“What’s the matter? I told you I used to give my mom injections for her diabetes. This won’t be much different.”
“I’m going to do it—for Mickey’s sake—but I need to build up a little courage first.”
Several hours faded away as they moved furniture, hung pictures, stacked files in strategic places and placed a non-functioning but genuine-looking phone at the receptionist’s desk. Eventually the common areas and one exam room evolved into what looked like a credible office for the imaginary Vivian Sanders and the only patient she’d ever have.
Finally, Mac stuffed some trash in one of the empty boxes by the door. “I guess all that’s left to do is vacuum and clean up. That bathroom is pretty gross. You want me to work on that?”
Miranda grinned. “I’ve never heard a man offer to clean a bathroom,” she said. “But I can do that tomorrow.” She held up the syringe and some alcohol. “We’ve got some unfinished business.”
“Damn. I thought you might forget that.”
“I know this is no fun,” she said, then projected a pouty lip, “but I still need a little practice. I promise to be as gentle as possible.”
Mac let out an exaggerated sigh. “Okay, but if I’m going to be your pincushion, can we try to keep it to just one arm?”
A flush of pleasant warmth filled her. On top of everything else Mac had done for her and Mickey, he was really going to let her practice drawing blood. This proved in yet another way that he sincerely cared about her and her brother. “I’ll wash up while you gather the last few boxes.”
In the bathroom, Miranda looked at herself in the dirty mirror and shook her head. She couldn’t look much worse, yet Mac didn’t seem to notice. She knew now that she loved both brothers, but that was way too dangerous. Sooner or later she’d have to pick one or the other. For the time being she returned to the waiting area.
“My turn,” Mac said as soon as she opened the door.
She grinned at his apparent nervousness. “I’ll get everything ready,” she said, moving toward the exam room. A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened. Apparently he’d stalled about as much as he was going to. “In here, Sweets,” she called out.
When Mac opened the door she was completely naked, on the table with her feet in the stirrups. “I figured if I’m going to poke you in the arm, it’s only fair that you get to play doctor and poke me too.”
Mac laughed. “I love you,” he said as he leaned over and his lips found hers.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rather than call the cops, Mr. Osborne encouraged Stump and Willie to come back when they got older and could open an account of their own.
After that, their run/walk return trip was exhausting but they did manage to come up with a new idea. If they could discover where Stump’s mom worked back when Stump was born, they might find somebody who knew his dad.
Now, Stump and Aunt Gerry were on their way to see his mother for the second time in two weeks. Stump brought one of his old puzzle books and several magazines from the laundry room. As he slid into Aunt Gerry’s car he pushed aside a wimpy plastic sack. “I got some magazines.”
“Well done, Honey. I’m sure she’ll like them. I brought her some underwear.”
Hmm. Up to that point Stump hadn’t thought about his mom’s underwear situation. Why would he? He sometimes had to be reminded to change his own shorts. But a woman who loved her baths as much as she did must certainly appreciate new underwear too. He was glad Aunt Gerry thought of it. “Can I ask you something?” he probed.
“Of course, Honey. We’re family—we can talk about anything.”
“Do you think Mom will still be pissed off?”
Her head snapped his way, then back to the road. “An intelligent person, such as yourself, ought to be able to say what he means without being so vulgar.”
He missed his mom. She wasn’t so obsessed with his word choices. “Okay. Do you think she’ll still be cranky?”
“That’s better. It’s difficult to say. We’re just going to have to find out when we get there.”
This time, when they arrived, his mom had a huge grin on her face. “There are my favorite people,” she said, touching each of them on one hand because that was all of the body contact that was allowed without making the guards nervous.
She aimed a giant smile Stump’s way. “I showed the picture to everybody. They think you’re cute.”
He lifted his hands to his throat, pretending to adjust an invisible necktie. “They’re right.”
His mom turned to Aunt Gerry. “You look like you’ve lost a couple pounds.” Stump wondered if women really noticed small changes like that in each other.
