Valentine's Day Curse

"It's your lucky day," he grinned. "I happen to be driving the unit with the Breathalyzer today."

The test ended up being no big deal, but it was embarrassing just the same. Surprise, surprise I passed easily which caused Ms. Phillips to frown. I couldn't tell if it was surprise or disappointment.

"Your turn," Timmy said to her, before turning to me and adding, "Unless you're willing to let her off the hook?" I turned to the brunette.

"Are you willing to apologize for all this?" I asked. She looked at me and then surprised me with a non-apology, apology.

"No, I'm sorry, but I can't."

"So you won't apologize for embarrassing me in front of the whole town, but you'll apologize for not being willing to do so?" I asked in disbelief.

"I smelled beer on your breath," she answered. "And you were talking about some Valentine's Day Curse earlier. It sounded crazy to me. If faced with the same situation, I would do the same thing." It was right about then that I realized that the woman wasn't just being a bitch. She really did care about the kids.

"Still hanging on to that curse theory?" Timmy laughed at me before turning back to Ms. Phillips. "You'll have to forgive Mike. He's not himself on Valentine's Day."

"Look, let's forget the whole thing. Can I go now?" I sighed, not liking where this conversation was going.

"Sure", Tim shrugged, but then grew serious and added, "Although, you know just because you're not drunk that doesn't mean you should be driving the boys home. You did have a beer earlier."

"Give me a break!" I snapped. "I had it with a burger and the boys live so close they could walk home from here if they didn't have to cross the main avenue in town."

"Still..." he said. I wasn't sure if he was just giving me shit or not, but by this point I was done. I pulled out my phone again and dialed. The phone rang twice before my sister picked up.

"Emily, you have to come pick up the kids yourself," I said without preamble and then hung up before she could ask why. I saw Timmy's eyes get big.

"You didn't?" he asked, clearly concerned. If you knew my older sister, then you would be as well. Emily was sixteen when mom died. Not only did she have to deal with that, but she had to take care of my younger brother and me while pop worked double shifts trying to pay off the doctor's bills. In other words, she was not someone you wanted to mess with if you had any choice at all.

"Not me, you," I argued. "Well, you and Ms. Phillips here. You might as well get comfortable. It's going to be at least ten minutes."

"You're talking about Jason and Nicolaus's mom, aren't you?" Ms. Phillips asked in concern. "I've heard about her." I was sure the principal warned her. Mrs. Myerson was no dummy. My sister wasn't the type to cover for her children if they did something wrong, but then again, she wasn't the type to let her kids be treated unfairly either.

"I think maybe I should go," Timmy said a little too quickly.

"Don't bother," I grinned. "She knows where you live. Worse, she knows where your mother lives."

"There is that," he frowned. Ted's cell phone rang and he stepped away to take it.

"Why don't you boys go back to playing," Ms. Phillips said into the silence that followed, surprising me again. "Just stay off the lawn." The boys ran off without argument.

"Timmy, do you think you can get rid of some of the bystanders?" I asked, leaning against my car.

"I can try," he sighed. "But you know the people in our town." Timmy moved toward the small crowd and left Ms. Phillips and me alone for the moment. I leaned back against my car and glanced at the teacher.

She was probably the only one who regretted this whole situation as much as I did. Although, now that Emily was on her way, Timmy might be joining us soon.

"You okay?" I found myself asking.

"Sure," she responded automatically, but then she sighed and added, "Look, as I said earlier, I can't say that given the same situation, I wouldn't have done the same thing, but I am sorry about the results." Ah, so I was getting an apology after all. Interesting.

"Don't worry about it," I shrugged. Something in her expression made me add, "Tough settling in to the new school?"

"Honestly? Yes, but it's better than substituting," she replied, looking suddenly tired. "On the other hand, I could do without having yard duty after school. I hate being the heavy."

"From what I hear, you do it very well," I couldn't help teasing.

"Gee, thanks." Her sarcasm made me laugh. It was either that or realizing that the woman was human after all.

"Everyone has to pay their dues when they start a new job," I offered, as I took pity on her and directed her next to me so she could lean on my car as well.

