Tightening the Knot (22 page)

           
There was a tense moment on Saturday when Greg left a few hairs on the bar of soap.
 
Meredith nearly started an argument, but managed to remind him very calmly how disgusting she found this.
 
They silently agreed that it was not worth fighting over and it was a positive step.
 
Saturday night, Greg went out with a friend and Meredith did not feel like he was trying to avoid her.
 
This was also positive.
 
She wasn’t quite sure what to do with her evening alone and was trying to decide the likelihood of finding anything good on TV when the phone rang.

           
“Hello?”

           
“Meredith?
 
This is Ellie.
 
Tom’s Ellie.”

           
There was something odd about the way she introduced herself.
  
Mostly because Meredith remembered her parents’ friends discussing each other’s kids that way.
 
As in, “Bob’s Jennifer is starting at NC State this year” and “Fred’s Matt is in trouble with the law again.”
 
She pushed the weirdness aside, assuming that Ellie did not have the same associations.

           
“Hi, Ellie.
 
What’s up?”

           
“Well, I want to thank you again for letting me take your wedding dress.”

           
“You’re welcome.”

           
“And Tom and I have tentatively set the date for August 9
^th
.”

           
“Okay, I’ll be sure to mark our calendar.”
 
Meredith’s assertion was followed by a fairly long pause.
 
It gave the impression that there was another purpose to the call, but she wasn’t sure how to prompt Ellie.
 
“Um… so you guys had a nice trip home?”

           
“Yeah.
 
It was uneventful, which is good on a plane.”

           
“Absolutely.”

           
There was another pause.
 
Ellie seemed to take in a breath before diving in with, “Meredith?”

           
“Yes?”

           
“Now this is a big deal so you can say ‘no’ or if you want to think about it, that’s okay, too.
 
If I’m asking too much I want you to just say ‘no’ and not hate me or anything.”

           
“Just ask me.
 
It can’t be that bad.”

           
“Since we’re having a summer wedding, I was hoping, well, I just thought that maybe it would be alright if I had the dress altered just a bit.
 
I just want to take the sleeves off.
 
Is that terrible?
 
Would it ruin it?”

           
Meredith had been married in the fall.
 
The dress had long, gauzy sleeves attached to a V-neck bodice.
 
She could picture it looking very nice without the sleeves, particularly in August.
 
She tried to put Ellie at ease.

           
“I think that’s a great idea.
 
In addition to making it more seasonable, it would sort of put your stamp on the dress.
 
You know, really make it yours for the day.”

           
“You’re really okay with this?”

           
“I really am.
 
I’m just happy it’ll get another use.
 
And hey, now you’ll be the one who has to find a place to store it.”

           
Ellie let out a short laugh.
 
“I’m so glad you approve.
 
I was really afraid to ask and almost wasn’t even going to at all.
 
But then Tom was so sure you wouldn’t mind.
 
He told me to call you an
Ichabad
if you refused.”

           
“I’m not surprised.”

           
“Well, thanks again.
 
We’ll let you know more details about the big day as we decide them.”

           
“Great.
 
I’m looking forward to it.”

           
They said their goodbyes and Meredith put the phone down next to her on the couch.
 
Parts of that conversation had been almost cordial.
 
Perhaps there was hope for that relationship, too.
 
She picked up the remote to relax for the evening, but put the phone back on the charger before she got comfortable.
 
Greg preferred it there.

****

           
Sunday morning’s homily had a theme.
 
Most homilies have themes of course.
 
That particular Sunday, however, Meredith felt that the priest was talking directly to her.
 
He talked a great deal about how people tend to make excuses for not doing what they know needs to be done, and that sometimes those same people spend too much time planning how to do something.
 
Meredith resolved to call the doctor as soon as possible.
 
But not right then as the office was probably closed on Sundays anyway.

╣ Chapter 30 ╠

           
Sometimes the winter break seemed to fly by and sometimes Meredith came back to work feeling as though she had really been out of the classroom since the previous year.
 
The latter case applied this year, but instead of making the school feel somewhat foreign, it felt new and promising.
 