Aunt Gerry shrugged. “Been better, been worse.”
What could she possibly complain about? As far as he could tell, she had life by the balls, er, testicles.
“Why? What’s wrong?” his mom asked.
“It’s no big deal, but Dirk’s having a rough time with all the extra activity at the house. He’s allergic to dog hair and it makes other situations difficult—if you know what I mean.”
“I met a new friend,” Stump said. “His name is Richard.”
His mom looked at Aunt Gerry then back to him. “Oh really? Tell me about him.”
“He moved into a house by Willie’s. He’ll be in my class. He wants me to come over and lift weights.”
“Be sure to include Willie.”
Stump lifted both hands, palms up. “He doesn’t want to go.”
“That’s another thing,” Aunt Gerry said. ”It’s a good thing school is starting next week.”
Jean’s forehead wrinkled. “Why. What’s wrong?”
His aunt glanced at her watch. “You two could use a few minutes alone.” To Stump, “I’ll wait for you in the car.” Stump couldn’t tell if she was sad or angry.
“Don’t go,” Jean pleaded, but it was too late. Her sister was gone. She turned to Stump. “What was that all about? Is everything okay?”
“To tell you the truth, Mom, we’re not getting along all that well. I don’t want to be ungrateful, but we snap at each other and they’re boring. Aunt Gerry corrects my language and makes me go to bed at ten. Uncle Dirk just reads and hangs around in his garage. Doesn’t let Dogg in the house. Aren’t dads supposed to take their kids to places like Disneyland once in a while? He won’t even go get an ice-cream cone.”
She patted his hand. “This isn’t easy for anybody. Just do the best you can for two more weeks. Then it’ll be you and me and Dogg again. That’s all anybody can ask.”
“I’ll try, but it’s not easy,” he said.
“I know. Now listen. I need to talk with you about next week. I don’t want you to miss school so I’m going to ask if they’ll let us meet at night.”
“But what if they don’t?”
“I’m not taking you out of school just because I did some dumb things.”
“Can I ask you something before I have to leave?”
“Sure, Honey. Anything.”
“Where did you work before we moved to Palmdale?”
“Huh? What brought that up? If it’s about this obsession of yours about your dad, just forget it, okay?”
How did she know? Oh well, he could still ask Aunt Gerry the same question in a few minutes. After his time was over, he joined his aunt at her car. Her eyes were red. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked. “You ran out of there awfully fast.”
She sniffled. “It’s not you, Honey. It’s between Uncle Dirk and me, but I don’t want to talk about it.” She tapped his arm. “We’ll both feel better if we have some hot chocolate.”
Maybe this was the opening he needed. “I was hoping to ask mom about her past but we ran out of time.”
“Her past? What about it?”
“I know she grew up in Michigan and Wisconsin, but I don’t know what she was like as a little girl, who her friends were, where she used to work, how she met my dad. Things like that.”
&
nbsp; “What do you want to know? I might be able to help.”
Finally. “What did she do for work before we moved to Palmdale?”
“She was a secretary in a textile plant.”
“What kind of tiles?”
His aunt grinned. “Not tiles, Honey. Textiles. Fabrics for draperies and tablecloths.”
“See? That’s what I mean. I never knew that. Do you know what the company was called or at least where it was located?”
“It’s been a long time. I don’t remember the name but it was in Milwaukee. That’s about all I remember about it.”
At least it was a clue. For the moment, his aunt seemed content to talk about anything other than her own life. This might be his chance to make progress on another issue. “Can I ask a favor? There are only a few more days until school starts. Can Willie and I stay up later at night until then?”
“We’ll have to ask Uncle Dirk,” she said and then turned her head to the side and cried.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Miranda had just driven several miles without remembering any of it. It had been a few days since she and Mac set up the midwife’s office. Now, she was on her way to see Don for their monthly conjugal visit. Aside from the humbling ritual to get to the love cabins, there was the inconvenient fact that they never had enough time, especially now that there was so much going on.