"Apparently." She didn't bothering hiding her annoyance at the fact as she joined me. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." There was an awkward silence for a few moments. That's when I finally admitted to myself that the situation we were in wasn't totally her fault. I could have handled it better. "Look Ms. Phillips, it seems that we've gotten off on the wrong foot. I'm sorry about that." She gave me an odd look as if trying to judge whether I really meant it or not.

"Let's start over," she finally said. "And you might as well call me Rebecca. I still haven't gotten used to people close to my own age calling me by my last name." Yep, definitely human. Oddly, despite our earlier disagreement, I had the feeling we might actually get along.

"Thanks," I said, glancing at Timmy as he tried to move the small crowd along. He was using his best authoritative voice to chase people into their cars and back into their homes. It was a mixed result. After all, some of these people knew Timmy since he was a kid. I mean, if it was anything else they would have listened without hesitation. Timmy was a good cop and a better person, but this would probably keep the local rumor mill running for weeks and no one wanted to miss anything.

It suddenly hit me that I'd made a huge mistake by getting Emily involved. "It's the Valentine's Day Curse."

"Will you please let that go?" Timmy asked in exasperation as he returned. Ted came with him with a confused look on his face.

"I don't get it," Ted frowned. "What's this curse about?"

"Me either," Rebecca added, before smiling and adding, "Why don't you tell us about it? We have time to kill while we wait for your sister."

"There's not much to tell," I shrugged, refused to look at Rebecca while I spoke. As I initially suspected, she had a surprisingly attractive smile. "Valentine's Day makes people act crazy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ted asked.

"Look, the holiday simply puts too much pressure on people to have someone special in their life," I began explaining. "They get so desperate that they hook up with other people who never interested them before and probably won't again after the holiday is over."

"That's a bit pessimistic," Ted argued.

"Please!" I snorted. "How many couples do you actually know who met on Valentine's Day and stayed together afterward?"

"None," he replied. "But that doesn't mean anything."

"I don't know," Rebecca said slowly. "I think he might be on to something."

"Not you too?" Ted sighed.

"Hey, I've had a couple of relationships that started around Valentine's Day and they didn't end well." Rebecca was staring off into space, obviously remembering.

"Exactly," I said confidently.

"Cynthia Beretta and eighth grade again?" Timmy snorted. "I know she dumped you pretty coldly, but that was over fifteen years ago. I can't believe you still bring that up."

"I didn't," I replied tersely. "You did, but that's beside the point. She was just the first in a long line of bad situations that occurred on Valentine's Day."

"How bad could it be? I mean, are you trying to say you've never had a good Valentine's Day? Not all of them could have been bad, could they?" Ted asked.

"Well, let's see," I sighed. "There was the girl who I supposedly started making out with at some party at college."

"Supposedly?" Rebecca asked.

"Well, I was pretty drunk at the time," I explained. "But I do remember that she asked me to dance. I went to the dance floor and the next thing I knew we were kissing."

"And why was that so bad?" Timmy asked.

"Well, I was dating someone else at the time."

"What happened?" Rebecca asked.

"I sort of pushed the girl away when I realized what was happening," I answered. "She didn't take it well. In fact, she threw a drink in my face when I told her I was dating someone."

"Ouch!" Ted laughed. Timmy joined him.

"That's not the half of it," I added. "Linda, my girlfriend at the time, heard from a sorority sister who was at the party that I was making out with some girl on the dance floor and she broke up with me despite me having at least three fraternity brothers who were willing to tell her that the girl was the one who instigated the kiss."

"That's terrible, but I don't blame her for not being willing to listen to your fraternity brothers," Rebecca put in. "Everyone knows you guys will lie for each other."

"Sounds like someone with experience," I retorted.

"No comment," she smiled again. "Although, like I said earlier, I do have my own unpleasant memories of Valentine's Day." I was quickly learning that there was a lot more to Rebecca than I thought, and the more I learned the more I liked.

"For example?" I prompted. She hesitated before answering.

"Well, there was one guy who liked me all through high school," the brunette finally offered. "Sam wasn't my type, but for some reason I agreed to go out on Valentine's Day with him. It was a mistake. Actually, it was a huge mistake. He wouldn't take no for an answer when he asked me to go to the prom with him. Sam just kept asking in more embarrassing ways."

"Embarrassing?" I frowned.

"He had a dozen red roses delivered in my homeroom," she explained. "He serenaded me at lunch one day. You know, that kind of stuff."

