“What’s wrong?” Jason asks me.
“I was supposed to go to this PTA meeting tonight.”
“The PTA?” He frowns. “Is this really a good time to get more involved in the PTA?”
“Jason…”
“Can’t you skip it? Didn’t you say you hate those things?”
“Yes, I did say that. And I do. But Jessica is counting on me to do movie night. And I feel like… maybe I shouldn’t be antagonizing anyone now…”
Jason gives me a look. “You really think you need to worry about what Jessica Martinson thinks of you?”
No. I shouldn’t. But I still do. I’ve always longed for that woman’s approval. “I won’t stay for long. Okay?”
He shrugs. “Whatever you want, Erika. I’m going to go look up lawyers for Liam while you’re organizing movie night or whatever it is you feel is more important than our son…”
He’s right. I shouldn’t be organizing movie nights right now. If I’m in a position where I’m looking up attorneys for my sixteen-year-old son, my life is too complicated to be doing movie night. Maybe I’ll talk to Jessica when I get there. I’ll explain to her that I can’t do movie night and I’m sorry.
But then again, I don’t want her to think I’m backing out because Liam is guilty of something.
I drive over to the school, and sure enough, traffic is light and it takes only ten minutes. I see the cars of all the other moms parked outside the school. Jessica’s minivan is right by the entrance in the primo parking spot that she always seems to nab.
PTA meetings are held in the library on the second floor. I charge up the stairs, glancing down at my watch to find that I am now five minutes late somehow. Stupid iPhone didn’t alert me soon enough. Oh well. I’ll slip in the back and it won’t be a big deal. Jessica usually spends the first twenty minutes going over minutes from last meeting anyway. These things are torture.
The door to the library creaks loudly when I push it open. I’m clearly the only latecomer, and everyone is already gathered around the conference table set up in the center of the room. Jessica is standing at the front, wearing a blue and white dress that looks fantastic on her. She always looks fantastic. Under any circumstance, I might feel a twinge of jealousy, but that’s the last thing I’m feeling right now.
I remember the first time I saw Jessica Martinson, back when the boys were in first grade. We had just moved to the town and were starting over after that awful incident in kindergarten. Jason thought I was being silly when I said we should move, but too many people knew what had happened. I could feel them whispering about me when I went to the supermarket. We had become pariahs there and needed a fresh start.
I showed up at a quarter to three that day to pick Liam up from first grade. Jessica was waiting as well and looked hopelessly glamorous, even in her T-shirt and yoga pants. She was surrounded by a group of women who were hanging on her every word. She loves being the center of attention—that hasn’t changed. I watched them laughing at a joke Jessica had made, but I was too intimidated to try to approach them. I was never one of the popular kids back when I was in school, and I didn’t expect that would change in adulthood.
It wasn’t until Tyler and Liam came out of the school together that Jessica took a sudden interest in me. She walked over to me purposefully, a charming smile on her red lips. She was looking at me, but her eyes were on my son. “You must be Liam’s mother. I’m Jessica—Tyler’s mom.”
“Erika,” I said.
“Tyler talks about Liam nonstop,” Jessica said, as if she was impressed.
“That’s wonderful,” I said, although in the back of my mind I was thinking that I hoped Liam didn’t end up duct-taping him in a closet.
“Seems like the boys have gotten to be good friends.” She looked down at Liam, who was standing patiently beside me with his SpongeBob SquarePants backpack on his shoulders while the other boys were running around like crazy. “Hi there, Liam. I’m Tyler’s mother.”
Liam held out his right hand, which Jessica accepted. “It’s very nice to meet you,” he recited.
Jessica laughed, utterly charmed by my son. “What fantastic manners. You trained him well, Erika!”
Amazingly, I hadn’t trained him at all. Liam learned all on his own what to say to adults to make them love him.
After that day, Jessica was my best friend. Liam and Tyler had play dates once or twice a week, and we learned to count on each other if we had an emergency where we needed someone to pick up one of our sons from school. It wasn’t until the end of grade school when that abruptly changed. The boys barely spoke to each other anymore. Jessica and I were still friendly, but no longer friends. I never quite understood why.