It wasn't until her lunch hour at 12:00pm before high school calculus teacher, Stacey McGill was able to check her phone. Having three classes back to back, she didn't have any downtime in the mornings but with the students now at lunch, she can relax by herself at her desk, eat the tuna salad sandwich she had brought for lunch and finally get around to checking the messages that she had been hearing buzz in on her phone throughout the morning from inside her desk drawer.
She saw three text messages and one email waiting for her and decided to weed through the texts first. The first one was regarding a holiday potluck party at her daughter, Ava's preschool prompting Stacey to think for just a moment about what she should bring before moving on the the next one, which was just a reminder text for her appointment with her OB/GYN the following Tuesday. The third text she saw was from Ben, her ex and Ava's dad, which immediately made her cheeks flush red with anger, but luckily for her it simply read, "I'll be at your house at 10:00 sharp tomorrow. Please make sure Ava is ready," which made her breathe a sigh of relief. The fourth and final text was from none other than Kristy Thomas, her old friend from Connecticut and president of the Baby Sitters Club, the group she belonged to for many years. It read:
"Good Morning, Miss McGill! How are you?" "Woah" thought Stacey, realizing she couldn't even remember the last time she spoke to Kristy but she was definitely happy to see a text from her and eager to catch up so she texted back quickly, "Hey Kristy! I'm good. Long time no talk! How are you? Can I call you tonight? I'd love to talk to you but can't until after Ava goes to bed, like around 7?" An immediate response of "Absolutely!" was received. That definitely perked Stacey up and put a smile on her face before then checking on her email. Stacey was quite shocked when she realized the email was from none other than Cokie Mason, longtime enemy of the BSC. Stacey said out loud to herself "Is this SHS reunion day or something?" before reading the email in all its entirety and then cracking up at herself after seeing Cokie's invitation. Talking to herself out loud again, she laughed and said, "I guess it is!"
She leaned back in her chair, pondering the notion that in just about a month, she could be in the same room with her childhood friends. It's not like she hadn't thought about it recently, being a high school teacher and her school holding their own 10 year reunions in their gym every year, she had a feeling that an SHS reunion was going to happen soon. After thinking about it for only a few brief minutes, she really didn't see any reason why she shouldn't attend, other than childcare and of course, travel expenses so she looked on her phone's calendar to the date of the reunion and saw that Ben would have Ava that weekend. Once that was settled and more on a whim than anything else, she logged into her credit card website to view her travel points and she saw that she had more than enough flyer miles on her credit card to get her to Connecticut and back. Already there were two signs pointing to yes but Stacey wanted to talk with her best friend, Claudia Kishi first and see if she would want to go too.
Stacey began to text Claudia but was startled when her classroom door swung wide open and her boss, Principal David Adams walked in. An attractive older man with intense blue eyes and dark blonde hair, flecked with some gray, as he was 44 years old, was also in decent shape and very physically domineering at 6 foot 3 inches tall. His physical stature, deep voice and general intensity made him quite intimidating to all of the students and a majority of the faculty as well, making him a perfect fit to run the school. "Miss McGill" he loudly said, "I need to have a word with you" before slamming the door and walking right up to her. He then walked up to her and put his hands on the sides of her shoulders, pulled her up from her chair into a standing position, and said "have I told you how incredibly sexy you are?" before kissing her passionately on the lips. "David stop!" said Stacey sternly to him after she pulled away and she gestured with her hand toward the classroom windows saying "the kids are at lunch on the yard and can see in here!" Then added in a more light hearted tone "and you cant kiss me while I'm eating a tuna sandwich!" He laughed and said "You can eat whatever you want. I'll still want to kiss you." which made Stacey smile and he added "I just wanted to see you for a sec but I also just wanted to ask what time Ben is taking Ava tomorrow?
Stacey said "10."
"Ok." he replied. "I'll be over closer to 11 then and we'll head straight over to the Grove," referring to the famed outdoor mall in Los Angeles. "We'll go get Ava's present first and then lunch?" he asked.
Stacey replied "Yeah, that's fine."
