Chapter 19 #3
Unlike the rest of the folks in town, who were wearing jeans and T-shirts or even shorts, Principal Oliver was dressed in the same pantsuit combo she wore to work, right down to her shiny, sensible black flats.
Her blonde, chin-length bob did not move in the breeze.
I wasn’t sure she understood the concept of enjoyment.
“I might have enjoyed it,” she barked, “if people could do their jobs appropriately. Two of the three parent volunteers who were supposed to be running the splash bucket booth have gotten delayed due to a minor stampede over at the petting zoo. I need you.”
“You… need me for what?”
“I need you… to come with me… to the splash bucket,” she said insultingly slowly, pointing to the PTA booth like I was being obtuse.
“To… sell tickets?” I asked hopefully.
She threw back her head and brayed like a donkey. It took me a second to realize the rusty sound was her laughter. “Oh, no, Mr. Williams. You’ll be sitting under the bucket.”
Ugh.
“Ohhhh, yeah, no, I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly,” I argued. “I don’t have a change of clothes—”
“No one has gotten splashed yet this morning. Besides, it’s only a cup of water. Don’t be dramatic.” She turned around like my agreement was guaranteed.
“Sorry, still no. I need to watch Aiden,” I said with false regret. “Webb left him with me. So.”
“Aiden will stay with me. I’m the school principal. And I’ll man the Pick-a-Book booth,” she said, taking away my final excuse.
I was going to insist that I still couldn’t—maybe even take my life in my hands and suggest that she and her pantsuit should take a turn under the bucket instead—when Aiden unexpectedly threw me to the wolves.
“That sounds great, Principal Oliver!” he said sweetly. He stepped toward her and took her hand, which seemed to surprise her as much as it did me. “Luke, you’re the best. I hope you have so much fun. I can’t wait to see!”
Damn it.
“Fine, then. Same rules your dad gave you earlier apply with Ms. Oliver, okay?”
“Sure.”
I sighed. At least Em had said that hardly anyone ever got splashed.
Still, I gave Aiden my cell phone and my keys to put back in my booth, just in case.
But after I’d taken my seat on the folding chair under the bucket of water—which was ginormous, and I was not being dramatic—I realized I’d underestimated just how badly the kids wanted to splash one of their teachers.
They clustered around the booth, laughing and cheering as, one after another, they tried and failed to hit the target.
Above the sea of faces, I could see Aiden and Olin, both standing on a chair in the Pick-a-Book booth, getting a bird’s-eye view of the spectacle and laughing their heads off, and I found myself laughing, too.
“Jasmine,” I said as one of my students paid her dollar and collected her beanbags. “Dude. You don’t wanna splash me, do you? We’re friends.”
“No, I don’t.” Jasmine giggled. “My aunt Katey might, though.”
My eyes widened as I recognized the adult standing behind her. None other than Webb’s favorite server at Jack’s. The woman who had a huge crush on him. The woman who’d once told me she was the best softball pitcher in Hollow Swingers history.
“Katey!” I said a little nervously. “H-hey. Don’t you look nice today?”
“Thanks.” Katey grinned and tucked her blonde hair behind her ears. “I want you to know, Luke, I really like you. And I hope we can be friends.”
Then she proceeded to slam the beanbag into the target.
Oh, sweet merciful muffins.
“Ahhhh!” I screamed as the chilly bucket of water splashed down, plastering my hair to my head and soaking through my T-shirt.
I jumped to my feet and squeegeed the water away from my eyes with both hands.
“Oh, God. You got me! Wow. You weren’t kidding about being a great pitcher, huh?
Awesome job. Well. Who’s the next splash victim? ”
I pulled my soaked T-shirt away from my chest and looked around… but no one appeared.
Katey smiled again… a little evilly and held up her remaining beanbags. “It’s still you, Luke. I paid for six.”
Six?
“N-no, but. But—”
Janice, the other PTA parent working the booth, shrugged as she refilled the bucket with water from a cooler. “You and I are the only ones here. I guess we could both get wet…”
What the duck? There was no one else coming?
“No,” I groaned. “I’m already soaked. How much wetter can I get, right?”
It turned out the answer was much, much wetter.
I’d barely gotten my behind back in the seat when Katey hit the target with her second beanbag and I got doused again—with even colder water. And then she immediately landed her third shot.
By that point, I was coughing and spluttering water. I was soaked all the way to my shoes, and the back of my legs was the only dry spot on my body.
“Okay, then! Fun is fun, but now it’s done,” I said, standing up and clapping my hands like the entire crowd was my first grade class… since many of them were. “I’m getting cold, so you guys will have to wait for the next volunteer!”
Fortunately—for me, anyway—one of the volunteer dads ran up at exactly that moment, all apologies, and took the splash seat… wearing shorts, flip-flops, and a heavy waterproof rain poncho like the prepared person he was.
I snicker-snorted at my own soaked state. If I was going to continue living in Little Pippin Hollow—which I was—I was going to start carrying a change of clothes and a raincoat in my car.
I squelched my way through the crowd, receiving several back pats of support, and ended up back at my booth—which was nearly deserted for the first time all day.
“What happened to you?” Principal Oliver asked.
“What do you think?” I shot back. I glanced around the empty booth. “Where’s Aiden? I need to go home and get changed, so I’m going to drop him off with Webb.”
“Aiden?” She blinked in confusion. “Oh! Umm.” She darted a guilty glance around also, even looking under the folding table and behind a pile of boxes. “He… he must’ve wandered off! Tsk.”
Was she kidding?
“He’s seven.” I narrowed my eyes. “Seven-year-olds wander, which is why they need adult supervision. What happened to ‘I’m the principal, you can entrust him to my care’?”
I stood on my tiptoes, trying to see above the crowd, and when that didn’t work, I stood on the chair the boys had been using.
“Well, I was watching him. But then someone came in and asked a question about donations… and Maryanne and Olin Kopra were here talking about hamburgers, and Aiden said he was hungry also…” She set her chin. “And I could hardly do two things at once.”
“So he went with the Kopras, then?”
“I… yes. Yes, he did.”
I rolled my eyes, mildly relieved and still wildly annoyed. It amazed me that she’d actually been a teacher at one point. She liked the bureaucracy so much more than the kids.
I stopped myself from screaming at her, barely, by scouring the crowd. Fortunately, Maryanne was a redhead just like Murray, and I spotted her pretty easily just a few booths down.
Without saying another word to Principal Oliver, I jostled my way through the crowd to where I’d spotted Maryanne. But when I found her and Olin eating burgers at one of the high-top tables someone had set up, there was no one with them.
“Hey. Where’s Aiden?” I asked, a little breathless and extremely wet.
“Aiden?” Maryanne blinked at the state of me but quickly shook her head. “He’s not at the Pick-a-Book? He was there when we left. I figured he’d be chatting with Amanda.”
“A-Amanda,” I repeated. “She’s here for real?”
“I think so? I saw someone who looked just like her heading toward the Pick-a-Book when we were in the burger line.” Her eyes narrowed. “Problem?”
“Maybe? I don’t know. Amanda wasn’t supposed to be here at all.
I mean, she was, but then she said she had to work, so Webb wasn’t expecting her.
But I thought I saw her earlier, too. And now Aiden’s gone, and I really don’t think he would have randomly strolled off all by himself, which means—” I couldn’t make myself complete the sentence.