CHAPTER 32
E lisa packed a bag because this time, she wasn’t going home without talking to her son, and not knowing how long that might take, she wanted to be prepared to stay at one of the two hotels on the outskirts of the small community where she could find a room at the last minute should she need it.
She would not be staying in the guest house even if Archie Senior wasn’t there to see it.
“Are you sure?” Myra asked.
“I won’t let him talk me into anything. He won’t even be there, remember?”
“I know. I meant about AJ.”
“What about him?” Elisa asked as she stuffed pajama pants into her roller bag.
“Just that he might not be ready to talk. He kind of ran out on you twice yesterday and didn’t return your call or two texts you sent before bed.”
“I know,” she said with a sigh and sat on the bed.
“Still, I want to be there in case he does want to talk. It’s not just me and my stuff that he’s struggling with.
It’s the Wendy thing, too. Not only did he get rejected by the girl he likes, but his sister is dating the girl, and she’s going to a different school away from him, so they’ll be apart for the first time.
Adele has always been able to handle almost anything.
AJ is more sensitive to stuff like this.
I don’t know why. His father doesn’t have a sensitive bone in his damn body, but AJ–”
“It’s because of you ,” Myra interrupted her with a smile. “It’s not a gender thing. It’s a mom thing. You raised him right, babe. He takes after you.”
“I don’t act out like this.”
“No, but you’re also not eighteen, and you were forced to grow up fast when you found out that you were pregnant. Did you have a crush on a girl in school, and she dated some guy? ”
“I guess so,” she replied. “Susanne Whitaker,” she added with a smile. “Blonde curls, soulful brown eyes, extra cute in her glasses.”
“Who did she date instead of you?” Myra asked.
“Oh, she probably didn’t even know I existed because I never talked to her in school, so there wasn’t an ‘instead of me’ situation.
I just had a huge crush on her, and she had a boyfriend our last two years, but it’s not the same.
AJ really liked Wendy, and their high school was small, so all the kids knew one another.
I also think it’s more than that, though. ”
“What do you mean?”
“I think it’s less about Wendy and more about Adele not telling him that she might like girls, too,” she explained, standing back up.
“It’s a lot, and I’m not a twin. His father is, and you’d think he’d understand and would help, but he was never close to their aunt.
They share a birthday, but that’s about it.
Their parents sent Annabelle to boarding school from sixth grade on, and that set her path as very different from Archie’s.
AJ and Adele have been together their entire lives. ”
“Well, I’m here if you need me when you get back.”
“Babe, I’m not going to Europe for a year. I’m packing in case AJ doesn’t want to talk to me today but is ready tomorrow. If he’s not, though, I’m just coming back here and leaving him alone until it’s time to awkwardly take him to college. Hopefully, he’ll be ready before then.”
“I hope so, too,” Myra said, wrapping her arms around Elisa. “I know this is something you need to do alone, but if you need me there, call me. I’ll get in the truck and meet you at the hotel or wherever.”
“I don’t deserve you,” she replied, hugging Myra back. “And thank you for watching Buster.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Buster and I are getting to know each other. It’s good for us to spend time together.”
“Forgive me; I’ve never had a supportive partner before, so I don’t really know how to handle it, and I’ll likely thank you for everything all the time because I’m not used to it. ”
Myra kissed her on the lips and said, “I’ll continue to remind you that you don’t have to thank me for doing the normal partner stuff, then.”
Elisa still couldn’t believe how lucky she was as Myra helped her put the roller in the trunk and kissed her goodbye in the driveway.
The drive was one she’d made a lot this year, so she was able to remain unfocused on directions and used her time to try to rehearse the speech she would give her son if he gave her the chance.
When she arrived at the house, she parked in the back like she had done the previous day and walked to the back door, which she knew would be unlocked.
Even if it weren’t, though, Archie hadn’t asked her to return her house keys.
He had probably forgotten that she even had them or hoped she’d come home and use them.
She headed into the kitchen that was four times the size of her new one, and yes, she missed it.
She had a lot of good memories in this kitchen.
She had fed her babies, toddlers, kids, pre-teens, and finally, teenagers in this kitchen.
