Chapter Twelve
Twelve
Two weeks later, Mia, Kitty, and Greyson piled into my car, and the four of us watched seagulls fight over a piece of bread in the condo parking lot as we waited for Nina to arrive.
Alex had already left for Miami to get a drink with a friend (the flirty event planner?), so our mini road trip down to Coral Castle was to be a girls-only affair.
Kitty and Greyson narrated the seagull fight as if they were sports announcers, making Mia and me laugh so hard we were wheezing.
When Nina finally appeared, she yanked open the passenger door and hurled herself into the seat. “You’re not allowed to have fun without me,” she said.
“Only ten minutes late. That’s pretty good for you,” I said.
Nina sighed. “I am so ready to have you back at work, Josephine. I’m tired of cleaning toilets all by myself.”
I’d enjoyed the time off with Mia and Kitty, and Greyson too.
The girls and I had spent our days traipsing around South Florida.
Interspersed between beach days, we’d gone window-shopping on Worth Avenue, visited the turtles at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, and taken an airboat ride through the Everglades.
Alex joined us on his days off. But when he had to work, he’d find us as soon as he returned home and listen to the girls describe whatever adventure we’d had that day.
The five of us—six if Nina dropped by—ate dinner together every night, sometimes at my place and sometimes at Alex’s.
Our evenings were loud, messy, and filled with laughter.
I tried not to think about how this was temporary.
How it would all go away once the girls were gone.
Nina rolled down her window and slapped the roof of my car. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
“You’re the one who was late, and besides, we’re eager to find out which of those seagulls will become the featherweight champion of the condo.” My gaze dropped to Nina’s waist, where something shiny caught my eye. “What is that?”
Nina grinned at me, looking even more hyped than she’d been a moment ago. “What, this?” She pointed to the pink-sequined fanny pack strapped around her waist. “It’s my fun bag.”
“Your fun bag.”
“Yes, my fun bag.”
“Do I even want to know what’s in there?”
Nina rattled the contents of the fanny pack. “Tampons and Dramamine. In case you can’t fall asleep. The Dramamine, not the tampons.”
Mia poked her head up beside Nina. “Did you bring it?”
I glanced at Mia as I backed out of the parking space. “Bring what?”
“Did I bring it? Psh. What kind of question is that?” Nina dug through her duffel bag and passed a shirt to Mia.
Mia squealed, a sound I hadn’t heard her make all summer, and put the shirt on over her tank top. “This is epic. Thanks, Nina.”
“I’m wearing one too.” Nina turned to me. “Don’t worry, Jo, I have a special shirt for you. And two extras for Kitty and Greyson. I even brought one for Alex.”
“What kind of special shirt?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but since it involved me in some way, I had no choice but to ask. We stopped at a red light, and Nina stretched out what I’d thought was a normal gray T-shirt. “I’m just a good mom with a hood playlist,” I read aloud. “I don’t get it.”
“Yours is my favorite, Mia,” Nina said.
“What does it say?” Kitty asked.
“This mom runs on wine and Prime.” Mia sighed into her seat. “Friggin’ perfect.”
“Sorry, but I’m a little confused,” I said. “Can someone enlighten me? And what’s my shirt say?”
“Nina has a collection of sassy mom T-shirts,” Mia explained.
“Whenever I see one, I just have to buy it,” Nina said.
Of course she did. I should’ve known Nina wouldn’t own a boring gray shirt. “Why?”
Nina shook her head, setting her unicorn earrings swirling. “That’s the wrong question, babe. The question is why not?”
“You mean wine not,” Mia said, earning herself a high five from Nina.
“To answer your second question,” Nina said, “yours says Tired as a mother, because you need to sleep in a castle. I brought Messy bun and getting stuff done for Kitty and Momming is my cardio for Greyson. And for Alex Boo boo healer, kiss stealer, snack dealer, because he always has snacks, and, you know, the kissing thing.”
“What kissing thing?” Greyson asked.
I shot Nina a glare.
“Because he’s a chef,” Nina said. “Chef’s kiss.” She brought her fingers to her lips and tossed them at me.
By the time we’d made it to I-95, everyone had their sassy mom tees on, including me (Nina had shoved it over my head at a red light).
So far, everything was going according to plan: the packing, the extra twenty minutes I’d built in to account for Nina inevitably being late.
Even the traffic was lighter than usual.
