Mending Defects Page 8
Silence stretched between us. I tried to deal with these foreign emotions while she was trying to reconcile the laid-back Glory she’d been getting to know with the raging bitch I appeared to be now.
“Damn, you’re tough.”
“But in a defective way, right?”
She squinted, pulling back as if the notion offended her. I should let her off the hook, but it bugged me that she felt she had to apologize for teasing me because she found out I had a legitimate reason for the thing she’d been teasing me about. I should have known this day would come. Too many people knew that I had a heart condition. Very few actually knew the extent, but some knew it was life threatening. It was just a matter of time before someone blabbed to Lena. Didn’t mean I wanted to deal with it, though.
“I don’t need your sympathy. In fact, I find it refreshing that you don’t treat me with kid gloves like everyone else because they’re afraid I’m going to have a heart attack if they say something that upsets me.”
Concern fluttered across her expression. “But I seriously thought you had a conditioning problem.”
“I do.” It was doctor allowed, but I did.
“One that you should do something about, I mean.”
“And now you know I can’t. So, what? You’re going to stop teasing me about things?”
“No.” She huffed, tightening her lips. She was used to me being even-tempered, had probably expected me to tell her that everything was fine and not to worry about it. My reaction must be twisting her around.
“Sure.” I focused on the forest, listening for the sounds of animal life and the breeze fluttering through the leaves. I wished I’d gone inside before she came over. We could use her reset button for tomorrow night. Maybe then I’d be in a better mood for her pity.
“I’m sorry,” she tried. “I just wanted to let you know that I realized I was being a jerk to you about being out of shape, and I had no right to be. I wanted to tell you, that’s all.”
“So you told me.” I picked up my empty bottle and stood from the chair.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m tired.”
“You’re mad.” She grabbed my arm to keep me from leaving. “I didn’t mean to upset you, but I felt like such a jerk today at lunch. I couldn’t believe I’d been so cruel to you.”
“You haven’t been. Don’t you get it? Why do you think I keep letting you come over here every night when you’re not exactly the warmest person I’ve ever met? Do you think I have such bad self-esteem that I’d allow someone to dig at me on a regular basis while I continued to try to make her like me?” I started laughing. I knew that would throw her off, probably tick her off, but I couldn’t help it. “I actually like the way your mind works. You like trying to figure people out, but you can’t stand it when someone does the same to you. Well, dear, you’ve met your match.”
Her eyes glowered. If it were anatomically possible, steam would be coming out of her ears. She probably didn’t realize that she was still holding onto my arm. The warm fingers contracted but didn’t let go.
“You come over here almost every night, mostly we do well, but sometimes you leave after I’ve said something to tick you off. I don’t take it to heart, and neither do you, because here you come again on the next night. I get you, and that bugs the hell out of you, doesn’t it?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Believe that all you like.”
She released my arm and pushed up from the chair. Her menacing glare expressed more than her silent mouth. She started to say something then stormed off the porch.
“At least tonight you’re not the only one ticked off,” I said as she hit the gravel pathway. “And I know you well enough to know that if I say, ‘you’ll be back tomorrow,’ you won’t no matter how much you want to head over here because you’re that stubborn. So, I’ll just tell you that I’ll be here tomorrow if you feel like stopping by.” I watched her back turn the corner and disappear behind the trees. “Bye, Lena!”
As annoyed as I was, I entered my house with a wide smile.
From the Journal of Lena Coleridge:
Smug little attitude. Damn her. I wanted to wipe that all-knowing grin right off her face. Telling me I’m an asshole when all I wanted to do was apologize for being so insensitive to her condition. Not that it’s a condition. Just that, hell, I don’t know. I just felt bad for being an ass, and she sure as hell didn’t make it easy for me to apologize. Had my number right from the get go and hid it all this time. I wonder what else she’s hiding.
Calling herself a defect. I felt like shaking her until she stopped thinking that way. Clearly that’s a sore subject for her, but dammit, all I wanted to do was let her know I wasn’t a heartless bitch.
When she told me I’d be back tomorrow then somehow knew that by telling me what to do I wouldn’t do it, I wanted to smack her. Then kiss her. No! Not kiss her. What am I thinking? Why would I want to kiss such a know-it-all pain in the ass neighbor that I see every day with her tight ass and young, firm body-oh, hell! Rip out this page. If that woman ever figured out I’d even thought those things, much less written them down, she’d hang that over my head for all eternity.
Note to self: check real estate and job listings for some other beautiful ski town, maybe in another state.
Chapter 14
When Superintendent Terry called another special session of the school board a week before summer break, I was surprised. The last time he did this, he’d told us about William’s stroke. I hoped it wasn’t the same kind of bad news.
Terry looked grim but not pale like he had the last time. We took our seats, nodding to each other. This wasn’t an open session, so it was just the five of us. Everyone else looked as confused as I did.
