When You Make It Home (27 page)

“Men we care about ditch us and don’t respond to our calls?”

“Well, that, but it’s our mothers. We survived women that couldn’t show love. My relationships with men echoed that until I met your father.” She went to the mirror and smoothed back her hair. “Marrying him was a victory over my past. I broke through the dark cloud my mother had left over me.” She took out her compact and powdered her face, glancing back at me as she spoke. “But where I failed is, I couldn’t figure out how to be a good mother to you guys because the only example I had hurt me. So I stopped trying.”

“I’m sorry I said you’re not a mom. You’re the only mom I’ve ever had. We’ve had… moments.”

“And I’m sorry I got carried away playing shrink. I didn’t mean to cause you pain. I don’t want you to hurt. Don’t make the mistakes I did. Why don’t I set you up an appointment with my therapist? She’s a doll. I love the freedom of paying someone so I can talk about myself for a whole hour. It’ll be good for you.”

“No, no. You did a good enough job. I’m all shrinked out.” I smiled. “Let’s go get pretty.”

After we had our nails done, Nina treated us to massages. I finished first and dressed, ready to go when they came to get me. Nina was asleep on the table, and they couldn’t wake her. I found her keys in her purse and pulled the car up front. They helped get her loaded in. She snored all the way back to the hotel and came around enough to wobble to her room sandwiched between the doorman and me.

“Please stay with me. I’m tired of sleeping alone,” Nina said.

“Don’t worry—I’m here,” I said, tucking her into the fluffy white comforter. I stretched out next to her. Comforted by the warmth of her, I fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter Twenty-two

“W
ake up, wake up,” Nina chirped. The sun sparkled bright in the room, creating a glowing halo around Nina’s shiny blond hair. “Time to take you home, so I can head back to Houston.”

“But you still haven’t seen Dad.” I sat on the edge of the bed in my rumpled, day-old clothes, but when I caught my reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror, I saw that my hair looked fantastic.

“He doesn’t want to talk to me.” Nina had her game face on. “C’est la vie! What’s a girl to do?”

“I’ll talk to him,” I vowed.

“What’s the point? He’s tuning me out.” She bowed her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Are you ready?”

Back at my place, Nina gracefully slid out of the car and came around to me.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “Do you need to come in?”

“No, I need a hug.” She wrapped her thin arms around me, and her chin dug into my shoulder. “Thanks for staying with me last night.”

“Sure. And thank you for taking over party plans for Ellie and me.”

She gripped my arms and pulled back. “You sure about all that?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I forced a smile onto my face to sell my words, but truth be told, if not for Ellie, I’d have skipped the whole thing.

“Oh Meg, I will do right by you girls! Just wait… I can’t wait!” She ran back to get in her car as fast as her tight pencil skirt and high heels would let her. “Bye dear! Take care of yourself!”

The smell of fresh coffee greeted me even before I entered Steve’s office. “You’ll never believe what happened yesterday.” I pushed the half-open door.

Instead of Steve’s smiling face, I discovered Dad and Hazel, sharing coffee and giggling. My father seemed plenty
cozy with a woman who made my skin crawl. Disappointment at my sudden intrusion showed in their faces, and my instinct was to retreat, but Nina’s resolve in the face of loneliness had given me a new empathy for her.

“So what happened?” Hazel asked eagerly.

“What are you doing in here?” I snapped.

“Meg—” My father’s tone carried a warning. “We’re having coffee, dear. Don’t be rude.”

And there I was, compromised between my dad telling me to be a good girl and my employee pushing boundaries. Pulling in a sharp breath, I told them both, “You’re welcome to sit in the staff area, but I can’t allow employees to sit in the management offices drinking coffee.”

Dad opened his mouth, ready to give it to me, but Hazel put her hand on his knee. He smiled at her, reached for both cups, and said, “Why don’t we take this to the bench out front and enjoy the fresh air.”

“We need to talk, Dad.”

“I’m with Hazel now. We’ll talk later.”

“Talk to her, Mike,” Hazel said. “I’ll go keep the bench warm.” She left without giving Dad a chance to stop her.

