“What da hell I posed to do?” Maddie asked. I had to quit doing that.
Alex laughed and sat her down. He sat down on the chair and told me to sit.
“What do you want to do, Whit? Remember that day you broke my jaw on the sidewalk?”
“I didn’t break your jaw.”
“It sure as hel...heck felt like you did. You were yelling at me, because you never got to go to college. What would you have gone to college for?”
“I don’t know. Why does it even matter?”
“What, Whit? What would you have done with your life had Maddie not come along?”
“You’ll think it’s stupid,” I said.
“I won’t. I promise.”
“I wanted to film movies. Be behind a camera.”
He looked at me peculiar.
“Stupid, uh?”
“I don’t think it’s stupid. Why did you want to do that?”
“I don’t know. I think Jurassic Park did it. I was amazed at the scenes of that film. I didn’t care so much about the filming of the actors, just the actual putting it together.”
Why the hell was he staring at me with that stupid smile?
Why don’t you take some online classes? Maddie will be in school in two more years, and then if you still want to get out of the house, maybe you can work a couple days a week or something.”
“I’m sure filming of anything would require some traveling. I can’t do that. I have a child.”
“You have a child with a daddy who is perfectly capable of taking care of her. Come on, I want to show you something,” he coaxed, leading me to his office. I hadn’t been in there yet. I didn’t want to be in there. I didn’t care what he did.
“I come too,” Maddie said running in front of us.
It wasn’t an office at all. I was a little taken aback. There was a slim countertop with a massive amount of computer equipment, buttons, and microphones. The whole wall facing the table was some sort of screen.
“What is this, Alex?” I asked.
“It’s what I do: Wesson Simulations. What did you think I did?”
“I don’t know, I assumed it had something to do with the theaters that your parents own.”
“It sort of does, my work is shown in those theaters. I work for myself and many clients, including Disney, Universal, HBO, Nickelodeon, and several other small studios. I design 3D simulations.”
“For movies?” I asked. Wow, I would have never guessed. I thought he was in there crunching numbers, and building spreadsheets. I was intrigued to say the least.
Maddie climbed up on one of the chairs and started pushing buttons.
“No, Maddie. You can’t play with that,” I said, starting to grab her.
“She’s okay,” he smiled.
She pushed a button and said, “Hello.”
“I love it. We see who she’s going to take after,” he proudly boasted.
She pushed the button on the thick microphone.
“Welcome to Donald’s, I take your order?”
I laughed. It was epic. The boasted smile on Alex’s face was replaced with a frown.
“Oh, you think that’s funny?” he smirked.
I tightened my lips, trying to hide it. It was funny. It was great, the best thing she could have said at the best time.
He picked her up and sat down, placing her on his lap. “You can sit down,” he offered, nodding to the chair beside him. I shook my head. I didn’t need to sit.
He turned some buttons, flipped switches, and messed with levers scattered about the table in front of him. Maddie and I both gasped as the screen came to life.
It was definitely 3D. He was working on a cartoon simulation where the butterflies looked like they were flying right at us. The water in the stream lapped right into the room. Maddie and I both jumped when the deer darted out of nowhere and ran across the stream.
“Oh my God, Alex. That is amazing. This is what you do?” I asked the dumb question. I wanted his job. His job was the coolest job I’d ever seen. I didn’t even know this was a job.
“You like it?” he asked, looking over his shoulder.
“Um, it’s okay,” I said, remembering that I hated him, and I didn’t care what he did.
He snickered.
<><><>
I was not looking forward to meeting his family. It was stupid and it was all fake. I was expected to go there and pretend that I was madly in love with their son. Their son who raped me. Their son who was forcing me to live in his house. Their son who my daughter was madly in love with, not me. How could he even expect me to like them? I didn’t want to like them.
I once again, stubbornly stared out the window, radiating hatred and defiance.
“Please lose the attitude before we get there. Have a good time, enjoy yourself.”
