A Little Bit of Déjà Vu (18 page)

“For a few hours at least. What am I supposed to do with the other hundred and sixty hours a week this summer? A woman can take just so many hot baths before she turns into a prune.”

Louise chuckled. “Isn’t there something you’ve always wanted to do and never found time for?”

“Hmm. Let me think. Skydiving?” Margie flashed a humorless smile at her friend. “No, wait, scratch that. I have acrophobia.”

Sadly, the only thing she’d ever aspired to accomplish, other than being a devoted wife and mother, was to stamp out illiteracy—which was tough with only a size six foot. Dan was gone now, and Emma would soon be living two hundred miles away. That only left buying a pair of size seventeen storm trooper boots and saving the world from ignorance.

Or having a nervous breakdown.

Chapter 10

Emma strolled into her last period class to find the room still empty except for Phil Carmichael crawling from behind Mr. M’s desk. She slid into her regular seat. “What were you doing back there?”

Phil boosted his butt onto the low bookcases under the windows. “Nothin’. I dropped my pencil, okay, lil’
Mama
?”

“Zip it, Carmichael,” Alex’s dad snapped as he strode into the room, drinking a bottle of water. “And take a seat.”

She had enjoyed her Human Development class with Alex’s dad so much during the first semester she’d registered for his Marriage and Family course for the second half of the year. The class was in such high demand and covered so many sensitive topics, the three sections of the controversial course were only open to seniors.

Mr. M perched on the edge of his desk as he routinely did while the students meandered in. Normally they chatted until the bell rang. Instead, Emma stared out the window, pointedly ignoring Alex’s father.

She’d thought he really cared about his students and believed what he taught about developing a meaningful relationship before jumping into bed. In reality, it was all just an act and he was a big, fat fraud. Why else would he hit on her mom the day after they met? Not that her mom was much better. Mr. Manion insisted she hadn’t encouraged him, but from what Emma saw, her dad was the furthest thing from her mom’s mind.

Mr. M passed around the attendance sheet for the kids to sign, then strode over to the CD player, and slid in a disc.

The whine of an electric guitar, punctuated by a set of drums cut through the classroom, and one of the kids hollered, “Crank it up, Mr. M.”

He pushed up the volume. By the middle of the Meat Loaf song, the whole class was singing along and drumming on their desks to the beat of
Paradise by the Dashboard Light
.

At the end of the song, Alex’s dad flipped the machine off. “Okay,
I gotta know right now
!” he shouted, mimicking the singer on the CD. “What was the artist’s point?” He waved toward a girl sitting in back. “Janice.”

“You shouldn’t let a guy con you that he’s in love with you just so you’ll sleep with him.”

“There’s a flip side for the fellows, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, a guy shouldn’t say it unless he means it.”

“Or he could end up
praying for the end of time
.” Brandy smirked at Emma.

Carmichael lifted his hand. “Guys only say it cuz girls won’t put out otherwise.”

Mr. M nodded and silently strolled around the room for a few moments. “So is that what going to bed with someone should be about? Who thinks you should be in love to have sex?”

Emma snorted inwardly. How do you spell hypocrite? J-A-K-E M-A-N-I-O-N.

Nearly all the girls raised their hands, whereas only a few guys did. Naturally, Brandy’s was still in her lap. Jake stepped behind Carmichael and slapped his back. “So I guess
Studly
has made a valid point. What does that tell you, ladies?”

“Guys talk from their flies and not from their hearts,” called out a girl next to the window.

“Now you’re catching on. Every one of these fellows would love to climb into the back seat with a different one of you each day of the week. It’s simply the way nature wired them.” He spread his hands in an apologetic stance. “I’m sorry, guys, but it’s my job to tell them your secrets. What you might not know, ladies, is these same eager studs aren’t so open-minded about the girls they care about. Are you, fellas?”

All around the classroom, the guy’s faces turned pink.

“Coach, don’t you think it’s unfair for men to hold women to a higher sexual standard?” Brandy asked.

“Absolutely. And I’m not saying it’s okay for a man to sleep around—just that nature makes it a little tougher for him to resist temptation.”