"Ok. I need to get back to my office" said David before cupping her face in his hands and kissing her once more, saying "love you" and started walking away when Stacey said back to him "I love you too." As he walked out of the door, he said over his shoulder, "Brush your teeth!" Making Stacey laugh and shake her head as she watched her boyfriend of two and a half years walk away.
Stacey and David got along fabulously and were madly in love with each other but due to him holding the highest position in the school, he was not allowed to date any employee, which was really the only problem in their relationship. They hated sneaking around and hiding their love, as they had talked about moving in together and possibly getting married one day but the only way for them to move forward with their relationship was for Stacey to leave her teaching position and only being there a little over 3 years, she was not willing to do that yet and he respected that and for now, they just had to continue doing what they were doing. Stacey then picked up her phone and shifted her attention back to texting Claudia before a wave of nausea interrupted her, similar to the one she had that morning. She put her phone down, closed her eyes and took slow deep breaths until it passed. She grabbed her sandwich, got up and proceeded to walk to the quad to throw away the rest of it and to grab a ginger ale from the soda machine, thinking that would help. After getting the soda and heading back to her classroom, she began drinking her ginger ale and started feeling a bit nervous. Her outing with her boyfriend tomorrow was not just going to be a lunch date and visiting the American Girl store to pick out a doll for Ava's birthday. She was going to break the news to him that she was pregnant with his baby, which she had found out about two weeks ago. She didn't know how he was going to take the news because even though he adores her daughter, he's well into his 40s, has been dealing with children for decades and may not want any of his own. Unfortunately, it just wasn't something they ever talked about. Stacey sat down at her desk and just hoped this was all going to work out, before thinking how crazy it is that some women do everything right, get married first, are in perfect health and can't ever get pregnant and here she is, a diabetic for nearly twenty years and a self proclaimed "diet coke-aholic" and keeps getting knocked up by her boyfriends without even trying, which then reminded her that she needed to give some insulin to cover that ginger ale she was sipping on, since it wasn't diet. She pulled out her insulin pump attached to her belt and upped her normal dosage by another unit, hoping that would do the trick. The days of her sneaking off to the bathroom to give an insulin injection and her secretly poking her finger underneath the table at restaurants to check her blood sugar are long gone. Her continuous glucose monitor gives her a blood sugar reading every five minutes and beeps in a high pitch alarm if she starts to runs too high or too low. It's taken a great deal of stress and inconvenience out of her diabetes management.
Stacey got through the day feeling a bit better and with only two classes after lunch, she was out of the school by 4:00. She walked through the faculty parking lot to her black VW Jetta and pulled out of the parking lot to head over to HappyLand, Ava's preschool, which was just ten minutes away. A VW seemed a bit modest for such a fancy and fashionable girl like Stacey, but as a single mom being the sole provider, she had to choose a reliable car that was in her budget. Never being married, Stacey wasn't entitled to any financial support from Ben and to avoid any legal problems or going to court, they agreed that he would pay Ava's pre school tuition in lieu of child support.
In no time at all, Stacey had arrived at the preschool and pulled into a spot. The school's after care closed at 5 and it being only 4:15, she stayed in the car for a few minutes and decided to give her best friend Claudia a quick call. When Claudia picked up, all Stacey could hear was a muffled sound.
"Hello? Claud?" said Stacey. "Can you hear me?"
More muffled sounds followed for about 5 seconds before Stacey finally heard her best friend's voice on the other line saying, "Sorry Stace. I had my respirator on," which meant that Claudia was in the middle of working on an oil painting because she always wears one to protect her from breathing in the toxic smelling oil fumes.
Claudia added "What's up?"
"I'm in the parking lot at Ava's school and I'm just a bit early so I wanted to give you a quick call." said Stacey
"Oh ok. How are you feeling?" asked Claudia?
"I'm doing okay but I started feeling a little sick this morning and again this afternoon."
"Aw, I'm sorry Stace" said Claudia, then asking, "you're still telling David this weekend though, right?"
Stacey replied, "Yes. We're going to the Grove tomorrow and I'm going to tell him when we have lunch. I'm so scared."
"Why?" asked Claudia?
"I'm just so nervous it'll mess everything up." said Stacey. "I mean, we've never talked about him wanting kids of his own and we're so good together and he's so good with Ava, but who knows how he'll handle this news?"
