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Sam parked outside the clubhouse, stomped through the door, and into the bar room. It was mostly empty, but when Kai caught sight of her he dropped his pool cue and stepped behind the bar.
“What can I get you, babydoll?” He gave her a bright smile, but it slipped when he saw her face. “Are you… angry?”
“Yes,” she huffed, taking off her coat and tossing it over a stool. “Get me something. Anything.”
He nodded and hurried off, slightly frightened by the idea of an angry Sam.
“Sammy, what’re you doing here?” Aero asked, having just come down the stairs. “I mean, I’m happy to see you, but what’s going on?”
“She’s pissed,” Kai said, setting what looked like a Long Island Iced Tea in front of her and stepping away to continue his pool game with Bear and Shorty.
Aero held out his hand. “Come here.”
Sam held up a finger, sucked down half the drink, shuddered, and took Aero’s hand. He led her out of the bar room, up the stairs, and into his room.
He sat in his desk chair, folded his arms over his chest, and said, “Go.”
“Rachel ruined my damn application!” she hollered, making him jump a little.
Sam was pacing, moving quickly from one side of the room to the other, running her hands through her tangled hair.
“Sam, what’re you talking about?”
“My God damned application for the Classroom Excellence grant. Rachel “Homewrecker” Dean from the front office took my fucking application and got rid of it so I wouldn’t win because she wants me to keep quiet about her affair with the shithead music teacher!” Sam shouted, her body trembling with her anger.
Aero watched her with huge, round eyes. He was shocked, both at the situation and Sam’s liberal use of cuss words. She was so angry, so upset, but he was too surprised to respond.
“It’s not fair. I need that grant money for my kids,” Sam said, slumping to the floor beside Aero’s bed. “I earned it.”
Aero sighed heavily. “Of course you did, honey.”
He reached out and took her by the shoulders, pulling her up and into his lap.
Sam wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder, the frustration and anxiety of the last few months flowing out of her. She let him hold her, rubbing her back and whispering to her until she ran out of tears.
“All right. Tell me what happened.”
Starting with what she saw in the teacher’s lounge back in October, Sam told Aero everything about Rachel and Mike, how they threatened her, how Kelly asked her about it and she had to lie, then the encounter with Rachel and what she did to her application.
“Oh, Sammy,” Aero said, “I’m so sorry.”
“What do I do?” Sam whispered, wiping at her nose with her sleeve.
“Well, do you wanna tell someone? Your boss? Kelly?”
Sam shook her head. “I can’t be the one to ruin their marriage. Why did they have to put that on me? I’m the only one not doing something wrong.”
“I mean, technically Mike ruined his own marriage. But the application got there, right?”
“Yeah,” Sam sniffled, “but now that it’s been processed, I have to do the second part. It’s a bunch of essay questions, then I have to get three letters of recommendation, and have Peggy approve it all and send it in.”
“That’s good, right? It’ll go right through the principal so no one messes with it.” Aero tried to sound optimistic and supportive, even while he felt anger and frustration on Sam’s behalf.
She nodded. “I have to nail these essays and make sure I get the right people to write the letters. I’m pretty sure they already dinged me for almost missing the application deadline.”
“You’re such a worrywart,” Aero teased, stroking her hair. “Just relax, Sammy. Everything will work out.”
“What do I do about Kelly? They’ve got kids.”
