Teaching Ms. Riggs Read online

  TEACHING MS RIGGS

  STEPHANIE BECK

  LYRICAL PRESS

  http://lyricalpress.com/

  KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

  http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/

  For my mother.

  Chapter 1

  Another box. What the hell was she going to do with another wad of cardboard? She had no idea, and she refused to walk to the dumpster after dark even if she was back in her hometown. The only place with room was the tiny space between the refrigerator and wall, so she crammed it in with the others.

  Benfri Riggs turned and surveyed her apartment. It was small, sparse and ugly. The walls were the same color yellow she’d promised herself never to be surrounded by after her two years in dorms. The sofa sagged, and the TV needed a converter box. The super had promised to bring her a spare box, and in the meantime, her tiny MP3 player provided the only source of background noise.

  Classical music filled the silence. That’s all she needed, because she wasn’t really paying attention to it anyway. She ambled across her kitchen, three whole steps, and grabbed a box of cereal from above the refrigerator. The afternoon spent unpacking had been a blissful time of non-thought.

  Unfortunately, her stomach growled and exhaustion loomed, so it was time to sit down and eventually go to bed. She poured milk into her bowl after the cereal. The cheap brand didn’t taste the greatest, but it would suffice until she got her first paycheck.

  She tried not to wince at the first bite, reminding herself she wasn’t some spoiled wife anymore. How she’d ended up one, she still didn’t quite understand. She’d been raised in Flathead Falls, Missouri, with a box of the same store-brand corn flakes on the breakfast table every morning.

  Maybe if her aunt had splurged on the frosted ones once in a while, Ben wouldn’t have been so drawn to Don and his slick ways. The thought made her grin, but it was much too easy to blame her fastidious, spendthrift aunt for the turn Ben’s life had taken. She took another bite and did wince.

  She missed coffee from anywhere but her own cheap coffee pot. Giving up everything had been for the best, but she still wished for the things she couldn’t have anymore. She looked over her shoulder at the stack of bank papers she’d lugged from Chicago. Because of her husband’s past criminal activities, she hadn’t been granted the bankruptcy she needed after his death.

  Instead, she’d been saddled with an unbelievable loan with interest that made her stomach turn. She tossed her spoon aside and rested her forehead on the heel of her hand.

  This was why she couldn’t stop moving. When she did the weight of her heavy world settled between her shoulder blades and made the moments unbearable. Not only had she lost her husband and been overwhelmed with debt, she’d had to learn from strangers just who the man she’d loved really was. A criminal, identity thief, adulterer and, the worst offense in her mind, a drug dealer who preyed on children.

  She shook off her pity party, or at least told herself she had to before she drove herself crazy. Ben took her bowl and spoon to the sink and slowly washed them, killing time to keep the ugly thoughts away, but they invaded full force.

  The police officer who had informed her all about Don had worn a smirk the entire time as he detailed Don’s dealings and personal liaisons. Instead of treating her like the victim she was, the detective had taken great pleasure in presenting her with pictures of Don with other women.

  That file was under the one from the bank. She should have burned it, but she couldn’t. It was a good reminder of what being stupid could bring. Love wasn’t the negative, it was the things she’d done for love that made her regret ever meeting Don.

  She’d given him everything and trusted him when he asked her to. It had never occurred to her to question him.

  Ben turned off the light in the kitchen so only the living room lamp remained. Classic rock now filled the room.

  There was absolutely no sense in thinking about the past. She scolded herself as she checked the multitude of locks on the door. The only thing the past had that she had to worry about was a single woman who may or may not have been the one to kill Don. But even she wasn’t going to take over Ben’s mind.

  Determined to make the best of the night, Ben grabbed her briefcase and looked through the papers. As she organized class lists and introduction letters, she reminded herself that she needed to look toward the future.

  One good thing had come from her time with Don–her teaching license. Back in her hometown she had found a way to start paying her crippling debt by doing what she’d been trained for: teaching chemistry. She smiled as she started making notes, the ugliness behind her as she focused. Nothing would hold her back this time.

