AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m allergic.”
Not to the wine. He was allergic to any woman who’d try to use her feminine wiles to seduce him into making a decision, especially one where his job and the children in his care were of concern. And anyone who would think he would even consider it was not someone he would ever want to be associated with.
“Would you excuse me?” Ron ducked out of that trap of Iman and took a step towards the main entrance. Where he promptly halted in his tracks.
It was something out of a John Hughes movie, complete with an anxiety-filled eighties track. The sun acted as a backlight as the doors parted and let her through. She moved in slow motion and Ron’s heart stopped beating. Stars twinkled in his eyes. The whole scene went foggy and dream-like from a montage that would later be cut together and remixed just before the final scene of the movie where the two lovers realize they belong together.
Coming into the double doors and back into his life was the only woman Ron had ever loved. Kylee Bauer was back in town.
Chapter Three
Kylee’s car came to a sputtering stop as she approached the school zone. She put the car in park and prayed that it would start up again. The last thing she needed was another mechanic bill. Her father might’ve left her her childhood home, but it came with a repair bill and no other royal inheritance.
Jason had sworn that he’d had the car looked at on its regular maintenance schedule. But like so many things in their relationship, she doubted that was entirely true.
They’d sold Kylee’s first car one year into their marriage. It had been Kylee’s graduation present from her parents. But Jason said they could ride his bike most of the time or take the bus when it rained. So, she agreed. And then she got pregnant.
This current model car was a far cry from the new model her father had proudly handed her the keys to nearly ten years ago. Kylee stepped out of the car with a squeak of the door hinges. The sun was high in the sky, shining brightly off her old elementary school. Visions of her first day here at Barton flashed in her head.
She’d been so excited to come to school, but also scared. It had seemed huge. Most elementary schools were single or two-story buildings on a few acres of land. Not so in the city of Adalia.
Beyond the elementary school, Kylee spied the middle school and high school. Adalia had a cluster model. The thinking was that it made transitioning for the kids easier. All Kylee remembered was feeling intimidated that first day.
There were other royal children in the halls. Like most modern royals, the highborn easily mixed with the middle class as the commoners often had more status and wealth in this age. Though Kylee’s father was a distant relation to the King, there was little to no contact between the families. Kylee’s father lived in happy disgrace with his divorcee wife who hadn’t been entirely single when they fell in love. But just as Marilee Bauer had done as she walked away from the palace with her prince, Kylee had kept her head high as she’d walked the halls.
Those feelings of intimidation soon passed, and Kylee had excelled as she’d transitioned to each of the buildings on the Barton school campus. She’d been an academic superstar when she’d been enrolled here. Now she felt like a washed up has-been. Her star had pretty much fizzled after graduation. But it was a new day and she was entering the cluster a new woman… with a troubled kid in tow.
Kylee scrubbed her hands over her face as she took the four steps to the double doors. Then she pressed her hands down her skirt hoping to smooth away any wrinkles on the fabric. She’d never been in trouble a day in her life while she was in school. Sure, she’d been in the principal’s office many times. But each time had been to receive praise for an accomplishment, accolade, or honor.
This would not be one of those times. Ms. Most Likely to Succeed had failed. And now her kid was a troublemaker.
Kylee pushed her way through the double doors of the school. She was shocked to find that the school smelled the same, it looked the same, it felt the same. There was a chill in t
he halls that had her wishing for one of her old cardigans. But she’d ditched those prim cover-ups, as well as her tiara, when Jason had draped his leather jacket around her shoulders.
Just inside the double doors was a showcase that had been on display since Kylee’s days at Barton. It was each fifth-grade graduating class photo going back for over fifty years. She found her fifth-grade picture among the dozens. She stared for a long moment at the innocence in that little girl’s eyes.
Then, in the reflection, she saw a vision of herself sitting alone. But Kylee had never been alone in school. She wasn’t popular, but she’d had a group of friends throughout her entire school career. She’d even had a best friend. But she hadn’t seen him in years. She’d let that relationship run fallow along with much of her old life in Adalia.
The vision of herself shifted and Kylee realized she was looking at her daughter in the present. Kylee turned to find Molly sitting alone outside the main office. Her heart broke to see her kid sitting so with her arms crossed over her small chest, but her head held high and proud. Just like her royal ancestors.
Kylee had stayed in one place as a kid. She’d been secure with parents who loved each other and her. She’d had a community she was safe in.
Molly had had none of that. But things would be different now. Kylee would give all of that to her daughter. Normalcy. No more leather jackets and motorcycles. No more half-baked ideas and no follow through. Heck, no more men period.
“Hey, Molls.”
“Hey, Mommy.”
Kylee slumped down into the empty seat next to her daughter. “So, whatcha been up to?”
A flush crept across her little girl’s cheeks. “I made a poor decision. But you don’t have to worry. I didn’t like the consequences, so I won’t do it again.”
Kylee opened her mouth and then closed it. She hadn’t planned what sage advice she’d give her kid. She didn’t even know what had happened to bring Molly to the principal’s attention. But it would appear the moral was taught, and the lesson learned. Adalia was already working its magic.
“I talked with the principal,” Molly continued. “He’s really nice and really funny. I think you’d like him and-”
“Kylee Bauer.”
