Tightening the Knot (23 page)

“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 without 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.”

╣ Chapter 32 ╠

           
While Meredith had managed to avoid an ugly run-in with a parent, she had still felt the stress of the threat.
 
And then there was the vomit, the arguments and her growling stomach.
 
It was enough to have her craving a night out over an empty house.
 
Fortunately, just as she began to lament not having heard from Jenna, she felt the buzz of the phone in her bag.
 
The two friends easily agreed on a meeting place and Meredith shuffled around a bit more paperwork before heading out.
 

           
She sat down a few moments before Jenna, who arrived grinning from ear to ear and looking just as eager to talk, though likely on happier subjects.
 
For Meredith, listening to a friend’s good news could be as cathartic as spilling her bad; and this was convenient because Jenna would not be contained.

           
“I’m going to be in love!” she announced as she took her seat.

           
“Going to be?”

           
“Well, I know it’s too soon to be serious about Shawn so I’m just trying to be practical.”

           
Meredith suppressed a grin.
 
Declaring future love after a first date was so much more practical than falling already.
 
“I guess things went well on Saturday.”

           
“Oh, yes!
 
We talked and talked and we stayed until they started putting up chairs because we didn’t even notice how late it was getting.
 
He hates those phone commercials, too.”

           
“That’s definitely the basis for a solid relationship.”

           
“Hey, be nice.
 
We talked about the important things, too.”

           
“The important things?”
 
Meredith shook her head.
 
“Don’t tell me you brought up kids on the first date again.
 
I keep telling you that’s not a good idea.”

           
“I know that’s your opinion.”
 
Jenna twirled her napkin around looking a bit sulky, but brightened quickly.
 
“But thirty is getting awfully close so if a guy doesn’t want the same things I want… eventually… then I shouldn’t waste either of our time.
 
Besides, I don’t think I scared him.”

           
“What did he say?”

           
“He agreed that he is hoping for a family
eventually.
”
 
She stressed the word again to point out how practical they both were.
 
“And then he asked me how long he should wait before he proposes.
 
I think he was kidding.”