Chapter 11 Flo
“Okay, hit me with it.” My mom claps her hands a few times to hype herself up as she slides into the kitchen chair opposite me. Her eyes are expectant, and she picks up her fork and digs into her very crispy mushroom omelette.
“Hit you with what?” I ask, sending her a thankful smile, looking down at my own eggy mush. My mom’s not a very good cook, but she tries, and I don’t have the heart to tell her how gross this looks, even though she knows it. I mean, the woman has eyes.
“Honey, you asked to come over so suddenly, and that usually means one of two things. Either you couldn’t be bothered to cook for yourself tonight, or you have some bad news to tell me.”
A chortle escapes me. “Mom, trust me, if I couldn’t be bothered to cook, I’d just order takeout instead of coming to—”
Dagger-like eyes laser into me, followed by a belly laugh, and I stop my lips from moving.
My mom knows she’s not going to be the next Gordon Ramsey, but she doesn’t like to be reminded of how Dad was the cook in the relationship.
The meals she can make consist of egg dishes, pasta, and grilled cheeses, all on a continuous loop.
Most of the time, I’ll cook when we have our catch-ups.
“Florence Isabelle McKenna,” my mother’s fork drops to the plate, “did you get arrested?” She’s standing now, clutching her heart as if it’s on fire. “When’s the court date? How many days in jail are we looking at? Actually, don’t tell me. I don’t think I can handle it. What did you do?!”
“Will you sit down? You’re giving me a headache. I didn’t get arrested.”
“Fine. What is it then?”
“There’s nothing bad to tell you.”
“But there’s something?”
I blow out a puff of air. “Yeah, um, you know that six-month campervan trip I was looking all those years ago?” I play with my omelette, using my fork to squish the mushrooms and watch the excess water run out of them. Yuck.
“Yes.”
“Well, I booked it for September.” My eyes meet my mother’s, and they’re wide, shocked, but they don’t hold any dislike like I thought they might.
She’s always been a supportive woman. I mean, she helped me cover all of my ex-boyfriend’s clothes in glitter and glue when he broke up with me for another girl in high school.
I was hesitant about telling her about the trip in case she thought I was abandoning her. She’s very family-orientated, and she and my father are still friends, despite their romantic relationship being over.
“Wow… that’s amazing, Flo. I didn’t know you were so serious about it.
” She’s beaming, and it’s not forced. “My little baby is going travelling. Wow, okay, you’re going to need sleeping bags and travel first aid kits.
I think we have some in the garage. Which state are you starting in?
Canada can be cold, honey, pack loads of sweatshirts.
I can get you a disposable camera too, and we can make a slideshow of all the photos you’ve taken when you get back! ”
Shaking my head with a laugh, I round the table and sling an arm over my mother’s shoulder. “I love you, Mom.”
“Oh, I love you too, sweetie. This trip is going to be absolutely incredible. It’ll really help you come into your own and reconnect with yourself. I don’t know if I told you, but when I was your age, I went to—”
“Cancun, I know. It’s where you met Dad.”
“It is. Oh, maybe you’ll bump into someone along the way, fall in love! Oh my gosh, I bet you’re so excited!”
I am, but this trip isn’t about finding love. Doing this is to, like my mother said, reconnect with myself. It sounds spiritual as shit, which isn’t really me, but I could use some me time. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’m hoping that the experience will inspire me.
Help me find where I belong.
“Now, hand me your phone, I’m ordering us takeout.”
“And this one is called Ziggy.” Mae introduces Leo to the small terrier-like puppy, who’s blinking up at him with loving eyes, but I have a feeling he’s really just infatuated with the leftover nacho cheese sauce the kid has dotted on his T-shirt from lunch.
“He’s so cute.” Leo bends down, and the dog immediately begins attacking his face with slobbery kisses inside the pen in the Missarali City Animal Shelter.
I’d asked if Mae had a free hour to give us a tour and introduce Leo to some of the dogs, to which she responded with, “Absofuckinglutely I do.”
As Leo and Ziggy giggle and bark in the corner of the pen, Mae nudges me. “Flo… what would you do if you think your boyfriend is going to propose, but you’re overthinking everything and don’t want to get your hopes up in case he’s acting weird for some other reason?”
My eyes bug out. “Weird, how?”
“I don’t know. He’s acting all jittery around me. And he keeps staring at my hands, particularly my nails.”
“Like he’s checking you’ve had them done?” A grin spreads my lips.
She dips her chin to her chest in a firm nod.
“Mae, come on, you’re so getting hitched. Fuck, okay, this is so exciting, just letting you know, I look good in pastel blue or green, but pink’s not really my colour.”
My best friend deadpans me. “For your bridesmaid dress?”
“Yep.” I weave her fingers into mine, feeling emotional. “But seriously, you’re gonna make me cry. And I never cry.”
“I might be looking into things, but I’ll let you know if it happens.”
I shoulder barge her. “I'd better be the first person you call.”
“Obviously.”
Our conversation is interrupted by Sheila, one of the animal centre volunteers, rushing up to the pen carrying a large cardboard box.
It has bite marks in every corner, and hay sticking out the top of it.
It’s half-closed, but a flicker of motion opens the flap of the lid, and a small white head pops out.
“What is that?” I mutter, taking a few steps forward, and Sheila sniggers, but her face falls flat after a brief second.
“Um, so, we’ve never had something like this happen before, but someone’s abandoned a rabbit outside.”
