Art room shortly after arranging the flowers.

  The first-graders had a satisfyingly uneventful afternoon recess and had barely made it back inside when Mercy appeared in the doorway carrying her bundle of joy. She proudly paraded around the room so the kids could have a peek at the newborn and Meredith felt a heavy sense of guilt at having not spoken to her friend since little Jackson’s arrival. She tried to assuage it by making the appropriate comments about how cute and tiny he was, and how much he looked like his mother. Mercy appreciated the compliments. She was still looking at Meredith strangely, however, and seemed in a hurry to leave the classroom. Meredith resolved to wait a few days and then give her a call. Perhaps she could offer to bring over dinner and they could still reconnect.

  Her thoughts were not on Mercy for long as it was only a short time later that the unmistakable sound of a child vomiting came to her ears and required immediate attention. She sent Jeffrey to the office for a janitor, hearing “Okay, Miss Donna,” and then set to work trying to comfort the poor sick child witho
ut actually touching her. She sent her into the bathroom with the clean shirt from her cubby and took her to the nurse’s office to wait for a parent. By the time the classroom was back in order, there were only a few minutes left in the day and Meredith was worn out. She passed out Bingo cards and gave everyone a hassle-free end to the school day.

  But then of course came detention. Jacob remained in his seat as the others filed out. Meredith was thankful that he at least was not going to make this more difficult. He sat quietly at his desk while she looked over some projects that had been turned in earlier in the day. She glanced regularly between her watch and the clock on the wall, always noting that hers was faster by two minutes. She tried hard to relax at first, figuring that even if Jacob’s mom was going to come in and make a scene, she would be stuck in the carpool line for at least ten minutes first. Her anxiety swelled as those ten minutes ticked by and continued the upward spiral for the rest of the half-hour detention. When the wall clock, which felt more official, showed the end time, she stood up and thanked Jacob for his patience. He put his backpack on and followed her to the door. As they entered the hall, Meredith found her principal and a woman who must be Jacob’s mother waiting for them. She had met his mother at a fall conference, but she had met many mothers.

  No one spoke for a few tense seconds and then Will said, “Are we all done here?”

  Meredith nodded.

  The other woman looked as though she was going to say something. She struggled for a minute before uttering an annoyed “Fine.” She then took her son by the hand and walked quickly down the hall with her nose practically grazing the ceiling. Meredith had never before been so satisfied with a scene so anti-climactic. She looked at Will and he seemed just as satisfied. She guessed that he must have gotten off as easily because he began to whistle as he walked away, saying only, “There’s always tomorrow.”