Chapter Forty-Three: School Daze

"You should clock out at four. We'll be fine without you for an hour. Really."

"Are you sure, Jimmy? I didn't want to let my going back to school get in the way of anything around here."

"Trust me, Bobby, it's not going to. But if you want to get your books on the first day of the term and not be late to class, you're going to need more time."

"Thanks, boss."

"Don't mention it. You're a good influence on the guys. They've started to take more pride in their work, more initiative to improve things since you came into the warehouse."

Tony continued managing his team's workflow, jumping in to resolve a few one-off situations during the afternoon. He let each of his reports know that he would be cutting out early. They knew to go to Meredith or Jimmy if they needed anything.

"Have a good day at school, Bobby!" Meredith called as Tony passed by on his way to punch out.

"Thanks, pal. Let's hit the taco truck tomorrow. I'll tell you how it went."

Tony clocked out and walked through the reception area. "Bobby!" Fiona yelled, popping up from the floor where she had been filing.

"Didn't see you there," he laughed.

"Your wife called." The receptionist tore a slip from her phone message book. "She told me to write the heart. I wasn't trying to be weird or anything."

"Thank you! Have a good night."

Tony read the message aloud to himself as he stepped into the heat of the afternoon. "Bobby, have a wonderful first day of class. I can't wait to hear about it tonight. The kids and I love you very much. You're going to do great!" There was a heart scrawled on the bottom, right above Jess' name. The top of the form told him that Angela had called just before the end of her lunch. He folded the paper and put it into his wallet.

Traffic was lighter at four than it would have been later. Tony arrived at the community college campus and found a parking space. He bought a daily parking permit from the machine and put it on the dash. He'd have to remember to buy a pass for the summer term at the bookstore. While he walked across campus, he took note of how the few roving students and instructors were dressed. They weren't particularly stylish or proper. The young people of both sexes tended to wear shorts and casual tops. There were a few young ladies who wore spaghetti strap tank tops and short summer dresses. Anything to keep cool, he supposed. The professors were less casual. On the men, polo shirts and belted khakis, mostly. The women wore conservative dresses. Still, they were miles from the suede-patched tweed jackets he associated with higher education.

A rush of refrigerated air hit Tony as he entered the bookstore. There was a line of agitated young people wrapped around the apparel and gifts section. He made his way to the textbooks in the back and found his class numbers. There were still a few of each text in stock. "Geez, these things are expensive," he said, picking up a thin anthology of short stories priced at thirty-four dollars. The math book was even worse: forty bucks. At least it was two inches thick. How would he get through all of that in ten weeks of night classes?

After swiping his debit card for the equivalent of a c-note and change, Tony left the bookstore with a parking pass, both texts, a new notebook, pens, and binder with filler paper. He checked his watch. Twenty-five minutes to spare. It was a good thing Jimmy intervened, or he probably would have been late to class. He decided to stop in at the library. Again, he was unimpressed. It was just a low-slung building with long tables for studying, dozens of shelves filled with books, two large copy machines, and a bank of computers with a single printer against one wall. It didn't look much different from the neighborhood library. He moved on.

The cafeteria was nearly empty. Several hot food stations were closed down, leaving a glum student to dole out French fries and chicken fingers in paper trays. He checked the large refrigerated section and found a ham sandwich and carton of low-fat milk. The kid who rang up his purchase yawned. Tony hadn't accounted for the fact that he would be in class during dinner time. Unless he came up with another solution, he'd probably be eating this meal on a daily basis. If he even had time, that is. He sat down alone, wishing there was somebody to talk to. The few students were all scattered through the room, engrossed in reading or writing, or shoveling food into their faces like he was about to do.

Five minutes later, Tony was on his way to class. He found the room easily and took a spot near the middle of the large lecture hall. The seats were raked in long rows, with attached surfaces that could be brought forward for writing or hidden between seats. As the remaining students filed in, he found himself behind most of the forty-five students. A syllabus was passed out, and he studied the page while his instructor spoke.

"Hello. My name is Hannah Trout, and I hold a Master's degree in mathematics, so please don't call me doctor." A few students chuckled. "Hannah is just fine. I have office hours down the hall immediately after class this summer, but if you don't show up within ten minutes, I'm going home. I respect that many of you are coming from a full day of working or caring for children, and that others are brand new to higher education. This is not high school. I will be treating you as adults, so please take responsibility for your own learning."

