Bad Girlfriend (First & Last #4) (26 page)

Adam closed his laptop and set it aside. 
“Sounds good.  I’m starving.”

Graham joined us at the small table, and we were all silen
t for a few minutes as we ate.

Suddenly Graham sat up in his seat and snapped his fingers.  He looked like he had something he was dying to say, but his mouth was full.  Adam and I watched him, waiting for him to chew.

“I’ve got it!  The answer to this whole thing,” Graham declared with confidence.

He had a way of making you believe everything he said.  I leaned forward, eager to hear his answer to everything.  Adam, however, calmly wiped his mouth and set his napkin down.

“Oh, really?  What’s that?” he asked in a bored tone.

“You guys should get married!”

Okay, that wasn’t what I was expecting him to say.  And I certainly wasn’t expecting Adam’s hostile reaction to the absurd suggestion.

“Graham,”
Adam growled in warning.

“No, I’m serious.  If you were married, this whole thing would be a non-issue.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Adam said in a low voice.

“I would do it,” I said quietly.  “If it helps you, I would do anything.”

Graham motioned in my direction.  “See?  Brooke’s on board.”

Adam pushed back from the table and began pacing the small area of floor that wasn’t covered by Graham’s papers.

“No.  I’m not forcing Brooke into marriage just to save my ass.”  He stopped pacing to look at me, his gaze intense.  “If I’m lucky enough to have you as my wife someday, it won’t be because it was a strategic move.”  I nodded my head in agreement, although I wouldn’t have considered it a hardship to tie myself to him forever.

Graham opened his mouth to protest but Adam cut him off.  “Find another way, Graham.”

“Fine.  I think we have a strong case with the brother angle and the fact that this is fucking ridiculous in the first place, but I’ve got to be honest, Adam.  It’s all going to come down to what the Board wants to do.  This case is wholly subjective.”

Adam nodded.  “I know.”

The next evening the three of us sat around my kitchen table, polishing off the last of the meatloaf Gram had made for dinner.  She had left before we were done for her Sunday poker night.

Graham pushed his plate away and moaned as he savored the last bite.  “I think I’m in love.”

Adam rolled his eyes.  “Yeah, I’ve heard that before.  In fact just two nights ago you were in love with the lead singer of Chet’s band.”

Graham’s eyes lit up and he licked his lips.  I imagined it wasn’t from the taste of the meatloaf but from the image of the pink haired girl he had shamelessly chased after.

“It’s too bad I won’t get another shot at her.  I was this close,” he said, holding his thumb and forefinger a mere centimeter apart.

“Yeah, sure you were.  This close to an early grave, maybe.”

Adam helped me clear the dishes and load the dishwasher.  My eye caught the trash
can, and I remembered tomorrow was trash day.  I started to pull the bag out of the can, but Adam gently nudged me out of the way.

“I’ll get that,” he said.  “You know, I saw you that night.”

“What night?” I asked.

“That night you had a fight with the trash cans. 
The night you took the trash out in your underwear.”

“Oh. 
That night.”

“This sounds like a good story,” Graham said, his ears undoubtedly perking up at the word underwear.

“Nah,” Adam said.  “It’s not much of a story.  Just the first time I saw Brooke.  I was fascinated by the girl in her underwear kicking the trash can.”

I smiled as I remembered that night.  It really wasn’t that long ago, but it felt like
ages had passed since then.  Adam carried the bag outside toward the garage.

Graham was watching me with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“What?” I asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

He shook his head before answering. 
“Nothing.  It’s just that I’ve never seen him like this before.”

“Like what?”

“In love.”

“He’s been in love before,” I said, thinking of Angela.

“No, not like this.  When he put the kibosh on Angela’s marriage plans, I assumed Adam would be an eternal bachelor, like me.  I mean, he dated her for years.  The next logical step was marriage.  But he couldn’t do it.  I just assumed it was because he didn’t want to be tied down.”

I wanted to ask what he thought now, but he seemed so lost in his head that I didn’t want to interrupt.

“It’s nice, what he’s found with you,” Graham murmured, and I could have sworn I detected a note of envy in his voice.

Whatever I thought I saw was gone when Adam walked back in, the slam of the door snapping Graham out of his daze.

“I think we’re as prepared as we’re going to get.  What do you say we break out the booze and play some poker,” Graham suggested, slapping his palms on the table.

“Sounds good to me,” I said.  Adam pulled three beers out of the fridge
, and I went in search of a deck of cards.

We spent the rest of the evening trying to forget what loomed ahead of us the next day.  Adam’s hearing could
change everything for him.  Though we all maintained an outward sense of optimism, I feared that underneath we all knew how it would end up playing out.

This very well might be the last game of poker I played in this house.  Because if Adam left town, there was no way in hell I wasn’t going with him.

Chapter Twenty Eight

Adam

“Fuck!” I swore, violently tugging the tie from around my neck.  It was my third attempt, and I just couldn’t get it right.  Like I hadn’t been wearing ties every day for the last eight years of my life.

“Easy,” Graham said, taking the tie from my hand and looping it back around my neck.  “You’ve got to relax, dude.  I can’t have you
going off at this hearing.  You need to appear calm, confident and professional.”

“Easier said than done,” I grumbled as he tied my tie perfectly on the first try.

I took a look at my reflection in the bathroom mirror.  With the dark suit and blue tie and my hair styled, thanks to Brooke, I looked good.  If you didn’t notice the angry gleam in my eyes or the tension around my mouth.

Graham and I had spent all weekend preparing for this hearing, and I was no more confident than I had been a week ago. 
No matter what legal magic Graham had up his sleeve, the fate of my career sat in the hands of the School Board.  And given that they had even entertained the ridiculous complaint in the first place, I didn’t have a lot of hope that this would work out well. Graham was sure that what he had found out about my replacement being Mrs. Larkin’s brother would save my ass.  But I’m sure the Board already knew about that connection.