Her fresh start was going to carry over into her work life.
 
She was confident in that.
 

When Jeffrey called her Miss Donna, she tried one more time to explain the difference and he seemed to accept the correction.
 
When Jacob entered smacking a wad of gum, Meredith did not lose her temper nor did she let it go.
 
She calmly asked him to spit it out and invited him to her desk where she filled out the necessary paperwork for detention.
 
And when poor accident-prone
Elizabeth
fell off some playground equipment, there was no blood.
 
The day even finished with a pleasant, though odd, chat with a fellow teacher.
 
It was pleasant because they shared stories of their time off and Ellen had some interesting characters in her family.
 
It was odd because she kept looking over her shoulder toward the doorway as though hearing an invisible person entering.
 
The only thing that could have improved the first day back was if Greg had been home to hear about it.

But as much as Monday was steady with Meredith’s happiness and satisfaction, Tuesday was fickle with some of her less popular emotions.
 
First, it brought in a little boy with an empty mouth, which seemed pleasing until he handed Meredith a note from his mother.
 
It read:

Since my schedule does not have the luxury of an extra half hour to wait for detention, I will be picking my son up at the usual time.
 
I expect him to be waiting.
 

Meredith put the note aside on her desk.
 
It made her furious on the inside, but she refused to take it out on the children.
 
She was going to put it out of her mind until the morning recess, when she could consult with the principal.

Just before that recess, a package arrived for Meredith.
 
Judging by the company name on the return label, she trusted that it would be safe to open in front of the class.
 
They were as impressed as Meredith with the pretty pink and purple flowers it contained.
 
Meredith looked around the room for something that might work as a vase.
 
She had no actual vase because she had never before received flowers.

This was not Greg’s fault, not exactly.
 
When they were first dating, Meredith had made what seemed at the time a very enlightened speech about how sending flowers was about the most unromantic thing a man could do.
 
She expressed that this was partially because it had been done so many times already and partially because it had become almost synonymous with a man trying to earn his way out of the doghouse.
 
She had insisted that she would never appreciate flowers and Greg had either taken her at her word, or else used that word as a convenient excuse.
 
At any rate, Meredith had long since realized the speech had come more from immaturity than illumination and was glad Greg had finally seen through it.
 
She assumed he had seen through it.
 
The card in the box actually read “From your secret admirer.”
 
Since Meredith did not have a secret admirer, the flowers must have been from Greg.
 
Meredith ultimately gave up on finding a vase substitute.
 
She laid the flowers across the corner of her desk with the blooms pointing towards the class.
 
That would have to do for today and surely she had something at home that would allow a proper display.

With the interruption over, Meredith resumed the clock project they had been working on and then walked her class outside.
 
She mentioned to the other first grade teachers where she was headed and then marched to the principal’s office which, unlike bussing trays, felt completely different as an adult.
 
She caught him on his way out.

“Hey, Will.
 
Do you have a minute?”

“Sure.”
 
He motioned to the open door and then followed her back inside.
 
“What’s up?” he asked as he sat behind the desk.

“Yesterday I gave a student detention for today.”

“Jacob, right?
 
I saw his name on the list.”

Meredith nodded.
 
“And today he came in with this note from his mother.”
 
She put the paper on the desk and pushed it towards him as though glad to be rid of it.

Will took only a few seconds to read the note, then groaned, put the paper down and rubbed his right palm against his forehead.
 
She recognized the gesture of frustration.
 
His forehead generally received a good rubbing at least once during staff meetings, usually while the lunchroom monitor schedule was on the table.
 
“Alright,” he said finally, “let me get all the details.”
 
He pulled a notepad from a side drawer and grabbed a pen.
 
“This is Jacob
Tenney
, right?”
 
Meredith nodded.
 
“What did he do?”

“Gum.”

“And you gave him plenty of warnings?”

“It’s been an issue all year.”

Will sighed.
 
“And I suppose you already tried sending a note home?”

“His mother sent back a fairly snotty reply and I’m pretty sure he was chewing gum when he gave it to me.”