Chapter 15
Leonard gives me a few days off after we get back so I can make a move to the brownstone in Astoria. Thankfully, our belongings have finally arrived, so
they are already boxed and ready to go by the time I am prepared to move.
“He was right,” my mother starts when she walks into the house for the first time. “This place is a mess; it definitely needs to be gutted and redone.”
I roll my eyes at her and kick her in the butt when I walk past her.
“There has to be a catch, right?” she asks after she walks around the entire house.
“I don’t think so,” I reply.
“This house should cost you at least $2500 a month,” she marvels.
I start cutting into some of the boxes and pulling items out. I’ve been waiting for these to arrive for weeks, and I am more than happy to have some of my
things returned to me. Thanks to my job, I have a new wardrobe for work so my clothes aren’t that important. I pull out all of Charlee’s baby books and clutch
them to my chest before opening them to make sure they arrive undamaged. Inside are handprints and footprints of hers from when she was a baby. There are
dozens of pictures of her growing up, her first Christmas, Easter, and Halloween. All of those memories laid out before me, and I can’t help feeling like I am
taking something away from her. Pictures of her and Reece sitting with each other and smiling, her sleeping on his chest, and her kissing his forehead all filled
this album.
I wipe tears away from my eyes before my mother walks back into the room and sees me crying. I don’t miss him. I think I miss the idea of a family and
Charlee having her dad in her life.
The house is mostly furnished already. Leonard told me he visited it now and then and intended to rent it out but never actually did. His apartment in
Manhattan is probably even nicer than this one, too. I imagine he lives in a massive penthouse with a skyline view of the entire city.
With the help of my mother, we unpack all of the boxes in no time, and the place starts to feel like home. One of my mom’s friends from church had agreed
to babysit Charlee while we took care of things at the house. I can’t wait to show Charlee the house. She had lived in a small apartment with Reece and me all
her life. My mom’s house was bigger, but it wasn’t much of a stimulating environment for a child, or should I say Kid-friendly.
We set her room up first. I know she will be thrilled to see all of her toys again. I grab my mom, and we leave to pick her up.
“You know,” my mom says while we pull into her friend’s driveway. “Phyllis’ son is a dentist, and he just got a divorce.”
“You can’t be serious right now,” I groan, turning to glare at her.
“What? You can’t stay single forever, and he’s a very nice man,” she says defensively.
“It’s been barely a few months, Mom,” I reply sternly.
She shrugs her shoulders and gets out of the car. I don’t even know why I’m surprised. Even before I moved, she was trying to set me up with the sons of her
church friends. I reluctantly get out of the car, too, knowing that as soon as I see Phyllis, she will also casually suggest I marry her son and carry his children.
“Mom!” Charlee yells as she runs into my arms when she sees me.
I kiss her forehead and cheeks while she giggles and pushes me away. “Grandma and I have a big surprise for you and Nellie!”
She squeals and jumps up and down, excitedly waving her octopus in the air.
“Thank you so much for watching her, Phyllis,” I say, sticking my hand out to shake the older woman’s.
“Anytime. She’s such a joy to have around,” Phyllis replies, brushing Charlee’s hair behind her ear.
“Leigh called,” Phyllis starts saying to my mother. “She wants to host a barbecue at the church sometime soon, and she wants me to spread the word. The three of you should all come!”
“That sounds lovely, and we’ll be there,” my mom answers, glancing at me. I nod my head and smile, helping Charlee put her shoes on.
“My Chris is going to be there, too,” Phyllis adds, I take a deep breath and close my eyes while I’m still facing away from her. “Rayne, I think you two will really get along.”
“I guess we’ll see at the barbecue,” I say, hoping that will suffice and the conversion will end.
My phone rings, and I happily excuse myself to answer it.
“Hello?” I answer, realizing I didn’t look at the caller ID before hurrying up to escape the conversation.
“Rayne?” It’s Reece’s voice on the other end of the line. “You answered, and I wasn’t expecting that.”
“What do you want?” I sigh, rubbing my temples with my fingers.
“I just needed to hear your voice,” he chokes out on the other end, appearing to have difficulty gathering his words together.
This is what I was afraid of when I was leaving. I was worried he would cry, and I would give in to him and forgive him for all the pain he has caused Charlee
and me. I pull the phone away from my ear and end the call before I can listen to it anymore.