Dates were listed with math concepts and textbook page numbers next to them. There was a midterm and a final exam worth thirty percent each, with the remainder of the grade determined by weekly homework assignments that would be due beginning on Wednesday. Tony appreciated how straightforward his instructor was. She gave a page number and walked the class through the basic algebra concepts outlined in the book. Once a few equations had been written on the board, he realized that he used algebra almost every day at work and home. He and Angela had certainly employed a version of it in their financial planning sessions.

Before he knew it, class was over. He put his stuff in his bookstore shopping bag and stood up. Another man in his row turned to him. "I'm Antonio," he said in a Mexican accent. "Are you a new student?"

"Bobby," Tony said, thinking it must be a sign to meet someone else with a form of his own real name. "This is my very first college class ever."

"I've been in night school for a year. Pretty soon, I'm going to try for a sales job at the dealership where I've been working as a car prep."

"I'm going for a teaching degree. Listen, it's nice to meet you, but I need to get home to tuck my kids into bed."

"See you Wednesday," Antonio said, waving to his classmate.

Tony was exhausted when he finally pulled the pickup into the garage. He dragged his bookstore bag out of the cab and hit the button to close the garage door behind him. When he opened the door to the house, everything was dark and quiet. Maybe everyone had gone to bed already. He flicked on a light.

"Surprise!" yelled five people, jumping out from various corners of the space. The kids were wearing their Sunday best, even though they should have already been in their pajamas, if not asleep. Ricky looked a little uncertain of his place at the makeshift family celebration. Mona wore a sexy wrap dress and Angela was in the halter dress she'd worn on a couple of their early dates. There was a banner made of perforated continuous paper taped to the wall and Tony was certain that Angela had printed it at work.

"Best wishes on your educational endeavors, Bobby!" he read aloud. "You didn't have to do this."

"We wanted to express our faith in you and our appreciation for inspiring us all to become the best versions of ourselves," Angela said, beginning to get choked up. "I promised myself I wouldn't cry. It's just that none of us would be here without you."

Mona stepped in as Angela broke down and let Sam comfort her. "What Jess is trying to say is that you've already proven to all of us that you are a renaissance man. Now you're going to prove it to the world."

"That's not what Mom said," Jonathan complained.

"Say your nice thing, Chris," Sam prompted through gritted teeth.

"You're the best dad I've ever had," he told Tony. Angela turned away to hide her tears. "When I grow up, I wanna go to community college just like you!" he continued. Mona hid her laughter against Ricky's chest. Tony bent down to hug Jonathan briefly.

Sam stepped up next. "You're also the best dad I've ever had. Although, you're also the worst, come to think of it." She cupped her chin, pouted, and tapped her index finger on her lips as if in deep contemplation. "Anyway, as annoying as it is that you're good at everything, I know you're gonna kill it in college." She opened her arms and kissed Tony on both cheeks before pinching them like Mrs. Rossini would have done.

Ricky spoke up. "You didn't seem like the smartest fella when we first met," he said, causing Mona, Angela, and Tony to laugh. The kids looked at each other in confusion and shrugged. "But your mother-in-law is awfully fond of you, and she doesn't suffer fools gladly. I have full confidence in your ability to get your degree."

Angela recovered and spoke again. "We'll cut this short and let the kids go to bed," she said, gesturing in turn to Sam and Jonathan, then to Mona and Ricky. "I just want to conclude by saying that you're going places, Bobby Moretti, and all of us are lucky to be along for the ride." She took Tony in an emotional embrace, touching him on the cheek adoringly while he mirrored the movement and wiped her tears away. They shared a chaste kiss, and then another and another. Finally, she buried her face against his neck and breathed deeply. His scent calmed her. When they pulled away and looked around, everyone was gone.

"Thank you, honey. I feel so loved right now," Tony told her.

"You are loved. Very much, by all of us," Angela said seriously.

"Especially you?" he asked with a grin.

She grinned back and rolled her eyes playfully. "Especially me. I guess this little celebration has my fingerprints all over it."

"It's those little things about you that I love so much."

Mona came down the stairs and cleared her throat. "So, Ricky already went to bed, and I just made sure the kids put on their PJs and brushed their teeth. If you'd like to tuck them in, now's the time." She punched Tony lightly on the arm. "Congrats on your first day, pal."

"Goodnight, Mom!" Angela said, eager to get Tony alone.

"Goodnight, Cassie." Tony said. He kissed Angela's cheek and whispered in her ear, "Seeing you in this dress makes me feel like a hormonal teenager."

"Let's say goodnight to the kids real quick, and then you can give me the rundown on your day."