A Million Little Things (Mischief Bay, #3)

Zoe asked about other subjects and got a general idea of what was going on. But she had no material herself. She figured she could fake her way through a lot of things, but fractions wasn’t one of them. A little after nine, she surrendered to the inevitable and put on Sky High.

When the recess bell rang, the students surprised her by waiting the fifteen seconds they had on the board before racing out of the room. Zoe stared at the empty desks and told herself that feeling like a failure wasn’t the same as being a failure, even if the subtleties of that statement eluded her at the moment.

“Hi. I’m Sandy Russell,” a petite, fortysomething redhead said as she walked into the classroom. “How’s it going?”

“Not that great. I don’t have a lesson plan or anything.”

Sandy nodded knowingly. “You’re subbing for a new teacher. I’ve told her she’s got to get her sub tub together, but she’s scrambling still. Let me guess. Movies?”

“We’re watching Sky High.”

“Want to be doing something else?”

“I would love to be doing nearly anything else.”

Sandy laughed. “You’re smart to qualify that statement. Give me five seconds. I’ll be right back.”

Sandy returned as promised. She carried a huge plastic tub over to the desk and opened it.

“There are a lot of good games in here. Right now we’re really working on our vocabulary, so I would say to focus on that.” She pulled several folders, blocks and smaller boxes out of the bin. “Here you go.”

Zoe took the stack of cards along with a clear plastic bag filled with bean bags. The cards had a word on one side and a definition on the other.

“Like a bean bag toss,” she said. “This is great.”

Together she and Sandy went through the other options. Zoe borrowed a couple of folders with different ideas in them.

“I appreciate the help,” she said sincerely. “I was dying.”

Sandy shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I know it’s hard to step in, especially this far into the school year. Routines are set and while the kids say they like a play day, they really miss their regular schedule.”

“I’ll return everything at the end of the day,” Zoe promised.

By the time her students were back from recess, she’d moved all the desks and set out the vocabulary cards. Some showed the word, others showed the definition. She divided the students into teams and they took turns tossing the vocabulary words. She put down a second set and they had another round.

Time passed quickly and before she knew it, they were heading off to lunch. She used that time to write a series of fraction equations on the board and then covered them with large sheets of paper. She had a few minutes to wolf down her sandwich and grab some water before the kids were back.

This time she let them pick their own teams. They rotated through the various fraction stations and when that was done, she totaled up the points. Silly prizes, from Sandy’s tub, were awards. There were stickers proclaiming things like Most Awesome and Totally Great. She finished up the day by having her students pull pieces of paper from a bowl. On it was a topic. They had to talk on it for three minutes. Subjects ranged from favorite pets to would you rather have a baby brother or sister. There was lots of laughing and starting over, but everyone had fun and the afternoon flew by.

When the final bell rang, Zoe knew more than half the kids’ names and had managed to go several hours without Cameron making a smart-aleck remark. Two things she considered a victory. She stood by the door and thanked each student for helping her out that day.

Cameron stopped in front of her. “I’m sorry I was a butthead before. You’re a really good teacher. I hope we get you again.”

“Thank you, Cameron. Best not to say the B word.”

He flashed her a grin. “Hey, I have a reputation I have to worry about.”

She laughed, not sure if he was going to turn into a professional criminal when he grew up or run for elected office.

By three fifteen she’d returned Sandy’s sub tub to her and thanked her another fourteen times. By three thirty her room was clean and she was signing out of the school. It was only after she got in her car that she realized how incredibly exhausted she was. She hurt from her head to her toes. Her feet ached, her back was sore and there was a throbbing just behind her eyes.

First thing in the morning she was going to send Sandy Russell thank-you flowers. The second thing she was going to do was spend some quality time online, looking at activities to do with children of various ages. She couldn’t count on being rescued again, which meant if she was going to continue substitute teaching, she needed her own sub tub.

Mason greeted her with several pointed meows, as if explaining he wasn’t used to her being gone all day and he really didn’t like it. She sank to the floor and pulled him close. His soft purr eased the tension in her chest.

She desperately wanted a glass of wine, she thought, wondering what she had in her pantry. A nice merlot or a margarita. Did she have limes?

She was about to go investigate, when she suddenly remembered there would be no drinking for her. Because she was pregnant with Chad’s baby. Pregnant! Her!

Reality crashed in on her. She lay on the floor and stared at the ceiling while Mason kneaded her belly and purred.

“I’m pregnant,” she said aloud. “I’m going to be a single mom. It’s real.”

She didn’t want to be pregnant, which was slightly different from saying she didn’t want the baby. At least she hoped it was. Somehow she was going to have to figure out what she was doing. There were logistics. The single mom part bothered her. She was totally on her own. Oh, she could ask for help and she had people who would be there, but it wasn’t as if she was madly in love with the baby’s father.

Which reminded her that she was going to have to tell Chad at some point. And her father. And—

She sat up and grabbed Mason. “I have to tell Steven!”

Her cat blinked at her. She set him on the floor and groaned. “I can’t. What am I supposed to say?”

The truth seemed the obvious choice, but that wasn’t going to happen. Hi, Steven. Just calling to let you know I’m pregnant with Chad’s baby. How are you?