Bad Girlfriend (First & Last #4) (2 page)

“There’s only one reason a boy like that comes over here.  And it’s not a good reason.”

I sighed and took a seat at the table.  It had been a while since she had lectured me.  Of course, I was usually much better at hiding what I was doing.

“You can’t keep giving away the milk for free, Brooke.  It gives them no reason to buy the cow.”

I really loved being compared to a cow.

“
You need to find yourself a nice boy.  One that appreciates you.”

I snorted.  “Where, Gram?  There are
approximately five unmarried men in this town.  I don’t really have a great selection to pick from.”

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes.  “Don’t you think that’s a bit of an
exaggeration?  Look at your friends.  They’ve all found nice boys.  Leah and Lindsay have beautiful babies, and Poppy has that nice football coach.”

She was probably the only person that had ever described Ford as nice.  But she had a point.  I just didn’t want to hear it. 
It’s not like I didn’t already know all this, but I wasn’t sure what to do about it.  Nice guys weren’t exactly beating down my door.

When Gram saw the tears that welled up in my eyes, her voice softened and she smoothed my hair like she’d done since I was a little girl.

“I want you to be happy, Brooke.  That’s all I’ve ever wanted.  I’ve seen too many boys break your heart.  I just want you to find your prince.”

I wiped my eyes and offered a small smile.  “I know, Gram.  Don’t worry about me.  I’ll figure it all out…eventually.”  That seemed to appease her, though I didn’t believe a word of it.  I had no idea if I could figure anything out or not.

When Gram retired to her room for the night, I went outside.  I had been planning to spend some quality time with my vibrator, which was my usual routine after Chet had been over.  But getting lectured by Gram had effectively doused my libido in cold water.

The old tree swing that I used to spend hours on as a little girl still hung from the giant oak tree in the backyard.  My toes curled into the grass as I walked silently across the yard in the clear dark night.

With my hands grasping the rope, I pumped my legs until I was swinging high in the air.  My hair had come undone during my time with Chet, and it streamed behind me as I flew through the air.  I rarely felt as free as I did when I was swinging.  Leaning back so I could look through the branches to the stars above, I remembered what it felt like to be young and innocent.

I continued to swing until a distant rumble of thunder brought a warning of an impending storm.  Reluctantly I let myself slow down until my feet brushed the grass under the swing.  Even then I stayed outside until the first few raindrops fell.  Then I ran inside
and locked up the house for the night.  Gram’s light was already off when I went upstairs, so I made sure the volume on my TV was turned down low when I resumed watching America’s Next Top Model.

It was after midnight before I finally turned off the TV
and fell asleep to the sound of rain on the roof.  In the words of my favorite green eyed heroine, Scarlett O’Hara -
tomorrow is another day.

Chapter Two

Adam

My alarm clock went off way t
oo early, considering I didn’t sleep well.  And it was way too quiet here in Penn Yan.  Coming from New York City, I was used to the sounds of traffic and music from the bar down the block lulling me to sleep.  Here there was only the sound of the summer rain and the occasional cricket chirping.

Leaving the city had been a hard decision, but in the end, the promise of an easy position at a small town elementary school had drawn me away.  After watching kindergartners set off metal detectors on a daily basis, I
welcomed the change.  Granted this was my first year as principal, but four years of teaching and two years as assistant principal had prepared me well.  Or so I hoped.

Today was a teacher in-service day, so I would be able to settle in
to my office and meet the staff before the kids started back on Wednesday.  When I had come out for my interview two weeks ago, I had met with three members of the school board and Thomas Cole, the Superintendant.

I
had known Thomas for many years, from back when I dated his niece for several years in college.  We had spent some time here in the summer at Thomas’ lake house.  When he called me out of the blue about this opportunity, I couldn’t help feeling like it was meant to be.  I was only one hour into my drive back to the city after the interview when Thomas called to offer me the job.  I gave my two weeks’ notice to my old school the next day.

The only bad part of taking a job so quickly was that I didn’t have time to look for a place to live.  One of the school board members knew a woman who had an apartment available, and the price was great.  So I took it - sight unseen.  Now that I was here, I understood why the rent was so cheap.  I could stand in the kitchen and almost touch my bed.  There was just enough space in the bathroom to turn around, and I had to duck
down in the shower to wash my hair.

The landlady
, Eleanor, was a nice, older woman who lived in the big house out front.  She was here to greet me when I arrived on Saturday and kindly recommended a storage place for the furniture that wouldn’t fit in the studio apartment, which was almost everything.  She had mentioned that her granddaughter lived with her, and I was assuming she would have been young - middle school or maybe high school age - since Eleanor herself didn’t seem to be too old.

But the woman I saw taking out the trash late last night was no teenager.  And if she was, Lord help me, I shouldn’t be allowed to work with children after the thoughts I had.  No, she was definitely older, maybe early twenties.  I had just turned off my light to attempt to go to sleep when I heard rattling around outside.  Going to the window I saw a scantily clad young woman wrestling two large trash cans down the driveway.  It wasn’t until she reached the curb and the streetlight illuminated her that I saw her hair was a vibrant
shade of red and her skin was smooth.  I couldn’t make out her features, but her body...good God.  Yeah, she was definitely not a teenager.

She must have had some sort of disagreement with the second trash can, because after she got it in place, she k
icked it.  That had made me laugh, and I almost didn’t close the curtain before she turned around.  Spying on her from the window was not the first impression I wanted to make.