Maybe nature excused him for hitting on her mother, but Emma didn’t.

“That still doesn’t make it fair,” one girl muttered.

“No, it’s not.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And it’s also not fair woman are the ones to get pregnant and be stuck paying the bulk of the consequences for sex.”

Heat surged into Emma’s cheeks as she felt every set of eyes in the room turn toward her.

“But at the same time, is it fair for women to send guys mixed signals?” he continued. “Women say they want sensitive men who’ll communicate with them while the whole time they’re swooning over brooding bad-boys in movies and literature. Is it fair that men, who’ve always played the traditional role of providers, feel usurped and superfluous while women become CEO’s, abort their unborn children, and visit sperm banks?”

Mr. M scanned the class and snorted. “Come on, people, it’s June. If you’ve gotten nothing else out of this class, I’m hoping you’ve learned that life is
never
fair.”

He could say that again. Emma glared at Brandy. Fair would be if that blonde bimbo developed a severe case of acne and gained twenty pounds.

Fair would be if Emma could have her dad back.

“The song we just listened to will be the basis of an essay question on your final exam,” Mr. M explained. “You’ll be expected to use what we’ve discussed this year to make a case as to whether the fellow in the song should or shouldn’t keep the commitment he made to the girl while weighing all the pros and cons.”

For the rest of the period, the class broke into small groups to work on the presentations they would be making during the next two days. When the bell finally rang, Alex’s father stepped in front of Emma as she prepared to leave. “Em, could you stay a minute?”

“Alex is waiting to drive me home.”

“He can wait.”

She dropped her pile of books on his desk.

After the last of the students wandered out, he said, “I noticed some kids were giving you a hard time. I’m sorry about where the discussion in class went today. I hope it didn’t embarrass you too much.”

“Isn’t that why you mentioned girls getting pregnant? Or was this lesson about men’s temptation your cop out for coming on to my mother?”

His jaw tightened. “No. I brought it up because it’s part of the final exam. My class plans were made a long time ago. I just wanted you to know I wasn’t trying to draw attention to you. The fact my son is responsible for your situation forces me to be even more vocal about teen abstinence. As for your mom, I simply kissed a woman I was attracted to. So please stop acting as if I molested her.”

“Sure.
Whatever
.” She scooped up her books and dashed out of the room. Halfway down the flight of stairs, she noticed she’d accidentally picked up the class attendance sheet. She ran back to the classroom and found the door already locked. Peeking through the narrow pane of glass, she gasped at the sight of Jake kissing one of the guidance counselors.