“What’s the problem, Meg?”

“What are you doing hanging out here and leaving Nina home alone?” I kept my voice level with effort. “At least give her a call.”

“I’m not ready to go home yet. I’m having fun with my kids.”

“At Nina’s expense?” I didn’t want to know the truth, but I couldn’t drop it. “What’s with all the attention on Hazel? She’s ten years older than you.”

“Hazel needs a friend. Being alone is hard.”

“Like I don’t know that!” I said.

“What is this really about? You have never been alone.”

“Be careful, Dad. She’s not your friend. She’s my employee.”

“She’s both.”

“Nina’s alone.”

“Listen up, little girl. Nina can take care of herself.” He spoke softly, but when he called me “little girl,” it only meant one thing: His temper was rising. “I’ve respected your privacy, Meg, and you will respect mine. You’re being a hypocrite, pointing your finger at me with Hazel and questioning how I treat my wife. Let’s talk about the mess surrounding you. Should I count the men I see? Have I asked you to explain?”

“Dad!”

“I don’t ask, because I don’t need to know. I’ll call Nina. Don’t trouble yourself with it.” He pushed past me out of the office. “And don’t be so hard on Hazel. She’s a nice lady.”

I went to the office and shut the door. What was my world coming to? Nina and I had bonded for the first time after twenty years together, and my dad was pissed off at me. No sooner did I sit down than my phone rang.

Ellie’s number showed on the caller ID. “What’s up?”

“Come over as soon as you can,” she said in a rush, her tone light and giddy. “I have something to show you.”

“Okay, on my way.” I grabbed my purse. A visit with Ellie would ground me after all the craziness of the last twenty-four hours. Or so I thought.

Jake was home, so I knocked instead of letting myself in. A woman in a maid’s costume opened the door. The tall woman, built like a refrigerator, wore a black, knee-length dress with puffy sleeves and a white apron. Her skin was the color of melted caramel and looked soft everywhere except on her pink, chapped hands.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m here to see Ellie.”

The woman pulled out a walkie-talkie. “Mrs. Ellie, you have company.”

“Thank you, Marta. Send her back,” Ellie’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie.

I followed the woman back. We passed the kitchen, where Jake sat reading the newspaper, toast in one hand, fork digging into an omelet in the other hand. I smiled at him, and he winked back.

“This breakfast rocks, Marta. Thank you,” he said, waving his toast like the flag of victory.

“Yes, sir.”

“Please call me Jake.”

“Yes, sir,” she said again.

After she left me with Ellie, I shut the door.

“Where did you find her?”

“Nina sent her! I told Marta she could wear sweats to work, but she insists she wants to wear the uniform. She’s amazing! Can you believe Nina did that?”

“No way.” How did Nina arrange it so fast?

“I called to thank her, and she made me promise to stay in bed. She said Marta will do all my nesting for me.” Excitement pinked up Ellie’s cheeks. “She’s cooking for my Jake, too. I might never get out of bed again.”

“Why is Nina nicer now that she’s not with Dad?”

“It’s a competitive thing. She’s taking care of us, since she can’t take care of him.”

“Oh, you’re right,” I said. “I wish he’d quit being stupid and go home.”

“You’re tired of him?”

“No, Nina’s a mess without him. This is all getting too weird.”

“Soon it will be over.” Ellie rubbed her belly.

“No, soon it will all begin,” I replied and then added: “Did Theo call again?”

“No.” Her smile faded. “But Jake talked with him.”

“What’d he say?”

“Nothing, except that they talked,” she said. “Don’t ask him about it either. He didn’t want me to tell you, but Jake knows we don’t keep secrets.”

“Why won’t Theo call me?”

“He’s trying to get better, Meg.”

“Oh, and I guess I get in the way of that.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“You don’t have to. Why can’t my heart hear what my brain is screaming? I won’t ask about Theo again. He knows where to find me.” I sighed with frustration. “I have to go get Jason. We have our first Lamaze class this afternoon.”

“Oh, I’m so jealous of you.”

