Hearts at Play by Melissa Foster
“That’s why I’m here. I don’t have an appointment, but I’d like to speak with Principal Shue, please.”
“Oh yes. I think she’ll make the time, given the situation. Just have a seat, and I’ll let her know you’re here.” She pushed her stout body from her chair and hurried into Principal Shue’s office.
The situation? Now Hugh and I are a “situation”?
Brianna sat in the plastic chairs by the door. Two of the lunchroom aids breezed into the office. One carried the newspaper, folded to show the photograph of Hugh and Brianna. Luckily, they were so engrossed in the damn thing they didn’t notice her sitting to the left of the doors. She sank down in her chair.
“Can you believe it? I heard—”
“Brianna. It’s been a very long time.” All six feet of Principal Shue looked over her.
Brianna jumped to her feet. “Yes, it has. Thank you for seeing me.” She followed the clomp, clomp, clomp, of Principal Shue’s black orthopedic shoes into her office and sat across from Principal Shue, separated by a large wooden desk. She still wore her dyed-too-dark hair cropped short above her ears and layered throughout, and she still wore the same style polyester pantsuit that she’d worn when Brianna had been in school. She looked just as manly.
Brianna fidgeted with the seam on her purse, wrestling the same jittery feelings she’d had as a grade schooler.
“I hear Layla is a little celebrity today.” Principal Shue leaned back in her chair and crossed her thick legs.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, her class took a few minutes this morning to discuss what it was like to know someone famous. It was a good lesson for the children. You know, etiquette and such. The teacher did a nice job of handling it.”
“Etiquette?” Brianna gripped her purse in both fists. “That is not at all appropriate for my daughter to experience in school. What our private life consists of is not up for classroom discussion.”
“Oh, Brianna. You always did buck the system.”
“Buck the system?” I’ll buck the fucking system all right.
“The way you used to fight against Take Your Child to Work Day.” She narrowed her eyes at Brianna, and Brianna bristled.
She’d always hated those days. They had twenty-one children in their class, and on Take Your Child to Work Day, she and the Baker twins were the only children who came to class. The Baker twins’ parents also worked two jobs just to make ends meet. She’d argued the validity of Take Your Child to Work Day every year her mother was unable to take her, and every year Mrs. Shue gave her the same song and dance about the importance of children seeing what it was that their parents did for a living. Unfortunately, she never gave her the answer Brianna had needed. She never told her that her mother’s boss was an ass or that at the time it had been difficult for a single mother to find employment that paid well enough to provide for them. Or what Brianna had really wanted to hear, even if it was unreasonable—that Take Your Child to Work Day had been canceled. Forever.
“I still think that day is quite silly,” Brianna said. “I came in today to ask that you please monitor Layla’s class and her friends now that…” I’ve been photographed with my boyfriend? My lover? Oh God, what do I say?
“Now that the cat’s out of the bag?”
Brianna sighed. “Look, I don’t want Layla to be the center of attention because of Hugh’s career. She’s a six-year-old girl, and she’s here to learn and socialize, not to become a public spectacle.”
“Perhaps you should have considered that before you started dating Mr. Braden.”
Ouch. Brianna stood. “Perhaps, but since this…issue has come about, can I count on you to protect my daughter or not? That’s the only thing that matters at this point.”
“Settle down, Brianna. Sit back down, please.”
Brianna obeyed like one of Pavlov’s dogs.
“Layla didn’t seem to mind talking about her night at the theater, and she was commended for her creativity for writing her own play. We’re certainly not trying to make a spectacle of her. There was a lot of excitement this morning, as two of the children brought the newspaper into class, and it grew from there.” Principal Shue leaned across the desk.
Brianna’s heart told her to take Layla and leave the school, but her mind told her to behave and listen.
“I can make certain that Mr. Braden’s existence doesn’t come into play in the daily classroom activities, but I’m not sure I can do much about what she’ll experience on the playground. But you know how these things go. Kids will forget soon enough, and life will go back to normal.”
