Piper looked skeptical. “Don’t tell that to my mother-in-law.”
“Maybe they will actually learnmorethis way.” Kiersten raised her shoulders in a hopeful shrug. “Because it will be, you know, hands on.”
“We could go to Mount Vernon and learn about colonial history ... about carding wool and churning butter,” Rosamund said. “I’ve done a lot of research there.”
“We could go to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to learn about torque ... and thrust ... and”—Kiersten gestured upward with the Oreo package—“the vastness of space.”
“And we could go to the Natural History Museum and learn about dinosaurs and mummies.” Rosamund tossed a wad of paper napkins covered in pizza sauce into the trash bag.
Piper tied a knot in the bag and reached for a new one. She’d once had a conversation with someone on an airplane who assumed that working in law enforcement meant chasing bad guys around on foot, Jason Bourne–style, with a gun in your hand, or playing baccarat at acasino in Montenegro like James Bond. In reality, working for the Drug Enforcement Agency or FBI was much harder and far more tedious than it looked in movies or TV shows.
She had a feeling teaching was like that too. Everyone thought they knew how to be a teacher because they’d once been a student. But she suspected it was incredibly difficult to teach kids things they didn’t actually want to learn.
“I hate to state the obvious here, but none of us are teachers,” Piper said. “I mean, we don’tknowanything about homeschooling.”
“Our neighbor does,” Kiersten opened the dishwasher. “We could ask her.”
Rosamund raised an eyebrow. “You mean the Trad Wife Influencer next door?”
Kiersten started loading silverware into the dishwasher. “Sheisactually homeschooling her kids.”
Piper and Rosamund shot each other a skeptical glance. “I don’t know if feeding chickens while wearing a $300 dress from Anthropologie really counts as teaching,” Piper said.
“But she must knowsomethingabout it. Like how to make a lesson plan and what kind of paperwork you have to file with the state, things like that.”
“Maybe.” Piper attempted to soften her skepticism with a polite smile. Glamorous Chicken Apron Influencer Lady did not strike her as someone with practical life skills.
“I’ll talk to her,” Kiersten said. “Get some advice and tips. And then I need to talk to my husband.”
“I need to do that too,” Piper said. “And I want to talk to my girls. I need a little more time to think through the ... ramifications.”
“I’d like to talk to my daughter.” Rosamund dried her wet hands on a dish towel. “And make sure she’s on board with this.”
“Why don’t we take the next few days to talk to our families,” Kiersten suggested. “See if they find this whole idea workable. And then if we decide to move forward, we take a couple weeks to do someresearch and make lesson plans and get our supplies and things in order. We could start in October.”
A moment of silence settled over the kitchen, a silence that told Piper they were all, to use the appropriate law enforcement term,scared shitlessby this idea.
“Guys, we candothis.” Kiersten’s voice was so earnest, her eyes so wide and blue, that Piper felt guilty for her lack of faith. She looked so wholesome and Midwestern, like Little Bo-Peep trying to lead a revolution.
“All right.” Piper squared her shoulders. “If you’re sure, then I’m at least willing to consider it.”
“I’m sure,” Kiersten said decisively.
Piper gave her a tentative smile. A million potholes, pitfalls, and obstacles took shape inside her mind. A million reasons to say no and walk away.
But while she wanted to walk away from theideaof dropping out, not to mention all the work involved, she didn’t want to walk away from these moms, these neighbors. She wanted to try, for their sake. And for the sake of her girls.
She glanced out at the kids in the backyard. Caitlin tugged on the bottom of her shirt, pulling it lower, as though trying to hide her hips, her midsection, all the things that made her female.
Piper gritted her teeth. She wanted her daughter’s confidence to return, wanted her to be brash, happy, unafraid again. Maybe pulling her out of school and away from Alex Orlov would help.
Maybe this idea wasn’t so crazy. After all, she’d been wrong before. Famously wrong.
Under her breath, she muttered a little prayer, hoping to be wrong again.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kiersten
