Gigi took after her aunt Izzy more than me. Sometimes I looked at her and knew that the Gallo genes won out in my womb when she was created. She had their dark skin, warm brown hair, and attitude.

Ro and Lu, the twins, were an even mix of both of our families. They had sandy blond hair, light eyes, and ivory skin. I prayed every day they wouldn’t have the Gallo attitude, which often led to trouble.

“Mrs. Gallo, sorry I had to call you to the office today.” Sitting in the principal’s office, even as an adult, made me weak in the knees.

Even when I was a teacher, the very mention of a meeting in the principal’s office brought back memories of my childhood and being scolded for my behavior.

“I completely understand, Ms. Wisen. What did Gigi do to warrant this meeting?”

“Would you like to wait for your husband?” she asked.

The woman looked like she’d be a hard-nosed principal, but I didn’t think that could be the case for any elementary school administrator. You couldn’t surround yourself with the smallest, innocent creatures and not have a warm heart. Even though she was dressed in a dark suit, she had on colorful rubber bracelets for various school fundraisers from the school year.

“He couldn’t get away from work. It’s just me today.” I’d been here before. Gigi had been in trouble on other occasions, typically for using profanity she learned from the Gallos. They had loose tongues, and kids were quick to mimic the language of those around them.

“Ahh, he’s a tattoo artist, right?” Her nose wrinkled.

“He’s a business owner, yes.” I glared at her, feeling disgust at her presumption about him based on his artistic profession.

“Well, there was an incident this morning that has many teachers concerned here at Spring Elementary.”

I fidgeted with my hands and tried to remain calm. I’d been in this office for more nonsense than I ever imagined possible. “What kind of incident?”

Gigi was a good kid. She did have some of her aunt in her personality, but she was never malicious or cruel. It was starting to feel like a witch-hunt and Gigi was the target.

“She told a boy that he was only hers and then tried to kiss him.”

I smiled, unable to hide it, because she sounded like her father and me. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Actually, she sounded like every Gallo with those words. She’d heard them many times growing up.

“Is this funny, Mrs. Gallo?” Ms. Wisen sneered at me with disgust.

“She’s just a kid. It’s cute that she has a crush.”

Wisen needed to lighten up. She probably hadn’t been laid since Bill Clinton was in the White House. Kids did stuff like this all the time. I remember cornering my first crush and giving him a kiss, probably against his will since boys often thought girls were gross until puberty kicked in.

She clasped her hands on the desk in front of her. “It borders on sexual harassment.”

My mouth fell open at the ridiculousness of it all. “You can’t be serious. They’re children.”

“This is how it starts. It’s a slippery slope from here.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ms. Wisen, I’ll speak with Gigi about not touching others, especially kissing them. She won’t do it again, but in no way is it sexual harassment.”

“We have a very strict no-touching policy here at Spring.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“What’s more concerning is her language. Telling the boy that he was hers and only hers. He was in tears this morning.”

Clearly his parents didn’t use that language at home. “She didn’t mean anything by it. She’s heard it said by many members of our family. It’s harmless.”

“I don’t know what kind of unhealthy relationship you have at home, but that type of expression is not acceptable.”

I stood quickly, smoothing my dress before leaning over her desk. I was done with her insinuating there was something wrong at home for Gigi to act the way she had. “There’s nothing wrong with her father and me. We love each other. We’re committed to each other. Maybe if you had someone as devoted to you as we are to each other, you wouldn’t find the language so disturbing. I’m sorry your life is so bland and boring that claiming someone as yours is out of your realm of comfort, but I can assure you that it’s not meant in a negative way. I’ll speak to Gigi about touching others, but there is nothing wrong with her or our family. If you continue to single her out as an issue, I will take you to court for harassment. Just try me, Ms. Wisen. I’ve worked in education for years. I know how it works, and once you target a child as an issue, every small thing they do can be picked out and used against them. You need to leave my child alone and pay more attention to the real problems in the school.”

The fucking bitch. I could feel her attitude and disdain for Joe and me before she even began speaking. Maybe I was wrong. Wisen wasn’t a teddy bear at all. She was a frigid, prude of a woman who needed to get fucked six ways to Sunday.

“There’s no need to get lawyers involved, Mrs. Gallo.”

