This was totally healthy.
“Oh, I keep forgetting about it,” I told her lamely. “I’ve been meaning to sign up though.”
Her entire face lit up and her thousand-watt smile hit me full force. “Great! That’s wonderful.” She fidgeted a little and I realized she was probably uncomfortable leaning over the way she was.
Before she could continue, I opened my door, renting another loud creaking sound through the air and walked over to the sidewalk. “I guess you don’t need to keep talking to me through the window.”
Somehow her smile stretched, defying the laws of biology. And physics. And whatever else. “You’re so funny, Ruby.”
I managed a shadowed version of her smile. “Ha-ha.”
“If you’d like, I need help running the class party,” she suggested. “You’d have to be here for the last two hours of the day. We’ll set up while the kids go to recess, and then we run the games and snacks and whatnot.” I must have made a face because she quickly added, “I know what you’re thinking, but the kids aren’tthatwild. And it’s so fun to watch them parade around in their costumes. I think you’ll enjoy it.”
I made a sound in the back of my throat. It wasn’t the costume parade I was worried about, it was the parade of nosy moms that I preferred to avoid.
The doors to the school opened and a flood of kids poured out. Harper and Max appeared, walking our way, side by side. I knew they were friends at school, but Max was friends with everyone. He had a nice streak that was new to my side of the family. I suspected he got it from his dad. Not that I would ever know for sure.
“I’ll check my work schedule,” I told Jamie noncommittally.
She smiled. Again. “That would be great.” Her maternal gaze drifted back to her daughter. “Look at them. Harper’s always talking about Max. How nice he is.” She faced me, her permanent smile wobbling a bit and I saw it, the dreaded motherhood obligation. “We could do a playdate!” I literally watched the wheels spinning in her head as she mentally plotted the day. “The kids could play, and we could put the treat bags together.”
My mouth tasted like ash and I struggled to swallow. Seven years ago, I would have died if a rich girl from school had asked me to hang out with her. But the world had slapped some sense into me in the worst way and now I didn’t need the popular crowd’s approval to feel comfortable in my own skin. I was happier without it.
But again, this wasn’t about me. This was about Max. And I never set up playdates for the poor kid. His only friends were my mom, Coco, me, and sometimes Ajax. Although even Max knew Ajax was bad news.
The kid was too smart for his own good.
“Max would love that,” I told Jamie honestly. God, how had Max gotten through kindergarten without me ever having this conversation? And now, in the span of a ten-minute conversation, I’d somehow roped myself into volunteering for a class party and committed to a playdate. I resisted the urge to slap my hand over my eyes and groan.
“Really?” Jamie asked, simultaneously sounding hopeful and skeptical. She was like a puppy with the promise of a treat.
It was rude to say no to puppies. At least this puppy. The puppy that was my kid’s room mom and had more power at this school than I wanted to admit.
“Yeah, really,” I told her.
There was that blinding smile again. Maybe she’d dish about her teeth whitening strategy during our playdate.
“Did you hear that, honey?” she asked her daughter. “Max’s mommy said we could have a playdate.”
Both sets of child eyes lit up at the prospect. Max turned to me, that same kind of hope and paranoia mingling in his gaze. What was it about me that made everyone so suspicious?
Oh, wait, I was a jaded shrew.
“Really, Mom?” Max asked.
I nodded and managed a reassuring smile—nothing as confident or as pretty as Jamie’s, but my lips did turn upward. “Sure, buddy. It’ll be fun.”
He threw his arms around my waist and squeezed. His happiness outweighed my dread. “You’re the best, Mommy.”
“I’ll text you,” Jamie promised.
“Do you need my number?”
If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn her cheeks colored with embarrassment. “It’s on the class roster, isn’t it? Is that your cell?”
“Oh, right.” Was she stalking me now? What in the world? “Yeah, that’s my cell.”
“Okay, great. Bye, Ruby.” She looked down at Max and winked. “Bye, Max.”