“That’s warped. I’m longing for a man who walked out on me, while I’m taking another woman’s husband to Lamaze, and you’re jealous.”

“At least one of them is the baby’s daddy,” Ellie said.

“Don’t remind me.”

Jason got into Lamaze way more than I did. At the end of class, Jason pulled out his phone to switch the ringer back on. “Twenty-eight calls. Oh shit. Guess who’s at Steve’s house? She’s dropping the kids off. Drive fast.”

Jason called his wife and told her he was on the way, but it took us another eighteen minutes to get back to Steve’s house. She’d kept everyone strapped into car seats with the air conditioner on full blast. Her black hair flew back from her face, which wore an angry expression.

She was at my door before I got the car into park. “You did this on purpose!” She screeched.

No one in his or her right mind would get out of a car with that bear scratching at the window.

“Jason, do something,” I pleaded.

He was scared to get out of the car, too. “Babe, you kicked me out, remember?”

“I didn’t say go bang your ex!” She charged around the car to his door and yanked it open, while he scrambled to lock it. She clawed at his shirt and dragged him out of the car. “I expected you to grovel your way back in, not romp around in your past!”

“I didn’t mean to get her pregnant, babe,” he said. “I love you, I miss you.” Jason fell to his knees. “I’ll grovel. Take me back.” Then to my horror, he burst into tears, sobbing on her feet, his hands wrapping around her ankles.

“Get up—you make me sick! Get your kids out of the van, now!” She stomped away. “I need a break. I’ll be back for them in a week… if you’re lucky.” She got in her seat, shut the door, and fired up the car. The kids filed out and scrambled for the porch. I got out of the car to help Jason. Pathetic and wrecked, he joined us on the porch.

As Jason’s wife pulled away, she honked.

“Hey, Meg,” she yelled.

I looked back.

“Your ass is huge!” She gave me the finger and burned rubber all the way down the street.

So much for all the years I’d spent imagining their fairy-tale romance.

In the house, the kids huddled in the living room. Jason was missing.

“Hi guys. I’m Meg.”

Two rambunctious little boys moved around the room faster than cockroaches running from light.

“Are you replacing Mommy?” a pale, skinny girl with dark curls and a sharp chin asked.

“Shut up, Poppy,” snapped the boy version of her.

“I’m a friend of your dad. Do you know where he went?” I wasn’t about to march through his side of the drama on my own.

Poppy scrambled after her little brothers. The boys figured out that she was trying to herd them, and they split up, running in different directions.

“Jay, help me,” Poppy demanded.

“Let them run.” The oldest boy shrugged.

While Poppy went up the steps to grab the one little boy, I followed the other to the kitchen. Jason was at the table crying, with his head in his arms. The little boy charged him.

“Daddy! Daddy!” he cried. “Boo-boo, Daddy? Boo-boo? Kiss it, kiss it. Lemme kiss it, Daddy.”

“Which one are you?” He pulled the little one onto his lap.

The child babbled an answer.

“Basil, Daddy’s all better.” Jason tousled the little boy’s hair. “Daddy misses Basil.”

The other three children stormed into the kitchen.

“Okay, here’s my crew. You’ve met Basil.” He pointed to the twin in the girl’s arms. “That’s Sage, with my daughter Poppy, and our oldest.” He pointed to the gangly boy. “That’s Jay. Give Daddy a hug.”

The boy ignored him at first and then plunged into his dad’s arms. Jay looked much younger than eight, sitting on his father’s lap with his face buried into Jason’s neck.

My brother called from the front door, and I excused myself.

“Steve,” I said, coming out to the front room. Chelsea walked in behind him. “Oh, hi.” I had to get used to her being with him all the time. The only way I had a minute alone with Steve was at work. “Jason’s wife dropped off his kids for the week.”

“A whole week?” Steve asked. “All four of them? Are you
kidding
me?”

“All four.”

“This isn’t going to work.”

“Please, Steve? I’ll help.”

“It could be fun,” Chelsea said, reminding me how she was a friend who would try almost anything in the name of a good time. She walked toward the kitchen, and they followed her like little baby ducks.

“Hello, hello,” she called as she went through the door.