“Okay, are you planning on staying in the car? And I don’t want you touching me either. You don’t have to touch me to fake how you really feel about me.”
“How I really feel? How would you know how I really feel? You avoid me like an infection.”
“I don’t care how you really feel. All that matters is how I feel,” I selfish and boldly stated.
The rest of the ride was quiet. Maddie wasn’t even talking. Hmmm, that wasn’t like her. I hoped she wasn’t getting sick.
“Who’s the little girl?” I asked as we pulled into the driveway of another immaculate home. The girl and, I assumed, her father were tossing a baseball back and forth in the front yard.
“I play too,” Maddie said, seeing the little girl.
“That’s Trenton, my niece. She’s my sister’s daughter, just turned nine last month.”
“You didn’t tell me you had a niece.”
“That’s because you don’t care about my life.”
“Oh yeah,” I remembered, getting out of the car.
Alex helped Maddie out of her seat. I was rather impressed when he insisted she had to go in and potty before she was allowed to play.
I was instantly swarmed by Mrs. Wesson and Regan. Great, why couldn’t they just let me be the mouse in the corner that I wanted to be?
“Whitley, we’ve heard so much about you. I’m so happy to finally meet you. I’m Connie, and this is Regan. We were just getting ready to mix a drink and bash our men. Surely you want to join us,” she joked, taking my hand.
Damn, I didn’t want to like her. She was supposed to be some snooty, nose stuck in the air bitch. She wasn’t, not from what I’d seen so far. She wore shorts probably a little short for her age, but damn did she have nice legs. I’m sure I would have been showing them off at her age too. She wore her dark hair in a plain ol’ ponytail and a worn t-shirt with Carli Simon’s picture in the middle.
I looked to see where Alex had taken Maddie. I didn’t see them as I was being led to the beautiful kitchen.
“Regan here is our bartender. She can make you anything you want. What’s your flavor?”
“Grandma, can we get in the pool now?” the dark haired little girl came in flushed.
Connie bent to kiss her cheek. “Yes, sweetie, but wait for your cousin. I’m sure she will want to get in too.”
“I go wimmin,” Maddie said, overhearing the conversation as Alex carried her in. He sat her down and took Trenton’s hand.
“This is Madelyn, your cousin. Maddie, this is Trenton,” he introduced the girls.
“I go wimmin wif Twenton?” she asked.
“You come and see me first,” Connie said, grabbing her up and kissing her cheeks.
Maddie squealed with laughter.
“We didn’t bring her bathing suit. You didn’t tell me they had a pool,” I told Alex. “She can’t get in by herself,” I added.
Alex smiled at me, held my arm, and leaned in for a kiss. Goddamnit, that lasted a long time.
“She’s three. She can swim in her undies, and I’ll get in with her.”
“YAY!” Trenton called, jumping up and down, excited that Uncle Alex was getting
in with her.
Alex left with both girls and Regan turned to me. “Now about that drink?” she smiled. Okay, I could use one of those or five.
“Um, I don’t know. I don’t really drink mixed drinks.” I was a twist the cap off and chug it like a man, kind of drinker. We were all beer drinkers back at the resort. I didn’t know what kind of drinks there even were.
“I’m having a dirty martini. Want to try that? If you don’t like it, I’m sure we can come up with something else. My alcoholic mother here has every kind of liquor available.”
“I’m only an alcoholic on the weekends. You live with your father for almost thirty years, and remain sober.”
“I did live with him for nineteen years and that was enough.”
“Don’t listen to a word they say,” a middle aged man came in, kissing Connie on the cheek from behind.
“This is Alex’s dad, Rob,” Connie introduced.
He shook my hand and welcomed me to their home. Damn, I liked him too.
“Where are my grandbabies?” he wanted to know.
“Getting in the pool, but you’re not getting in. You’re going to start the grill.”
“I’ll start it, you take care of the steak and dogs,” he countered.
