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“Yes, sir. Consider it handled.”
Chapter Eight
“So, you go over the loop, and then pull under.” Ron gave Ricky, Jr.’s tie a tug.
“You're choking me, Principal Kidd.”
Ron wasn’t choking the kid. Like his mother, the little boy did have a flair for the dramatic. Luckily, Ricky, Jr. was one of the lead actors in the school play today.
Ron gave the knot of the tie a tug to loosen it a bit. The kid took a deep inhale and relaxed his small shoulders. “My mom went out last night with a man in a tie. But his looked like a girl’s hair ribbons.”
“A bow tie?” asked Ron.
Ricky shrugged. “She was dating a musician last week. He never wore ties. His pants had holes and he didn’t wear a belt, so his pants hung low enough to see his underwear. Then there was the grandpa she dated.”
“Your mom dated a grandpa?”
Molly Bauer turned to face them in her place next to the curtains. She’d come to Barton a couple of weeks after the school year had started, so she didn’t have a speaking role. But Barton was inclusive, so she couldn’t sit out. She was dressed in green to be part of the scenery.
“Ew, your mom dates your grandpa.”
“He wasn’t my grandpa,” insisted Ricky. But even with his suit and tie on for his lead role performance, Ricky couldn’t pull off an ounce of menace. “He just had a beard and gray hair like a grandpa. I didn’t like him. H
is skin was wrinkly and he smelled like peppermints. I don’t like peppermints. They make my nose itch.”
Ron wished it was his place to tell Iman to keep her dating life private from her kid until she was ready to make a commitment to a partner. But his place was not in the home, it was at the school. He could only teach the kids.
“Parents deserve to go out and have fun without their kids,” Ron said, deciding to take the diplomatic approach.
“I heard him tell her he wanted to be more than friends,” said Ricky. “Whatever that means?”
Ron wanted to shake his head. But he didn’t. He opened his mouth to offer more diplomacy, but Molly beat him to the punch.
“What it means is say hello to your new daddy,” said Molly.
“But I don’t want him to be my daddy,” said Ricky. “Or the musician. Or the mechanic. Or the cook.”
Now Ron had to put his professional feelings aside and do what was best for the emotional well-being of the child. And a string of men in his life wasn’t.
“I want you to be my daddy,” said Ricky, Jr.
Ron had been down on the kid’s level. That statement rocked him back on his heels.
“He can’t marry your mom,” said Molly. “He’s going to marry mine.”
That rocked Ron in a totally different way. He barely tolerated Iman. But he couldn’t wait to see Kylee again.
“He doesn’t even know your mom,” said Ricky.
“Yes, he does. They’ve been best friends their whole lives.”
“Is that true, Principal Kidd? Are you gonna marry Molly’s mom?”
“I… well…” Ron began. But his mouth wouldn’t complete the sentence he knew he was supposed to say. He couldn’t deny that he would never marry Kylee. His heart wouldn’t let him deny its greatest wish. “Ms. Bauer and I are just friends.”
“Teachers can’t date parents, dear.” All three of them looked up to see Mrs. Steen looming over them. “It’s against the rules.”
“Says who?” asked Molly.
