Chapter 10 Max
TEN
MAX
“Ugh. I have pumpkin guts all over me.” I laugh and hold up the seeds sticking to the back of my hand. “Disgusting.”
“Remind me why we’re carving six pumpkins again?” Skyler wrinkles her nose and sets down her knife. “Mine looks mutilated.”
“Because the school needs them for the Haunted Harvest Festival. It’s the field day we put together right before fall break when the kids are mentally checked out. We try to incorporate learning into the activities, but mostly it’s four hours of them having a good time.”
“Is one of those activities judging horribly decorated gourds? Like, look at this tooth I tried to cut out. It’s so bad.”
“That’s a tooth? Jeez, Sky. You should stick to performing.” I scream when she throws a handful of seeds at me. “Not in my hair! I take it back!”
“That’s what you deserve for insulting all my hard work.” She giggles and stands, jogging over to the hose to wash her hands. “A harvest festival sounds fun. What games do you play, and can I come?”
“Of course you can come. We do bobbing for apples and have a Halloween costume contest. Oh! There’s also a dunk tank.
I’m refusing to be one of the people dunked, but the kids love it.
The fifth grade teachers use it as a science lesson.
My first graders and I stick to the dessert table where we practice addition and subtraction with pieces of pumpkin pie.
” I laugh and wipe my hands clean with a paper towel.
“This job has so many hard days, but things like this make it so worth it.”
“You still have pumpkin strands in your hair, Max.”
“Gee. I wonder why.” I stick out my tongue and sit on the lounge chair by the pool. “I know we’ll never get snow in Orlando, but for once I’d like it to be October and not feel like we’re still living on the surface of the sun. It’s hard to get in the seasonal mood when I’m sweating.”
“Pop the umbrella open. That’ll help.”
“It’s broken, remember?”
“Shit. You’re right.”
“The screw is—hang on.” I scoot to the edge of the chair and lean forward. “That’s odd.”
“What’s up?” Skyler looks my way. “Oh, god. Did you swallow some pumpkin seeds?”
“It looks like the stand is fixed.” I stand and open the umbrella, securing it in place with a pin. Last week, it wouldn’t open wider than halfway before tipping to the side. “What in the world?”
“That’s fucking weird.”
“Did you fix it?”
“How would I fix it? My handiness skills are nonexistent.”
“Well, I didn’t do it.” I put my hands on my hips and look around the backyard, as if the answer to who is the mysterious umbrella fixer is hiding behind a hedge. “Wait. Look over there, at the edge of the pool deck. There’s dirt. Like someone walked from the side gate back here.”
“Okay? And? It was probably an animal jumping from the fence. Or the pool guy!” Skyler snaps her fingers, proud of her deductive reasoning. “He was here the other morning cleaning the filter, and I bet he’s the one that fixed it.”
“He was? Oh, thank god. For a second I thought someone might be trying to break into our house.” I sigh and sit back down, stretching my legs out in the shade. “Ever since Molly told me about Brian being at school, I feel like I’m being watched. It’s really fucking unsettling.”
“Shit, Max.” She turns off the hose and hurries over to me.
“One of the girls who performs in the show with me teaches a self-defense class. We should go to one and learn some moves. You can’t trust anyone in this world, and you can trust men the least. I was honked at five times on my run this morning because, why? I’m in a sports bra? Fuck off.”
“Wow. You’re very passionate about this, aren’t you?”
“We have to be. Like, Brian cheated on you. You broke up with him, which was a reasonable response. And now he’s lingering around? For what? To make amends? No one likes you, dude. Move the fuck on.”
I drop my head back and laugh. “I’m so glad I’m on the other side of that. Imagine if I married the guy? I’d be Max Fitzpatrick, and that just sounds like a fraternity president at a school who covers up hazing by calling it learning opportunities.”
“Of all your exes, he’s my least favorite.”
“Mine too.”
“Okay, but if you had to pick one guy from your past to sleep with again, who would it be?”
I clear my throat and reach for my water bottle. I chug half the contents so I don’t have to speak right away, even though the answer is obvious.
The hot scare actor who got me off in a haunted house, I want to yell.
I’m counting down the minutes until Tuesday in case it means I get to see him again, I almost add.
“That’s a good question.” I shield my eyes from the sun and offer her a shrug. “Maybe Andy? Remember him? I met him in that adult coed soccer league I played in a couple years ago.”
“Oh, yeah. He was cute.” She sits in the chair next to me and rests her hands on her stomach. “What are you doing the rest of the day?”
“Too much. There’s laundry and worksheets and attempting to fix the faucet in my bathroom.
It keeps leaking, and it’s beyond obnoxious.
You know I love my job so much, and I never want to do anything else as a career, but when my to-do list gets long and chores pile up, being able to work from home so I could knock out a few things between meetings instead of leaving it all for my two days off every week would be nice. ”
“Dustin can come over and look at the faucet for you. He mentioned his dad was a plumber. Wait. No. An electrician? I forget. But he seems like a guy who knows his shit.”
“Look at you having a man on speed dial who can fix household issues for us.” I grin and toss my used napkin at her. She screeches and bats it out of the way, flailing her legs. “How the tables of turned.”
“Shush. Out of the two of us, you’re going to be in a relationship before me. You love dating.”
“I don’t love dating. I’m just a romantic, I guess.” I sigh. “Which isn’t always a good thing. It’s weird to see people who went to high school with us on their second or third kid while I’m out here carving pumpkins for first graders who are going to throw a pie at my face.”
“I think that’s the nice thing about life.
We’re all doing things at our own pace, and one path isn’t better than the other.
” Skyler slides her sunglasses over her eyes and turns her chin my way.
“We haven’t been single at the same time in forever, which means we need to find someone for you to hook up with at the party on Tuesday.
Goodbye, Brian, hello hot guy who operates a chainsaw during Fright Nights. ”
“I don’t—”
I snap my mouth closed. I was about to tell her I don’t want to find someone to hook up with, because that’s not me, but that would be a big fat lie.
And I’ve never liked liars.
“You don’t do one night stands. I know, I know. A girl can dream on your behalf, though.” Her laugh turns into a groan when she checks the time on her phone. “Dammit. I need to start getting ready for work.”
“I can’t believe how early you have to clock in. Your show doesn’t start until eight.”
“You’re telling me. Doing a full rehearsal before the actual performance should be against the law.”
“Hey.” I rub the back of my neck, looking at the umbrella again. “This sounds so weird, but could you ask the pool guy if he did fix the umbrella? I’m just… I don’t know. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but—”
“I’ll call first thing in the morning.” She takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. “Better safe than sorry, right?”
“Right. And we should sign up for that self-defense class. Brian couldn’t find my clit, so I doubt he knows how to put someone in a headlock, but man this world has gone to shit these days.”
“Amen. We’ll be ass-kicking bitches who can fight our way out of anything.”
“That’s my girl. And speaking of ass-kicking, have a great show tonight. I promise I’ll come watch your last performance on Halloween.”
“You will?” Skyler squeals and throws her arms around me. “That makes me so happy. Thank you, Maxy Max. I love you.”
“I love you too, Sky. Now go get ready so you can twirl and dance and spin those sticks of fire around.”
“That’s what we should get for self-defense. No one would come near us if they thought we were fire-breathing dragons.”
“So true.” I untangle our limbs and pat her cheek. “Have a great show, babe.”
“Love you, my sweet darling.” She pops to her feet and blows me a kiss. “See you in the morning.”
I smile and wave, resting my chin on my knees. My eyes dart back to the umbrella then around the backyard, convinced I’m not here alone.