“Yeah,” he answered right away. The music in the background wasn’t piano music. I knew the song because my mom used to sing it, being silly. I could hear the guy singing something about being whisky bit and hell bound.
“Hey, you didn’t answer my message.”
“I was going to. I just came over here to get a sandwich with some of the construction crew.”
“Over where? Are you in a bar?”
“Yes, but it’s a restaurant too.”
“Oh, okay, and then you’re headed back to work? Should we go back to your mom’s or are we shopping tomorrow?”
“Whatever you want to do is fine by me. Yes, we’ll go get furniture tomorrow.”
“Blake?”
“What, Makayla?”
“Are we okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. We’re fine. I’ll see you somewhere later. Text me and let me know where you are. Tell Pea I said hi.”
“She’s with your mom and Sarah, but I will when she gets back.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later.”
“Okay.”
Blake didn’t say I love you. Blake always said I love you. I made our tent beds, straightening up the sleeping bags, and ran the sweeper. There wasn’t much more to do. I’d already done it all; a few times.
My eyes shifted to the boxes and curiosity got the best of me. I sat on the cool tile and opened the first one. An instant smile came to my face when I saw Mr. Snuffleupagus. I totally forgot all about him. I bet I was Pea’s age before I could leave home without him. My mom even hunted him down once when I left him in a taxi, I hadn’t slept for three days. I hugged his ratty old fur to my neck, feeling the longing nostalgia. What I wouldn’t do to be Pea’s age again. My old stuffed animal didn’t smell like it used to, the heavy fabric softener she used to use to keep it fresh was long gone, replaced with a musty, deserted smell. I sat him aside and took out my mother’s Jewelry box. I gasped when I saw it all there. Nothing was gone. It was just like she left it. Her pearls, her sapphire ring that she used to let me wear, her diamond earrings, and all of the fake costume jewelry. It was all there.
I placed a long strand of Mardi-Gras beads around my neck and continued to dig through what was left of my life. Charlie did great. Everything he saved for me meant something to me. Even the painted rock. I reminisced over every single object in the box. The next box was packed in bubble wrap. I gasped when I realized what it was. “Oh my God, oh my God,” I said out loud to the empty kitchen. Things like this just didn’t happen. Everything and everyone was connected. I completely forgot about this too. I used to love looking at my grandmother’s collection, she left these to me in her will. Beautiful crystal lions, cubs, and lionesses. My Grandma Rhonda loved lions as much as Pea. I wanted her to have them, I wanted them to be in a lit display case where the lights would dance off the mirror and through the crystals. I was opening Pea’s birthday present.
I hadn’t realized how much time had gone by until I heard the car door. Wrapping the few crystals I’d opened quickly in the plastic bubbles, I closed the flaps. The microwave door worked for a makeshift mirror and I checked for any sign of tears. I was good.
“Mikki! Mikki!” Pea yelled running as fast as her little legs would carry her.
“What?” I said, scooping her up. Her legs wrapped around my waist and her hands held my cheeks. This was serious. She needed my full attention.
“Guess what happened?”
“I don’t know. Tell me.” Grace and Sarah beamed with pride. This was one lucky kid.
“I got to touch it. The lion. I did.”
My wide eyes went to the not so lucky grandparents. I was supposed to be the stupid one. “Don’t worry. The trainer was right there, and Vanity was a big baby. He loved her.”
“He has really big hair and I got to brush it out. I thought he was going to eat me once and I screamed a little, but he was only tired. That’s why he yawned.”
“You sort of smell like a lion. Did you see anything else? Any other animals?”
“Yeah, and guess how many lions there are? Five. But only one is a lion. The girls are called lionessesess,” Pea explained adding a few more S’s. She couldn’t care less about any other animals and there was only one she was so excited to tell me about. “They are going to go in a tent and do tricks and the lion handler was going to wear funny pants and tell them what to do.” I think I got most of what she was trying to tell me with one long run on sentences. “And we’re going to go to the show and watch it with everybody,” she excitedly told me moving her hand in a circular motion like she was gathering us all up.