Tears stung Emma’s eyes as she slid the attendance sheet under the door and ran back to the stairway. Alex thought his dad was a cross between Eli Manning and the Pope. He should only know what kind of player his old man really was.

~~~

Jake gently extricated himself from Pam Garner’s passionate liplock, unmoved by her heated kiss. The blonde guidance counselor smiled up at him and slid her hands under his knit polo and up his chest. “I was wondering if you’d like to head over to my place this afternoon for a quickie.”

Pam had been through a messy divorce and had no more interest in getting involved in a serious relationship than Jake had. They’d become good friends, and since neither of them felt comfortable sleeping around, they’d agreed to have monogamous, down-and-dirty sex until one of them became romantically involved with someone else.

They hadn’t gotten together for a heavy breathing session in over a month, which possibly explained why he’d had trouble keeping his hands off Maggie. He was simply horny.

Right. That’s why he had about as much interest in getting sweaty between the sheets with Pam as he did in grading the stack of term papers for his Human Development class. He might as well face it. As much as he hated what Maggie had done, his body still wanted to pick up with her right where he’d left off nineteen years ago—in bed.

“Sorry.” Jake closed his leather messenger bag. “I have to get home.”

“We could tape some paper over the window in the door and get it on here. I locked it on the way in.”

“I can’t. But I’m glad you stopped by. I was planning to call you tonight about one of my students, Brian Carlton.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The kid seems depressed. He’s a typical overachiever whose parents have been pushing too hard. I realize the term is nearly over, but I’m worried about the kid’s mental state. I think the school needs to do an intervention.”

“Okay, I’ll call his parents.” She fished out a notepad from her purse and scribbled on it. “You know, you keep me busier than any other teacher in this school.”

Jake grinned and shrugged one shoulder. “Can I help it if the kids talk to me?”

“They’re lucky to have you.” She tucked the pad back in her purse. “Since you’re busy today, how about tomorrow?”

He sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly. “Listen, Pam, I lied. I’m really not in a hurry to get home. My life’s just a mess right now. Do you mind giving me some of your professional time?”

She sank into one of the desks’ seats. “Sure.”

He dragged his chair closer and told her everything that had led up to the hazy June afternoon nineteen years ago when Maggie had unexpectedly shown up at his house.

“I knew it was a safe bet she wasn’t there to sell me a subscription.”

“Not unless she was peddling
Parents
magazine,” Pam guessed.

“Exactly. Maggie had an irregular cycle, so she didn’t think much about not getting her period until five weeks later when she started feeling sick. By then the college term had ended, and I’d gone home. Unfortunately, my dad was forced to get an unlisted number after I started making headlines, so Maggie kept getting a recording on the one I’d given her.”

“So how’d she track you down?”

“Her cousin knew the town I came from, so Maggie lied to her mother about staying at a girlfriend’s house for the weekend. Barbara gave her the money to fly here, and Maggie simply asked around until she found someone who knew where I lived.”

“Resourceful little thing.”

“She was smart. It was part of the reason I never guessed how young she was.”

“Exactly how
young
was she?”

“A couple of months shy of eighteen, which, in California, is jailbait. Anyway, I knew her news would put me on the front page again. Except, this time, I was afraid my face would be in the
National Enquirer
with the word
pervert
stamped across it.”

Chuckling, Pam pulled a roll of mints out of her purse and offered it to him.

He took one and popped it in his mouth. Unlike the broken windows, speeding tickets, and other blunders he’d made in his twenty-three years, he wasn’t the only one stuck paying the price that time.

“To make matters worse, Roxanne was due home in a few days.”

“No stress there.”

“You think?” He smiled. “If that was God’s idea of a joke, the Almighty had a warped sense of humor—not to mention, he needed a lot of work on his timing.”

“But you were planning to call off the wedding anyway, weren’t you?”

“Not really. When I’d gotten home from school, I’d told my dad about the stupid thing I’d done. He’d asked me to spend a few days with Roxanne before canceling the wedding to give myself a chance to remember why I’d asked her to marry me.”

“Not an unreasonable request,” Pam said, dropping the mints back in her purse.

Of course, his dad had graciously refrained from mentioning that, if Jake broke his engagement, Nick would probably have to head straight for the unemployment office. Jake had figured, if nothing else, Roxanne could hate him instead of feeling hurt because he’d rejected her. And perhaps with a baby involved, old man Warrington would realize Jake had no choice but to call off the wedding and might let his dad keep his job.

“Considering I was about to dump the Warrington heiress, I knew the media would have a feeding frenzy when it came out I’d gotten a high school girl pregnant. I didn’t want Maggie dragged through the mud with me. The only way I could see to mitigate the damage was to marry her.”

Pam nodded. “I’m sure that was a relief to her.”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But she insisted she didn’t want to marry me if I didn’t love her. I was astounded she might believe she could be in love with me.” Although, he hadn’t been able to stop mentally replaying their night together. “She didn’t know me well enough to have any deep feelings for me.”

Jake stared at the floor and smiled as her naive response replayed in his head. “
I know you’re kind and honorable,”
she’d whispered.
“And you’re funny and tender.”
She’d laid his hand over her breast.
“I also know my heart beats so fast when you look at me it feels like it’s gonna jump right out of my chest.”

“I told her what she was feeling was
lust
not love.”

“But she didn’t want you to marry her simply because you felt obligated,” Pam surmised.

“Right. I told her she was attributing noble intentions to me that were actually completely selfish. I wasn’t
asking
her to marry me. I was
begging
her—at least until after our baby was born. I explained I wanted to work with kids one day, and if she didn’t become my wife, my public image would take such a beating it would never recover.”