Bad Girlfriend (First & Last #4) (9 page)

"Are you enjoying all
of your cookies, Mr. Branigan?" asked Mrs. Harris.  The way she said
cookies
made me think she meant more than the baked goods filling the staff lounge.  Mrs. Harris was a married woman in her fifties, so I felt safe from attack with her.

I grimaced, "Ah, yes.  Louise just informed me this afternoon that the abundance of cookies has absolutely nothing to do with my professional reputation."

Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Rabin, the second grade teacher, laughed.

"I'm glad my predicament amuses you ladies," I joked.

By 6:30 the cafeteria was half full and the meeting was called to order.  I took a seat near the front of the room.  The PTO President was Becky Larkin, the mother of one of our fifth grade students.  Apparently she had held the position since her oldest son began Kindergarten.  That was twelve years ago, and her youngest son was now in fifth grade.  I had learned all this from Louise earlier in the day.  Besides being completely unfriendly, she was a wealth of knowledge about the school and all the people associated with it.  If I accomplished nothing else this year, if I won over Louise, I would consider the year a success.

With a less than friendly expression on her face,
Mrs. Larkin stood behind the table at the front of the room.  She had an actual gavel, which she rapped loudly against the cafeteria table to get everyone’s attention.

“Welcome everyone to the first PTO meeting of the 2012-2013 school
year.  We have a lot to get through tonight, so I would appreciate it if you would pay attention and keep the chit chat to a minimum.”

There was a quiet murmur that rippled through the crowd and immediately silenced when Mrs. Larkin narrowed her eyes and looked around.  Uh, I think someone takes their volunteer position a little too seriously.

She smoothed down her short hair and directed her eagle eyes in my direction.  “Before we get started, I would like to introduce our new principal, Mr. Branigan.  He is replacing Principal Edwards, who has retired.”

Again a murmur rose, louder this time.  I caught bits and pieces of gossip concerning the reason Principal Edwards “retired”.

Mrs. Larkin pounded her gavel so hard I almost jumped out of my seat.  “The circumstances surrounding Principal Edwards’ retirement were…unfortunate.  I don’t think we need to spend valuable meeting time discussing this.  Instead, please help me welcome Principal Branigan.”

A round of applause accompanied me as I walked up to shake hands with Mrs. Larkin.  There was even a whistle from somewhere in the crowd that earned a steely glare from Mrs. Larkin.

“Thank you, Mrs. Larkin.  I am glad to be here in Penn Yan, and I have enjoyed meeting the staff and students.  I’m excited that we have such an active PTO, and I am available to help in any way I can.  My door is always open.”

I took my seat again as Mrs. Larkin said, “Thank you, Principal
Branigan.  Your professional reputation is immaculate, and I expect we will have none of the drama surrounding Principal Edwards now that you are here.”

This woman must be related to Louise
with the way her words were spoken like a warning and from the harsh look she was giving me.  I felt like I was the student being sent to the principal’s office.  I simply nodded though I had no idea what she was trying to convey to me.

Don’t strike up an ill
icit and illegal relationship with an underage girl?  Yeah, I think I can handle that one.

The meeting lasted the full scheduled hour, and it was jam packed with business
items.  I was glad I was just observing and not on the receiving end of Mrs. Larkin’s impressive delegation skills.  It seemed as if every member of the PTO left with a lengthy To Do list.  When the meeting was adjourned I stuck around to meet some of the mothers and the lone brave dad who was a PTO member.

As I was walking back to my office
, I caught a few snippets of conversation.  It seemed Mrs. Larkin’s dictatorship and my “nerdy hotness” were the hot topics of the evening.  I wasn’t sure whether to take the latter as an insult or a compliment.  With a shake of my head I decided to go with compliment.  I had never exactly been a hot commodity before.  This was all new to me.

When everyone had left, I locked up the school and headed home.  I was lounging on my bed
, which also served as my couch, reading a book a couple of hours later when I heard the garage door open below my floor.  I hadn’t seen Brooke since Saturday night, which was only three days ago, but I hoped for a chance meeting in the driveway every time I left for or came home from work.  Working in a hair salon, her hours were probably much different than mine.

Lifting the blinds next to me, I didn’t see anything except for lights on the first floor of the house.  Then a light flicked on at the back of the house on the second floor.  Because the curtains were wide open, I could see it was Brooke’s bedroom.  The walls were a vibrant aqua color, which suited her perfectly.  Brooke walked through the room to stand in front of her dresser.  Her back was to me, but I could see she was removing her earrings and necklace.  She wore her hair up, piled on top of her head with
dark red curls spilling over.  My eyes honed in on the curve of her long neck as she tilted her head to the side.  Not sure if it was a memory or just wishful thinking, I thought of kissing my way along her neck and sucking on her delicate earlobe.

Turning around she reached for the hem of her white t-shirt, pulling it up.  I caught a glimpse of the smooth
taut skin of her stomach and let the blinds fall.  That’s not how I wanted to see her.  If I was lucky enough to see her naked again, it would be because she wanted me to.  Not because she was clueless enough to undress in front of her open window.

Her room was at the back of the house, and the backyard was surrounded by tall trees.  But anyone could be walking by on the sidewalk.  At just the right angle they could get an eyeful.  Forget
about hoping for an accidental run-in.  Tomorrow I was straight out knocking on her door to tell her to close her curtains.  As for right now, I was headed for a cold shower.

Chapter Nine

Brooke

When I left for work on Friday
morning, I glanced up at the garage apartment knowing it was empty.  I knew Adam had already gone to work.  I found out what time he leaves for work on Wednesday morning when he knocked on my door bright and early.  At least I was already up, though still in my pajamas.  He had nervously explained that it might be a good idea to close my curtains at night, because someone might be able to see in.  After several minutes of him swearing he had not seen anything, I thanked him and he left.  It was a strange and awkward interaction, but when weren’t our interactions strange and awkward?