“Well that sounds like a lot of fun. I can’t wait.”
“It’s tomorrow at seven, right, grandmas?” We all laughed at her lazy way of gaining backup. She was too darn cute. I loved it when she got this excited. I’m not sure I was excited about what she was excited about, but nonetheless, I loved it. Why couldn’t she be happy about being a ballerina, or painting panoramic views of the ocean? Why did she have to love lions so much?
“Yes, tomorrow. Grandpa Holden is going to take us all out to dinner and then to the circus,” Sarah explained.
“That sounds like a load of fun. Go wash your hands, I want to talk to your grandmas for a second.”
“I want to hear too,” she assured me, sliding to the floor.
“But then you’re going to hear me ask which one wants you to spend the night.”
“Me!” they both yelled at the same time. Great. I didn’t want a tug-of-war over Pea, I just wanted one of them to take her for the night.
“Well, I guess we better just have a slumber party and you can come too, Mikki.”
“Let’s do it Grace. We’ll stay at your house and watch Wreck-it-Ralph and eat popcorn,” Sarah excitedly agreed. Grace was all for it, except the movie of course.
“We’ll rent something we haven’t seen. Are you in Mikki?”
“No, go wash your sticky hands, Pea,” I said again. “Why would I ask you to take her for the night if I wasn’t trying to, you know,” I urged.
“Get rid of me,” Pea replied, matter of fact like. She ran off to wash her hands like it was no big deal. She didn’t care. There was more fun in her day.
“Yeah, what she said.”
“Is everything okay?” Grace asked, seeing the boxes. “Did you go through these by yourself?”
“No, I mean some of it yeah, but I’m fine. I kind of wanted the night alone with Blake.”
“We read you loud and clear. No need to further explain.”
“Relax, Grace. I wasn’t going to give you details about your son, although I do have to say that he can—”
Grace stuck both fingers in her ears and sang, “La, la, la, la! I hear nothing. These ears are clean.”
Ten
I drove over to the local supermarket and bought groceries. Hoping the furniture store would do same day delivery, I stocked up. A roast with potatoes and carrots sounded amazing and Blake loved it. I even bought a bottle of wine. The guy didn’t even question my age. He rang it up with everything else. Good thing. I still had a couple weeks before I would be twenty-one.
The roast was in the oven, the groceries were put away and the wine was chilling. All I had left to do was a shower and wait. That’s what I did. I waited. And waited. And waited. For the first time since Blake and I’d gotten close, it didn’t feel okay to call him and I didn’t understand why.
I ate supper alone by the pool at eight. I put everything away at nine. I drank half the bottle of wine by ten and I was drunk by ten thirty. Filling my cup for the third time, I looked at my phone again. Bullshit. This was bullshit. If he was going to be an ass, at least tell me why. I hit send on his number and swallowed more than a sip of alcohol.
“Where the hell are you?” Well that came out a little angrier than I meant for it to.
“In the driveway. I’ll be right in.”
I dropped my phone to the counter and stumbled my way to the door in a stomp. Whoa.
Geesh. I was drunk. Drunk and pissed and I wanted him to know it. Maybe not with the angry stomp, I didn’t want to fall.
“Where were you? I sent Pea home with the Holden’s so we could talk.”
“You didn’t tell me, you only said you were here. What do you want to talk about?”
“I don’t know. Why were you in a bar?”
“Makayla, what is this? I had a sandwich and went back to work. I knew I wasn’t going to get to work tomorrow. I wanted to get as much done as I could.”
“I cooked, and I bought wine,” I announced, holding up the almost empty bottle.
“Did you drink it too?”
“Don’t laugh. I’m really mad at you.”
“I’m sorry, baby. Come here.”
Well damn. Why doesn’t anything ever play out the way I think it will in my head? I melted in two point seven seconds. What the hell? “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was short with you today, and I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you drink this.”