Exactly what was she going to tell Don? The day-to-day workings of the plan would be easy enough, but it was the other things, the internal things, her feelings, that ate at her.
She couldn’t tell Don he was wrong about Mac, let alone that she’d grown to love him. She couldn’t explain away her guilt by saying she still loved Don too. That would be high schoolish.
Worst of all, she and Don had agreed she’d keep her feelings out of it and she had failed. It was bad enough to sleep with Mac when Don knew about it, encouraged it even, but hiding what those meetings meant to her was deceptive and the same as cheating. She hated that part of what she was doing. She was cheating on both of them. Don didn’t know about her real feelings for Mac and Mac didn’t know about Don at all. She recalled how she had felt when her ex cheated on her. She shook her head. She hated him for cheating. What a hypocrite.
Regardless of any of this, it wasn’t fair to hold Mac in such high regard while Don was stuck behind bars and incapable of lighting her fire to the same extent. The fair thing to do was let Don know how much she appreciated his slowing down and whispers and touching and smiles. She nodded at her idea, just as her burner rang and broke her thoughts. It had to be Mac. “Hi, Sweets,” she said.
“Hello, Vivian? This is Coleen at Dr. Gravely’s office. The doctor would like to see you for a follow-up visit. Are you available tomorrow?”
* * *
Across town, Mac had donned his work shirt and nametag as usual. After he wrestled with Annie’s kickstand he had a couple of hours before the blind group would be at the bowling alley. “Hey, Annie. You up for a little road trip?”
“You bet. I’m always up for some fresh air.”
“Miranda told me about a huge park in Antelope Valley, called The Devil’s Punchbowl. It’s supposed to have some good winding roads.”
“Hell, yeah. Let’s check it out.”
Mac downshifted and gave Annie the throttle. She completely approved. They slipped through the last stoplight at the edge of town where the speed limit bumped up to fifty-five. “You know something, Annie,” he said into the morning air. “Lady problems can be awfully complicated. As soon as Rachel’s cycle is right, I’m supposed to make her think she’s pregnant so she’ll want to call her doctor.”
“Isn’t she too smart for that?”
“Miranda’s got it all figured out. She’s going to intercept the call and refer Rachel to the midwife’s office.” They leaned into a banked curve that preceded a gradual incline. “Miranda thinks of everything. I just wish I could be with her more. If we’re lucky we’ll wrap this up in a few months.” He smiled. “I feel like a kid looking forward to Christmas or the last day of school.”
The speed limit dropped to forty and a yellow sign indicated an S-shaped curve would follow. Annie loved those challenges. She dug down into third gear. They moved through well-banked curves that seemed built strictly for them. As they progressed, the trees and tall grasses slowly yielded to canyon walls and sparse greenery.
Deeper into the canyon, the warm midmorning sun played peek-a-boo behind the overhead ridge. After more turns and hills they had ascended to the rim of the canyon. The view was astounding. Mac nodded his approval. “Nobody up here,” he said, before Annie gracefully guided him around the final few bends.
They pulled into a small parking area, near a viewing platform. As usual, Annie’s kickstand needed a little coaxing before it settled into its rightful spot. Mac turned off the engine and followed a groomed gravel path to the platform.
He enjoyed several deep breaths as he walked across the platform and stood behind the railing. There, he gazed in awe at a thousand treetops gently swaying in unison below him. Several birds drifted gracefully in the warm updraft at the canyon wall. It was the kind of place where men would propose to their sweethearts. He grinned. Miranda must have known that, too.
He gazed into the valley again and felt sorry for the blind people he’d met who could never really see anything like this. His heart jumped. But they sure as hell could bowl. He looked at his watch. He was going to be late.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
By the time Friday afternoon arrived, Stump was disgusted with his aunt’s entire family. Aunt Gerry picked on his word choices, Willie was disrespectful, Uncle Dirk made him go to bed by ten, and everybody treated Dogg like a curse. Stump called Richard who agreed to get together to lift weights.
