Chapter 9
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"So, how does Grace like school?" Emma asked as she took a drink of her ice water.
"She loves it," Sam answered. "Miss Kennedy taught the class to sing 'Three Little Birds' and now she wanders around the house singing all the time. She even taught Nate some of the lyrics."
"Is it making you crazy yet?" Danny asked as he grabbed a piece of bread out of the basket.
"I'll take Bob Marley over 'The Wheels on the Bus' any day of the week," Martin said before Sam could answer. So she just nodded her head in agreement even though there were times she wished the kids came with mute buttons.
As the two men started discussing possibly co-coaching the twins little league team Sam took a drink of her wine and asked Emma, "So what's the deal with that PTA woman, Leslie Warner?"
Emma laughed. "Oh, you mean el presidente? I see you met the school's version of a Stepford mom."
"Oh yeah," she replied casually.
"Her older daughter had a class with Diego and Michael last year," Emma said knowingly. "She is probably one of those women who didn't feel like an inadequate whale when she was pregnant and still managed to make all of the meals out of organic fruits and veggies."
"And from scratch," Sam replied as she nodded her head.
"Exactly," Emma took another drink of her water and said, "I mean, I could save a life in the ER but she can still manage to make me feel like less of a mom because I didn't pack the boy's lunches myself."
"You too huh?" she asked, happy to find someone who shared her insecurities.
"Yeah but you just have to let it slide off," Emma replied as she put down her glass so she could butter up a piece of bread. "There are always going to be those kinds of women but you just have to ignore them and be the best mom you can."
"Yeah," Sam sighed solemnly as she ran her fingers up the stem of her wineglass.
The waiter appeared to take their orders. Sam placed hers first and as the others asked questions about the specials her thoughts drifted to when she picked up Gracie from school on her daughter's very first day.
XXX
She was running late. She had tried to leave early enough so she'd get there before classes let out but there was a problem with one of the case reports and she had to stop by Jack's office to help him locate the missing notes causing her to leave ten minutes late. Then the elevator had to stop on every single floor as it headed down, it took her another five minutes to catch a cab only to get stuck in traffic. She tried calling Frances to see if she could pick her up but she was in Hoboken visiting a friend. And when she called Melanie she was still at the zoo with the Eli and Nate since Diego and Nate were going to a friend's house after school to play.
She called the school to tell the administrative staff that she was indeed picking up her daughter but she would be about ten minutes late. After the receptionist made a snippy comment about managing time wisely she said she would tell Miss Kennedy that she would have to wait with Gracie until her mom arrived.
Needless to say, Sam felt like the shittiest mother in the city of New York.
The cab finally pulled to a stop in front of the school and she tossed some cash at the driver and dashed into the brick building. Unlike the crowded halls earlier that morning the corridors were empty and her heels made loud clicking sounds as she sprinted towards Gracie's classroom.
She reached the room at last, swung the door open and said, "I am so sorry…"
Miss Kennedy quickly stopped her by interrupting and saying, "Mrs. Spade, thank you so much for letting Gracie stay late to help me get the classroom organized," she gave her a wide, sympathetic smile and finished, "I really appreciated the extra help and Gracie was a great little assistant."
It took Sam a beat to understand that the teacher had covered for her. Instead of telling Grace that her mom was late picking her up – something kids hate – she made it seem like she had requested that Grace stay after to help her out. Sam wanted to either weep in gratitude or kiss the young woman on the lips. "Um, really…that's great to hear."
Gracie dashed up to her wide a wide smile and said, "Mom, I helped Miss Kennedy put all the books away and I got to erase the chalkboard and I helped feed the fish."
Sam swallowed the feeling of failure disguised as a big lump in her throat and smiled at her beautiful girl. "You did?"
"Yeah," she replied proudly. "And today we learned a new song, watch." Grace stepped back and moved her hands as she sang, "Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be all right. Singin': don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be all right…"
"That's wonderful," she said as she tried to steady her breathing.
"Grace has a beautiful voice," Miss Kennedy praised as the little girl beamed with pride.
"Yes she does," Sam smiled over at the friendly teacher and said to Grace, "Why don't you tell Miss Kennedy goodbye so we can go home."
"Okay," Grace said as she turned around and ran up to Miss Kennedy. She stood a few feet in front of the petite teacher and waved her little hand saying, "Bye Miss Kennedy. See you tomorrow!"
Miss Kennedy returned the smile and wave and said, "See you later alligator."
"After while crocodile," Grace replied happily as she ran to the door and opened it.
Sam followed Grace and stopped at the door, looking over at Miss Kennedy. While Grace was completely oblivious to what had happened it didn't make Sam feel like any less of a failure. It was her daughter's first day at school and she couldn't even pick her up on time. She wanted to find some way to tell her how grateful she was that she had covered for her but all that came out was, "Thank you."
"No problem," Miss Kennedy said softly with tender, compassionate eyes and said, "Have a nice night, Mrs. Spade."
XXX
"What do you think, Sam?"
It took her a second to register that Martin was talking to her. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
He gave her a perplexed look before saying, "I asked if you wanted to split the shrimp cocktail."
"Yeah, sure," she replied with a smile, "Sounds good."
He nodded his head and gave the waiter the order and his menu. After the waiter left Danny and Emma starting discussing if they should call and check-in with Melanie.
Sam took another sip of her wine as Martin looked over at her and asked, "You okay? You seem a little distracted."
"I'm fine," she replied before leaning over and giving him a quick kiss. She pulled back and said again, "I'm perfectly fine."
