Her Imaginary Husband (Contemporary Romance) (17 page)

“But then he said something in the gym the other day, and comes here…”

Janna fluffed her platinum bangs. “You are hopeless. Why is it bad that a gorgeous, gainfully employed man is being nice to you?”

“He didn’t even react when you flirted.”

“Rub it in, why don’t you?”

“I’ve never seen a guy not react to you flirting, Jan. You’re gorgeous.”

“Think about it, Nik,” said Janna, getting up and hopping to the fridge. “He’s used to getting any woman he wants. He meets you and sees you’re different. He’s puzzled by your response. He realizes you are what he’s been looking for all these years, and yet you reject him. You are unobtainable. The forbidden fruit.” Janna shrugged and grabbed a handful of ice. “I know you like the cop, but he’s not particularly interested.” She rummaged in the cupboard and found a box of Ziplocs. Making a new ice pack, she shook her head. “Who knows? I think you should at least give the guy a shot. The Coach, I mean.”

Nikki pondered this angle, but her heart steered her onto a different track of thought: Ross. His smile, the way he waved at nearly everyone, and the funny looks he gave her through the window of her classroom when no one else could see. The noble clown.

“That’s more like it,” said Janna.

“Huh?”

“You’re smiling at whatever you’re thinking. Go that way. That’s making you happy.”

Nikki’s eyebrows flew up in surprise then dropped back down and folded themselves with resignation.
Ross would never, in a million years, make a pass at me because I’m a married woman.
Forgetting herself, Nikki grunted and punched her thigh in frustration.

Janna sat beside her and dropped the ice on her raised ankle. “What now?” she laughed. “You’re like multiple personalities in there. Think out loud so I can follow you.”

Nikki shook her head.
I don’t want you to say anything negative about Ross.
“I can’t go out with Will. He’s got so much experience, and I’ll be like a twelve-year-old.”

Janna gave her a sidelong grin. “Believe me. Instincts kick in. You’d get it right eventually.”

“You’re not hearing me. I don’t want to go fast. It scares me. The two guys I did go out with wanted to jump in the sack the first night. I mean, that can’t be right.” Nikki doubted she’d get a serious answer from Janna, but she asked, “Can it? Do you hit grown up and then it’s all right to…to…” Janna stifled a giggle. “Janna, don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m not laughing at your morals, Nikki. I just think it’s funny you can’t even say it.” She adjusted a pillow under her leg. “Nikki, there’s nothing wrong with you except fear. It’s okay that you don’t want to have sex on a first date.”

“Or a second or a third!”

Janna’s face became serious, and she touched Nikki’s hand. “That’s okay. That’s probably better than okay. Then you really know if he likes you, or if he just likes that particular recreational activity.”

“It’s not a recreational activity, Janna,” said Nikki. “Not to me. It’s not like I’d say, ‘So, should we go bowling, or have sex?’ and he’d answer, ‘Oh, I dunno, I was thinking of going out for pizza.’ There has to be more to it than that.”

Tears welled unexpectedly in Janna’s eyes. “You’re right.”

“Oh, Janna. I’m sorry.”

Janna wiggled the toes of her sprained ankle and frowned. “But you
are
right. Troy was total proof of that. I wish I’d known that earlier.” The tears took the dive and tumbled down her cheeks. “I wish I’d figured out the whole ‘wait for it” thing earlier in life. It’s hard when you start dating young because it starts off innocent enough, but then holding hands turns to kissing, turns to making out, turns to groping. Each new relationship sort of picks up where the last one left off physically until you’ve gone all the way. And then you come to expect that’s part of a date. It just becomes cheaper and cheaper.” She gulped back a sigh. “It’s hard to go back to innocence. I don’t know if you really can.”

Nikki reached over and hugged Janna tightly, unsure of what to say. Janna had never before indicated that her active night life was a burden of any kind.

“I love you, Nik,” said Janna. “And I won’t push you into the Coach any more. It’s your decision. Do things at your own speed.”

