“Mr. Leroy,MissO’Connell,” Sharon said, “I’m afraid we have to suspend Harper and Aspen for this behavior. We have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying.”
“Suspended?” I gasped.
“What’s suspended?” Aspen asked, his eyes rounding. I took his hand to reassure him. There was a collective flinch when Jack let out his next statement.
“They’re in fucking kindergarten!” Jack objected. “They’re supposed to be learning their ABCs, not getting suspended!”
Panic washed over me. I didn’t have backup childcare. My kids went to school and daycare, and that was it. My closest friend was Gabi, and she was a teacher at their school. She couldn’t help me with this one. “For how long? I can’t take Aspen to work with me!”
Sharon scrubbed her hands over her face. “You know what? Let’s just make it for the rest of the day, and I’ll think about what to do next. You’re all giving me a headache.”
“The bully should get suspended too!” Jack raged.
“She’s a victim!” Kristin said. “Not a bully!”
Jack rolled his eyes and shot her a look. “Get off your high horse.”
“Everybody out!” Sharon snapped. I guess even principals of peaceful little Montessori schools have a breaking point, and we drove her right over it. “I’ll call each of you tonight to discuss a resolution because, apparently, we can’t have an adult conversation in here without it going off the rails.”
It was a sullen walk to the parking lot, all of us with a hand on our child’s shoulder. Kristin made a point of stomping off to her Escalade as quickly as possible. I fought an eye roll at her theatrics. My mind was racing anyway. What was I supposed to do with Aspen for the rest of the day? I could probably have him in my office, but it was embarrassing to have to explain to suppliers why he was there.
“Do I have to go to work with you?” Aspen asked.
“I think so, buddy,” I said.
Jack’s voice piped up behind us. “Aspen, you wanna come over?”
“Wait, what?” I asked.
Jack shrugged. “You have to go back to work, right?”
“Well, yeah.”
“I’m finished with work for today. I can take him. They can play together at our house.”
Harper’s eyes lit up and Aspen ran over to give her a big hug. They really were the cutest kids together.
“I, uh, wow. Um, I don’t really know you,” I said.
“Please, Mom?” Aspen asked. “I always want a playdate with Harper and we can never work it out.”
I pulled Jack to the side, getting us and our kids back on the sidewalk and out of the parking lot. “I usually don’t let him go with strangers. Because . . . safety.”
Jack nodded, popping his jaw forward and back. “I get it. I can tell you I’m safe, but how would you know?”
I rubbed my lips together. He was saying everything I was thinking. And I’d seen him be kind, both to his daughter, and to my son when he needed it most. That day at the rink last spring when Jack taped Aspen’s socks, it wasn’t just tape he needed. He needed a man who wasn’t going to throw a tantrum over something silly.
Though, that same man had also just thrown something of a tantrum in the principal’s office . . . but on behalf of our kids. He was fighting for them, not against them.
“Well,” he said, reaching for Harper’s hand to go back to their car.
“Mom, pleeeeease,” Aspen said. My little baby had just had a rough day at school, and his friend’s dad was offering help. He’d get some time to play with his best friend, and I’d be able tofinish up my day at work. I was already on thin ice there, having been caught once before with Hazel in the office on a sick day. I couldn’t afford to lose my job.
My gut told me it was safe. He showed up on time to the kids’ hockey practices, except the times Harper’s mom was there. But when she was there, his other two cronies were missing, and I’d heard from another hockey mom that they were on his team too. The three of them stood on the goal line and shouted various coaching tidbits at the kids, Jack being the loudest of them.
Still, he showed up for his kids. That was a hell of a lot more than Bryce was doing for our kids.
“You’d need his car seat,” I called after Jack. “They’re hard to get out of my car. And I’ll probably be late leaving work, and I’ve got to pick up my daughter from daycare by 5.”