“My husband may be a tattoo artist, but we are in no way poor. If you mess with my family again, I’ll sink every dollar I have in my bank accounts into ruining you. Do you understand me?” On the outside, I appeared calm and collected, but my insides were shaking. Not out of fear, but in anger.

She held her hands up in front of her in a defensive manner. “Understood. I didn’t mean any harm.”

“Saying my daughter is sexually harassing someone is just being an asshole. I’m taking Gigi with me for the rest of the day. I’ll share the incident with her father and let him decide how to handle the situation.” I stuck my purse under my arm and straightened my body. “It’ll be entirely up to him. I don’t know if he’ll be quite as kind as me with his words either.”

Without a backward glance, I marched out of the office and slammed the door. That earned me a look of shock from every person sitting in the office waiting. My hands shook as I texted Joe and told him we’d discuss what happened at the school tonight. I already knew he would be more pissed off than I was, but I’d figure out a way to calm him down. I always did.

“Hey, Mommy. Why are you so mad?” Gigi asked, placing her hand in mine after she walked into the office.

“Some people aren’t very nice, Gig.”

“I know.” She tugged on my arm so I’d lean over. “Ms. Wisen is the meanest there is too,” she whispered in my ear but not quiet enough not to be overheard.

“I know, baby. Daddy will deal with her.” I smiled because the busybody office ladies would pass that on to the evil Ms. Wisen.

Gigi backed away so I could see her face with widened eyes. “Oh, is she going to get spanked like Daddy does to you?”

I bit my lip, hiding my laughter and feeling my face heat with embarrassment. “Not quite like that, Gig. I see we have to have a long talk about Mommy and Daddy. You’ve heard too much, baby.”

“I hear it all, Mommy. You’ve been a bad girl.” She mimicked Joe’s voice, and I wanted to wipe the words from her mind.

“Come on. Let’s go get some ice cream and talk about what happened today,” I told her before lifting her into my arms to get out of there as quickly as possible before she said something else.

---

“We gotta talk,” I said to Joe when he walked through the front door after work.

“Wisen?”

“Yep. And a few other things Gigi said today.” Standing on my tiptoes, I kissed him on the cheek before nuzzling my nose against his five-o’clock shadow.

He shook his head and smiled. He knew the things that could come out of her mouth, and usually, he was pretty proud of his little spitfire. “What did she say now?”

“Well, for starters…” I led him by the hand to the couch and pushed him down by the shoulders. “She told a boy today that he was hers.”

His head fell forward. “Jesus, isn’t she too young for this shit?”

I kneaded his shoulders, trying to relieve some of his tension while using him as a human stress ball. “She’s just acting out what she’s seen at home.”

“Shit, I hope not.”

“That’s another thing.”

“What is?”

“It seems that Little Miss Gigi overhears us.”

“I know. She’s mentioned things to me that she shouldn’t know about.”

My hands stilled against his rock-hard shoulders. “So you knew?”

“Yeah, she said some things to me months ago and I forgot.” His body started to shake under my fingers when he began to laugh.

“Well, today she wanted to know if you were going to spank Ms. Wisen for being a bad girl just like me.”

His laughter grew louder. “It’s kind of funny, no?”

“I’d be laughing if it weren’t so embarrassing.” The very thought of it still made me want to puke.

“She has no idea what it means.”

“Especially since she never gets spanked.” Neither of us believed in hitting our children. It was a line we’d never cross. Gigi had to be confused why I got spanked but she didn’t. There was no way in hell I’d explain it to her either.

“I’ll talk to her. Why did Gigi want to know if I was going to spank Wisen? What did that bitch say now?” A low growl came from him, his body vibrating under my hands.

“She said that Gigi’s behavior bordered on sexual harassment.”

He turned around and faced me without a single ounce of humor left on his face. “She can’t be fucking serious.”

“She was.” I started to work my fingers again and tried to get him to relax. “Don’t worry, I put her in her place.”

“I want to know everything that happened.”

I spent the next hour discussing with him the ramifications of Gigi’s actions and how Wisen felt our home life might be unhealthy for a child. By the time we were done talking, Joe was more pissed off than I thought he would be. If I were Ms. Wisen, I’d be worried. Hell hath no fury like a papa bear protecting his little cub.