  Chapter 2

  “Let’s see, I need Thomas LeDoux at my desk after class. Who’s Thomas, again?”

  Ben hated asking for their names but she was one person in a sea of smelly fifteen and sixteen year olds, mostly boys. Over seventy percent of the sophomore class was male, and she couldn’t even begin to think of a reason why that would be the case.

  To make things harder on her exhausted mind, most of them had basic, Midwest names. There were four ‘Johns’ in her first hour homeroom, along with several ‘Marks’ and ‘Lukes’. She checked her paper and realized the Thomas she’d just called was one of five she’d seen so far. It was going to be a long day.

  A lanky, dark-haired boy raised his hand from the last row of tables. Guilt trickled in because she should have remembered his name and face, but until she’d corrected his paper, nothing about him had stood out. She’d been skeptical when he’d breezed through the test, handing it in only halfway through the period. After she’d looked it over, she’d changed her tune. Contrary to his nondescript exterior, the boy was a genius according to the results.

  She smiled as he ambled his way to her desk, his lanky frame making it more work than necessary. The bell rang before he made it to her. The same one that had freed her from her classrooms so many years ago when she’d walked Flathead Falls’ High School halls.

  “All right, guys, don’t run. Remember to get all those papers signed tonight, boys and Megan and Shelly.” Ben nodded and smiled to the only two girls in class as they passed out the door behind the boys.

  “Did I do something wrong, Ms. Riggs?”

  Ben turned to the young man before her. His voice had cracked horribly, and his cheeks burned red in embarrassment. She remembered those days when her body had often betrayed her.

  “Absolutely not, Thomas. I just need to talk with you for a minute. I’ll write you a pass for your next class.”

  “No problem, I just have lunch.” The young man’s voice evened out a bit and was a deep baritone. It was a very nice sound, and he’d probably have the girls lining up as soon as he grew into his nose and lanky bird legs.

  After giving Thomas’s test one last look, she handed it to him. He took it with confusion on his face.

  “Was there something wrong?” he asked, looking it over with sharp eyes. “I put my name on it, right?”

  “Yes, you remembered your name. Actually, the reason I wanted to talk with you is because there is nothing wrong with your test. At all. Is it something you’ve had a history with?” Fatigue made Ben reach for her stool. After she straddled it, she motioned for Thomas to take the seat across her desk.

  He sat, his long frame slouching, though she saw he attempted to sit straight on the stool with no back.

  “Uh, yeah, I guess I’ve done some of it before.” He fidgeted with the ripped edge of his book binding.

  She thought he might be a little nervous and amped up her smile. Instilling fear in her students was something she hoped to wait a few more weeks to do.

  “My parents are pharmaceu
tical scientists. I spent the summer in France with them, mostly with my father in his lab.”

  Ben could tell he hadn’t thought much of the experience even if he’d learned from it. The scowl on his face wasn’t a rebellious one. Thomas just looked genuinely unhappy at the memory. Her first instinct was to reach across the desk and pat his shoulder or offer some kind of comfort, but she refrained because it wasn’t quite appropriate.

  “What did you think of the test?” she asked, hoping to get him on a different topic.

  “Ah, it was pretty easy, I guess. I’d seen all the stuff before, but I won’t act out or anything in class, if you’re worried. I’m sure there’s lots of stuff I can learn from you.”

  Ben smiled at his quick cover. “I am pretty smart.” She bit her tongue to keep from laughing when he blushed a little at his unintentional insult. “But here’s the thing that concerns me, Thomas. This test was set up especially to be a full year sampling for sophomores to give me an idea of what everyone retained from previous years. Most people did really well on what they’d already learned, but there is a ton of new stuff on here and you blew through it like it was a colors quiz. You’ve got an advanced understanding of what I’m teaching basics for in this class. If it were just you and me, I could keep you busy, but that’s not the case. I think you would do much better in Mr. Kai’s class.”

