Chapter 30
"Mrs McKenna, a word please," the principal said to Charlotte as she was just about the enter her classroom on Monday morning.
She looked up, taken aback by his formal tone. "Is there a problem?"
"Let's go to my office," he said grim-faced. "Don't worry, I've arranged cover for your class."
Her heart sank, whatever he had to say it could only be bad news. She followed him down the corridor, conscious of the sound her heels made clicking on the floor.
"Please take a seat," he said after he opened the office door.
She sat down at the desk opposite him and tried not to fidget. The room itself was hardly inviting; there were no personal touches that gave anything away about the occupant, and she realised she knew next to nothing about the man sat opposite her.
"Mrs McKenna," he began clearing his throat. "I don't like to tell you this so I'm just going to come out with it. We've had a complaint, more than one in fact."
"About me?"
He looked down, placing his hand over a piece of paper. "I didn't want to bother you with it at first, not when it was just the moms' gossiping." He laughed awkwardly and Charlotte frowned at him.
"Who's been gossiping?"
"Oh just some of the mothers, you know the sort of thing." He waved his hand dismissively. "I'm not particularly concerned about what a bunch of bored housewives have to say but someone's put a complaint in writing." He picked the piece of paper up and turned it over on his desk, hiding the contents. "It's not signed so it's probably malicious but I do have to raise it with you."
"What sort of complaint? What does it say?" she asked the colour draining from her face.
"It's about your personal life. Like I said I'm sure it's malicious and has no bearing on your ability."
"So why have you called me in here?" she snapped.
He had the decency to flush. "I'd be failing in my duties if I didn't discuss it with you. I have to consider the wellbeing of the children but also your wellbeing. I can step in if one of the parents has a grudge against you?"
Maybe one of the grandparents? Maybe Louis's mom?
"Can you tell me what it says?"
He picked up the paper his eyes flitting over it. "Okay let's see, it says you 'lack the moral fibre and self-discipline to set a good example to impressionable young minds.'" She snorted. "And there's some stuff about you leaving your husband and moving in with another man."
"My brother!"
"And that you went on vacation with a single man, abandoning your son?"
She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. "My son was with his father." The principal looked at her questioningly and she clamped her mouth shut. What could she say about the vacation that wouldn't sound incriminating? "Is that it?"
"Pretty much," he said folding the letter and placing it in his desk drawer. "But you can see why I have to discuss it with you?"
She grimaced. "Not really, my private life has no reflection on my ability to teach." She sat up straighter trying to convey confidence.
"It shouldn't but like I said, the moms' have been gossiping as well." He softened his voice. "Charlotte, you have to be careful not to compromise your position, you're making yourself an easy target."
"I can't help that my marriage broke up." She bit her inside lip, careful not to say something she would regret. "And I can't help it if bored housewives have nothing better to talk about."
He looked at her clearly unhappy with how their conversation had gone. She thought he'd probably expected her to cry and say it was all lies but she was damned if she was going to humiliate herself to elicit his sympathy.
"Is that all?" she asked when he remained silent.
"Just think about the choices you make," he said looking at a point past her head. "There's only so much I can do if I get more complaints. If you know who sent this I could talk to them, put their mind at ease."
She shook her head. "It could be anyone but I suspect their motive has nothing to do with concern for my pupils." He looked at her blankly. "It doesn't matter, it's just a hunch."
"Why don't you take the day off? You must be quite shaken."
"No, I'm fine," she said relaxing her hands and standing up. "I'm not going to let my class down." She gave him a tight smile and left the room, trying to ignore the bile that was rising in her throat.
~~~
Charlotte spent the rest of the week working herself up into a fury as she tried to figure out who'd made the complaint against her. At hometime, she'd smile brightly at each parent collecting their child, engaging those she suspected in friendly conversation but none of them gave anything away. And for all the school moms might like to speculate on her private life, how many knew who she lived with, or more pertinently, that she'd gone on vacation with Louis? Literally, Darlene and Louis's mom. No way would Darlene do such a thing, and for all, she might be a bit of a gossip, she wouldn't blab to the other moms' having been on the receiving end of their bitchiness herself. That left Louis's mom, and if it wasn't her she'd probably told someone and they'd done her dirty work for her.
