Closer (31 page)

Chapter Thirty-Two

“
Merrily we roll along, roll along, roll along…merrily we roll along…o’er the deep blue sea.
”

Inside the gymnasium, Inez sat on the colorful parachute with Luna in her lap.  All the other mothers and nannies lined its perimeter, each one singing and swaying with their babies to the nursery rhyme songs led by Debbie, the overly-enthusiastic leader of circle time.

Debbie’s own baby, Abby, was a chubby blonde eight-month old with chick fluff hair and sterling blue eyes, who was an exact image of her mother, just miniature. 

“Okay, ladies, one more time…let’s make it a good one!” 

Debbie led the group in another hearty chorus of “Merrily We Roll Along” like it was the first time any of them had ever sung it before.  The truth was, Inez and Luna had been there every afternoon that week. 
Where else could you take a baby during the frigid month of December in Chicago
?
Certainly not the park
.  It was something she hadn’t considered when she dreamed about all the time she was going to spend with Luna.  Being a single mom without a job was a lot more monotonous than she had expected, but at least she wasn’t struggling to find work.  She had enough money to support Nana and Luna through Christmas, which meant she didn’t need a job until after that.  And she was thankful for it—even if it meant singing the same nursery rhymes over and over almost every day of the week.

“Okay, Ladies…everybody up on your feet for ‘The Hokey Pokey!’ ” Debbie cried out with a tweet of her plastic whistle.

All the women rose enthusiastically from the surface of the parachute. 

“Hurray, ‘The Hokey Pokey,’ ” Inez cheered, feigning excitement.  It would be the umpteenth time she had put her right foot in and taken her right foot out that week.  

She looked down at Luna, who had just started sitting on her own, balancing her weight on her cushy diaper.  She rocked forward, then backwards, gauging whether or not she could launch herself into a full-on crawl.  At the final moment, she pulled back onto her bottom and lifted her hands up to her mother. 
No, not today.  But soon…soon
, Inez thought.

“
You put your right hand in, you put your right hand out.  You put your right hand in, and you shake it all about.  You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around.  That’s what it’s all about
!”

She watched Debbie bounce her daughter’s chubby baby hands in and out of the circle like a toy doll in her arms.  Abby flapped her hands like a baby bird, ready to take flight. 
It was a ridiculous song, true
, Inez considered.
But sometimes it felt great being ridiculous
.

Succumbing to a sudden and sincere desire to perform “The Hokey Pokey” dance, Inez lifted Luna into her arms and sang along.
 
No matter how cynical she was feeling about her life and all the challenges she had endured along the way, she only had to look at Luna and know it was all worth it. 

“
You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out, you put your left hand in, and you shake it all about
…”

“Well, hello there,” Debbie suddenly called out across the gym with a gleeful shake of her left foot.  “The workout room is down the hall to the left.”

“Thank you, but I’m actually looking for someone…” the male voice trailed off when he met Inez’s gaze. 

All the women glanced at the doorway, noting the interruption as the tall, attractive man with golden hair strode along an invisible line directly towards Inez and Luna as if he belonged there.

He absolutely did not belong there,
Inez fumed, shooting Sven her best death stare to halt him in his tracks.  It worked.  He gazed at her.  She glared back at him. 
What was he doing here
?  He belonged in a skyscraper in Shanghai with all of his asshole friends, not there—in a baby gym witnessing her performance of the “Hokey Pokey.” 

“Well, in that case.  Join right in.” Debbie waved him forward.  “We’re finishing up the Hokey Pokey and then we’ll move right into ‘The Wheels on the Bus.’ ”

“That sounds…invigorating,” he said, locking eyes with Inez.

He braved her obvious anger with his charming smile and endearing dimples.  His eyepatch was gone and the intensity of his gaze made her perspire beneath her sweatshirt. 
God, how she hated him
.  And she especially
hated
the way the sunlight streaming in from the windows reflected off the symmetrical angles of his freshly-shaven face. 
He looked happy and relaxed
, she thought, in his spandex athletic shirt and matching grey jogging pants. 
Bastard
.

All the women shifted around the parachute to make room directly next to Inez.  Sven nodded in appreciation and squeezed himself between Inez and an elated nanny balancing twins on each hip. 

“
You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in, and you shake it all about.  You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around.  That’s what it’s all about!

Losing all her mojo to hokey pokey, Inez
turned her back on Sven. 
How dare he show up here and pretend like it was no big deal
?  She shifted Luna’s weight to her opposite side and considered all her options.  She could just walk out and abandon him there, but he would probably follow her. 
And she couldn’t escape him by going home
.  He had obviously already started there and received instructions from Nana about where to find her.

Debbie abruptly blew her plastic whistle.  “Okay, gang!  Now, it’s time for my favorite!  Pick up an edge of the parachute and everyone walk toward your left!”  She tweeted her whistle again before starting up an overzealous rendition of “The Wheels on the Bus.” The whole group rotated the parachute in a circle.

“It requires coordinated pantomime,” Inez muttered to Sven under her breath. “I think it might be above your skill level.”

He smirked, as if he enjoyed her sarcasm. “I think I can manage pantomime.  I’m fairly good with my hands.” 

“
The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round, the wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town.  The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep…
”

“Is he your husband?” the nanny next to Inez asked while smiling at Sven who flaunted his ability to mimic a car horn.

“No,” Inez seethed.

“Oh,” the nanny replied, uncertain.  “The father of your baby?”

“No.”

“No?” The nanny arched her brow. “Your boyfriend?”

“Ex-boyfriend.”

“Ohhh.” The nanny frowned and nodded empathetically.