Was I losing my mind? Was I just being paranoid? Blake was Blake. The same Blake that I loved before I got all crazy. Jesus. It had to be that time of month again. I didn’t know whether to tell him I thought he didn’t want me anymore, or not. I wasn’t one of those girls that sat around and whined because I didn’t get enough attention. Hell. Yes I was. That’s exactly who I was. That was the whole problem. All this stress would strain any relationship. I was feeling needy and whiny. I was that girl. I was allowed to. Wasn’t I?
“Sometimes I wish we wouldn’t have jumped on the theater so soon,” I confessed. Blake’s chest caught my stumble when I tried to be sexy and tap my toe behind me. I was too drunk for that.
“Don’t worry about it, okay? Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to. It always does.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, looking up to him.
“Nothing. Stop being so sensitive. What are you drinking? You smell like alcohol and chocolate, or is that mint?” Blake asked in a whisper to my lips.
“It is all of those things. I ate a peppermint patty.”
Blake gut wrenched a throw your head back laugh, “I love the shit out of you.”
“I love you too, but you sort of stink.”
“You told me you loved the way I smelled when I came home from work.”
“That was when you smelled like stress and Ford Tom, not sweat.”
“It’s Tom Ford. Is there any food here? I’m starving.”
“Yes, but you’ll have to eat it on the floor. You know, we don’t have a table, or a chair, or couch, or a—”
“Yes, yes, love. I know. Tomorrow. I promise.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him, “Go take a shower. I’ll warm you up a plate of roast, potatoes and carrots.”
“Oh my God, are you serious?”
I laughed and stepped away, “Yes, go shower.”
Ten minutes before I felt like my world was crashing in around me, and now I was a melting pile of gooey love. The rest of the entire night was like that. Blake was as loving as he always was; very attentive, and flirty toward me.
“What is all of this?” he asked, walking shirtless into the kitchen. His jeans hung low and his feet were bare. Running the towel, roughly through his hair, he tossed the towel to the middle of the island. Holy, jump my bones, hotness.
“Um, well, Barry. They’re mine.” I shook my head and swallowed the puddle of saliva gathering in my mouth.
“What?” Blake smirked at my tied tongue.
“Jesus, Blake. I just turned into a sex maniac, like I want to fuck you. Really bad.”
That got a laugh and then one hell of a kiss. Thanks. Like that helped the throbbing between my legs. Whether it was his body forcing me to walk backwards or his lips, is unknown. Senses I never thought about came to life when his warm hands went up my ribs and cold stainless steel from the refrigerator touched my back.
His lips retreated first, “Can I eat first?”
“Yes,” I responded, barely above a whisper. My mind was extremely occupied with sex. Blake stepped away, giving me that eye, the one that my mind was telling me he wanted me too. “What’s in the boxes?” he asked again. Blake took his plate and slid down the wall. “I like this. Did you buy it?” He asked, observing my new plates.
“Yes and thank you. I like them too.” I poured the last glass of wine and handed it to him. “Barry brought it here. Remember the very first time we ran into each other in the restaurant? He had me investigated after that. That’s how he knew who I was. The guy that ran our building packed this stuff up, hoping I would come after it someday.”
“Really?” Blake asked, speaking around food in his mouth.
“He never told me that.”
“That’s because he thought you and I were stealing from him, remember?”
“Yeah, but I mean even now. He didn’t even tell me he had this stuff, or that he was bringing it to you. Did you open it?”
“Yes, oh my God Blake, wait until you see this. We need to find a lit curio-cabinet for Pea; one with a light and a mirror on the back.”
“Why do want to get her a cabinet?” Blake asked confused.
“I haven’t thought about this in years. I forgot my grandmother ever collected them. I mean I thought about her crystal collection lots of times, it just didn’t register what the collection was all about.” I slowly unrolled a bubble-wrapped crystal lion. “This one was a paperweight with great detail.”
Blake sat his plate on the floor and took it from my hand, “Where did you get this?”
“What? What do you mean? It belonged to my grandma.”