  “Senior high chemistry?” he asked, his skepticism clear.

  “Yes. I’ll talk to the guidance counselor and Mr. Kai for approval, but thought I’d ask for your thoughts first.”

  He scratched his arm nervously before he replied, “I should probably talk to my uncle about it. Would it be a lot more homework? I don’t want to get spread too thin with all my new classes and football.”

  “Maybe some, but not an unreasonable amount. I’d be happy to set up a meeting with your uncle, you, Mr. Kai and myself to answer any questions you and your uncle might have,” she promised with a reassuring smile. His foresight was a pleasant surprise.

  “Okay, yeah. Uncle Mark’s number is on the card thing you handed out. Practice doesn’t start until four o’clock today, so if you can make something work between three-thirty and four it would be better for me.”

  He pushed up from the stool onto his huge feet, reminding Ben of a young horse, still figuring out how to use all his limbs. She wondered how much he’d grown in the past summer to give him such difficulties. Her own growth spurts hadn’t put her past five and a half feet, so she couldn’t imagine the adjusting the poor kid was doing.

  “I’ll call your uncle on my lunch break, how’s that sound?”

  “Yeah, should work. Thanks, Ms. Riggs. Hey, is your name really Ben?”

  “Actually, it’s Benfri, which was my mother’s maiden name.”

  “That’s cool.”

  “I think so.” She waved him out as students for her next class trickled in. “You’d better head to lunch. Stop in before practice. Hopefully we’ll get this all ready for you.”

  * * * *

  Must. Buy. Air freshener. Ben held her breath and smiled as her latest class filed out. Teenage boys smelled rough in the best scenario but the last group had come straight from gym class. She made a note to call the gym teacher and beg for deodorant reminders to be sent home.

  Before she could see to the future preservation of her abused olfactory system, she had to open a window and call Thomas’s uncle. With a fresh breeze permeating the room, she sighed in relief. The day was going well, but the break was incredibly welcomed.

  To-do list in mind, she pulled Thomas’s card from her box of contacts and, sure enough, no mom or dad was listed. He’d mentioned spending the summer with his parents in their lab, but there was no notation of either of them.

  She was sure she would hear the story of Thomas’s family before too long. As she’d been on the gossips’ lips before, she knew the strength of the pipeline in small communities. Since the schools and churches were information central, she knew she wouldn’t have long to wait for all the latest on everyone else’s business.

  She dialed the number and waited, her mind wandering to dinner as her stomach growled. The food was still as bad as it had ever been in the cafeteria, so she’d have to start bringing something from home. Cereal for three meals a day sounded horrible. Doable, but detestable.

  “What?”

  The harsh greeting jerked Ben out of her nutritional thoughts.

  “Ah, Mr. Dougstat?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Hello, I’m Ben Riggs from Flathead Falls Schools. I’m Thomas’s pre-chem teacher. There is something I would like to talk about with you and Thomas if you have time?”

  “Yeah, what’s that?” he demanded and cursed. “Damn. Can I call you back? I’m getting my butt kicked by a cow who doesn’t want her shots right now. As long as Thomas and Kira are okay–”

  “They are, absolutely.” Understanding dawned and if he’d been fighting with a cow, she had to admit he was actually being pretty polite. “If you could come in at three-thirty today we could talk about it.”

  “Fine, Riggs, chem, three-thirty.”

  “Yep, good luck with the cow.” Ben smiled when she put the phone back in the cradle.

  It had been much too long since she’d even thought about cows. Her dad had raised dairy cattle and she’d always helped, but after he died, she’d never stepped foot back on a farm. Another bittersweet memory, she thought, with a long sigh.

  Ben’s last class of the day had just filed out when Mr. Kai arrived with Thomas at his heels already talking chemistry. To her relief she understood most of what they said and ended up laughing with them over lame science jokes. She was about to tell one of her own when something assaulted her nose.