"What happened?" Ted asked.

"Eventually Sam got the point," she sighed. "Although, I think it had more to do with the fact that Christina Bailey took an interest in him when she saw the lengths he was willing to go for someone he liked."

"We're getting off topic," Ted interjected, looking at me. "So you had two bad Valentine's Days. What about the other twenty seven?"

"Well, I don't remember much about the ones before eighth grade," I replied. "But the rest were all pretty grim."

"What? Did a girl dump you every time?" Timmy asked in disbelief.

"No," I snorted. "Frankly, I've put real effort into avoiding the holiday altogether since graduating college. Besides, the point isn't about getting dumped. It's about the whole day being a curse. Even if you don't do something stupid and end up with someone who's clearly not right for you, it's still cursed. Do you know how lonely it makes people feel when they don't have someone special in their life on that day? "

"Oh, I do," Rebecca said with a self-depreciating laugh. "I've been invited to two different parties tonight. I'm certain the first is a set up with a guy who's almost as bad Sam. The second is a group of friends going to a singles club. I refused to go out to one of those places this time of the year."

"Can you say meat market?" I laughed. She met my eyes and joined me. Okay, so I felt the connection between us, but I knew it was just the Curse at work. There was no way a guy like me falls for a school teacher, despite her seeming more and more human the longer we talked.

"Well, it's not nearly as bad once you find that someone special," Ted interjected. "In fact, it can be really nice."

"I guess that's the cure for the Curse," Rebecca smiled. "Fall in love. Sounds simple."

"Yeah, real simple," I snorted and we were both laughing again.

"Speaking of which," I turned to Timmy. "What are you and Karen doing tonight? Don't you think it's about time you married that girl?" His look of discomfort told me what happened before he explained. Damn. Open mouth, insert foot.

"We broke up," he said succinctly. "Last week."

"I'm sorry," I offered.

"Don't be," he sighed after a brief hesitation. "Not for me. The truth is that she wanted to get married and was pushing hard for me to ask her. I had to take a long look in the mirror before I finally admitted to myself that I didn't want to be married, at least not to her."

"Another relationship destroyed by the Curse," I said sadly.

"How do you figure?" Ted asked.

"Why do you think Karen was pushing so hard?" I snorted.

"Alright, that's going a little too far, even for me," Rebecca interjected.

"Maybe you're right," I admitted after a brief pause, causing everyone to laugh this time.

"Oh shit, Emily's here," Timmy groaned as she drove up. "This should be fun."

"Are you really that afraid of her?" Ted asked. "I mean, you're a cop. What can she really do to you?" It was a fair question. Timmy wasn't someone people could walk over in any sense of the word, but he always seemed overmatched by my sister, even when they were kids.

"Watch and learn," Timmy replied as Emily exited her car. Despite his concern I saw him take a moment to appreciate my sister's legs. He hadn't done something like that quite so obviously in a while, but I guess since he was single again he figured it was okay. The funny part was that it brought back some old memories. The two had never gone out, but to me it always seemed that they were a little into each other, at least until Emily met her ex and Tim started dating Karen. Clearly, those feelings hadn't completely disappeared on his part. I found myself wondering if the same was true about Emily.

"I have a better idea," I said suddenly. "Everyone play along."

"With what?" Timmy asked.

"Shh!" I demanded. He frowned, but fell silent.

"What's going on?" Emily began without preamble. "Is everything okay? I mean, you called and told me to come and pick up the kids without any explanation."

"Everything's fine," I replied with a smile. "You know Timmy and Ted. This is Rebecca."

"Rebecca?" my sister frowned. She looked the brunette over and nodded. "Ah, the new teacher, Ms. Phillips. I've heard about you from some of the other mothers. You're tough, but fair. I can respect that."

"Thanks," Rebecca said, obviously curious as to what I was planning.

"Mike, why am I here?" my sister asked in annoyance.

"Well, you know that it's Valentine's Day," I began, but she cut me off.

"Please don't tell me this has to do with the Curse?" she asked in exasperation. "Don't you think it's about time you let that go? I know finding out that mom had cancer on Valentine's Day sucked, but it was fifteen years ago. "

I was a more than a little embarrassed by the silence that followed. Emily must really be upset if she was blurting out that little detail. Rebecca was watching me oddly, so were Timmy and Ted. Okay, so I found out about mom's illness the same year that Cynthia Beretta dumped me. Actually, I found out on that day because she dumped me. I was supposed to be at a party with her that night, but instead I went home to walk on in mom and dad crying over the news.