Blake turned the crystal over and smiled, “No it didn’t, it belonged to your mom. Look. I have the other one. It’s identical to this one.” I read the inscription saying: You are my… “The other one says best friend.”
I scooted the box closer to Blake and he resumed his eating. “I sort of remember that story. My mom was shopping for a birthday present for my grandma. It was supposed to say happy birthday. The little girl wanted it to say best friends. My mom didn’t have the heart to tell her no, so that’s why it said that.”
“I’m going to give it to Pea,” Blake proudly announced.
“That’s perfect, she’ll have one from my mom and her mom. I can’t wait to see all of these on display again. Let’s put them in her room and surprise her.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to keep these for yourself? I mean they’re a family heirloom. You should keep them,” Blake assured me, still talking around food.
“Stop talking with your mouth full. That’s gross. I want Pea to have them, they will mean more to her. I didn’t even remember the stupid collection,” I sadly replied, holding the next figurine. I remembered that one. My mom drove us clear across the state to get it.
“Sorry, I’m starving. Is that a sad memory?” Blake asked.
“You should have come home earlier.”
“I would have had I known I was getting this. Is it a sad memory?”
“No,” I giggled, “not at all. It was a blast. She found it at some pawnshop almost in Illinois.” My fingers traced the gold mane and then the tip of his tail. I couldn’t believe I forgot about that one, I was in love with it. I knew Grandma Rhonda didn’t have one like that. The gold mane and the tail were so shiny and the crystal body glimmered with its own magic.
“How old were you.”
“Oh, geesh, maybe five. This thing rode on my lap the entire trip back. My mom told me we had to leave it wrapped in the box because it was so expensive. I promised with all my heart to be careful if she let me hold it.”
“And she did?”
“Yes, but see this little chip right here?” I asked, remembering, “I hit it with the buckle of the seatbelt. The tail broke right off and I started crying. I knew my mom was holding back the shock that I just broke a very expensive crystal.”
“Was she mad?”
“She didn’t show it, but I knew she was. She looke
d at me and said ‘it’s a good thing someone decided to invent super-glue, huh, Mikki?’” I said, hearing my mother’s voice in that car. I hadn’t been able to do that for a long time. Rarely did I get that anymore. I missed it. I missed hearing her sweet voice. “And then the car got a flat, it rained on us while we tried to fix it, and then we got a speeding ticket. Best girl-trip ever,” I announced, wrapping the delicate lion back in bubbles.
“Pea will break these, you can’t give them to her.”
“I bet she is easier with them than I was.” I didn’t care what Blake said, I was giving them to Pea. Pea was the only one on the planet that I knew would appreciate them with everything in her.
Blake finished his plate while we unwrapped all the glittery crystals. They sat around us on the floor in one big pride. The one with the broken tail was dead center. I wished I would have paid more attention. I wished I could have told Blake a story about every one of them, but I couldn’t. And that’s why they were more important to Pea. She would have asked about every single one.
“What’s in the other boxes?” Blake asked, helping me wrap the fine figurines and store them back to the box.
“One is a bunch of stuff, mementoes that Charlie thought I would want to keep. He was good to me, he knew my mom was sick and although he didn’t have much either, on cold days or when it rained, he would bring us over supper.”
“What do you mean? What does cold and rain have to do with anything?” Blake stood and slid the box inside the pantry. “Whoa, you did go shopping. Oh, chocolate-chip cookies.” Blake’s attention span turned into Pea’s at the blink of a cookie.
“I used to walk to the soup kitchen and bring us home supper when my mom was really bad. She cooked when she could and so did I, but I sort of liked it there. It wasn’t like charity, I worked it off, I helped serve on days that I could.”
Blake chomped into a cookie and joined me back on the tile. “I hate it that you went to a soup kitchen.”
“I don’t hate that, not at all. I’m glad at went there, it helped mold me into who I am today. I’m no better than anyone of those drunks that used to come in there for a free meal. They all had worse lives than I did.”