Reminding myself I was here to do a job, not stalk the landlady’s granddaughter, I finished dressing and grabbed a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
  Because today and tomorrow were work days for the teachers and school didn’t begin until Wednesday, I chose to wear khakis and a button down with the sleeves rolled up.  It was my experience that the teachers in elementary schools were predominantly women.  As one of only a few males - the janitors and gym teacher usually being the others - I could expect to be hauling around boxes of school supplies all day.

When I left my apartment and jogged down the stairs on the side of the garage, I glanced at the house.  There was no sign of anyone
being up and around, and I wondered when I would meet the beautiful trash can kicker.

Having come from the city, I had
been forced to buy a new car before moving here.  There wasn’t any public transportation in Penn Yan.  The black sedan still smelled new as I climbed in and tossed my worn leather briefcase on the passenger seat.

As I drove through town
, I caught glimpses of boats out on the lake.  Hopefully, I would have some time to experience the lake life before the weather turned cooler.  I easily found my way from my apartment to the school.  There were a few cars scattered through the small parking lot, and a couple of teachers were carrying in boxes.

The teachers would begin setting up their classrooms this morning, and there would be a casual luncheon to officially welcome me to the school.  I hoped to make it around to each classroom before then, so I could put faces to names.  At
thirty years old, I was fairly young for a principal.  At my previous school, it hadn’t been an issue.  But I wasn’t sure what kind of reception I would get in a small town.

It didn’t take long to find out. 
No sooner had I set my briefcase down in my new office than an older woman with white hair pulled back severely from her face, poked her head in the door.

“Mr.
Branigan?”  Even though she was a good foot shorter than me, she somehow managed to look down her nose at me through her black rimmed glasses.

“Yes, I’m Adam
Branigan,” I replied, crossing the room and holding out my hand.

She shook it briefly and resumed her insp
ection of me from head to toe.

“I’m Louise, the school secretary.  Once you’re settled in, I can take you on a tour.”  Without giving me a chance to respond, she turned on her heel with surprising agility for someone who had to be approaching seventy.

I took a few minutes to look around my office, checking in the drawers and booting up my computer.  Then I went in search of my tour guide.  Louise was sitting at the desk in the middle of the area that housed my office as well as the guidance counselor and school nurse.  I hadn’t learned until after I had accepted the position that there wasn’t money in the budget for an assistant principal.  With a school this small it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

“I’m ready for that tour whenever you are,” I said as I approached Louise’s desk.  She was furiously typing an e-mail, her fingers flying over the keyboard.  Without a word she held up one finger in my direction.

While I waited for Louise to grace me with her presence, I strolled around the reception area looking at the photos that lined the walls.  Class photos going back twenty years hung alongside artwork done by the students.

“All right, Mr.
Branigan.  Are you ready?”

Turning, I gave Louise my friendliest smile.  It was not reciprocated.

Louise led me down the hallway to the left, which housed the kindergarten and first grade classrooms.  There were two classrooms for each grade, so approximately 240 students in the entire school.  I was used to that many per grade.  I looked forward to knowing all the children by name.

When Louise motioned to the first classroom, s
aid the name of the teacher and started to walk on, I stopped her.

“I’d like to meet the teachers as we walk around,” I said.

She pursed her lips.  “That’s not what Principal Edwards did on the first day.”

“Well, I’m not Principal Edwards, and I believe the Superintendant hired me to not do things the way Principal Edwards did,” I replied firmly but in a pleasant tone.  The last thing I wanted to do was make enemies on my first day, but I was not going to be told how to run my school.

Apparently Principal Edwards had been forced into early retirement after word got out of an inappropriate relationship with a high school student.  There wasn’t any concrete proof, but the rumors were enough to tarnish his career.  Hence, the last minute job opening and rush to get me here before school began.  The Superintendant had warned me that some of the staff did not believe the rumors and were staunchly behind the former Principal.  It seemed Louise would be one of those people.

As we walked through the school, Louise would stand in the doorway of each classroom tapping her toes and looking repeatedly at her watch.  I, on the other hand, was enjoying meeting and chatting with all the teachers.  Most everyone seemed welcoming and open to
the change in leadership.  It was only the older teachers, like Louise, who gave me a somewhat chilly reception.

The tour took much longer than expected, or so I was told by Louise.  So, I had only about half an hour back in my office before the luncheon would begin.  I used that time to compose an e-mail to the parents introducing myself and conveying my hopes for the
upcoming school year.

After lunch, I helped the teachers with anything they needed in getting their classrooms ready.  I carried in boxes, stapled letters and numbers to bulletin boards and sorted markers.  I also had the opportunity to meet the janitor and the special subject teachers - art, music and physical education.  By the end of the day, I felt like I had a decent grasp of how the school operated.

I was still at my desk at 6:00 when Louise came in to say goodbye.

“Is there anything you need before
I leave for the night?” she asked, her tone daring me to come up with something.

“No, Louise.  I’ll be fine.  Enjoy your evening.”

She did not return my well wishes.  I was going to have my work cut out for me with that one.

I stayed for another half hour and then decided to call it a night.  After moving in on Saturday, I’d spent all day yesterday getting unpacked.  I hadn’t had time to do any grocery shopping, and I just wasn’t in the mood tonight.  Driving back toward my apartment, I headed down the main street.  There was a restaurant in the middle of town called The Last Call.  It lo
oked like the perfect place to get a burger and a beer.

There was an open parking spot on the side of the street a block down from the restaurant, and I angled my car in with some difficulty.  Living in the city hadn’t provided me with a lot of chances to
practice my parallel parking.