“Thank you for making it to this special session,” Terry began, speaking into a microphone out of habit. When we all grinned, he leaned back and addressed us again. “My office has taken several complaints over the past month, and it’s time that we address them.”
“Complaints about what?” Joel asked.
“Our newest principal.”
“What’s she doing now? Making the kids who misbehave peel potatoes?” Mitch joked.
“She is still continuing with her harsh punishments, but these complaints are far more serious.” Terry cleared his throat and looked nervous for a moment. He seemed to make up his mind. “Some parents have complained that Ms. Coleridge has pushed a homosexual agenda on their children.”
“What?” Jennifer spoke up first as every one of us popped off the backs of our chairs and leaned forward.
“I’ve had more than twenty phone calls with parents over the past two weeks, and I found them very disturbing.”
“What are they saying she did?” Joel asked.
“She called an assembly to talk about sexual orientation. The parents are extremely upset as you can imagine. We’ve made a decision on this board to have parents sign off on sex ed courses prior to students taking them. None of these parents signed off on this and they’re livid.”
“Wait a minute,” I started but was cut off by Jennifer.
“She what? And she’s taking that opportunity to teach kids about homosexuality? Is she, you know? I mean, that seems highly inappropriate.”
“Hold on,” I tried again but was no more successful.
“She is. I brought her into my office today and asked her.” Terry looked proud of his investigative skills.
“You did what?” I slammed my hands down on the desk, getting everyone’s attention. “What made you think you could ask an employee a personal question like that, Terry?”
“I had to find out if these rumors were true.”
“What rumors? Parents getting bits of information from kids who have the attention span of patio furniture?” I glared at each of them, my stare down finishing with Terry. “Did you know that asking a question like that could bring a sexual harassment suit against you?”
“Don’t be absurd. I didn’t come onto her.”
“Having your boss corner you about your sexual orientation and feeling like you have no choice but to answer could be construed as making her work environment hostile.” It pays to have a best friend who’s an attorney.
He waved his hands. “You weren’t there, Glory. She didn’t seem upset by my question. She was fine telling me she was gay. I didn’t go into details with her until we figured out what to do, but we may have to consider starting another candidate search over the summer.”
I was so shocked that I could barely form a thought. Terry had just called for a vote to terminate Lena based on rumors. “Stop it,” my mouth said for my brain. “Did you ask Lena what the assembly was about, or did you just take the parents’ word for it?”
Terry lowered his eyes. Just as I suspected. He didn’t once think the parents might be lying or at the very least exaggerating. Mitch blinked several times, the thought just occurring to him as well. The glassy stare Jennifer was showing indicated that she wasn’t even tuned in anymore. Joel’s brow pinched, his eyes solemn as he waited everyone out.
“You all know that Lena is my neighbor and she’s become my friend. She’s become yours as well, hasn’t she, Jen?”
“Well, yes,” she agreed after a long hesitation.
“Last week, Lena mentioned an assembly she held on tolerance and what it means to be open minded. She told me that she went through issues that involve racial, gender, body type, sexual orientation, and religious differences. Her goal was to make it clear that intolerance and bullying would not be allowed.”
Their reactions all differed. Terry’s eyes popped open. Mitch began nodding, his hands lifting off the desk. Jennifer’s glassy stare didn’t alter. If she was evening listening, she wasn’t registering it. Joel, the quiet one, the one who usually held to traditions, gave a minute smile, his eyes glittering with interest.
“Did those parents mention anything about these other topics, Terry? Did they tell you that she was teaching sex ed, or that she was teaching what it means to be intolerant toward homosexuality?”
He squinted, looking like he was experiencing constipation. “They seemed concerned that she was teaching them about being homosexual.”
I shook my head, ashamed that he’d take the word of emotional parents over his own employee. “She wasn’t, but she would tell kids that it’s not right to treat homosexuals any differently.”
The end of year assembly had been a safe topic that Lena and I could discuss last week in the wake of me biting her head off. I still felt bad about it and had apologized for lashing out at her. She didn’t seem to be treating me differently. She’d been annoyed with me in the past and I never held it against her, but this had been an irrational reaction on my part. Having the assembly subject matter to mull over had helped get us past the initial awkwardness and back on the friendship track.
Terry glanced down at his notepad. “That’s not what these parents said.”
“Is Rebecca, the mother of the boy who tormented the other boy because he thinks he’s gay, one of those parents?” At Terry’s guilty look, I continued, “We know she has motivation to have Lena removed since her son is the only senior who is waitlisted for college. Her son is a homophobe and if she’s defending his behavior, she is as well. I doubt that Lena has made her sexual identity known to her students, but if Rebecca knows, she’d be very motivated to get rid of her.”
“Did you know?” Terry asked me in an accusatory manner.
“That’s not really your business, Terry.”
“It would have been nice to have a heads up is all. This isn’t a big city, Glory. Some of these people haven’t had much exposure to a controversial subject like this. Parents are obviously concerned.”
