Page 42 of Mr. Principal

It had a Caribbean vibe to it, but it was subtle. The lighting was low and soft sounds of reggae filtered through the air.

“It feels sort of magical, like one of those high-class restaurants at those Caribbean resorts.”

I’d only been to one and that had been during spring break my senior year in college. I wondered if Carter remembered it as fondly as I did.

“Do you remember our senior class trip during spring break?”

He nodded. “Now that was a good time. It was my first taste of the Caribbean and it was how I became addicted to reggae.”

“Addicted to reggae?”

He nodded. “I even joined a band.”

“You did not.”

“I did,” he said with a sigh and then shook his head. “Now, to be honest, we weren’t very good.”

I muffled a laugh. “Who else was in the band?”

“Well there was me… and well, just me.”

I couldn’t hold back any longer. “A one-man band?” My sides hurt as I tried to contain my laughter.

“I had high aspirations for myself.”

“More like delusions.”

He reached for his phone and started looking for something. I thought my teasing had offended him and I rushed to apologize when he handed me his phone.

It was an Amazon link and on it was a picture of a reggae album for sale. “What is this?”

“I made an album.” The cover of the album was so cheesy. There were palm trees, a beach, and a silhouette of a man looking towards the setting sun. Holding back a grin was becoming impossible.

I looked at the number of stars. “Hey! You have four stars! That’s impressive.”

He laughed, “Not really. As soon as I released it, I had my mom, dad, stepdad, and stepmom review it under different accounts.”

I chuckled. “Hey, maybe they’re honest reviews.”

Carter patted my hand. “You’re sweet. I know it sucked but I was young and dumb.”

“Well, at least you wasted your youth creating bad music. The only thing I have to show for myself is a failed marriage.”

“You’re too hard on yourself.”

“No. I think it’s the opposite. I haven’t been hard enough.” I sat back and took a sip of my water that had appeared without me noticing. “I feel like I’ve been asleep at the wheel for years, just crashing and burning, never opening my eyes to actually figure out what I was doing or where I was going. Being here with you tonight, I don’t know. Makes me feel like I used to feel, like I was able to do anything, be anybody… more than just a failed housewife.”

“Hey, don’t—”

“No, seriously, I was a terrible housewife. I could barely keep anything clean and my cooking skills are scary. Raising Meredith was the only thing I could get right… at least, I hope I haven’t scarred her for life.”

“Stop beating yourself up. Meredith is amazing and come on, a marriage takes two to makes things work. And I sincerely doubt Tom is sitting around berating himself for the role he played.”

He had a point. Tom never admitted when he was wrong. I wasn’t the only one that made my marriage suck. Tom had been absent, emotionless, and distant. At the end of the day, I think we both knew we shouldn’t have gone down the road of matrimony, but we’d both done what was expected of us, and look how that had turned out.

“So no more negative talk,” Carter said. “You need to be more positive.”

“I’m like the Grouch from Sesame Street, I don’t know how to be happy.”