Her Imaginary Husband (Contemporary Romance) by Lia London Page A

hair day.”
    “You are, kinda, aren’t you?” said Sammi with a sympathetic wink. “Some gel could probably hold that down.”
    Nikki blinked slowly. Nice cover. Sammi was, after all, the best student in the class. “Thank you, Sammi. And as such, I’m in no mood to deal with anyone stepping out of line. Don’t cross me today, okay?”
    The students exchanged curious glances and nodded general assent.
    “Yes, ma’am,” said Robert, a little too brightly. Sammi shot him a warning look. “What?” he asked loudly. “I’m agreeing with her.”
    “Do it quietly,” said Nikki.
    “Yes, ma’am,” he said in a stage whisper. The class chuckled. Robert was not usually the clown. Nikki opened her mouth to speak, but Robert asked, “Did your cat die or something?”
    Nikki stared at him. “What?” Robert, you know very well why I’m upset.
    “Well, it seems like it takes a lot to make you grumpy, so I figured something really bad had happened.”
    Nikki didn’t want to tell him she’d dropped an earring down the drain, spilled cereal on her blouse, tripped coming up the stairs of the school again , received notice of yet another activity stealing class time, and on the way to the water fountain had slipped and tweaked her ankle enough to hate her high heels forever. And all that was before the encounter with Nyman.
    “Drop it, Robert.”
    “Dropping it,” he said stiffly.
    She signaled for him to go and take roll while she passed a stack of handouts to the kid in the front row. “So, what with standardized tests cutting into teaching time, you’re going to have to work double time over the weekend to get this next essay done.”
    “But I had plans!” whined Robert.
    Sammi pinched him across the aisle. “What is the matter with you? Just take roll and shut up.”
    A few of the more popular kids jeered, and Robert made a show of looking away from them. “What? Oh, I don’t see you there. I guess you’re not here.” He pretended to mark them absent.
    “Better not,” growled a boy to his right.
    “Robert. Just take roll and shut up,” said Nikki, amazed that she had to rein him in.
    He looked up at her with a serious face. “Not very polite, Ms. F. We don’t use that kind of language here.”
    Nikki stepped closer to him. “Make it stop, Robert.”
    He bent over the roll sheets, quickly marking the totals at the bottom. “As you command, your glorious Highness.” He bowed and handed her the stack. She took them and whacked them over the top of his head. He raised his hand in surrender. “Help, help!”
    “Go find Mr. Geoffreys for help, Robert.”
    “What?” His playfulness vanished.
    “I’m done with your game now. Go. To the office.”
    “But…”
    “Enough already. Good-bye.”
    The room grew stiflingly quiet as Robert gathered his backpack and headed through the door. Too late, Nikki realized she should have had him post the attendance on his way out. She stomped down the aisle of chairs and clipped the papers to the hook, looking after Robert as he rounded the corner of the hall. She took a deep breath. What, no Officer Ross to catch me being stupid and make some funny remark? She looked around. Not today. Dang it. She went back into the room, and the class got to the task of outlining their essays.
    Half an hour later, Nikki looked up with frustration to see Mr. Geoffreys entering with Robert trailing behind. Plastering a business-like smile on her face, she asked, “Can I help you, sir?”
    “Yes,” he said slowly. “I’m a little perplexed.”
    “What seems to be the trouble?” she asked, her eyes flicking to Robert, who stared at the floor.
    “Well, I typically have the kids fill out a form to explain why they think they’ve been sent to me. Robert’s reason is a little…unusual.” He glanced at a paper in his hand and read, “Ms. F is having a bad hair day and someone turned off her sense of humor.” He looked at Nikki skeptically. “Is that right?”
    Nikki