Brianna remembered the two long years after her father left. Kids did not forget, and things did not go back to anything even close to resembling normal. And not once did any adult ask her how she felt about the name-calling or feeling left out during the special parent-child days when her mother had to work. She’d been labeled the girl whose father left. And I’m still that girl. There’s no way in hell she’d let Layla become the girl whose mother is dating Hugh Braden. Brianna’s phone vibrated.
“I’m sorry. Excuse me.” She dug her phone out of her purse to turn it off and was astonished to see three text messages from Layla’s classmates’ mothers. Now that Hugh is around, they came out of the woodwork.
“Trouble?” Principal Shue asked.
“No.” She shoved her phone back in her purse. “I guess when you date a…someone like Hugh, everyone wants a piece of him.” She hated the frustration in her voice and the way her muscles all pulled tight across her neck. Was this what their life would be like? How could she protect Layla from getting an overinflated ego or from being used?
“Brianna, take a deep breath.”
Brianna obeyed. Ugh! She hated feeling like she was back in third grade. She wondered how Layla felt. Not what Principal Shue thought was right or wrong, and not even what she thought was right or wrong. How is Layla dealing with the attention? She knew what she had to do.
“Principal Shue, I’d like to speak to Layla.” She rose to her feet and headed for the door.
“I’ll be happy to have her come down and we can speak to her.”
“No, thank you. I’d like to speak with her privately.” She walked out of the principal’s office. “Actually, I’ll go get her. I can observe through the door for a few minutes. You can tell a lot about a child’s feelings by watching and even more by listening.” A few determined strides later, she was rounding the corner to Layla’s classroom.
She looked through the glass on the door. Layla waved her hand in the air, flapping it like a flag. Brianna smiled at her enthusiasm. Maybe I overreacted. She heard Principal Shue’s clop, clop, clop echoing down the hall. She wondered if Hugh had been right and this would blow over and he’d become just “Layla’s mother’s boyfriend” after a while. Layla was talking to the teacher, and she looked happy enough. Brianna was about to walk away when Principal Shue appeared behind her.
“Aren’t you going to speak with her?” She looked down at Brianna with the same stern look she always had.
“No. I think she’s okay.”
“Brianna, speak to your daughter. She’ll appreciate that you did, and you’ll have peace of mind.”
She met the principal’s surprisingly soft gaze.
“Your mother did this same thing when you were in school. After your father left, she’d come and observe about once a week. She’d feel confident after seeing you pay attention in class, or laugh at something, and then she’d go on her way. Take it to the next step, Brianna. You were never settled, and I think if your mother had pulled you from class and let you know that she cared about how you felt during school hours, it might have made you a little more at ease.”
“Then why didn’t you tell her to do that for me?” Brianna felt her legs weakening.
“I did. She didn’t have time. She worked very hard. Two jobs, as I remember, and she’d come over on a break and have to run back to work afterward.” Her gaze softened.
“Many parents don’t. They don’t want to embarrass their children by making them think they were checking up on them. You were a pistol. You stood up to the kids who called you names.” Principal Shue crossed her arms and looked as immovable as a linebacker.
“You knew?”
“Of course I knew. I tried to stop it, but you know we can’t do much. We can talk to the children, suspend them for a day or two, but that’s the extent of it. You held up a brave front. You gave it right back to them.”
Brianna had no recollection of ever giving it right back to anyone. She remembered feeling alone and different. Very, very different.
Principal Shue continued, and this time she spoke in a soft tone, her eyes translating pride toward Brianna. Her normal rigid facade was now more relaxed as she gazed off to the side, as if she were watching a memory unfold before her. “A few months after your father left, you began ignoring those comments. You’d lift your little chin and act as though you were deaf to it all.”
Deaf to it all? I was able to wall my emotions off then, too? Enough of that. No more. Determined not to let Layla experience the same lonely, painful childhood, she changed her mind. “I think I will talk to her. Thank you.”