No time to get lost in my thoughts today.  I had a full day of appointments, starting with Leah and Lindsay.  They liked to schedule their appointments together so they could chat.  Grady’s dad watched the kids while they enjoyed a morning away.  After getting their hair done, they always stopped in
at the nail salon down the street for manicures and pedicures too.

After work I was planning to go to the high school football game with Poppy.  It was the first home game of th
e season, and Ford’s first home game as a coach.  Football didn’t really interest me, but I was going to keep Poppy company.

I got to the salon before Loraine, which was rare.  While I waited for Leah and Lindsay to arrive, I gathered my supplies and brewed a pot of coffee.  Sitting down in the chair, I twirled around and took in the dated décor.  I had given up on making suggestions for bringing this place out of the
'80s.  Loraine liked what she liked.

I had never had any big extravagant dreams.  Growing up here, I was content to stay.  School was never something I loved
or excelled at, so choosing to go to cosmetology school over college was an easy decision.  Besides dreaming of having a husband and a family, the only other thing I dreamed of having someday was my own salon.  I wasn’t very financially savvy, so I had no idea if that was even a remote possibility or what I would do to get started.  Like the husband and family dream, it was something that I wished for but wasn’t at all confident would ever really happen.

Loraine arrived a few minutes before Leah and Lindsay breezed through the front door.
  They both had coffees, and Leah handed me the extra one she carried.  Taking a sip of the steaming latte, sweetened just the way I liked, I closed my eyes and moaned.  This was so much better than the regular old coffee I had brewed in the back room.

“Better than sex,” I murmured.  When I opened my eyes, both Leah and Lindsay were staring at me like I was crazy.

Sitting down in the chair, Leah said, “If you think a vanilla latte is better than sex, then you’re not doing it right.”

Lindsay sat down in the chair at the front of the salon and started flipping through the latest People magazine.  “Definitely not doing it right,” she agreed
, taking a sip of her own coffee.

Ignoring them, I fastened the drape around Leah’s shoulders and fluffed out her
shoulder length brown hair.

“Just a trim today?”

Leah wrestled her arms free from the drape and ran her fingers through the hair around her face.  “I don’t know.  I’m thinking bangs or maybe some highlights.”

I studied her reflection in the mirror and shook my head.  “No bangs.  They won’t work with your face shape.  Let’s take off two inches to take your bob back up to chin length and add some
chunky caramel highlights.”

“Sounds good to me,” Leah said.  “Now back to you not knowing how to have sex.  Poppy told us you’re giving up men?”

I rolled my eyes as I leaned her back to wash her hair.

“Chet as usual ended in disaster, and I’m just sick of being used and ending up heartbroken.  All I want is to find a nice guy who wants to be with me as much as I want to be with him.

“That’s all any of us want,” Lindsay said.

“Yeah, but you guys and Poppy have found that.  What am I doing wrong?”

I finished washing Leah’s hair and wrapped a towel around her head before tilting her chair back to its upright position.

“Well, for starters you’re going after total
douchebags.  The whole
I’m in a band
thing, and all the piercings and tattoos.  It’s all very bad boy cliche,” Leah said.

“Hey!”  Lindsay interrupted.  “There’s nothing wrong with tattoos.”

Grady had a ton of tattoos, and I was glad Lindsay could appreciate a guy with ink even if Leah couldn’t.

Leah waved off Lindsay’s prote
st.  “Yeah, yeah.  What I’m saying is that you need to have higher standards.  The nice guys are scared off when they see you sucking face with the freaky looking guitar player.  And that’s another thing.  You give it up way too easily.”

I set the scissors down so I wouldn’t be tempted to stab her with them and gave her a look in the mirror.

Leah gave me an innocent look.  “What?  I’m just trying to help.  Come on, Brooke.  You know you’re not exactly virginal.”

My shoulders slumped.  “I know you’re right.  I just don’t know how to change what I’ve been doing.  I need a rule book or something on how to catch a good guy.”

Leah snapped her fingers and pointed at Lindsay.  “Linz!  Get the notepad and pen out of my purse.  We’re going to write down some rules for Brooke to follow.”

Lindsay tossed the magazine aside and dug through Leah’s oversized bag, coming up with a Hello Kitty notepad and pen.  “Okay, I’m ready.”

Leah looked at me thoughtfully.  “The first rule should be that you have to go on an actual date.  Somewhere public.  And he has to pick you up.”

That seemed reasonable.  I nodded my agreement, and Lindsay scri
bbled down what Leah had said.

“And no kissing on the first date,” Leah added when Lindsay stopped writing
and looked up.

“Really?
  Do people do that…or rather not do that?”  I asked.

“No,” said Lindsay.

“No,” agreed Leah.  “But you have to start at the beginning, Brooke.  Baby steps.  I’m guessing you’ve never been on a real date.  Where the guy picks you up, takes you to dinner and a movie, and returns you untouched to your doorstep.  Am I right?”

I sighed.  “Yes, you’re right.  But it’s not like I’ve slept with that many guys though.
  Don’t make me out to be a total slut,” I grumbled somewhat defensively.

“How many?”
  Leah asked.

“How many what?”

Exasperated, she replied, “Guys.  How many guys have you slept with?”

I did a quick calculation in my head.  “
Six.”

Lindsay jumped in before Leah could say anything.  “That’s not bad.  It’s
only one more than me.  And Leah isn’t a good judge, because she’s only ever been with Josh.”

Leah bit her lip and smirked.

“What?!”  Lindsay screamed.  “You cheated on Josh?”

“No!  I would never cheat.  But there were a couple of months my senior year when we broke up…”