“Fine, go play in the pool, you big kid,” Connie said, giving in.
We took our drinks and walked out back with the screaming girls playing in the water with Alex. Maddie clung to him like she was afraid of drowning. She was normally a water bug. She was getting sick, I sensed it. I could tell.
I couldn’t believe how much Connie and Regan talked, not to mention how much they drank. I loved them. I could see us all being very good friends. Might as well make the best of it. I wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
“I want my mommy,” I heard Maddie cry from the pool.
Connie handed me a towel and I walked to the edge of the pool to take her from Alex. He reached her up and I wrapped her in the fuzzy oversized towel. Shit, our eyes did not just lock. What the hell? I wasn’t going there with him. It was the drinks; that’s what it was.
I sat in a lounge chair and held Maddie. She did feel a little warm but nothing I was concerned with. I gently rocked her on my lap as Regan came over with another drink. Were they trying to get me drunk?
Yup, I needed to quit drinking. Alex walked up the stairs with his trunks riding low on his hips. I turned my eyes quickly toward Regan.
“You dirty girl,” she laughed.
What? No, I wasn’t. Ah hell. Yes, I was. I laughed with her and looked down to Maddie.
“Is she sick?” Alex asked, sitting on the other side of me.
“I don’t think she feels the best today. She might be a little warm.”
“We should go.”
“No, we don’t have to go. She’s almost asleep. Let’s see how she feels after a nap.”
“I not take a nap,” she groggily assured me from my chest. I kissed her head and smiled at Alex. What the hell was in this drink?
Alex carried Maddie to the couch not even ten minutes later. He came back dressed in the same khaki shorts that he had worn there. Trenton was telling me about her soft ball game in two weeks and invited me to come and watch. I loved her too. What the hell was going on here? I was supposed to be sulking, sitting off to myself, hating being there. I was having a great time with his family. It was the drinks; it had to be the drinks.
Maddie still wasn’t being her normal bratty self and barely ate. She did get down and played in the yard with Alex, Trenton, and Trenton’s dad, Vince. I caught the smiles on not only my face but on both Connie and Regan’s too, when Maddie put her arms up for Alex to pick her up. She laid her head on his shoulder and he rubbed her back.
I offered to help clean up, but was declined the request when Connie informed me that she too had housekeepers that would take care of it in the morning. I stood to get Maddie’s things ready and stumbled back a bit. Whoa, how many of those things did I have?
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Alex asked as we waved to his family from the car.
“No, not at all. I like your family a lot more than I like you. You sure you weren’t adopted?” I asked.
He laughed. “I’m sure. I think they liked you too.”
“What did you tell them? I mean, how did you spring Maddie on them? We probably should have talked about that. What if they would have asked?”
“I told them the truth. I met you at a party, we hooked up, you got pregnant, and didn’t know anything but my first name. When we ran into each other at that wedding, you told me about Maddie, and we’ve been together ever since.”
“The truth, uh?” I said, looking over to him. I had to make sure I didn’t drink around him again. Ever. Why was I looking at him like that? Why was I even seeing him like that?
“I’m glad you liked my family.”
I put Maddie in the tub and sat on the toilet while she played.
“I not wash my hair,” she said, as she blew bubbles from a cup.
“You have to wash your hair. You have pool chlorine in it.”
“I wike pool cormamine.”
Maddie got her hair washed, screaming that her eyes were burning the entire time. I tried to distract her by talking about Trenton and swimming at her grandparents’ house; it didn’t work. By the time I was done, she was in a full blown tantrum. Of course daddy had to come in and be the good guy. He wrapped her in a towel and kissed her hair as she sucked up his attention and wrapped her arms around his neck. I didn’t follow him out. He knew where her pajamas were. He could deal with her.
I ran a tub of water myself and soaked, trying to soak away the headache that I felt coming on. It didn’t feel like an alcohol headache, more like a stress headache. Stress from the very crazy day of hanging out with Alex’s family. Stress from my daughter leaving my arms for his. Stress from missing my dad, Dana, and my friends. Maybe I would go home the next weekend.