"Louis, I need to talk to you out back," she said as she beckoned him into the house on Friday evening. "I don't want Sam to overhear this." Louis frowned but he followed her through to the kitchen.
"What's up?" he asked as she closed the door behind them.
"There's been complaints about me at school." She folded her arms across her chest. "Mostly just playground gossip but someone has written to the principal questioning my fitness to teach young children."
"Right." Louis shifted from one foot to the other. "And do you know who this person is?"
She eyed him closely, sensing his discomfort. "The letter wasn't signed but I have my suspicions."
"Go on."
"How about your mom?" She waited for him to deny it but he hung his head.
"Shit, I'm sorry. I know she doesn't approve of us being together but..." He stopped, his frown deepening. "I think that's more cos she doesn't think I can handle a serious relationship, she thinks I'll let you down."
"Well she might think that but her way of dealing with it was to write a formal complaint about me." She let out a deep breath, her body trembling.
"I'm don't think writing a poison pen letter is her style."
"The complaint said I went on vacation with another man and abandoned my child." Her face heated up. "How many people know that? Sam, Darlene, your mom, Rosalind." Okay, the list was getting longer. "Might your mom have said anything to Lucy's mom?"
"She might have but I doubt Angela would care," Louis said referring to his sister in law. "I don't see what any of them would have to gain by this."
She shrugged. "Women can be bitchy."
"And men aren't?" He raised his eyebrows. "Don't you think this is something that your husband might have done?"
She rolled her eyes. "You mean as a last act of revenge."
"I dunno, you said he was walking away quietly. Maybe it's his way of showing you he's still in control or maybe he's trying to unnerve you before the court case."
Her stomach dropped, she so wanted to believe it was Mrs Kinsella, that she could deal with. "If it is Nick, then he knows about us." She could feel her heart beating, panic building up in her chest. "This could ruin everything. He can say I'm having an affair."
"Even if you were having an affair so what, wasn't he?"
She twisted her fingers together, her knuckles turning white. "I have no proof but that's not the point, I'm not having an affair!'
He cocked his head to one side. "So what do you call it then?"
"I don't know but not an affair," she said testily. "I mean you're single, I'm separated, it's hardly like John and Ros where they were both happily married."
"But it kinda is since you are still married."
She scowled at him. "Whose side are you on?"
"Yours but you need to stop getting hung up about what other people think."
She rounded on him furiously. "My job is on the line because of what other people think! It might be nineteen sixty-eight but people around here are as small-minded and judgmental as they ever were."
"Okay sorry,' he said gruffly his eyes on her fingers. "Can you stop doing that?"
"What?" She looked down and untwisted her fingers. She was carrying on like a mental patient, Nick would be in his element if he could see her. "You're right," she said tightly. "We have been having an affair, that's exactly what it is. It's what a judge would call it." She took a deep breath, meeting his eyes. "I told you before that I can't get involved with anyone, I should have stuck to my guns. It's probably better that we're not around each other, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened."
"You can't let other people come between us. If my mom made that complaint I'll deal with her, if it was Angela-"
"Your mom is the least of our problems. Us being together, it will never work."
He grabbed her hand, "Don't say that."
She looked down at their hands before slowly pulling hers away. "When I'm with you it's like the past seven years haven't happened, and I'm pretending to be the old me."
"I don't want you to pretend, I want to be with you, not eighteen-year-old you." He tried to laugh. "That would be borderline creepy."
She remained tight-lipped. "You're deliberately misunderstanding me. It's about more than getting older, you wouldn't like the person I've become."
"Isn't that for me to decide?"
She shook her head, loose strands falling into her face. "It shouldn't be this difficult Louis. I can't be with you, I just can't."
~~~~
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