Twenty minutes later, after running Layla’s lunch back inside, Brianna left the school with more than peace of mind. She had a contented heart as well. She hadn’t yet explained to Layla what Hugh did for a living, and though her classmates made a big deal about it, Layla had raised her palm to the air and told Brianna, All adults drive cars. Hugh’s nice, so I told them that he was nice and to stop asking about his cars. Sheesh! Unlike Brianna, Layla seemed able to handle the situation—at least for now.
HUGH ARRIVED AT Jean’s house at five-thirty. “Wow, that’s a big box.” Brianna opened the door, and her heart swelled at the sight of Hugh. She wondered if she’d ever get used to his good looks or the sparkle that lit up his eyes when he saw her for the first time each day.
Hugh handed her a large gift wrapped in silver paper. “This one’s for you.”
“It’s not my birthday.”
“Sure it is. You gave birth to Layla six years ago. Besides, you can’t get mad about this. It’s a very utilitarian purchase. You need it.”
They went into the living room and Brianna untied the ribbon. “Maybe I need rules about not spoiling me, too.”
“I can adhere to the spoiling rule for children, but a girlfriend shall have no say on her own spoiling.”
Brianna gasped as she took the camera from the box. “Hugh.” She touched it as if it were made of glass.
“CD…Claude helped me pick it out.”
“Oh my God. I can’t accept this. These are super expensive.” She put it back in the box. They’d never discussed finances, and Brianna was sure Hugh earned a lot of money given his cars and what he did for a living, but it was still too lavish of a gift for her to accept.
“Bree, if I have to accept not spoiling Layla, then you have to accept the gifts I choose for you.”
“But…”
He wrapped her in his arms. “I love that you worry, but I promise you that I wouldn’t ever buy anything that I couldn’t afford.” Hugh set the box on the coffee table and pulled Brianna down to the couch beside him. “I make more money in a year than we could ever spend.”
We? She wrinkled her brow.
Layla ran into the room. “Hugh!” She jumped into his lap and assessed the open gift. “Is that present for Mom?”
“Yup. Now she can take pictures of your party,” Hugh said.
“Oh goody!” She slid off his lap and ran into the kitchen. “Grandma! Guess what Mom got!”
A knock at the door drew Brianna’s attention. She should have expected that people would show up early, given the morning newspaper.
“Cheryl, hi.” Brianna opened the door, very aware—by Cheryl’s gaping jaw—of Hugh standing behind her.
Cheryl wore the same outfit she’d had on earlier in the day, though she had on enough perfume to gag a small army. “You must be Hugh. What a pleasure to meet you.” She held out a limp wrist.
Hugh nodded and flashed his dimples. “Hello, Cheryl. Nice to meet you.”
Marissa ran into the house. “See! There he is!” she yelled over her shoulder to three other little girls and their mothers. Each woman dressed as though she were attending a formal, albeit slutty, affair. Brianna had never seen these women in anything other than jeans and T-shirts. Now they flaunted cleavage, short skirts, and more makeup than Kat wore.
The children ran into the backyard with Layla, and the women swooned over Hugh, blinking their heavily mascaraed eyelashes and peppering him with questions.
“I didn’t even know you lived in the area,” Cheryl said.
“How did you two meet?” Lisa, a short blond-haired woman asked.
“We should get together for dinner sometime with the kids,” Kelly, a short, stout brunette suggested.
Hugh put his arm around Brianna and pulled her in close. “I do have a house here, and I was lucky enough to meet Bree at her work.” He kissed the side of her forehead. “Babe, I promised to help Jean with a few things. Do you mind?”
Brianna could have stayed in his arms forever, but the vultures were eye raping him. She didn’t blame Hugh for wanting to escape. Of course they all watched him walk away. Brianna had to admit, he did have a hot ass. Thankfully, the parents from Layla’s class never stayed at birthday parties. They always had an errand to run or another child to care for, so she held the door open for them to leave.