The five of us sang girl power anthems with the windows down, letting the wind mess up our hair.
And when we’d finished singing, Greyson talked nonstop, making us laugh with her stories of all the strange things she’d seen in Miami.
But as soon as we pulled off the turnpike, she went quiet, and that was when the chaos began.
“Uh, Aunt Jo,” Kitty said.
I turned onto US 1, less than two miles from our destination. “Yeah?”
“I think something’s wrong with Greyson.”
I glanced at Greyson through the rearview mirror. She had her eyes shut and her arms wrapped around her middle. Maybe it was nothing, but what if it wasn’t? What if her appendix burst? What if it was a brain aneurysm? “Greyson, are you all right? Can you talk to me?”
“Carsick,” she mumbled. “It happens . . . a lot.”
My death grip on the steering wheel relaxed. Carsick, of course. Why did my mind always jump to the worst-case scenario? “We’re almost there. Two minutes.”
We were right at the turn into Coral Castle when we hit a red light. Greyson moaned, and Nina unzipped her fun bag. “Should I give her one of these?” She held up the bottle of Dramamine.
I shook my head. “Better ask Alex first. Aren’t those the ones that make you drowsy?” I turned to Greyson. “We’re right here. We’ve only got—”
But I didn’t finish my sentence, because at that exact moment, Greyson projectile vomited and everyone screamed.
It splattered onto my face, my hair, my shirt, and covered the center console of the car.
Greyson lowered her face into her hands and started to cry.
Nina opened my glove box and passed me a stack of napkins, and I wiped my face hurriedly.
“The light’s green!” Nina cried.
I whipped into the empty gravel parking lot and braked with a jolt. Springing from my seat, I raced around to the back of the car. Mia and Kitty had already gotten out, and I looked in at Greyson, who had her face buried in her hands.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I’m . . . so sorry about your car and . . . your face. I didn’t mean to.”
“I know you didn’t, and both my car and face are fine.” I tried to ignore the massive amount of puke in my car, not to mention the smell of it all over me. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”
Greyson slid over, and I helped her to her feet.
“I . . . I think I . . . ,” she began, then clamped her mouth shut.
I pulled her to the bushes lining the parking lot and held her chin-length hair at the back of her head, steadying her as she threw up again, once, then twice, and then a third time.
“Think you got all of it?”
Greyson nodded, and I let go of her hair and tucked it behind her ears.
Greyson and I sat side by side on the curb.
I scanned the parking lot, wiping as much of the puke from my hair as I could with the napkins from my glove box.
Nina and the girls stood together at the back of my car, but there was no sign of Alex.
He was supposed to meet us here right at seven.
I had no problem taking care of Greyson, but I didn’t know what Alex would do if he were here.
Just as I took out my phone to call him, headlights washed yellow light over us, and his minivan pulled into the parking lot. It was too dark to make out his face through the window, but he must have seen us, because as soon as the engine shut off, he was out of the van and jogging over.
“What’s going on?” he asked. He sank into a crouch in front of Greyson, his eyes anxious when they met mine.
“Carsick,” I said.
Alex nodded, then turned to Greyson. “How are you feeling, Grey?”
I backed away to give them some privacy, and Alex’s eyes widened when he noticed the state of my appearance. “I see you were in the splash zone.”
I stared down at myself. “Ah, yeah. Fortunately, I have another shirt. I do not have other hair, but it’s nothing some water can’t fix. Which I’m going to take care of right now.”
Leaving Alex with Greyson, I met Mia, Kitty, and Nina at the back of my car.
“Is Greyson okay?” Kitty asked.
I stripped off my shirt, the one beneath it thankfully clean.
“She’ll be fine, but I think she’s embarrassed.
Maybe you two should go check on her. You can tell her about the time you tested the bounds of the word ‘unlimited’ at Olive Garden.
” The girls sprinted off, and I turned to Nina. “Sorry about the shirt.”
Nina dismissed my apology with a wave of her hand. “Now it’s officially a mom shirt. Nothing says ‘mom’ like getting puked on.”
“I guess so.” I ducked down to look into the back seat of my car and sighed. “This is . . . not good. How am I supposed to clean this?”
“There’s a CVS down the street. It’ll be quicker if we walk there. We can get water, trash bags, some paper towels. I’ll tell Alex to keep an eye on the girls.”