Page 12 of Mr. Principal

“You sure, because I thought for sure I saw—”

And then the doorbell rang again. This time one of Piper’s friends went to answer it. I frowned. Now someone wanted to answer the door. Great.

“So Carter, tell me about what’s going with you? Are you seeing someone?”

“Well, actually...” he started talking but I wasn’t listening. I was too tense and busy listening for the two people I’d slammed the door on.

“Tom’s here,” Carter said suddenly stopping his story that I hadn’t even been paying attention to. He was looking past my shoulder, just to the right of me.

“No freaking kidding,” I mumbled, sinking down in my chair as if that would help make me invisible.

“And he’s brought someone?” Carter said rising a little bit out of his chair to be nosy.

“His new wife,” I growled.

“Wife? She’s just a child.” Carter’s voice was incredulous.

“She’s nineteen.”

Carter grimaced. “Tell me she’s not also his secretary? I always thought Tom was a walking cliché, but even that would be too formulaic for him, I would hope.”

“Meredith said they met in the grocery store.”

“Really?” Carter said sitting back and looking away from Tom and Becca. He was smiling now. “Did they bond over feta? Did he sweet talk her in an aisle surrounded by sausage and bacon?”

I found myself smiling as well. And then my smile faded when I heard Tabby say, “Dude, your ex-wife is here. You’re not supposed to be here.”

Tabby didn’t know how to whisper. She also didn’t know how to be discreet. My shoulders tensed as the whole room turned around to look at me. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the whole room, but it felt like it.

I’d never met Becca in person. She had been dating Tom for a few months before he married her, but in that time I hadn’t once met her. Tom had been careful to arrange that she didn’t show up at any of the pickups. I liked to think that I wouldn’t act out if she had, but right after Tom and I separated before our divorce I’d been a bitter, resentful person. I’d blamed Becca for our failed marriage.

Tom swore that they hadn’t been having an affair, and I wanted to believe him, but I didn’t know if that made me naive.

My shoulders were tense. My mouth was dry. I didn’t know how to feel, but I hated that this was all so public.

Just when I was thinking about making my way to the back door to escape the situation instead of facing it, an arm slid around my shoulders. I looked up at Carter in surprise.

“I thought you could use some support,” he said simply.

“Thanks, Carter,” I looked up at him and smiled. It was nice to have my other best friend back.

“Good evening, Carter. Hello, Dana,” Tom said standing there looking dispassionate. He was expressionless as he looked between me and Carter, but I knew Tom well. I knew a dispassionate look meant displeasure.

There had always been bad blood between Tom and Carter. I never understood why. I guessed it was because they were polar opposites. Carter worried about saving the world while Tom just wanted to buy it. Carter was about substance and leading a meaningful life. Tom just wanted to be entertained by life and it was his motto to work hard and play hard.

As I looked at the woman to his right, I realized that he probably played too hard.

“Dana,” Tom said resignedly, as if he never wanted this moment to happen. “This is Becca. Becca this is Dana.”

Becca wasn’t what I expected. Yes, she was skinny, and she looked very young, but instead of looking like a ditzy blonde, she looked like a cartoon character. She had super curly, unruly blonde hair and large blue eyes. She looked like she should have been a Disney princess. No wonder Meredith liked her so much.

She studied me as I studied her, and she was the first to reach her hand out.

“It’s nice to meet you, Dana.”

Oh, she was polite. I didn’t like that. Now I didn’t have a reason to hate her. I wanted her to be a jerk so that I could continue to feel like a woman scorned.

“Is this your boyfriend?” she asked with a hopeful tone to her voice.