“Thanks.” She tucked Janna’s hair behind her ear and reached for the Kleenex. “You can, too, you know.”

“What?” Janna had to dig to the bottom of the box to find a tissue.

“You can take back control of that stuff. You can wait.”

“It’s too late for me, Nik.”

“No, it’s not, Janna. Don’t you listen in church? You can start over any time.”

Janna made a laughing-crying noise and squeezed Nikki. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Nikki rubbed circles on Janna’s back. “Like I said, behave yourself for the next little bit, and I’ll introduce you to Charlie.”

“He’s a good guy, huh?” Janna pulled back and dabbed at her eyes.

“I want to marry someone just like him when I grow up,” said Nikki with a wink.

Two weeks had passed since Halloween, and Nikki started to feel like life had settled into a comfortable routine. She got her car replaced, and she bought some more comfortable shoes. Both Will and Amanda behaved themselves better than ever, and she still shared a daily apple with Officer Ross, no longer worrying who her secret admirer might be. David Pembroke’s grade had stabilized thanks to Sammi, and Robert had published an article in the local newspaper. Life was as it should be.

And then a brawl took place right outside of Nikki’s classroom during lunch. A crowd gathered, and limbs were flying. She was pretty sure girls were at the center of the commotion, but a burly boy’s fist swung wide and almost caught her in the ear.

“Hey, break it up!” she yelled. No one noticed. “Yo! Teacher here! Stop fighting!”

One of the spectators gave her a venomous look. “Back off!”

Nikki snapped into her indignant teacher mode, a cocky look on her face, and her hands on her hips. “Excuse me? Step aside. I am a teacher!” She held up her lanyard ID.

Nothing.

The fight continued, so Nikki decided on a different tactic and took off running to the main office. Half way down the hall, she saw Mr. Geoffreys. Grabbing his arm, she said, “Hurry. Come with me. Cat fight.”

He stopped and looked at her with a paternal smile. “Now, Nikki. You can handle that just fine.”

“No. I can’t.”

“But you’re a teacher.”

“Tell that to them.” She tried to drag him forward. “They think I’m one of them.”

“That never happens to me.”

Nikki turned a
get-serious
look on him. “That’d be because (a) you’re the principal; (b) you’re a foot taller than I am; (c) you’re a man.”
And (d) you’re bald.
“You’re obviously not a student. You have to come stop them!”

Mr. Geoffreys lifted an appeasing hand and trotted after her through the student traffic. They rounded the corner into the fray just as Officer Ross was lifting one of the fighters. A moment later the other one stood—with a bloody lip and blue hair.

“Amanda!” gasped Nikki.

“Ms. F!” Her eyes darted to Mr. Geoffreys and then back to Nikki with dismay. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Miss Zane, come with me!” barked Mr. Geoffreys, his jovial face morphing into his official boss mode. He turned to Nikki. “You may safely assume Amanda will no longer be in your class, Ms. Fallon. You won’t have to deal with her anymore.”

“No, wait. I didn’t know—”
Gaaak! I’m finally getting along with her!
Nikki reached after Amanda, who looked back over her shoulder in tears.

“Ms. F, I’m sorry!”

“Amanda, I…” Nikki’s hands fell helplessly to her side.

Officer Ross escorted the other combatant down the hall after Mr. Geoffreys, leaving Nikki feeling powerless in the hall as the crowd dispersed.

No. I don’t want Amanda out of my class for something that had nothing to do with me.
She took off down the hall, weaving in and out of the students. A whistle pierced the air. “Hey! No running in the halls!”

Nikki spun around. “Will, it’s me!”

An alarmed smile lit his face and he moved swiftly to join her. “Where’s the fire?”

“Amanda Zane just got in a fight, and now Geoffreys is about to pull her from my class.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m the one who reported it, except I didn’t know it was her!”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

Nikki rolled her eyes and headed for the office. “It’s a long story. But I don’t want her out of my class. We were just starting to make some real progress.”

Will held open the office door for her. “Maybe I can help.” He strode up to the counter and gave Katie his winning smile. “Is boss in there with Amanda?”