“The party is over at seven thirty.” She watched as the women followed Hugh toward the kitchen. Brianna groaned. She picked up her new camera—relishing in the weight of it, the contoured lines, and the way it fit so perfectly in her hands—and then she went to watch The Devouring of Hugh Braden.
She found Hugh in the backyard with the children. He’d tied the piñata to a branch of the big oak tree. Layla was beneath the tree holding a plastic bat. Her eyes were clenched shut, and Hugh began spinning her in slow circles. Brianna brought the camera to her eye and focused on the two of them. A calm that she hadn’t realized she’d missed washed over her. She took several pictures, then zoomed in on Hugh’s profile, feeling her heart swell as she cataloged his features through the safety of the lens, capturing them in her heart—and on film.
“Okay, Princess Layla, swing,” he coaxed.
Layla swung the bat and missed.
“Again,” Hugh encouraged her.
She swung again and tapped the piñata. This time he set her in just the right position and she smacked it hard. She opened her eyes and Brianna caught the awed expression, and then she caught the embrace between the two people who owned equal parts of her heart.
Sarah, a quiet blond girl, was up next. Hugh crouched beside her. What Brianna saw through her lens was the way his eyes watched the little girl’s eyes as they drifted around the backyard and how he reacted to her shyness with perfect grace, not too strong, not too soft, a sweet curl to his lips, a glint in his eye, and a moment later, Sarah’s eyes followed Hugh as he settled the piñata for her turn.
When it was time for the cake, the hyenas surrounded Hugh once again. Cheryl stood behind him and put her hand on his shoulder, pretending to look around him, when, in fact, there was plenty of room for her to take a step or two to the side. Through the lens of the camera, Brianna caught Hugh’s shoulders as they inched up toward his ears and the pleading look in his eyes when he turned toward her. She lowered it and watched as he twisted, disengaging from Cheryl’s trap, his eyes trained on Brianna.
“You okay?” Hugh touched her cheek.
If you call wanting to claw Cheryl’s eyes out okay. “Yeah.”
“I’m trying to be nice to your friends, but—”
“They aren’t my friends, Hugh. They’re the parents of Layla’s friends. Don’t worry. I don’t blame you for them being all over you.” The women wat
“I can put a stop to that woman with one sentence. But I need your okay to do it.”
She tilted her head, wondering what the mischievous gleam in his eyes meant.
“One sentence. That’s all it takes. Something simple like, You’re really sweet, but I don’t like to be touched by anyone other than Brianna.”
Brianna laughed. “You’re a goof.”
“How about, Only in your dreams, and then I take you in a passionate kiss and press your beautiful body against mine until you can’t think and I can’t breathe?”
She couldn’t think, and from the looks of it, he could hardly breathe. She licked her lips.
He stepped closer. “I will have to kiss you if you do that again, and I’m pretty sure that when I start I won’t be able to stop.”
He had a hungry look in his eyes, and when she put her hand on his stomach, she felt him shudder, which sent a pulse of heat right through her.
“Bree, Hugh, we’re ready for cake,” Jean said.
For a moment they just stared at each other, unable to break away from the electricity that bound them. Hugh’s hand found hers, and Brianna begged her legs to remain strong.
“Hold up.” Hugh held up one finger. “I have something for the birthday girl before we get started.” He ran into the house and came back out with his hands behind his back.
He stood behind Layla, and Brianna focused her camera once again as Hugh settled the tiara on Layla’s head.
“Happy birthday, Princess Layla.”
Brianna caught on film every smile, every excited moment as Layla stood on her chair and jumped into Hugh’s arms and the loving look on Hugh’s face as Layla pressed her cheek against his. She lowered the camera to unveil the scene in real time. She’d never imagined that anyone could love Layla as much as she did, and there was Hugh, with a heart as big as the sun and enough love to share with both of them.
The other mothers awwed, and Brianna knew that it would never matter if women pawed at or fought for Hugh. She and Layla had already staked claim to his heart, and they hadn’t even actively tried. Maybe some things really are meant to be.