"Stacey," said Claudia in a reassuring tone of voice, "I am telling you that that man worships the ground you walk on, he loves everything about you. I think this is all going to work out for the best."
"You really think so?" asked Stacey
Claudia replied, "Yeah, I really do. You and Ben were a joke and you know that. You guys barely knew each other."
"I know" sighed Stacey.
Claudia sighed and said, "You have been with Dave for years now, you guys hardly ever fight, he agores your daughter, and you are a perfect match. He's a great guy, Stace. He really is."
Stacey repeated "I know."
"Don't be nervous and no matter what, you know I am always here for you." said Claudia.
"Thanks, hon. I really don't know what I would do without you" said Stacey, adding "Hey, listen. I only have a few minutes but I actually wanted to ask you something else. Did you happen to get the email about the SHS reunion?"
Claudia burst out laughing before saying "I did! I was gonna call you about that tonight! Man, I saw that email from Cokie and I was like 'what the F?' Haha!"
"Right?!" exclaimed Stacey.
"Kristy actually texted me about an hour ago too. I'm assuming that's what it was about?" asked Claudia.
"I would assume so. She texted me too. I'm going to call her tonight." said Stacey. "Sooo..what do you think? You up for a mini East Coast vacay?"
Claudia sighed before saying, "Well, I guess would be nice to visit my folks for a change instead of them always coming out here and it would great to see Mary Anne and Kristy, but do YOU want to go? I really don't want go fly across the country alone. I know Frankie can't go. He's too busy with work."
Stacey said, "Well, I'm definitely leaning towards going because Ben actually has Ava that weekend and I checked my flyer miles and I have enough to get there and back. I do only have them so Ava and I can fly to Nevada to visit my mom but she'll understand this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, right?"
"For sure." replied Claudia.
"Is it even doable for you?" asked Stacey, considering Claudia has a very sporadic income from her paintings .
Claudia said, "Actually, the painting I'm working on is a commission and I'm just putting finishing touches on it. I'll probably be finished with it tomorrow and I'm delivering it next week so once I do that, I'll definitely have enough money for a plane ticket but I'll need some time to think about it."
"Of course." said Stacey but hearing the tone in her best friend's voice, it sure sounded like Claudia wasn't interested.
"Do whatever you want to do, though. If you want to go, don't wait around for me" said Claudia.
"Ok." replied Stacey, doing her best to not sound bummed out before adding "I gotta get going. Talk to you later?"
"Alright" replied Claudia "call me tomorrow when you can."
"Will do. Bye." said Stacey.
She then got out of her car to pick up her daughter. Still a fashion lover, she has had to adjust her style to accommodate the warm California weather. December on the East Coast would have had her in boots that could handle the snow, a jacket, hat and gloves but the winter in Los Angeles allowed her to wear a lightweight white silk blouse with a black striped pattern, thin cut black slacks and black patent Christian Louboutin heels, which were a gift from her boyfriend, as she'd never be able to afford shoes like that. Not as thin as she was as a teenager, Stacey still maintained a healthy weight and decent figure and was able to tuck in her blouse without any excess hanging over her belt. No longer in fashion to have permed hair, her now straight and very healthy hair fell about an inch past her shoulders. While a natural dirty blonde, she gets her hair highlighted regularly, making her hair appear a few shades lighter. While she never pays attention because she has a boyfriend, men look and stare at Stacey wherever she goes and she is quite stunning.
She walked into the preschool and right into the after school daycare room, which was just off to the side of the entrance. As she walked in, she smiled as she saw her adorable and slightly chubby blonde daughter, who looked just like her, playing with a friend in the corner of the room. Stacey didn't know how she would have handled it if her daughter ended up looking like her father, altough she did get his brown eyes instead of Stacey's dazzling blue, she still resembled her mother in almost every other way. Just then her daughter turned around and her eyes lit up as she screamed "Mommy! Mommy!" ran over to Stacey and hugged her legs before she could kneel down to give her daughter a proper hug. "Hey Ava. How was your day?" asked Stacey.
Little Ava replied "So good, Mommy! We made Christmas snowman!"
"How fun!" said Stacey, then asking "can you take it home today?"