The last thing I want to do right now is to continue this awkward conversation with Phyllis about me dating her son. I rush inside and grab Charlee, excusing myself for needing to leave in a rush.
“Is everything alright?” my mom asks, alarmed by how fast I am moving.
“Yeah, Leonard just needs me at the office. It’s urgent, but he didn’t say what for,” I lie.
“I thought he gave you the weekend off?” my mom asks.
“Yeah, he did, but something is happening,” I pause for a moment, scanning my brain for a viable lie to escape this situation. “Something’s happening with the printer. It’s jammed or something.”
“Phyllis, do you think you can drive my mom home?” I plead with her so I can get out of there as soon as possible.
Phyllis nods her head and I hug my mother goodbye before she can ask me anymore about the fictional paper jam and I leave with Charlee. We drive back to
our new home, and I walk her up to her new room.
She is elated to see all of her old toys again. The stuffed animals, puzzles, games – everything she loved from her old home here to comfort her again. She
happily walks around the room, reacquainting Nellie with the other toys she has been apart from for the past month.
I leave her to play while I work on the house. Leonard said he wanted it painted, so I decided to paint it. We discussed color schemes when I signed the lease
with him a few days ago, and he told me that as long as the paint job was done well, he would be happy with anything. So, I decided to paint the walls light
green.
Before hanging up the pictures and paintings I sent here, I figured it was best to get the walls taken care of. I change into some old clothes that I don’t mind
getting stained and start rolling over the white walls. Charlee decides to join me in the living room, dancing with me to the music I have blasting over the radio
while I work.
I take a break around dinner time and order us a pizza so I can feed Charlee and put her to bed. I am exhausted, but I want more than anything to finish painting
so I can finish setting up my new house.
The doorbell rings and I’m surprised that the pizza has arrived so soon.
“Great service,” I whisper to myself while I rush to the door. “That was fast–” I start saying but stop as soon as I see it isn’t the pizza guy.
Leonard is standing on my doorstep with a large, wrapped gift in his hands.
“Hi, I wasn’t expecting you. Come in,” I say, moving aside to let him in.
“Is it a bad time?” he asks me. “I can come back...”
“Not at all,” I reply. “I was just taking a break to wait for dinner anyway.”
Charlee is screaming in the other room, singing her favorite song at the top of her lungs. I stare at Leonard and smile over the shrill, out-of-tune voice.
“That’s Charlee,” I finally say when she quiets down.
“So, she’s also in the arts then,” he jokes.
I nod my head and laugh. “She wants to work with animals, actually.”
He follows me down the hall to where Charlee is spinning in circles with her stuffed octopus, humming to the tune of the music because she doesn’t know all the words to this song.
“Charlee,” I say, and she stops spinning, still dizzy, and looks up at both of us. “This is Leonard, Mommy’s boss.”
She lowers her octopus and tilts her head down, running behind my leg to cover herself.
“She’s shy sometimes,” I apologize.
“That’s okay,” he says before kneeling to be at eye level with Charlee. “Do you like your new house?” he asks.
Charlee nodded and looked up at me to make sure it was okay to talk to him.
“It’s alright, sweetie, he’s a friend,” I comfort her. I look at Leonard with an apologetic face.
The doorbell rings again, and this time, I’m almost positive it’s the pizza.
“The food is here, Charlee. Why don’t you go wash your hands and come right back, okay?” she nods her head and runs off.
I answer the door and pay for the pizza. When I return to the kitchen, Charlee sits at the table across from Leonard, showing him a drawing of a shark she made.
“Did you know that sharks can’t see colors?” Charlee asks him, standing in her chair to lean across the table.
“Charlee, sit down,” I demand, and she quickly sits with a giggle.
“Well, I just wanted to drop this off. I don’t want to interrupt your dinner,” Leonard says, standing from his chair.
“You’re not interrupting,” I respond, laying three plates out on the table. “And you didn’t have to bring anything over. You’ve already done more than enough giving me such a good rate for this place.”
“It’s really nothing, just a little housewarming present for you,” he says, sitting down again.
I grab a slice of pizza and put it in the freezer for a minute for Charlee just to make sure it is cool so she won’t burn her mouth.
“Did you come all the way out here for that?” I ask, smiling at Leonard from the fridge.
“I did, actually,” he laughs. “It isn’t that far away for me, though.”
