SEVEN
WHEN TAMMY ARRIVED home after her romp with Victor, guilt filled her. She had left quickly, sputtering some lame excuse about relieving her babysitter. She did worry about Jabari and she longed for those days when she could do what she wanted with reckless abandon. Spending all night with a man just wasn’t possible as a mother.
It pained Tammy that she couldn’t breathe a word of what happened to anyone. Her night with Victor had been… mind-blowing.
Tammy had never experienced an older man and the way he handled her changed the way she saw men. If that had been sex, he’d been an expert and he’d drawn her to a climax to rival any other.
As Tammy entered her house, she noticed Jabari was downstairs clicking around on his laptop. She couldn’t believe this little rascal was up that late when he had school the next day. Tammy cleared her throat to get Jabari’s attention. He was so lost in his world of technology that he hardly looked up.
“Uh huh. Gimme a sec,” He mumbled.
Tammy folded her arms.
“How about you get your little butt into bed since you have school tomorrow?” Tammy countered.
Jabari realized his mom mean business and closed the laptop. Jabari gave his mom a good night hug and hustled off to bed. As her son tucked himself in, Tammy was left alone with her thoughts.
When she was younger, the idea of being truly alone scared Tammy. She had tried to fill the void with meaningless dates, but Tammy could never let anyone get too close.
With Victor, Tammy actually felt like she had a chance to get close to someone. Victor knew who she was before her entire reputation was tainted by rumors. He didn’t care about the rumors. He saw her for who she was. Maybe that was because he’d known her when she was just a shy girl. He saw that side of her, the side of her that Randall had killed.
Victor didn’t believe rumors. As a foreigner, he wasn’t inclined to them. He was old enough and man enough to decide how he felt about Tammy for himself.
And what does he feel for me? She questioned.
Tammy checked her email as she sat down with a cup of chai at her kitchen counter.
Finally, she’d received a response about the PTA; it was an email from none other than Stephanie Wagner just as Victor had informed her. Tammy’s throat tightened as she opened up the email.
Hello Mrs. Powers,
Thank you for your email. I’m Stephanie, head of the PTA. Our first meeting for the month is actually tomorrow. We are having it at Marilyn Martin’s apartment tomorrow so please make sure you show up on time. The meeting starts at five o’clock in the afternoon and you’ve been assigned to bring a peach cobbler (not store bought!) Hope to see you there!
- Stephanie G. Wagner
Tammy read through the email a number of times. She saw that Stephanie hadn’t changed. “Mrs. Powers”?
What was that all about.
Stephanie, like everyone else in town, knew that Tammy was an unmarried mother. Perhaps it was an innocent mistake, but underestimating Stephanie was always a bad move.
Tammy’s intuition told her that this was intentional. Stephanie loved to “one up” people; pointing out that she was married while Tammy wasn’t was just the beginning.
Tammy didn’t miss her “store bought” dig either. Tammy wasn’t looking forward to coming face to face with her high school’s Queen B again.
She sighed and closed the laptop, reminiscing on her days at Willowcrest. Stephanie had ended up exactly as she’d expected.
In high school, Stephanie Gardner was the queen of the class and she knew it. When she arrived at Willowcrest as a fresh ninth grader, every single guy in school wanted her. Within three weeks, she was onto her third senior boyfriend. Every freshman girl wanted Stephanie’s secret for nabbing hot guys.
Tammy remembered one particular instance when all the freshman girls gathered around Tammy for her to recount her tactics for getting guys. Stephanie’s “secret” was just the fact that she was blonde and skinny.
She advised all the girls in the class to “eat less” or “maybe just throw up a little”. Tammy remembered when she’d reported this to her parents and they’d freaked. She chuckled at the futility of her attempts to fight back against the ebullient bully.
Stephanie was untouchable. She always had been. She’d also had it out for Tammy for years. In all this time, Tammy had moved on from petty games.
Stephanie hadn’t.
Back then, Stephanie orchestrated the illusion that she was a complete idiot. She’d even call herself a dumb blonde. Tammy and a select few were the only ones to see through her act. Stephanie was anything but stupid.
She understood women, men and the power of her sensuality better than anyone. One of the few times Tammy had seen Stephanie act like a real person and not just a plastic Barbie, she had confessed one of her deepest beliefs…
“You know Tammy… All women have are their looks. And we don’t have them for long. I want to be hot while I can be you know? I want to settle down with some nice guy who travels often so I can just be on my own and enjoy life… My mom has always been a career woman and look how that paid off? She still got saddled with five kids and a good for nothing husband who runs around on her. All you can hope for in this world as a woman is that you suffer in comfort.”
Stephanie’s revelation stuck with Tammy for years. Tammy wondered if Stephanie still felt that way. They hadn’t spoken more than a few words to each other since their junior year of high school.
Tammy had finally had enough of Stephanie’s arrogance and the way she bullied the class “losers”. Stephanie the preppy, pretty little princess really thought she was better than everyone. When Tammy realized she didn’t have to take Stephanie’s shit she had never felt freer.
Can people really change? Tammy wondered.
She felt like she’d changed since high school. But everyone thought they were the ones capable of change and no one else was. Perhaps Tammy was the one who remained the same while everyone around her shifted with the times.
Perhaps she was reading too much into Stephanie’s message because she was the one who needed to grow up.
Tammy decided that she should hold out hope. She would approach the meeting as the most pleasant version of herself in hopes that things would be different. At one point in her life, she and Stephanie had been all but rivals.
This could be their second chance.