Maybe I wouldn’t.
I was just coming out of the bathroom when I heard my cellphone ring from the kitchen island. I took it to the pool and talked to my dad. I loved him so much, but I was sure I wasn’t ready for this. How the hell was this going to work?
“I didn’t even get three pages read. She’s out like a light,” Alex said, opening the sliding door, giving me an apologetic smile, not knowing that I was on the phone.
“Okay Dad, I can’t wait. Maddie will be ecstatic.”
“I will. Love you too.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were on the phone,” Alex apologized.
“Yeah, that was my dad. He and Dana are coming here to spend the weekend next week. How the hell is that supposed to work?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. I’m not sleeping with you.”
“Ah, I see. Well, how else are you going to pull off our love affair?”
“I’ll pretend to go to bed with you, and then go get in bed with Maddie once they go to bed.” Yeah, that would work.
<><><>
I went right back to ignoring Alex the very next day. He seemed to have a new work buddy and Maddie even deserted me. She loved to sit on his lap and push the buttons that he told her to push. She loved to watch the wall screen come to life. If her daddy was in there, she wanted to be in there.
I opened the door and walked in on Thursday. She was giggling as hard as I had ever seen her. Alex kept pushing a button, causing a cartoon like frog to jump out of nowhere. She laughed every time. I had to laugh too. She was so funny.
“I’m going to run to the grocery store to get a few things before my dad gets here. Do you want anything?” I asked.
“You don’t have to do that. I have someone that takes care of that for me. Just write down what you want and I’ll give her a call.”
“No, Alex, I don’t need someone to grocery shop for me. I need out of this house anyway. Do you need anything or not?”
“We’ll go with you.”
I was getting mad.
>
“I don’t need you to go with me, just keep an eye on Maddie until I get back. Do you need anything or not?”
“No, I don’t think so,” he replied, following me out.
What the hell?
Alex pulled my purse from my shoulder and opened my wallet. I couldn’t even speak. I was dumbfounded. Who the hell did he think he was? He took my debit card the one with my money and stuck it in his back pocket.
“Use the credit card that I gave you.”
“I don’t want to use your credit card. I have my own money.” I did have money, not much, but enough that I didn’t need his money…yet. “Give me my card.”
“Nope, let’s go get in the pool, Maddie,” he said, walking away from me. I hated him. I hated everything about his stupid controlling idiotic self.
Maddie didn’t even throw a fit to go with me. I wanted Maddie to throw a fit. Oh Lord, what was I thinking? I groaned and left the two of them to their fun and games.
“Whitley!” I heard my name being called as I started across the parking lot to the grocery store at least ten times the size of the one I was used to.
“Hey, Regan. You live around here?”
“Yeah, not far, over on Carriage Court. You have no idea where that is, do you?”
“Nope,” I smiled.
“It’s about, oh maybe ten, twelve miles from you. What are you doing?”
“My dad is coming this weekend. I was just picking up a few things.”
“Alex let you? I’m surprised he didn’t call his people,” she said, using quotation marks in the air with her fingers.
I laughed. “He wanted to, but I wouldn’t let him.”
“Do you want to go get a coffee or something? Vince took Trenton to a baseball game. I have the whole afternoon to myself.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea. I have all the time in the world too. Alex is like a new toy for Maddie. She wants him to do everything for her now.”
“He is crazy in love with her. Come on, I’ll drive.”
I swore that Alex was adopted. There was no way he came from this family. I freaking loved Regan. She was crazy as crazy comes. I almost peed my pants more than once, laughing at her. She told me stories about her and Vince, stories that I was sure he wouldn’t have appreciated, the funniest labor story of all time, and even some stories about Alex growing up, like swallowing an Alka-Seltzer on a dare and crying because his tummy was fizzing and he had bubbles in there. She said he cried every time he belched.