“My mom’s out shopping,” Richard said as they entered the garage-turned-exercise-room. “Just two more days ‘til school starts. You ready?”
Stump removed his tee-shirt and tossed an old towel on the handlebar of the treadmill. “Some of the girls need bras.“
Richard laughed and casually waved his arm before the equipment. “Help yourself,” he said, while he picked up his cell phone. Stump grabbed a medium-sized pair of barbells, and pulled them upwards.
“Stand in front of the mirror,” Richard said. “Let’s take pictures so we can see our progress.” Stump eased into position and slowly raised his weights.
“Right there.”
Stump checked out his biceps. “How’s that?”
“Good, Dude,” Richard said as he clicked. “Have you ever played rugby? You’ve got the right body for it. Strong legs. Stocky.”
“Rugby?” Stump watched his arm as he allowed the weights to slowly descend to his sides, then brought them back up again.
“It’s just as tough as football, but doesn’t have as many injuries. I bet you’d be good at it.” Richard snapped a couple more pictures. “My turn.” They traded the phone for the weights and Richard took the position of honor before the mirror. “Down the road we can get some of Mama’s little helpers.”
“Helpers. Why would we need any help?”
Richard grinned as he raised his arms and flexed his muscles. “PEDs, Dude. You know. Steroids.”
“Steroids? I always heard they were dangerous.”
“Not if you don’t overdo it. Helps you grow facial hair too.”
Stump rubbed his bare chin. Nothing.
Twenty minutes later they had a bunch of pictures and the sweat in Stump’s pits suggested he’d expended plenty of energy.
“We ought to take a break before we do the last set,” Richard said. “I’ll get us a couple of Red Bulls.”
Stump tilted his head as Richard headed for the kitchen. “Those are expensive. Won’t your dad get pissed?”
“Are you kidding? He buys ‘em by the case.” Richard grabbed the cans from the fridge and handed one to Stump. “A couple of these babies and you’ll be throwing weights around like a Tasmanian
devil.”
“A couple? I shared a can with Willie once. Made me nervous.”
“That means it was working, Dude.” They each slammed down a few slugs.
“Why do you live with your cousin?” Richard asked. “Are your folks out of town or something?”
“Strange you should ask that. I’ve never met my dad, but I’ve been trying to figure out who he is.”
“Won’t your mom tell you?”
“She says she didn’t want to spend her whole life fighting with the guy so she left the state without even telling him she was pregnant.”
“Dirty pool, eh? You’ve gotten by without your old man this long. Why fight it?”
“That’s what she keeps saying, but I want answers. I’ve been trying to find a birth certificate or something else that will help me figure out who he is.”
Richard nodded. “Must be a pisser to not know something like that. Got any leads?”
“My aunt said my mom worked at a textile company in Milwaukee a long time ago. As soon as I get a chance, I want to see if anybody back there remembers her and my dad.”
“I doubt if people keep records that long.”
“That’s not the worst of it. I don’t even know the company’s name.”
“Sounds like a long shot,” Richard said before letting out a powerful belch. “But we can use my computer to Google it. Why don’t I do the search and you make the calls on your cell phone.”
It was a fingernail on chalkboard moment. “I don’t have a cell phone, remember?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. Dude, you gotta get one. Everybody needs a phone.”
“No shit. That’s one of the reasons I want to find my old man. Maybe he can send us a few bucks. It’s only right.”
“True that. Is Milwaukee in Michigan?”
Stump grinned. “Wisconsin.” After a quick search, Stump’s new buddy found a handful of textile plants in Milwaukee. The first one didn’t answer, probably because it was out of business. “Good one,” Stump said after Richard read out the next number.
“Good one? What?” Richard asked.
“You had 2-6-4-6-5 in that order.”
“Yeah, that’s what it says. So what?”
Stump pointed to his phone pad. “It spells out ‘boink.’ Their phone number has a boink in it,” he said, grinning.