“So we educate them,” I said. “I can’t believe you’re actually considering firing a woman who has brought in the best test results this school has ever seen, gotten every senior who wanted to go to college into college, cut down on truancies, eliminated vandalism, and gotten her kids involved in community outreach programs. You’re proposing we fire her because her sexuality makes some parents uneasy? Don’t you understand how wrong that is?”
“Glory, come on, I was responding to parent complaints. You know we have to take those seriously.”
“Terry, you come on. You know parents are lions when it comes to their kids and have no backbone for discipline anymore. If their kids whine, they turn on the educators because they don’t want to take responsibility. I’m betting that more than half of those complaints came from parents who didn’t even know what the assembly was about. They heard it through the town grapevine and got all riled up for nothing.”
Mitch shrugged. “That does happen, Ter.”
“Why didn’t you just ask Lena about the assembly? You could have stopped this before any other complaints came in.”
Terry’s shoulders fell. “I should have spoken to her about it, but I was shocked to learn that she’d been teaching sex education, specifically homosexual education, to a bunch of teenagers.”
I shook my head and sighed. “Sex education should include everything involving sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy no matter the sexual orientation of the students. We might be opening ourselves up to lawsuits if it isn’t comprehensive.” Knowing we wouldn’t resolve this topic tonight, I shifted back to the original reason we were here. “Putting that aside, we have the best damn principal this district has ever seen under contract and we’re not letting her go because some people might have a problem with her sexual orientation.”
“I agree with Glory,” Joel said. “Lena has performed beautifully. My kids have never been more excited about school. She also seems like a wonderful gal, so I don’t see what all this fuss is about.”
My eyes widened. Joel had originally voted against her. He was also the oldest person on the board, so it was a little shocking to see him so open to her sexuality. Of course that was prejudiced of me to say.
“She does bring in results,” Jennifer said, but she didn’t seem as convinced as I was.
“Fine, we’ll table this, but I will be asking for an outline of all assembly topics in the future.”
I nodded, conceding that it would be a good idea for the board to know what was being taught outside the standard course curriculum. It also helped that Lena always made extensive outlines for her assemblies, so it wouldn’t be any more work for her.
When I left the room, I felt my heart rate slow. I hadn’t realized that I’d gotten so worked up, but I was definitely put off by their complete disregard for her privacy and ability to do her job. They’d never suggested that we fire the two teachers on staff who were gay, but they were both locals. Perhaps that was what this was all about. Lena was still considered an outsider. The board might be experiencing buyers’ remorse with the decision to hire her. Maybe once the summer passed and the new school year began, they’d start thinking of her as a local and start extending more support.
Chapter 15
Christine and Sheila pulled me through the doors of Club Di. I was supposed to be spending the weekend helping Christine paint their nursery. I hadn’t counted on an outing to the club when they’d called with the pregnancy news and request for help, but I should have known they’d want a break after working all day.
Christine went up to the bar to grab some drinks as Sheila and I found a table. Taking a seat, I couldn’t stop the déjà vu feeling. I’d thought a change of scenery from my place would be good, but seeing my friends, coming to this club, hearing the same music, seeing the same wait staff and most of the same people, it wasn’t the change I’d been looking for. I hadn’t really noticed that I’d needed a change, just craved a little something different for the weekend. Now that I had it, I realized it wasn’t the kind of difference I was looking for. The last time this happened to me, I’d left Philly and moved back to Aspen. I hoped this mood of mine wasn’t looking for that kind of change again.
“I’m happy to. The room’s looking great. Maybe before I leave, Chris and I can put together the crib and changing table.”
“That would be so great. She’s been worried that we wouldn’t have everything done by the time the critter gets here.” She rubbed her now prominent belly without really noticing it.
“Shouldn’t you stop calling it a critter soon?”
“If you saw the last sonogram, you’d call it a critter, too.” She smiled with a wistfulness that all new parents have.
Christine joined us, setting our drinks on the table. “Did you call Miranda?”
“I forgot,” I said, not terribly broken up about it. I hadn’t even thought of it to be honest. Nothing about my current dry spell bothered me.
“Call her now,” Sheila prompted.
“That’s okay. Not really into it.”
They exchanged an amused look. “You’re ready to fall in love, aren’t you?”
My eyes popped wide, head pushing back to look at her. “What are you talking about?”
“Maybe she already has,” Christine told her wife.
“Maybe,” she agreed.
“Are you talking about me?” I asked, confused.
“Do you realize that this is the third time you’ve been in here and not hooked up with Miranda? Are you getting some back home?” Christine asked.
“Some little ski bunny come into town for a few weeks and you grabbed her while you could?” Sheila guessed.
My head shook at their warped view of my life. They’d visited me in Aspen for ski weekends many times and never once did I bring home a ski bunny. They liked to think I was getting more than my once every three month sessions with Miranda. They were firm believers that sex was good for every part of a woman. Apparently, they didn’t care where I got it just so long as I did.