Chapter Two
Picking up a stack of laminated numberlines, Gemma then closed the drawer and began placing them in front of each chair on one of the tables. As she headed back to the drawers to grab the small brightly coloured plastic teddy bears to assist with the children’s counting, Gemma grinned as her friend and colleague, who worked as the teaching assistant in the class, Tania Groves, walked through the door into the classroom. ‘Hi, Tania. How was your weekend?’
‘Great, thanks. I went to a Singles Night at the pub on Friday.’ Tania slipped her bulging canvas bag from her shoulder before rummaging through it and unpacking her Tupperware lunch box, her flask of soup for break, and another Tupperware tub, this time containing what looked to be green, glittery Playdough.
‘Ooh, how did that go? Did you meet anyone?’ Gemma paused, the tub of plastic teddy bears still in hand. Tania had been single for all of two minutes since her ex of two months had split up with her three weeks ago, and Gemma wasn’t sure whether she should be impressed or horrified that Tania was ready to date again so soon. Probably impressed. Yep, she was impressed.
‘I did indeed. Kind of.’ Tania perched on the edge of the table, knocking the Tupperware tub of Playdough to the floor. Bending, she picked it up before grinning across at Gemma. ‘The Singles Night wasn’t so great. Full of older men with beer bellies and the creepy type of laugh which makes your skin crawl, but I did see Jared there, and we’re going to try again.’
‘You’re dating Jared? Again?’ Gemma tried her best not to let her disapproval show, contorting her face into a smile, but she couldn’t help it. Ever since Tania and her ex-husband Brian had parted ways four years ago, Tania had been on a mission to make up for lost time and had more of a social life than the staff members who were ten or twenty years younger than her. Jared, though, he was bad news. Tania and he must have been dating on and off for at least a year and a half, and every time the relationship fell apart, it would take Tania at least a month to recover which seemed to be a long time for her.
Holding her hands up, palms forward, in front of her, Tania nodded. ‘I know what you’re going to say, but it’s different this time. He’s explained a lot, and he does want to be with me. He really does.’
Gemma bit down on her lower lip. It wasn’t her place to say anything, but she and Tania had worked together for eight years now. They’d survived swapping year groups three times together and knew every minuscule detail about each other’s lives, even down to the face that Gemma pulled when she really needed to escape to the loo but break was another forty-five minutes away. ‘I just…’
‘Worry. Yes, I know, but honestly, I’m going into it eyes wide open this time. Yes, we might not last, but if we do? Well, wouldn’t that be great?’
‘Yes.’ Even to her, her voice sounded feeble. It wasn’t that she didn’t want her friend to find love again, she did. She just wantedher to find love with someone who loved her back the way she loved him, someone who would be in it for the long haul.
Grinning, Tania rubbed her hands together. ‘Anyway, that brings me onto the next topic.’
Gemma began sharing the plastic teddies between the places on the table again. She knew exactly what the next topic of conversation would be. ‘I’m not going. Before you ask me, there is no way in this entire world I’m going along to the next Singles Night at the pub.’
‘Why not?’ Pushing herself to standing, Tania walked across to Gemma before straightening the small heaps of teddies. ‘It’s been three years now. No one, and I mean no one, should be single for three years.’
‘Nope, nope, nope. I’m not going. Knowing my luck, I’d probably run into half the class’s parents. Besides, I don’t want a relationship. I’m happy on my own, thank you very much.’ Gemma grinned widely. Shewashappy on her own. She had her own routine, everything in her cottage had its own place, and she had her friends. She didn’t need or want a man in her life. Her last relationship and subsequent heart-breaking split was enough relationship experience to last her for the rest of her life.
‘Then go to one in a different town.’ Crossing her arms, Tania sighed.
Gemma laughed. ‘You’ve literally just told me it was full of old, creepy men. Why would I want to go to that?’
Batting Gemma’s negativity away with her hand, Tania continued. ‘It’ll be different for your age group. There’ll be loads of cute guys. Or, if you really don’t fancy the idea, then just join one of those dating apps.’
‘I really don’t need anyone in my life right now.’
‘You might notneedanyone, but there must be a part of you, however tiny, who wants someone to share your life with.’Tania smiled sadly. ‘Just because Reece was an absolute eejit, it doesn’t mean everyone is.’
Gemma shrugged. She knew Tania was just looking out for her, but she really didn’t need any help on that front. She really wasn’t interested in the slightest. It had taken her a long time to recover from her split with Reece, and it had taken her self-confidence and self-esteem a lot longer, too. She just wasn’t ready to risk having her heart pulled in two again, her world turned upside down.
‘Hear me out,’ Tania held up her forefinger. ‘I know what Reece did to you was horrendous. I know he cheated on you, but not every bloke is the same.’
Gemma scrunched up her nose. She didn’t like talking about him. She’d rather memories of those dark days stayed in the little padlocked box she’d pushed to the back of her mind, but if there was any chance of her shutting down this conversation before the kids started rolling in, then she was going to have to unleash the awful memories from that time for a few moments at least. ‘He did more than that. I sold my home because we were going to move in together. I lost everything I’d worked so hard for. He’s the reason I’m renting now. Plus, the fact that he paraded around the village with his mistress for six months after I’d found out about them… He broke my heart, my trust, pulled my life apart and then continued as though nothing had happened. As though he had no shame at all.’
‘I know. I just want to see you happy. That’s all.’ Tania placed her hand on Gemma’s forearm.
‘Iamhappy.’
‘But if…’ Tania was cut short as Annie Walters, the teacher in the next Reception classroom as well as the Early Years Co-ordinator for the school, poked her head into the classroom and Tania tilted her head, looking at her. ‘You look flushed. What’s going on with you?’
Glancing both ways as though someone may have got lost and accidentally ventured into the corridor leading to the Early Years department, Annie then leaned against the doorframe and spoke in an urgent but hushed fashion. ‘You’ve not heard then, I’m guessing?’
‘Heard what?’ This was quite normal. Especially coming from the gossip queen of the school, Annie. The last time she’d become so excited about something happening in the school, it had been because someone had seen our kind-hearted caretaker, Oliver, with the headteacher of a neighbouring school, only to later discover that he wasn’t being poached from his job and they were merely catching up as old friends. Since then, Gemma had learnt to take whatever she told them with a humongous bucket of salt.
Annie again looked left and right, checking the coast was clear before continuing, her voice so low now that both Gemma and Tania took a step forward in order to be able to hear. ‘Mrs Norton has been dismissed with immediate effect, and we’re going to have a new head. Starting today. Right now.’
‘Nooo.’ Tania looked at her, her eyes wide. ‘You’re pulling my leg.’
Shaking her head, Annie’s expression was serious. ‘Nope, I’ve just come from an emergency Senior Leadership Team meeting. Just keep it on the down low. I’m not supposed to tell anyone yet. And, of course, we weren’t actually told she’d been dismissed but I read between the lines.’
