Page 11 of Mr. Principal

I knew it was stupid, but I felt betrayed. Not only was Becca now married to my ex, but apparently she was also hanging out with my best friend. I didn’t even have time to spend time with my best friend. How dare she.

“She has some nerve spending time with you,” I growled. “And I can’t believe you let her spend time with you! What were you thinking? Whose side are you on?”

Piper held up her hands, as if trying to defend herself from my verbal assault. “I’m on your side. Always have been. I never wanted you to date Tom. Remember?”

She was right. When Tom would run into Piper on campus, she went out of her way to ignore him. They weren’t exactly close. She said that he was a jerk to her growing up and still a jerk now. I’d refused to believe her. He’d been so cute and so mature.

I didn’t start dating him until about six months after we’d met, and I remember Piper saying, “Oh well, I tried to warn you. He’s a douchebag. You’ll see.”

I’d ignored her warnings. Tom and I did the long-distance thing for a few years after he graduated and once I’d graduated we’d moved in together and gotten married shortly after that. I’d thought Piper would have been thrilled that we were no longer just best friends, but also sisters.

But no. She had said, “Oh well, you’ve done it now,” when I’d showed her my engagement ring.

I remembered getting upset with her and not speaking to her for a few days. But then Carter had told me that I was being silly... that Piper had never been a fan of her brother so it shouldn’t be a surprise that she wasn’t ecstatic that I was marrying him.

Carter had been right, of course, and come to think of it, he had helped resolve every squabble I’d had with Piper over the years.

“Deep in thought, I see. If you’re trying to decide between the chocolate cake and the plain vanilla, just go with the chocolate.”

Speak of the devil... I smiled as I turned toward Carter.

“Hi, you look...” my voice trailed off. “Great. Very clean.” Very clean? Did I just tell Carter that he looked clean? What was wrong with me? Had getting a divorce also lowered my IQ?

Carter laughed and said, “Thanks, I think. You look very clean too.” He took a moment to study my figure and I couldn’t help myself. I did a little turn. I was wearing a stunning red bodycon dress that I couldn’t fit into a year ago. It had been a birthday gift from my mom who had a fantastic sense of fashion. Unfortunately, at the time she’d bought it three sizes too small. I’m pretty sure it was her passive-aggressive way of telling me to lose weight.

Well, my divorce had accomplished what dieting and exercising probably wouldn’t have. I was down four sizes and had gotten my mom to take the dress in a little. She’d been ecstatic.

“Being fat didn’t suit you,” she had chirped happily.

My mom could be as blunt as she could be passive aggressive. Dad, of course, had also chimed in. It’s like he’d waited until I was an adult to have an opinion about everything I did.

“She’s right you know. No one wants a wife with a double chin. You can’t find a husband that way.”

“Who says I’m looking for another husband?” I’d regretted stopping by then. I should have just eaten oatmeal for dinner every night for a week to afford an actual tailor.

Dad had replied, “Women need men. You’re no different. You’ll look for another husband soon enough.”

Mom had looked at dad and then at me and said deadpan, “Women need men like I need a hole in the head.”

We’d shared a smile. That was probably the only thing my mom and I had shared in my entire adult life.

I turned my attention back to the present and with it, to Carter who started clapping slowly.

“That is a very sexy dress.”

“Thank you,” I said, feeling like a billion dollars. I was pretty plain with unremarkable brown hair and unremarkable brown eyes. I was average height and kind of just average all around, so it was nice to feel beautiful. I hadn’t felt that way in a long time.

Feeling good, I chatted with Carter. We helped ourselves to some cake and were about to take a seat when the doorbell rang.

I didn’t see Piper and all the other guests that were near the door ignored it, so I made my way to it.

I opened it, saw who was standing there, and closed it back forcefully and then I walked away.

Carter was apparently the only one who noticed, and he looked at me funny as I plastered a smile on my face, grabbed my slice of cake and sat down next to him.

“Who was at the door?”

“Nobody.”