Page 70 of The Boyfriend Swap

“It says here Fender Music Foundation donates instruments to school music programs by selecting in-need, ongoing, and sustainable schools,” Lance said, pointing to his computer screen. We’d met at a local coffee shop to commiserate and brainstorm possible solutions in the event the rumors were less back-fence talk and more fact.

“Except we don’t know if we even need new instruments. If we don’t, this grant would be meaningless. Maybe it’s our salaries the school won’t be able to afford. If so, no amount of free instruments will make a difference,” I said.

Lance shrugged his broad shoulders. “We have plenty of instruments and they’re in decent shape. The string section could be updated, but that’s about it. Horns and woodwind are new.” Lance took a sip of his coffee. “What should we do?”

I frowned. “I’m not sure it makes sense to do anything until we confirm the rumor. Our school might not even qualify as a school in need.” It was a public school with kids from mostly middle-income families.

Lance scratched his goatee of black hair. “I asked around, and apparently affected teachers aren’t given much notice in circumstances like this. We might not find out until the end of the school year when we’re supposed to be given our assignments for fall semester.”

I knew where he was going with this. “We might not even be told until after the summer is over.”

“When it’s too late,” we muttered at the same time.

“Without enough notice, we’ll never have enough time to apply for grants,” Lance said, his brown eyes wide with fear. With two children under the age of five and a stay-at-home wife, I knew Lance couldn’t afford to lose his job or even a pay cut from reduced classes.

“What should do we do?” Lance asked again, this time with a pleading look.

I was more worried about the kids than myself only because I didn’t have anyone depending on me, and I knew my folks would help me out with money until I got a new job. I felt it my responsibility to play cheerleader and calm Lance down as best I could. “Until we know what we’re dealing with, we can’t do anything. I’ll talk to Principal Hogan.”

“You will?”

I nodded. I didn’t want to, but there was no other option.

Lance let out a sigh of relief and beamed at me. “You’re so great, Robyn. Like a Disney princess.”

Or like Snow White. Lance was beaming at me, but all I saw was Will’s face.

My phone rang as I stood before my closet deciding what to wear on the first day back at school. The second semester always felt like a new beginning, and even though I wasn’t a student anymore, I got the jitters. My outfit needed to be uplifting. It was James on the phone. I’d been both dying to talk to him and dreading it. I knew the topic of Will would come up immediately, and it was a subject I’d been unsuccessfully trying to distract myself from for the last week. Even dancing the year away with Anne Marie and some of our other friends on New Year’s Eve wasn’t a good enough distraction, because each time a guy tried to dance with me, I wished it was Will. I picked up the phone. “What should I wear the first day back at school: a red ombre long-sleeved mini dress over black tights, or black and white gingham pants with a hot pink cable knit sweater?”

Without hesitation, James said, “The dress.”

I smiled. I hoped he would choose the dress since I’d been wearing pants for the last two weeks and needed a change. We were always in sync. “Thank you for confirming my instincts.”

“How did you end things with Will?”

“You don’t waste time, do you?” I said in an attempt to waste time.

“I fully expected you to call me the second you got back to the city. It’s been almost a week.”

“Ah, Will. He was so last year,” I joked.

With a snort, James said, “Terrible attempt at humor, but if you want to go there, Will Brady was last year as well as most of the first ten years of the twenty-first century.”

I sat on the edge of the bed and placed a hand over my tummy. I was nauseous.

“Rob?”

“He asked me on a date,” I whispered.

James gasped. “Wow. This is just…wow. More exciting than when Nathan fell for Hailey inOne Tree Hill.”

“I said no.”

“This is momentous news. I can’t believe you held out on me. Wait. You said no? Why? It’s Will Brady. Your dream man. It’s like Rachel and Ross in reverse.”

“Aren’t you going to even ask what happened to Perry and Sidney? You know—my boyfriend and Will’s girlfriend?”

“Who cares? They’re supporting players whose main purpose is to add conflict and drama to the main love story—you and Will.”

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