Chapter Two
Two
In the vast and humming galaxy, the winds died. The oceans stilled and birds plummeted from the skies. Fussing babies hushed mid-wail. Basketballs froze, hanging on the rims. The world skidded to a halt: a still and silent ball of blue. An “oh shit” moment if there ever was one.
Then Lulu’s phone began to ring. Soberly, she cradled her cell and dragged herself into Zoe’s room for privacy.
Now the shower was really out of the question.
For the next twenty minutes, in a cascade of contrition, Lulu backpedaled and apologized and agreed that typed comments would have been a better choice. But in the end, she returned to the kitchen, a picture of defeat.
“Well,” she said, after plunking into the chair.
She shook her head sadly at Rooster’s inquisitive expression.
“The parents went all…Rambo: First Blood, Part One. They’re calling for my dismissal.
” Lulu sighed. “At least my principal went to bat for me. So for the time being, I’m suspended.
The school board will meet after the break and…
” She slumped, feeling the hopelessness bear down on her.
“Who knows when, or if, this will get cleared up?” Groaning, she dropped her head in her hands.
“Buck up, pancake.” Rooster took the seat across from her. “They didn’t say ‘fired.’ They’re giving you time off until they come to their senses. I know you, Lulu. Hang in there and stay strong. Live by the sword, die by the sword.”
Patting her husband’s wrist, Laverne whispered, “I don’t think that’s the saying you’re looking for, sweetheart.”
The wooden tabletop provided a cool and solid place for Lulu to lay her cheek as she counted the mistakes that led to this moment.
1. Relinquishing control of Zoe’s nap schedule.
2. Relinquishing control of her computer.
3. Getting sucked into anything having to do with Tyler “The Rocket” Demming.
Yes. That was the most damning of all. As if fifteen years hadn’t been enough to get away from that egotistical player.
Somehow, some way, this was absolutely his fault.
The exhale from her solar plexus lasted a good five seconds. “I screwed everything up.”
Rooster lifted Zoe onto his knee, and she snuggled under his arm. “It’s not all so terrible. Look at this wonderful girl. She’s still smiling. Everything is just fine.”
Lulu pinched her lips together. She couldn’t afford to lose her job. How would she ever pull together the resources to get out of her aunt’s hair? Make strides to being more independent? And more importantly, how could she have allowed herself to lose her cool like that?
Oh. That’s right. Tyler Demming keeps his promises. What crap.
She would have laughed if it all didn’t feel so painful. How infuriating to get one more moment’s frustration out of a guy who only existed, as far as Lulu was concerned, inside a screen no bigger than five inches. Although she was pretty sure he would have claimed it was six.
Her aunt worried a napkin between her fingers and offered Lulu a sympathetic pat on the hand.
“I’m sure things will calm down. These things take time.
” The irritation that had coursed through her while watching the video had dissipated, but Laverne’s soothing tone hit a reminiscent nerve, pitching Lulu back into those agonizing days after her parents’ death.
“I’m so sorry about this,” Laverne said.
“It’s not your fault,” Lulu said, an echo of her aunt’s words all those years ago.
And there she was again, as viscerally as if it were yesterday, holding hands with her aunt during the funeral service.
The knuckles on the older woman’s cool hand had turned white with the effort of keeping both of them from breaking down.
Yet even numb with mourning, Lulu had felt some hope as she scanned the faces at her parents’ memorial.
Tyler had promised he would be there for her.
Surely, he was standing with the throng in the back.
Maybe he was waiting to console her when they could have a private word at her aunt’s house…
But Tyler never showed.
And he never showed when Laverne helped Lulu pack up her bedroom and moved in with her aunt. He wasn’t there when she had to sell her family’s house and fill out two years’ worth of university deferral forms. He wasn’t there when she gave up on tennis and turned her back on her future.
And that was when Lulu Gardner decided enough was enough. Tyler Demming only cared about Tyler Demming, and once Lulu recognized that fact, she also understood that going forward, she would be her own backup plan.
Rooster pressed on. “Think of this as an opportunity. Success is about harnessing tomorrow’s potential, and, Lulu, you got potential.”
Potential. Whatever that meant. Potentially, she might lose her job. Potentially, she might spend the rest of her thirties in orange overalls and handcuffs after hunting down Tyler and flinging a flipping flaming paddle at him.
Determined, Lulu rallied. Nobody knew how to take action better than a woman raising a toddler on her own. With a forceful shake of her head, Lulu stood, physically lifting herself out of her mood. “You’re right. I am going to fix this,” she said, already planning out a letter to the school board.
Laverne placed a hand on her niece’s elbow.
Lulu caught the look that passed between her aunt and uncle.
The pair were known to have entire eye conversations with subtitles only they could read.
And it occurred to Lulu that they were in cahoots.
Cahoots was never good. The last time Rooster and Laverne teamed up to “help” Lulu, she ended up with a car bought at auction that sported a giant business sticker on the door for Gooey’s Pizza.
At stoplights, people would roll down their windows and ask for a thick crust with pepperoni.
“I saw that look,” she said. “And I’m fine.”
Rooster cuddled Zoe closer. Yawning, the little girl burrowed into her papu’s shoulder and shut her eyes. Now she naps, Lulu thought. “You know,” Rooster said. “This might be an opportunity. Here’s a chance for you to take a step back.”
Laverne pitched in. “You could recharge. Do something different. Remember how you loved tennis?” her aunt asked. “You could get back into that.” And for a second, Lulu felt that tingling possibility. The hope that she could find a kernel of satisfaction on the court again. Work her way up to joy.
“Or go on a date,” Rooster added.
Nope. Tingle officially shot to hell.
And yet. It was true that parenting and teaching and basically being an icon of organization had become the focus of Lulu’s existence.
All that responsibility and stress was a lot, and maybe that definition of adulting wasn’t working for her anymore.
Her aunt’s and uncle’s words had touched a nerve, and already she could feel their influence wriggling into the back of her brain.
She looked at the relaxed face of her sleeping child and a powerful and unexpected sentiment hit her.
That. That is what I want. No job hanging by a thread.
No more code yellow or cleanup on aisle three.
If only grown-ups could have a brief and refreshing life nap.
Total abdication of responsibility. Absolute and unequivocal relief from the burden of being the one in charge. All. The. Time.
Or…She spotted Rooster’s suitcase near the door.
A reset. Yes, she thought, sensing the approach of a very good idea; what she needed was a body and mind revitalizing jump-start.
Something to help her leave the past in the past and move forward.
A comfort-zone-shaking, perception-shifting, mood-lifting experience.
And she knew exactly what sort of adventure would fill that need.
Her brain pitched in, perking up and rallying with optimism. As if cuing a reel, her imagination delivered a snazzy Me-Time montage.
Lulu swinging a paddle. Lulu lounging by the pool.
Lulu watching Zoe build sandcastles. Lulu, with the sand and the sun and the satisfaction of playing a sport she knew she could ace.
Lulu, without any chance of Tyler Demming popping up on a computer screen, pinging her about the past, and ruining everything with his enormous ego and his enormous…
no. She would not think about that. Stop. Stop. Hard stop.
Lulu, simply enjoying life. In paradise. Dammit.
She glanced at the glossy resort brochure she hadn’t noticed before on the kitchen table and leaned into the idea full tilt.
“What would you think about bringing me and Zoe on your Costa Rican pickleball vacation?”
Rooster smirked at Laverne. Those two were totally in cahoots.