“And ex-boss,” Inez added, glaring over at him. 

The nanny gasped before whispering the gossip to the woman next to her, who relayed it to the mother next to her, until it traveled around the entire parachute like a game of
Telephone
.  The women hushed themselves and watched Sven following Inez and Luna around the rotating parachute.

“
The babies on the bus go waa, waaa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa…the babies on the bus go waa, waa, waa…all through the town
.”

“Luna’s much bigger than I remembered,” Sven finally said, an obvious attempt to make idle small talk.

“Things change.  Babies grow.”

“And what about their mothers?”

“They end up at the baby gym being harassed by selfish egotistical billionaires.”

He nodded, enduring her spiteful words. “That’s true.  Billionaires are often selfish and egotistical.  Maybe they would benefit by hanging out more at baby gyms.”

Inez stopped and stared at him, resenting his invasion into her personal world, and the way he treated it like mere entertainment. 
Yes, she resented him
, especially every time he sang aloud the chorus of “The Wheels on the Bus” like a baby gym rock star. 
Because it was all just a game to him
.

“Look, are you here for something—specific?” she announced, attempting to control her anger. 
Epic fail
. 

Enthralled, the women on each side of Inez slowed their pace.  Even Debbie slowed her gleeful tempo, noting their conflict from the corner of her eye. 

“
The people on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down…
”

“Yes,” he answered, attempting to carry the tune while lifting his arms and hands, up and down. “I realized how much I missed you and Luna while I was away in Shanghai.”

“Aww,” A nanny sighed from across the parachute, then quickly covered her mouth.

The other mothers and nannies quickly hushed her, watching Inez’s reaction in anticipation.  Even Debbie fell silent, as she joined the other women in watching the unfolding drama. 

“Well, you’re about two months too late, Sven.”

He peered into her eyes.  “Am I?” 

“Yes.” 

“Why?” he challenged her.

“Because I’ve moved on…we’ve moved on.”

“Really?  With who?  Eddie, the choral director?”  His green eyes twinkled and a sly smile of victory spread across his face. 

Inez narrowed her eyes onto his playful expression and chiseled face. 
She hated him
.  And she wanted him to know it.  “So, apparently bribing my ex-boyfriend out of our lives wasn’t enough?  You also had to turn my grandmother into a traitor, too?”

“Okay, grab an edge of the parachute, ladies!” Debbie cried out, diverting everyone’s attention from the brewing storm.  “It’s time to go under!”  Her loud voice ricocheted off the linoleum floors of the gym, encouraging the women to sweep up the parachute into the air and duck beneath it, forming an inflated dome. 

“Not exactly,” Sven countered, taking advantage of the moment of privacy around them.  “I didn’t have to bribe her.  She told me willingly where you and Luna were.  And she also told me about your date with Eddie, so she’s more of a matchmaker than a traitor.”

“Well, that’s true,” Inez confirmed, seizing the opportunity to make him jealous without knowing why she wanted to.  “She’s the one who set us up.  He plays the church organ and he’s taking me to a musical tonight.”

“Hmm,” he mused, not nearly as jealous as she would have liked.  “I suppose that means I have competition.  Except I’m fairly certain your grandmother said something about you still being in love with me.”

He flashed her a cocky smile.

Asshole
.

Seeking to escape from him, Inez ducked under the parachute with Luna and sat down.

“Okay, now…let’s practice saying the colors of the rainbow in English and Spanish to our little ones,” Debbie instructed everyone.  “Ready?  Red,
rojo
…green,
verde
…blue,
azul
…”

Uncertain about the nylon shell above her, Luna fussed in Inez’s arms.  Sven appeared next to them and drew Luna into his own lap.  Bouncing her on his knees, he held out her hands like she was flying and provoked her toothless grin.

“It looks like she remembers me.”

Doubtful
, Inez intended to snark back, except it almost seemed true.  Luna sat quietly in his lap, toying with the shoelaces of Sven’s new tennis shoes. 
Fluorescent white
, Inez sneered, skeptically checking their soles for wear and tear. 
Faker
.

“You know, it’s a shame you’ve moved on with Eddie, the choral director,” Sven said, lifting up Luna to the concave ceiling of the domed parachute, allowing her to touch the flexing fabric.  “Especially since I just bought you this.”

Lowering Luna back into his lap, he pulled something out of his pocket and slipped it onto Inez’s finger before she had a chance to even refuse it.

“Sven…did you just put a two dollar plastic Hello Kitty ring on my finger?”

He shrugged, nonchalantly.  “One dollar.  And you don’t like Hello Kitty anymore?”

Inez stared at his earnestness.  “Are you seriously trying to woo me back with a Hello Kitty ring?”

“Inez…I’m in a gym with a dozen women and babies beneath a rainbow-colored parachute.  I don’t know what I’m doing.  The only thing I know is that I’m not leaving here without you and Luna.”

She peered into his face, fancifully patterned with kaleidoscope colors.  The conviction behind his eyes silenced her soul.  She glanced around the interior of the parachute.  Debbie and all the mothers and nannies were staring back at them.

“Okay, enough of the parachute,” Debbie abruptly declared, signaling the end of their eavesdropping.  “Bubble time!”

The parachute drew off of Inez and Sven, interrupting their intimacy.  Debbie’s farewell song boomed off the rafters.   “
Good-bye Marcy, good-bye Johnny, good-bye Katie, it’s time to say good-bye…wave your hands and stomp your feet, wave your hands and stomp your feet, wave your hands and stomp your feet, it’s time for us to say good-bye.  Good-bye Josie, good-bye, Mikie, good-bye Luna, it’s time to say good-bye…
”