"This has nothing to do with the Curse," I said, but it was harder than I expected. Mom had a very aggressive form of cancer that didn't react well to medication. She died three months later. It still hurt when I thought about it, but maybe Emily was right. Maybe it was time to move past it. "In fact, I may have decided to give up on that whole theory."

"Really?" she asked, clearly not believing me. "Then what does it have to do with?"

"Timmy," I replied. "Well, Timmy and you."

"What about us?" she frowned. Timmy's head snapped around as he guessed where I was going and he looked at me with a threatening stare. It was very intimidating. I ignored it just the same.

"Well, in the spirit of the holiday, I've decided to play matchmaker," I grinned. "Timmy's not dating Karen anymore and you're not dating either at the moment. I figured that maybe you two would finally like to go out on a date tonight. Worse case, if it goes badly, you can blame it on the Curse."

"You mean the curse you no longer believe in, right?" Ted grinned.

"You're lucky I don't feel like filing the paperwork necessary for discharging my firearm," Timmy said to me through gritted teeth.

"Oh please," I sighed, ignoring Ted's comment and focusing on Timmy. "I'm pretty sure you two have liked each other for years, but first she was with her ex and then you were with Karen. The timing is finally right to see if there's anything more to it than simple attraction."

"I don't need your help to ask your sister out!" he snapped in annoyance. "In fact, I figured I do it after a few weeks. I mean, Karen and I just broke up."

"You did, did you?" Emily asked in surprise, but not disinterest.

"No time like the present," Rebecca interjected, seeing that my guess about their attraction to each other was correct.

"This is ridiculous!" Timmy snapped, and then turned toward Emily. "He's just doing this to avoid getting you mad."

"You mean about Ms. Phillips refusing to let him take the boys home until he passed a sobriety test?" Emily asked. "Or the fact that even after passing it, you refused to let him do it?"

"This really is a small town," I sighed, causing Ted to laugh. Of course, he was the only one who wouldn't be drawing Emily's wraith.

"Yes it is," my sister agreed. "I received three calls, the first two before I received yours."

"Great," I sighed, waiting for the explosion, but it didn't come.

"Ms. Phillips," my sister said, focusing on the Rebecca. "My brother owns a pub, but he's not really that big of a drinker. More to the point, he would never have agreed to drive the boys home if he'd been drinking. Yet, in saying all that, you're new to the area and don't know him. I can't help but appreciate the fact that you refused to let him take the boys until you were sure. Mike can be pretty pushy and it takes special kind of a person to stand up to him. I can respect that too."

"I wonder where he get that from?" Timmy mumbled, but she ignored his comment and turned to me.

"Thanks for being willing to pick the boys up," she said. "But in the future just let me know if you've had a beer. I'm not worried about the boys getting hurt, but if Ms. Phillips can smell it on your breath then so can they, and I don't want to send them the wrong message." I froze for a moment and thought about what she said.

"That's fair," I finally sighed. "I don't usually drink during lunch, but today being Valentine's Day..."

"Yeah, I know, the Curse," she sighed, and then she turned on Timmy.

"And now as to you Timothy Doyle," she said, her tone turning irritated. "You do know Mike. You also know how good of a driver he is and the fact that I live less than a mile away. You were just being difficult to have a little fun at my brother's expense, weren't you?"

"Be careful how you answer," I grinned. "You know how defensive she is about her family."

"Actually, I was hoping to use the situation as a reason to stop by and talk to you," he answered. I think he was being honest too.

"What exactly about?" Emily asked.

"Why, the possibility of a date," he grinned. Emily stared at him intently for a moment before slowly smiling.

"I think that sounds lovely," she finally said.

"Well played!" I cheered.

"Now back to you," Emily said suddenly, turning back to me again and losing her smile.

"Me? Why me?" I asked. Okay, maybe my voice raised an octave or two, but I thought I was free and clear.

"Because you were stupid enough to call me, demand I come to pick up the boys and not tell me why," she replied succinctly. "If I hadn't received those earlier phone calls I would have had no idea what was going on."