She skips the small talk and gets right to the point. “I’m afraid I owe you two an enormous apology. It seems that we’ve…had someone interfering with our online scheduling system. This is why we’ve had so many misunderstandings. And it’s not just you. I have been pulling my hair out thinking I’ve been losing my mind, entering in the wrong dates into the system, the system that notifies everyone by text and email. I checked my paper planner against the software and there were too many discrepancies to be just mistakes on my part. So I had our IT department look into it. Turns out, a student has been accessing the administrative portal for the school intranet.”
“What?” I ask. “Who would do that, and why?”
Moody ignores my question. “That student has been expelled.”
Mal and I are too stunned to speak. We look at each other wide-eyed. “Oh my god. I think I know exactly who it is,” Mal says, her hands going to her face in a shocked expression. “The little phenom Corbin has been doing Meredith’s bidding.”
“The crazy PTA lady? What the hell?” I blurt out.
Embarrassed at my language, I turn back to Moody.
She lifts one eyebrow. “What the hell indeed. We learned that someone at the IP address of the Browns’ home has been infiltrating our intranet here at the school. When we questioned Corbin Brown, he said it was at the request of his mother, Meredith Brown.”
Mal breathes, “My neighbors. But why?”
Moody shakes her head. “We’re still trying to figure that out. But Corbin tells us his mother offered him a new car if he helped her sabotage this bake sale. Meredith Brown has been removed as an officeholder with the PTA.”
Mal grips my arm and looks over at me with haunted eyes. “She wanted you for herself. She said as much before I even met you. She’s upset that we’re together.”
Both of us turn back to Moody and I feel compelled to apologize. “I never meant my presence to cause this much drama in the PTA and end up getting a kid expelled. I feel terrible.”
Moody puffs out a laugh. “Mr. Pope, you may be the talk of all the single parents and teachers of this school at the moment, but don’t let it go to your head. Meredith Brown has been causing drama for ages.”
I hear Mal snort and when I look down at her, she’s covering her mouth. “Don’t worry, honey, you are totally good looking enough to start a war, in my opinion.”
Moody continues in her business-like fashion. “So now, as an apology, I would like to give you the opportunity to do your fundraising at the lunch hour. If you wish, we can arrange for a trolley to go to classrooms so students and staff can buy your items.”
“Well,” says Mal. “I was thinking even bigger. How about I come back with packed lunches to sell out of the delivery van? Sort of like a lunch truck, until I’m able to purchase an actual one.”
“You’re buying a lunch truck?” I ask, giving her a squeeze.
Moody casts her eyes upward to the sky in thought for a second. “It’s a deal. As long as yo
u have the proper permits, I don’t see why not. Good luck with your bake sale, Mr. Pope.”
When Moody leaves, I kiss Mal goodbye for the second time this morning. “This is a lot of work. You need employees.”
She shrugs. “Maybe someday. But not yet. It is just a bake sale, after all. And I am the queen of them.”
“Correction. You are my queen of everything.”
Epilogue
Three years later
Mal
“The desert sunrise reflected on my queen’s sleeping face is more beautiful than any sunrise I’ve ever seen.”
I blink against the bright sunlight streaming into the tent. My husband’s loving words make this kind of vacation more tolerable.
“Sweet talker,” I say.
He smiles down at me and kisses my forehead. “I knew I’d get you to sleep with me under the desert sky sooner or later.”
Camping is a relative term. It’s actually a huge tricked-out tent with a real bed and an area rug.
“I can’t believe you got me to sleep in a tent,” I say, sniffing the air but not detecting any musty odor so far.