I walk back over to the table and give Charlee her pizza. She happily bites into it and smiles at me, shaking her head back and forth to let me know that she
likes it. I grab a slice for myself and push the box to Leonard for him to get one too.
“The walls look great,” he says after he finishes his slice. “I’m surprised you’ve gotten so much done in one day.”
“The sooner I finish painting, the sooner I can put everything else together,” I reply, gesturing to the unfinished parts of the house.
We finish eating, and I tell Leonard to wait in the kitchen while I put Charlee to bed. I bring her upstairs, change her into her pajamas, and tuck her in before
running back down to see Leonard.
I stop myself in the middle of the stairs, suddenly very aware of how excited I am to get back down there to him. I wasn’t thinking about him before he came
here, but after seeing him at my doorstep, I just wanted to talk to him. A smile grows on my face knowing he came all the way here to see me. Even though we
are not that far from Manhattan, traveling here on a Saturday night during peak travel times isn’t something you do for just anyone.
When I get back downstairs, I see Leonard in the hallway, his jacket off and sleeves rolled up, painting my wall.
“You don’t have to do that,” I say as I approach him. “Besides, painting the walls is pretty much the only reason I got such a good deal on this place.”
“I know. I just like painting,” he shrugs and continues working.
“That’s right,” I say, remembering what he told me about his hobby on my first day of work. “Have you been working on anything lately?”
“You know what, I have been actually. Since we spoke about it the night I drove you home, it inspired me to pick up a brush again,” he replies softly.
“You’ll have to show me sometime.”
“I can show you now,” he smiles and puts the paintbrush down.
He walks back to the kitchen and grabs the housewarming gift he brought, handing it to me. It isn’t wrapped very well, but I decide against teasing him about it.
I opened it to see a framed painting of Central Park at sunset. The details in the picture are astounding. He had made it seem like he was not particularly good
at painting, but this looks like something a professional would have done. The trees are painted with a soft orange glow, and people rush past in a blur, jogging,
walking, and some chasing after dogs. It looks like a dream of a perfect New York day.
“This is gorgeous, Leonard,” I whisper to him, almost speechless. “Seriously, I love this so much.”
I gently set it down, balancing it against a dry portion of the wall, and lean in to hug him. He wraps his arms around me, and for a moment, I sink into the
feeling. The heat of his body against mine feels natural, and I feel safe and comfortable. Slowly, I pull away from him while glancing at him in his eyes.
I can feel my heart getting out of my body and my cheeks blushing. I quickly look away, desperate for any distraction.
“Thank you, I’m glad you like it,” he smiles and casually leans against the wall.
I gasp when he does, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “Leonard,” I calmly start. “The paint.”
He quickly jerks his body away from the wall and turns around to look at the wall. While he assesses the damage to the paint job, I can see his entire back
is covered in sage green paint, and I can’t help but burst out laughing.
“You think that’s funny?” he laughs, shaking his head at me.
He picks up the paintbrush and slowly walks toward me. I try to stop laughing while I back away, but I can’t. I back into a drywall, and he brushes the paint
on my face. I laugh even harder and wipe some of the paint off with my thumb, brushing it onto his face in return.
Our eyes meet while he has me pinned against the wall, doused in paint. Dozens of things run through my mind, but I can’t bring any words to my lips. My
cheeks flush, and now I can feel every beat of my heart as it skips even faster in my chest. His eyes move between mine and my mouth while he slowly leans
down. I stand up straight and move my head forward, ready to kiss him if that is what he is going to do.
I had never noticed how nice his eyes are. They are blue with green highlights and remind me of the pictures Charlee used to show me of the ocean with
algae floating on top.
“Mommy,” I hear from the top of the stairs.
Leonard pulls away from me as soon as Charlee calls for me. I wipe my face and walk around to the bottom of the stairwell to meet her.
“What is it, sweetie?” I ask, my voice cracking a bit when I speak.
“I’m scared,” she whispers down the stairs.
“Okay, Mommy will be right up,” I say.
I want Leonard to stay, maybe to explore what might have just happened. But I’m thankful for this little interruption. Charlee was scared, so I’d have to ask
him to leave.
“It’s probably just because it’s the first night in the new house,” I explain to him when I tell him what happened.
“This was fun,” he says while I walk him to the door. “I’ll see you around.”
I lock the door behind him, peeking out the glass window to watch him walk away.