Chapter 22

Monday morning seemed to come far too soon. The teacher’s strike had ended over the weekend and school was starting back up, with a two-hour delay on the first day back. All four of them woke up when Tasha’s alarm went off. Megan looked across the red mop of Sophia’s hair and said good morning to Tasha. “Did I keep you awake with my snoring?” she asked with mock petulance.

“Good morning, and no. You only snored like a small bear last night, so I slept just fine.”

Megan grunted at that, then poked her daughter. “Come on, sleepyhead. Let’s get ourselves going. Just remember that we need to let Aunt Tasha get ready because she has to leave first, okay?”

There were a series of unintelligible mumbles from under the blankets, but Sophia did start to move. What followed was a whirlwind of activity as three humans and one cat got ready for the day. Nocturne was by far the easiest, as she just needed her breakfast and then an energetic round of post-poop-zoomies before she was ready for a long day of napping. The three humans engaged in a delicate dance to share one bathroom, get breakfast, get dressed, and then get out the door.

Megan walked Sophia to school, where she saw the principal greeting students as they returned to school for the first time since Halloween. They had a brief conversation, and the principal promised to keep an eye out for Sophia that day to make sure that she settled in okay. Feeling better, Megan headed downtown to the Portland Public Schools main offices. She arrived to find an ugly orangish-pink building whose architectural style could best be described as a bureaucratic blockhouse.

She got her paperwork squared away with HR and her photo taken at security. As a teacher transferring within the state, she was already background-checked and had all of her qualifications, so the whole process was mostly painless. After waiting a bit for her new ID badge, Megan was ready to go. Tasha had been right about PPS’ desperate need for substitutes—she already had an assignment booked at McDaniel High School the next day.

During the wait for her ID badge, Megan dug Maria’s card out of her purse and called her number. Maria greeted her warmly, and she kindly offered to buy Megan lunch. “Don’t even worry about it, I can write it off as a business expense,” Maria said. They met for lunch at Dar Salam, an Iraqi restaurant. Megan took Maria’s suggestion to start with the adis soup, which turned out to be excellent.

Over the course of their meal, Megan and Maria discussed her divorce and what Megan’s goals were. Maria made sure to emphasize that giving Sophia a choice could end with Sophia choosing Brad. Throughout the meal, Maria kept up a steady stream of questions, probing Megan’s goals and concerns, all the while taking copious notes. At the end, she tore off a sheet of paper and handed it to Megan, saying, “These are the outstanding questions that I need you to answer. I know it seems like a lot, but it isn’t really. I know your primary goals and requests. It’s unusual, but not unheard of. I hope that all of this can be settled amicably, but that decision lies with your soon-to-be ex-husband.”

“Thank you, Maria. And, thank you for lunch.”

“You are quite welcome. I really enjoyed meeting Sophia at the party. I’m having a similar event for Christmas, and you both are invited. All three of you, actually. Please pass along my invitation to Tasha. I trust that the two of you are still getting along well.”

“Very well, and thank you for the invitation. That sounds wonderful!”

“Again, you are very welcome. The Christmas party should be a grand time.” Maria checked her watch. “I do have to run, though. I have a meeting with another client soon.”

“Thank you again. Have a great day, Maria!”

After their lunch, Megan headed back home, where Nocturne greeted her by falling down on her side and rolling around. She spent a good amount of time scratching the cat, who was seemingly starved for attention. Eventually, Megan fell for the classic tummy trap. Nocturne showed Megan her belly, and it looked so fuzzy and inviting, but when Megan went to rub that fuzzy tummy, Nocturne was greatly displeased. Megan was left inspecting her hand for signs of blood as Nocturne stalked off to the couch in a huff. Megan decided that Nocturne must have given her the warning claws rather than the full blades of death.

There was one last thing to do today before she walked over to school to meet Sophia. Megan picked up her phone and opened her contacts. Don’t pick up, don’t pick up, don’t pick up… Yes! Voicemail! After the beep, Megan said, “Hey, Brad. We need to meet and talk. Maybe this weekend. Don’t pull a stunt like Saturday again. I will email you and we can discuss a time and place.”

She made it to Sophia’s school a few minutes early, and hung out awkwardly near some other parents. They all seemed to know each other, and Megan felt like she was an outsider.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the bell. She resolved to go to a PTA meeting or something soon so that she could introduce herself. She watched the wave of students exit the building, searching for Sophia. Sophia came out with the principal and both walked over to Megan. “Hi, sweetheart, did you have a good day?”

“Yes, Mom. Everyone seemed nice.”

“I kept an eye out for Sophia and checked in with her teachers. She seems to be settling in well so far,” the principal said.

“Thank you, you really didn’t have to do that!”

“Starting at a new school mid-year is stressful. I try to look out for those students whenever possible. We all do. The teachers here are amazing.”

“Speaking of, I’m a sub now, so if you ever need someone to cover…”

“Thank you. I will keep that in mind. Are you looking for permanent work or just subbing?”

“I’m thinking about something permanent, but I have a lot going on right now, so...”

“Understandable.”

Megan felt a tug on her arm. “Okay, it seems like we need to go. Thank you again for keeping an eye out for Sophia.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Okay, let’s get you home, munchkin. What did you have for lunch?”

“PBJ!”

“Yum, what other things did they have?”

Megan let Sophia talk about her day, enjoying her excitement about the new school, asking questions as needed. The walk home was very pleasant. Rain was coming soon, but today was a good day.

Back home, Megan got Sophia settled in. They spent some time together before Megan started on dinner. Tasha had texted to say that she would be late, so Megan decided to make a turkey pot pie. She enlisted Sophia’s help, teaching her how to make a pie crust and roll it out. Then they cut some vegetables and diced the last of the turkey from the Friendsgiving leftovers.

Dinner was ready right before Tasha walked through the door. “Honey, I’m home!” Tasha said with a tired smile.

“Welcome home. Dinner’s ready.”

“It smells amazing.”

“Wine?”

“Yes… You are the best!”

“Goddess?”

“Hey now, there’s only one of those in this household and that’s me.” Tasha smiled and added, “Demi-goddess?”

“Hmm, I think maybe the goddess title should go to whoever does the most recent nice thing.”

“Maybe… Fine, I guess that you can have the title for now.”

Nocturne meowed.

“And yes, you are always a little goddess, aren’t you?”

After dinner, Megan got Sophia ready for bed and tucked her in. She found Tasha on the couch, trying to find something to watch. “Thank you for dinner. It tasted amazing, especially after the day that I had.”

“Rough one?”

“It wasn’t hard. Just two big clients emailing me about changes all day long, plus stupid Kevin is back, so he had to chime in. Ugh.”

“I’m sorry, Tasha. Shoulders or feet?”

“Huh?”

“Probably shoulders. Turn around.”

“Wuh?”

Megan sat behind Tasha and dug her hands into Tasha’s shoulders, working out the knots of tension she found.

“Goddess… definitely goddess…”