Page 9 of Mr. Principal

Chapter Three

“This is going to be the best party ever,” Meredith exclaimed as we made our way down the street to Piper’s house.

“I think so too. But no skipping in the street. Back on the sidewalk, little lady.”

She laughed and crossed back over to the sidewalk. We’d been pretty excited about the party for a while now. Because I worked so much and Meredith sometimes stayed after school to participate in glee club, we rarely got a chance to spend any time together except for the weekends when she wasn’t at her dad’s.

Meredith had insisted on dressing up even though I’d told her the party was going to be super casual. She wore a tiara, a ballerina skirt, and a sequined blouse. Even her shoes had sequins across the front.

I took her hand as we approached Piper’s door. There was a lot of raucous noise on the other side of the door and I briefly wondered if maybe bringing Meredith hadn’t been a good idea.

My reservations quickly disappeared when Piper greeted us at the door, wearing a tiara of her own.

“Nice tiara,” she said, high-fiving Meredith who looked at her gleefully before exclaiming, “Happy birthday, Auntie Piper.”

Piper scooped her up in a big hug and then grabbed me too, pulling me in tight. “Group hug, group hug,” she said, laughing.

Piper hadn’t changed since college. She was silly and a complete jokester. Finally, she let us go.

“Oh man, did I miss free hugs?” said a voice right behind her.

It was her cousin, Tabitha. We all called her Tabby. Tabby and Piper looked like twins. They both had short dark brown hair and big blue eyes. I think they even went to the same yoga studio.

I hadn’t seen Tabby since my divorce. Strangely, during the divorce, none of Tom’s family had picked sides. They had remained neutral. I thought it would be weird to show up tonight with all of Tom’s family around, but Piper had insisted that I come. She told me if I didn’t come then Tom would think that I was still upset over our divorce. I’d quickly informed Piper that I was still upset over the divorce. Piper had then given me a speech about women’s empowerment and the importance of raising resilient girls.

Her speech had fallen on deaf ears. I’d only been thinking about how fantastic I looked now, so at least when I happened to see Tom’s family there, I wouldn’t look like a frumpy sack of sadness.

And plus, Tom wasn’t going to be there. Meredith had told me he was going to be out of town. He was taking his new wife on vacation to Hawaii. How nice for them, I’d thought bitterly. I’d then smiled secretly to myself as visions of their plane disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle danced in my head. And then I remembered that Bermuda was in the Caribbean and Hawaii was in the Pacific, so my fantasy of them getting eaten by the Kraken as they traveled to some romantic destination most likely wouldn’t happen.

It wasn’t until my divorce that I realized how unforgiving and vengeful I could be.

Tabby embraced me and then Meredith. “It’s so good to see you guys. How’s everything going?” She looked a little uncomfortable with the question, but I wasn’t. I had an answer prepared that I’d rehearsed lots of times to save face.

“Great! Enjoying my freedom!” I hoped I sounded convincing.

Tabby looked relieved. “Being married really is a drain. Trust me, that’s why I divorced my husband ages ago.”

I gave Tabby a pointed look and shot my eyes toward Meredith. Tabby looked clueless for a second and then quickly said. “I mean, your Prince Charming is out there, honey. Just don’t marry a frog like your father.”

“Jesus, Tabby,” Piper said.

“What? What did I say?”

And then seeing Meredith’s confused expression, Tabby quickly backtracked. “I love frogs. They’re just all green and slimy. Good for dissecting.”

“You know what? I think we’re going to get some cake,” Piper said, coming to the rescue. “Doesn’t cake sound delicious, Meredith?”

She nodded, and I took her hand. I shook my head at Tabby as I walked by and she mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

Same ol’ Tabby, I thought to myself. She had verbal diarrhea. Sweetest woman, but she didn’t know when to just be quiet.

And now I’d have to have a mother-daughter talk with Meredith defending her father who was the last guy I wanted to defend right now. Gosh, maybe I should have just stayed home.

“So, hon. Just ignore your cousin Tabby. Sometimes she says things that she shouldn’t say.”

“Just like Danny Schultz.”

“Huh?”