Page 20 of Life, Love, and Other Messes

“Mom better drive.”

Dad laughed. “That way she won’t have to look at either of us.”

Chapter Six

Fall semester started that Monday. I taught back-to-back Comp classes Monday and Wednesday mornings, a section of Women’s Lit on Friday afternoons, and the rest were evening and Saturday classes. While I generally enjoyed all my students, my favorites were the evening and Saturday ones. My evening Comp class was mostly made up of adults returning to school for their very first semester after several years in the workforce, and my Saturday classes, Creative Writing and another section of Women’s Lit, were a fascinating combination of young students, older adults seeking degrees, and random people from the community taking the classes for fun or personal enrichment. Those were awesome. The Comp classes were degree requirements, but the Lit and Writing classes were full of people who had specifically chosen to be there.

Writing abilities and experiences were all over the map. I always had some students who had struggled mightily to graduate high school, and some with more education than I had. I had students who had dropped out of school to raise their siblings or take care of their parents and had earned their GEDs in their twenties or thirties, and I’d once had a Creative Writing student who had entered college at sixteen. Every now and then, I had a student who brought their baby because their sitter had bailed or their daycare provider was sick. I learned about some of them during class itself, and arrived early and stayed late to chat with others. Since I didn’t have an actual space for office hours, I encouraged everyone to email me with questions or concerns.

I was fried after the wedding and really just wanted to go home and take a nap, but after my Monday classes I stopped in on Vera to say hello. She was the head of the department, and she did have an office, with windows and a big desk and cushy chairs. I never asked if the college supplied them or if she purchased them herself. Two of the other teachers, Terri and Antonio, were already sitting in the chairs across from Vera.

I hung in the doorway. “Just wanted to say hello.”

Vera smiled. “Welcome back. Are you done for the day or on lunch?” She had a protein shake, and Antonio was eating a sandwich.

“I’m done. Are you guys?”

“Just on lunch,” Antonio said. “I have a nine thirty and a one o’clock.”

“I’m just getting going for the day,” Terri said. She was a short, stout woman in her late fifties with skin so white it was almost transparent and a closet full of shapeless sweaters. She taught poetry in addition to her share of Comp classes.

Vera turned back to me. “Did you have some time to relax?”

I’d taught a couple classes of summer session, but I hadn’t seen Terri or Antonio since the spring. “Yeah. Did a little writing and a lot of nothing. Did you guys have nice summers?”

“My daughter got married,” Terri said. “It was stressful.”

“Congratulations.”

Antonio grinned. “Spent two weeks in a cabin in the mountains out of the heat. Birds, deer, a hot tub, and me.”

“Sounds great,” I said.

“Did you and Veronica get out of town at all?” Terri asked.

Aw, shit. I’d mostly gotten over the horrific feelings of embarrassment, but just hearing that name stung. Fortunately, Vera’s head swung toward Terri. “Girl, where you been? They broke up last spring.”

Terri glared at Antonio. “Did you know this?”

Antonio jumped a little. He looked at once guilty and unsure as to why he should feel that way. “Yeah.”

“How did you know this? Oh, baby, I’m so sad for you. She was a real gem. What happened?”

I stared at Terri, wheels spinning in my head. Nobody had asked that question, and being forced to think of an answer rattled me to the core. “I guess we just sort of grew apart.”

Vera made a judgmental noise to my right, but didn’t say anything.

“Well, I’m sorry. Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine. Water under the bridge.”

Vera opened her drawer and brightly waved a handful of tickets. “Anybody want to go to the football game this Saturday?”

I smiled at her for changing the subject. “Not this week but I’ll go with you sometime soon. I should get home…I’ll see you guys later.”

Halfway down the hall, I could still hear Terri demanding Vera and Antonio explain how they knew. I supposed it was nice that I had given them something to talk about, but it had put me in a bad mood. I felt stupid about that until I did the math and realized it had been only a couple of weeks since I’d caught Veronica and Ally in the grocery store.

I changed into gym clothes and went to work out my frustrations on the elliptical. I listened to a true crime podcast, but I couldn’t concentrate so I blared music on my earbuds instead. I was sweaty and tired and feeling less like shit in an hour, so I went home to shower and bask in the air conditioning. The pavement was still too hot to walk Ollie.