She’d bathed them in that sink when they were little since it was the largest one in the house.
She’d fixed up cuts and scrapes at the table.
She had helped them with homework and listened to them talk about their days at school over dinner there, too.
“Mom, hey,” Adele said as she walked into the room with Wendy in tow.
“Oh. Hi, honey,” she replied. “Hi, Wendy.”
“Hi, Mrs. B,” Wendy said and waved at her with a free hand because her other hand was holding on to Adele’s.
“It’s Elisa,” she said.
“Weird,” Wendy replied.
“Um…” Adele let go of Wendy’s hand, seemingly realizing that she was still holding it, and Wendy tucked her hands into the pocket of her jeans.
Elisa just smiled at her daughter, wondering if that hand drop was more because she was her mom, and Adele didn’t want her to see her holding hands with anyone or if it was because it was Wendy. Adele hadn’t ever been one to bring her dates home, so Elisa didn’t know for sure .
“We were going to maybe go to the guest house,” Adele told her.
“Why?”
“Because AJ just got home. He went out for breakfast or something with the guys, but he just got back. I thought Wendy and I could leave him alone for a while.”
“The guest house? By yourselves?”
“Mom!”
Wendy smirked and said, “We can leave the door open, if you want.”
“What? No, we can’t,” Adele replied.
“Adele, she’s your mom.”
“Not about that.” Adele shook her head. “AJ’s room.”
“She means that AJ’s room overlooks the backyard, so he’d be able to see inside,” Elisa explained.
“Oh,” Wendy replied. “Right. Sorry. We can go to my house.”
“No, it’s okay, honey. You two go out there and close the door,” she said, proud of herself because she had a good idea what they’d planned on getting up to with practically a whole house at their disposal.
“Are you sure?” Adele asked.
“Yes. Go.”
“Wendy, can you go on out there? I need to talk to my mom for a second.”
“Yeah, sure,” Wendy replied with a smile before she walked past Elisa and added, “See you later, Mrs. B.”
“Elisa,” she corrected again.
“Too weird,” Wendy said with a laugh as she opened the back door and then closed it behind her.
“Mom, we’re not going to have sex.”
“What?” Elisa said, returning her attention to Adele.
“We were just trying to have some time together before school. She came over because her parents are both home, and well, Dad is never here, really. AJ left this morning, so I figured he’d be gone all day since he’s so mad at me, and I told her she could come over here.
But he just got back, and I didn’t know what to do.
I just want to spend time with her, Mom. ”
“I know, honey. It’s fine.”
“We’re probably just going to talk and watch a movie or something.”
“And make out a little?” she teased.
“Mom!” Adele gave her an incredulous expression.
Elisa laughed and said, “Go. Have fun. I’m going to try to get your brother to talk to me.”
“Good luck. He’s in a mood.” Adele sighed. “I know I’m partly the cause, but I can’t help it that Wendy is gay or that I like her, you know?”
“I know,” Elisa said, pulling her daughter in for a hug. “You’re a good big sister, okay? I appreciate you giving him some space right now.”
“I want to hang out with him, too, Mom. We’re about to be apart for the first time ever, and he won’t even talk to me.”
“He will, baby.” Elisa kissed her temple. “He will. Just go hang out with Wendy, and I’ll talk to him.”
“Okay. Thanks, Mom.”
Adele pulled out of the hug and said, “I really like her, and I kind of don’t know what to do about that. She’s…”
“She’s what?”
“She’s been with another girl before; at church camp, of all places. I’m worried because I don’t know what I’m doing. When we get there, I’ll have zero experience, and she probably knows what to do and–”
“Honey?”
“Yeah?”
“Trust me; I’ve been there and very recently.”
“So I’ve heard,” Adele said with a lifted eyebrow.
“If you get there with Wendy, the one thing I can tell you is the same thing I’ll always tell you regardless of who you’re doing that with, okay?”
“I don’t need to worry about pregnancy or anything, and neither of us has–”
“No, I don’t mean that. You are very smart, Adele; one of the smartest people I know. And I know you live in that brain of yours. Following your heart is new to you. You liked Tucker, but just liked him, right?”
“He was fine, but I don’t think I was in love with him.”