This morning I had put in a call to my boss at my old school, who was overjoyed at the chance to get me back there.  Apparently
, they had been unable to fill my position yet, which was not surprising.

“It’s time to go,” Graham said when I walked out of the bathroom.

Brooke stood up from where she had been sitting at the table, and I helped her into her coat.  She had borrowed a simple black dress from Lindsay, and though it wasn’t her usual style, she looked lovely.  Graham had coached her on dressing conservatively, and she also wore her hair pulled back into a smooth bun.

“I really wish you guys would have considered my suggestion,” Graham said as we filed out the door.

Yesterday, when it had become clear that the decision the School Board would cast would be largely subjective, Graham had suggested that Brooke and I get married.  His reasoning was that no one could argue that it was immoral for a married couple to be together in the situation Mrs. Larkin had found us in.

Surprisingly, the idea of marrying Brooke right now was
appealing.  And she said she would do it if it would help me.  But I put the kibosh on that idea.  I didn’t want her to marry me for any reason other than that she loved me enough to put up with me for the rest of our lives.

I rolled my eyes at the back of Graham’s head as he went down the stairs.  “That was a stupid idea, Graham.”

Grabbing Brooke’s hand, I pulled her back to whisper in her ear.  “Just so you know.  Marrying you is not a stupid idea.  In fact, I look forward to doing just that someday.  But not like this.”

She smiled up at me, and her green eyes glowed with emotion.  Squeezing my hand, she whispered back, “I know.  I feel the same way.”

Graham impatiently looked at his flashy watch.  “Are you two done canoodling?  We have to go.”

I opened the passenger door for Brooke, while Graham slid in the backseat.  Taking a deep breath, I started the engine.  “Let’s do this.”

The hearing was at the Superintendant’s office in the large conference room reserved for School Board meetings that were open to the public.  I was shocked at the number of people already filling the rows of chairs in the back of the room.  The majority of them were older women, Eleanor’s friends, holding signs that read “Save Principal Branigan”.  When Brooke and I entered the room, they all stood and clapped.  There were some whistles and a few catcalls, which I wasn’t sure was going to help my case.  But the support was nice, and it put a smile on my face.  It was hard to scowl, when I had my very own cheering section.

The opposing side didn’t have nearly as many supporters, and they all avoided eye contact.  Some I recognized as members of the PTO, likely ordered to be here by Mrs. Larkin.  The School Board took up one side of the long table.  Graham set his briefcase down opposite them in the middle of the table.

I walked hand in hand with Brooke over to the first row of spectator seats.  Pulling her close, I gently kissed her on the lips and left her to sit next to her grandmother.  All of our friends were seated right behind them.  It felt like a cross between a murder trial and a tennis match.

Unbuttoning my suit jacket, I took the chair next to Graham.  Thomas sat directly across from me, and the fact that he avoided meeting my eyes told me all I needed to know about how this was going to play out.

Thomas called the meeting to order and got the ball rolling by reading off the formal complaint filed by Mrs. Larkin.  He then turned it over to Graham to present my case.

With ease, Graham stood and began to pace in front of the table as he talked.  Reciting similar cases, Graham outlined the reasons why the complaint should be dismissed.  His argument was strong, but in the end it would come down to what the School Board wanted to do.  The area of morality and ethics was such a gray area.

Coming to rest directly in front of the table, Graham made his last argument, that Mrs. Larkin had filed the complaint solely as a way to get her brother appointed as my replacement.  That got their attention, and a glimmer of hope flared inside of me.  Maybe they all didn’t know the connection between Mrs. Larkin and the interim principal.

Confident that he had made his point, Graham took a seat.  There was a murmur rippling through the crowd, and Thomas cleared his throat loudly.

“Thank you, Mr. Wellington and Mr. Branigan.  We will now hear from three representatives of both sides.  Mr. Wellington, you may go first.”

Graham had chosen
Eleanor, Ford and Thomas himself.

“Mrs. Mills,” Graham said, gesturing toward where Brooke and her grandmother sat.

Eleanor stood up and smoothed her cap of silver hair.

“Thank you, dear.  I have known Adam since he began renting the apartment over my garage in August.  He is such a sweet young man, helping me with things around the house and always paying his rent on time.  He is also dating my granddaughter, Brooke, and I’ve never seen a man be more attentive, loving and caring.”  Her expression turned fierce as she pointed a gnarled finger in Mrs. Larkin’s direction.  “You would be lucky if your sons grew up to be like him.”

Graham interjected before Eleanor really told Mrs. Larkin what she thought, and it seemed very likely she would have in about two seconds.

“Okay!  Thank you, Mrs. Mills.  Next we have Ford Walsh, the assistant coach of the undefeated high school football team.”

Graham thought having Ford speak for me would be beneficial, because the town loved him.  The local boy, turned college football star, who had returned home to coach the high school team.

Brooke had her arm aro
und Eleanor, who was shooting icicles out of her eyes at Mrs. Larkin.  Ford stood up behind them and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans.  He didn’t seem like the type to love public speaking, but he was surprisingly eloquent.  Probably courtesy of doing countless interviews with ESPN when he was still playing football.

“I haven’t known Adam long
, but what I do know about him is impressive.  I had the opportunity to watch Adam interact with his students at the elementary school’s carnival last month.  He was patient and related to the kids on a level they could understand.  He was never condescending, and he made each kid who talked to him feel special.  My father left my mom and me when I was just a little kid, and it was hard on me.  I could have used a role model like Adam in my life when I was young, and I think you’ll be doing a huge disservice to the students if you let him get away.”