“Yep. And Tiffany.”

Justin burst into the office, distraught. “Ms. F, have you seen Amanda? I heard she and Tiffany—”

“In there,” said Nikki, cocking her head at the closed door of the principal’s office.

“Oh man, this is all my fault.” He squeezed his face between his palms. “They were fighting over me.”

“What?” Will barely masked his amusement.

“Is Tiffany your ex-girlfriend?” asked Nikki.

“Yeah. She’s been giving Amanda a really hard time.”

Will slid around the counter. “So this really had nothing to do with Ms. F?”

“What? No!”

Will knocked on Mr. Geoffreys’ door. Winking at Nikki, he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll talk to him about not taking her out of your class. She’s been telling me she likes you now.” He gestured at Justin. “You take care of loverboy there.”

Nikki’s heart filled with gratitude. The door opened and Ross poked out his head. He and Will whispered for a moment, and then Will entered and Ross came out.

“Ah, there you are, Ms. Fallon,” he said.

“What’s up in there?”

Katie glanced at Ross. “Ooh, that’s not your pretty face.”

His lips pressed in a thin line. “I was coming to find you when I bumped into the fight. Isn’t your new car white, Ms. Fallon?”

Nikki’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. Why do you ask? What’s going on with Amanda?”

“Did you park in your usual spot?”

Katie crossed her arms and leaned on her desk. “Why the inquisition, Ross? What happened?”

He looked to Nikki. “You got a minute? I think you’re going to want to see this.”

Nikki hesitated. “But Amanda—”

“Mr. Carlin’s explaining,” he said, all business-like. “Come along.”

“Can Justin stay until they get it all resolved?” asked Nikki.

Katie gave a thumbs up, and Justin plopped into a hard plastic chair to wait.

Moments later, Nikki stared in disbelief at the obscenities etched on her driver side door. “But…this isn’t even addressed to me,” she said.

“Nope. Obviously someone thinks Lisa Barley drives this car and is after her boyfriend.”

“I don’t believe this.”

“So this is a new…decoration?” he confirmed.

“It wasn’t there this morning.” Nikki blinked back a tear. “This has been a day. A real Friday the 13
th
, you know?”

“
Everything
going wrong?”

A tear slid down her nose. “Everything.”

In one smooth move, Ross retrieved a cotton handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her tear away.

Nikki grasped his hand in both of hers and choked back a sob. “Where’s your white steed, Officer?” she asked, laughing weakly. “You’re so gallant. Surely you have a damsel waiting for you in a high tower somewhere?”

He reached into his pocket for his notebook. “No such luck,” he said. “Come on, let’s get the report filed.”

“Yeah,” she said, tracing the scratches with her finger. “My insurance is going to go through the roof.”

“Why don’t you ask Doug to take a look at it?”

“You really think he could do something?”

Ross brushed his fingers over the vandalism. “It’s not very deep. He might be able to buff it out. You’re lucky it’s white. He’s been touching up Mrs. Woo’s car. He might have some paint left, if it’s a match.”

Nikki hurried back into the building and down to Doug’s lair. He had just promised to look at it after lunch when the end-of-lunch bell rang. “Oh crud. I’ve gotta go!”
I didn’t even get to eat yet!
Squeezing Doug’s arm affectionately, she turned and ran up the stairs. On the second to last step, her foot slipped and she landed hard, scraping her shin and hitting her funny bone. Instead of rising to run, she crumpled into the railing and cried.

A kind arm surrounded her shoulders, and she turned to accept a hug. “Oh, Doug. This has been the worst day ever.”

“Doug?”

The smell of Will’s cologne brought Nikki abruptly back to business, and she pulled back.

“You okay?” he asked. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” she said, swiping the back of her hand over her cheeks.

“Tears aren’t ‘nothing’,” he said. “Tell Coach all about it.”

“I can’t, Will. I’m late.” She hesitated. “How’d it go with Geoffreys?”

“I think he’ll let her stay…after she comes back from suspension for fighting.”

“That girl is never going to graduate.”