“And with Wendy, does it feel different?”
“Yes.”
“Then, you talk to each other. You tell her how you’re feeling, what you want and need, and what you don’t want and don’t need.
She should do the same with you. You talk.
You communicate. I think that’s the most important thing.
When you’re both ready to take that step, you make sure you talk first, okay?
You allow each other that space to not make it perfect, to laugh if you feel like laughing, and to enjoy the moments you have together without putting pressure on it. ”
Adele nodded and said, “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Mom.”
Adele then left through the back door, and Elisa headed through the house and up the stairs, hesitating a little before she knocked on AJ’s door.
“What, Adele?” he asked.
“Not your sister. It’s your mother.”
“Mom? What are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?”
“I’m not ready to talk yet, Mom,” he said through the door.
“Honey, I know you’re upset about a lot more than what you saw yesterday. Can we talk about that and not about me? I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine,” he said, lying through his teeth.
“I know you’re not fine,” she replied.
“Mom, I don’t want to talk, okay? Can you just go, and I’ll call you or something?”
Elisa looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath because this beautiful human whom she’d brought into the world was testing her damn patience, but at the same time, she needed to give him space.
He was a teenager and thought he knew it all, but he was going through massive changes on all fronts, and some of them were because of her .
“Okay. I was thinking of staying overnight.”
“In the guest house?”
“No, at a hotel,” she said. “If you wanted to grab breakfast tomorrow morning before I left, we could do that.”
“I don’t know, Mom. I have all this paperwork stuff to do, and I have to go to the doctor for my shots for school.”
“I thought we were going to do that next week.”
“I made an appointment myself. I just want to get them done.”
“Okay. Well, I guess I’ll just go home, and we can talk when you’re ready.”
“Yeah, cool,” he said.
Elisa smiled because that was his word of choice, and with that one word, she recognized her son for the first time during this conversation.
“What are you doing here?”
Elisa turned around, and when she saw her ex-husband standing at the bottom of the stairs, she quickly made her way down because she didn’t want AJ to hear whatever was about to be said.
“I was checking on AJ,” she replied.
“I didn’t see your car.”
“It’s in the back, like you asked,”
“So, you’re moving back into the guest house?”
“No,” she said. “I’m only here to talk to AJ. Adele told me you were golfing.”
“I am. Well, I was. I left my wallet at home, so I came back to get it so that I could buy lunch, but I’m going back to the club now. I saw you, and I thought you’d moved back in.”
“No. I’m not moving into the guest house, Arch,” she stated. “I’m not coming back.”
“Your decision. The kids will be here, though,” he said, sounding proud of that fact.
“Adele and I talked, actually. She’s going to go back and forth between us like we’d planned originally.”
“She is? She didn’t tell me that. What about AJ? ”
“I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure it out.”
“Fine,” he said, crossing his arms over his shoulders. “I was trying to be nice by inviting you to stay, but if you don’t want it, fine.”
“No, you were using my children to get back at me for leaving you because you’re used to getting what you want and you can’t have me anymore.”
“I don’t need you anymore. I get sex whenever I want it from whomever I want because I’m no longer married to a cold fish lesbian who likes pussy instead of penis, and I have a housekeeper that takes care of anything else,” he argued.
“Dad!”
Elisa looked up and saw AJ standing at the top of the stairs. She closed her eyes and hoped to God that he hadn’t just heard what his father had said.
“AJ, your mom and I are talking. Give us a minute,” he replied.
“Mom?”
“AJ, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not,” AJ said, walking down the stairs. “Dad, you can’t say that to her.”
“You don’t know what you’re–”
“Mom, can I have a minute with Dad?”
“Honey, it’s–”
“Please?” AJ said with red cheeks and dark eyes.
“It’s fine. You can go. Actually, you can really go. You can leave,” Archie said to her. “This is my house, and you’re no longer welcome here.”
“Dad, stop it!”
“AJ, I’ll be at the hotel, okay?” Elisa said. “Come there whenever you want. I’ll text you which one.”
“No, Mom. It’s okay; you can go home. I’m fine here.” AJ crossed his arms over his chest. “I just need to pack, but I’ll see you there.”