"Nope. Its for doration" said Ava and Stacey was quickly able to translate her daughter's incorrect pronunciation of the word "decoration" but not in the mood to correct her and she said "Ok, well grab your stuff and let's go."
After strapping Ava in her booster car seat and heading on the road back to their house, Stacey asked her "What do you want for dinner tonight, baby girl?" Ava thought for a minute before replying "Donalds! Donalds!," her way of saying McDonald's. While Stacey certainly didn't want Ava eating a fast food dinner, she had to grade quizzes for two classes that night, already feeling a little tired and with those unexpected waves of nausea hitting her at random times, she really didn't feel like cooking anything and filling her kitchen with any smells that might set her off so she agreed and pulled into the McDonald's drive thru, ordered a happy meal for Ava and resisting the temptation to order a diet coke, decided to just heat up a can of lentil soup for herself for dinner and accompany that with some buttered toast with some soda water, hoping that would prevent her from the possibility of throwing up, which she hated doing more than anything.
It was about 5:00 when they got home and Ava immediately sat down at their kitchen table to eat but seemed more interested in playing with her Happy Meal toy, which allowed Stacey time to prepare her own dinner so she can sit down and enjoy dinner with her daughter and have deep conversations about her adventures at preschool, which they typically do every night. After dinner, Ava takes a bath or shower and they usually watch some TV together or will play for a little bit. Ava opted to play by herself in her room, which allowed Stacey to go to her own room to change into her pajamas, selecting a pair of black cotton pajamas with tiny pink polka dots flecked with glitter, another gift from her well off boyfriend, from the previous Christmas. After washing her face, she poked her head into Ava's bedroom and already saw her fast asleep in her bed, which tugged at Stacey's heartstrings a bit. As much as she wanted to, she didn't give Ava a kiss to avoid waking her up so she said very softly, "goodnight baby" and quietly closed the door.
Stacey then walked toward her front door to retrieve her black leather briefcase that contained all the tests she needed to grade, from the small table next to the door, where she always drops all her stuff when she gets home. Stacey sat on her couch in front of the TV, only on for background noise, continuing to sip on her soda water while grading her quizzes until she finished.
By the time she was done, she was more than ready for bed and practically collapsed into her soft leopard print comforter as soon as she walked in her room. Feeling herself fading, she happened to glance at her alarm clock on the nightstand and saw that it was almost 7:45 and she had forgotten to call Kristy. As tired as she was, she bolted up to grab her cell phone, also on her night stand. As much as she wanted to talk to her old friend, she just couldn't keep her eyes open nor have a decent conversation so she shot Kristy a quick text:
"Hey Kristy! I am SOO sorry but I haven't been feeling well today and I'm so tired. Can we talk tomorrow? "
Krist responded about 3 minutes later with, "Sure, that's no problem. Sorry you don't feel well. Can you talk between 12-1? That's when I take lunch."
Stacey quickly replied "me too so yes, I'll call you after 12."
Stacey decided to add one more quick text. "Oh yeah. I'm assuming you wanted to talk to me about the reunion?"
Kristy replied "Yes, that was one of the reasons. Do you think you want to go? Or can go?"
Stacey began thinking again about whether she should go. She had a strong feeling Claudia wouldn't be able to join her and she hated the idea of going to Connecticut without her best friend. After all, that's where they met. Then she began thinking of the other girls and while they now lived so far apart and Mary Anne and Kristy certainly weren't her best friends, she shared a unique bond with them, with so many good times had together.
Realizing it was now 5 minutes since Kristy's response, Stacey got back to her texting:
"Well, I spoke to Claudia and she's thinking about it. I'm sure she'll let me know soon. I'm sure she'll let you know as well. She got your text."
"That's good. What about you?" asked Kristy a second time.
Realizing how excited Kristy seemed to be about this reunion and deciding to have a little fun, Stacey replied with:
You know, Kris. I've given it a lot of thought and considering the cost of plane tickets, hotel and finding costs and finding someone to watch Ava" and hit send.
Not getting a response for 2 more minutes, Stacey then realized Kristy might be a little bummed so sent her final text to Kristy for the night.
"I've got it all covered. So Count me IN!"