“She will. Just like David Pembroke. You’re doing a great job, Nikki.”

“Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”

Nikki slid into her classroom with the last three stragglers and made a show of chatting with them so that they were all late together.



Just as Nikki was about to go find Officer Ross to fill out the paperwork about the vandalism, she got a call on her classroom phone from an angry parent who wanted to know why her son’s standardized tests scores were so abysmal. Try as she might to assure the woman that the scores would not affect his grade and that there was no reason to be hostile, the woman railed on, calling Nikki “incompetent”, “frivolous” and “not as good as Mr. Dustin.”

Nikki finally gave up and let the woman rage while she dabbed at her runny nose and dripping eyes with the last of her Kleenex. As she sat mumbling placating syllables, Amanda and Justin entered, clearly wanting to say something about the fight. Nikki pantomimed that she was trapped on the phone. As soon as they saw her tears, they backed away and whispered with each other. Nikki leaned back in her chair with her eyes closed and listened to the Chihuahua bark in her ear, willing the day to end. When she glanced up, Justin and Amanda were picking up wrappers and straightening the desks.

Their timely kindness knocked the last of her composure, and she burst into tears, hanging up even as the woman still spoke.

“Did you just hang up on someone?” asked Amanda, astonished and amused.

“She won’t notice for another five minutes,” said Nikki. “Guys, thanks so much! You have no idea how much I needed that today.”

Justin gave her a half-smile. “We know about bad days.”

“I guess you do.” She sighed. “So, what’s the verdict, Amanda?”

The girl ran both hands through her blue hair and frowned. “I’ll be back in another two weeks. I’m so sorry, Ms. F. I tried to keep it together.”

“I didn’t mean to get you in trouble, Amanda. I just saw a fight…”

“I know. I don’t blame you. I do need my assignments, though.” She smiled. “I don’t want to fall behind.”

Wow. That’s huge.
“That’d be awesome.” She grabbed her lesson plan book and began writing the next assignments on a post-it.

Amanda sighed. “Maybe your day will pick up, too.” Her eyes caught movement at the door. “Yeah, I think it will.”

“Oh?” Nikki handed her the post-it. “Grab a class copy of the text. I’ll have Justin send you more next week.”

“Okay.”

“Amanda,” said Nikki gently. “Fresh start. You can start with a clean slate when you get back—in my book, anyway—and finish strong.”

Amanda nodded and tugged Justin out the door just as Will entered carrying a small bouquet of flowers. He shut the door behind him. “Hey there,” he said, his voice husky and his gaze curious. “Things going any better?”

“Yeah. Kids can sure surprise you sometimes with how thoughtful they are.”

He held the bouquet of bright carnations up to his nose and peeked over them playfully. Affecting a younger voice, he said, “Hi teacher! I got these for you to cheer you up.”

Nikki accepted the flowers. “Thanks, Will. They’re beautiful.” She giggled. “You get an A for the day.”
I needed this.

His eyes flashed with eagerness before settling back to concern. “I heard about your car.”

“How?” she asked.

“Doug,” he said, shrugging. “He’s keeping it over the weekend, huh?”

“Yeah. I hope he’s the miracle worker everyone says he is.”

“He is.”

Nikki threw her wad of Kleenex in the trashcan. “I forgot about a ride home, and Janna works—”

“I can take you home.” He took a step back. “Unless you’re going to call your husband for a ride?”

Nikki ground her teeth. “He won’t be able to come.”

“So…”

I’ve just had the worst day of the year. I can let someone be nice to me
. “So, I’d be very grateful for a ride. Let me just get the paperwork signed with Officer Ross, and we can go.”

Thirty minutes later, Nikki fought back tears as Will opened the door to his car for her. The damage to her door was probably going to ruin her insurance rates, not to mention the cost of the deductible, recently raised because of the accident a few weeks ago. More work waited for her at home, but no one to hold her and tell her it would all be okay.

“Hanging in there?” asked Will.

“Do you really want to know?” She dabbed at her nose with the sleeve of her sweater.