  Cow poop. It wasn’t a new smell, not in rural Missouri, but so far it was one smell, thanks to clean shoes, she hadn’t experienced in her classroom.

  Ben watched the entry, not knowing what she expected in Thomas’s uncle, but the tall man wearing a Flathead Falls ball cap with blond curls around the edge wasn’t it.

  He was fit and the source of the smell that clung to him wasn’t obvious since his jeans looked old but fresh and his shoes were bright white. After cuffing his nephew on the shoulder in greeting, he looked over at Ben. She stopped thinking a moment when he smiled.

  “Hello.” He held out his hand. “I’m Mark Dougstat. Are you Ms. Riggs?”

  Remembering she was a professional, Ben shook herself and extended her hand as well. “Yes, I am. Thanks for making it in on such short notice.”

  “No problem. So, what’s this all about?”

  Ben explained about Thomas’s test and then let Mr. Kai take over. She listened as the older teacher went over his syllabus and how his class worked. Thomas and his uncle listened intently, Mark nodding several times and asking questions along the way.

  Smart questions, she thought. He was obviously close to his nephew to worry about his workload. She found herself smiling for no reason except for the pleasure she felt in listening to his voice and ordered herself to stop. She hadn’t come home to fall head over heels for the first man who smiled at her. No matter how nice of a smile he had.

  “Can you handle it?” Mark asked as Thomas looked over the text and a few sample tests.

  “Yep.” The youth was already engrossed in a page full of equations and barely looked up. “Some of these are pretty hard.”

  Mr. Kai laughed. “Good. I’d like to think there could be some challenge for you. Ms. Riggs has already offered to set up some enrichment opportunities to really challenge you in your downtime in my class.”

  “Your uncle might have to help you with some of them,” Ben added, and Mark snorted a little. “Not so great with chemistry?”

  “Not even slightly,” he replied and sent her a little wink. Ben fought a blush, but didn’t think she succeeded as he continued, “But I do make a hell of an after-school snack. I also stock the drawer with freshly sharpened pencils.”

  “His marsh
mallow crispy squares are awesome.” Thomas’s loyal pledge was ruined when he laughed and elbowed his uncle. “Especially when he wraps them in the little blue foil with the elves on it.”

  “Big mouth,” Mark muttered, but he smiled too. “Do I have to sign anything to make the switch?”

  Ben was so charmed by the way the two males acted with each other she didn’t realize at first the question was for her.

  “Ms. Riggs?” Mr. Kai asked, and she started. This time she didn’t even attempt to stop her blush.

  “Ah, thing to sign…nope. We just wanted to okay it with you since the guidance counselor already said it was fine. Oh, Thomas, doesn’t football start soon?”

  “Yeah, I gotta go.” He stood, already in his pads and cleats. Ben thought he looked a little like a kid in adult clothes. One day he would grow into himself and he’d be a bruiser. “See ya at home, Uncle Mark.”

  “Bye, buddy. Play hard. I’ll get your books and finish up here. Need anything from the store?”

  “Gatorade,” Thomas called over his shoulder as he hustled out of the room. “And fruit snacks and peanut butter.”

  Ben smiled at his response. Throughout the day food had been the main topic of conversation for most of the young men. If they weren’t talking about the granola bar in their locker, then they were trying to sweet talk the girls out of the fruit snacks they had in theirs.

  Ben was still smiling when Mr. Kai took off to pick up his daughter. Alone with Mark, she turned again and tried to find some similarities between lanky Thomas and this hunk of man in front of her.

  Mark was thickly muscled across the shoulders. He’d taken off his hat, and his hair was thick and mostly blond. He had to be in or near his forties by the deep lines around his eyes, but those could have been from the climate too. Farmers lived hard. Ben had a feeling though, by the pattern of the lines, that Mark also laughed hard. She wondered if Thomas would be like him eventually. Young men changed so much in only a few short years.