Mae immediately flings the door of the pen open, and Ziggy and Leo both perk up, shuffling closer. “A rabbit?”
“We only take dogs and cats, so we’re quite stumped on what to do. The rabbit rescues we’ve tried calling won’t have anywhere set up for her for a few days. They’re full.”
Mae scratches the top of the rabbit’s head, and it gazes up at her with bold blue eyes. “Hmm, we can’t leave her in that box, and I don’t want to risk putting her in a pen in case she chews her way out.”
“She’s adorable.” Letting the rabbit sniff me a few times, I scratch at her head.
Its fur feels like velvet underneath my fingertips, and as Leo toddles up to the box, Sheila lowers it so he can have a look.
But without warning, the rabbit surges forward and leaps out of the box onto Leo’s lap, perching herself there before sniffing at the cheese sauce staining his shirt.
“I think she likes you, Leo,” Mae laughs, and the kid beams, his pudgy fingers delicately stroking the rabbit’s back.
Sheila grins, setting the box down on the ground and picking up Ziggy, who’s whining beside us, wanting equal attention as the rabbit.
“It’s eating me,” Leo squeals with delight as the rabbit latches onto his hair and begins chewing on it, making him laugh even harder. God, Leo’s going to return home bald if I don’t get this rabbit off him.
When I attempt to pick up the rabbit, Leo stops me, curling his small hands around its waist himself, and placing it back onto his lap where it can’t reach his hair.
He points at it and says, “Hair isn’t food.
This is.” He then pulls out a handful of candy from his pocket, and I sweep them from his hand before he can offer the rabbit one.
“Woahh, buddy, I’m pretty sure rabbits don’t like…” I stare at the wrapped candy with a crease between my brows. “Pickle-flavoured gum drops.”
Leo hums. “A nanny gave them to me.”
“Well, I think she may have been trying to poison you, my friend. That’s nasty. I’ll get you some better candy.” I stuff the rancid gummies into my pocket after making Leo empty his, returning my attention to the bunny that’s still comfortable on his lap.
Sheila clears her throat. “This might be a huge ask, and I completely understand if the answer is no, but is there any chance you’d be able to look after her for a few days?
I’ve got dogs and cats at home, who would surely see her as a meal, and I know Mae won’t be at home for the next couple of days with work.
We're pretty stuck with where to put her until a rescue can take her.”
At Sheila’s request, Leo’s eyes brighten, twinkling with delight, and he turns to me with a pleading expression.
What would Evan do if he came home to a rabbit in his living room, especially when he told Leo he couldn’t get a pet yet?
“Um, it’s not really my decision…” I trail off when Leo’s face falls, and after a minute of watching him snuggle with the white ball of fluff in his lap, my insides melt.
I might get fired for this, but if it’ll put a smile on the kid’s face, then so be it.
“You know what? Sure. It’s just a few days.
She can stay in the cabin. It’s for the greater good, so I’m sure your dad will totally understand. ”
“Yes!” Leo cheers, bringing the bunny closer to him and whispering something into its perked ear, which I don’t hear, but I’m sure it has something to do with promising to show her his stash of pickle candy when they get home, so I’m going to need to make sure we get rid of that.
Or at least hide them away if he wants to keep the diabolical tasting gummies.
Mae’s shaking her head at me with a grin and mutters a low, “Good luck,” before flicking her eyes back to a giggling Leo.
I roll my own.
Evan can’t say no once he sees how happy Leo is, can he?
“No.” Evan deadpans me, eyes slicing over to the rabbit again, who’s hopping around in the living room as Leo claps and giggles.
“But just look at how cute she is!” I say as I grab her and hold her up, baring her fluffy stomach to Evan.
“We went to the store on the way home and got all kinds of chew toys and food, so you won’t have to pay a dime.
She can stay in the cabin, and the second Sheila calls to say the rescue is ready for her, she’s out of here. ”
Evan’s bottom lip wobbles with a slight tremor of humour once the rabbit cocks her head at him like it’s out of a cartoon, but he quickly sweeps his usual scowl back over it.
“Please, Daddy.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose at Leo’s pleading and releasing a heavy sigh, Evan clicks his tongue. “I don’t really have a choice here, do I?”
“Nope. Leo, tell your Daddy what you decided to name her.”
“Cheese!” he says with excitement, causing his father to chuckle.
“And why cheese, bud?”
“Because she loves cheese. Duh.”
It’s true, Leo’s T-shirt is free of nacho sauce, and has been replaced with bunny drool instead, but I’d quickly ordered him to change it when we got home after I saw Cheese nibbling on it so much that a hole was starting to form. I’ll sew it up later, back at my cabin without Evan’s knowledge.
“This will be a great opportunity for you to show your dad how responsible you are, Leo. Prove to him you can handle a pet.”
At my words, the kid suddenly straightens his back and stands, holding himself in a manner that seems wise beyond his three and a half years. He looks like he’s some kind of sergeant. “I’ll look after her. I’m her Daddy.”
Evan and I exchange a look of amusement at the innocence of this kid, especially when he puffs his chest out in an attempt to look far tougher and more macho than he is as a toddler.
“Keep the doors shut or the coyotes will get her,” Evan calls to his son after he places Cheese in the brand new cardboard box Sheila gave us and waddles away with it, mumbling to the bunny about how much fun they’re going to have.
I feel a sense of relief that I managed to locate Leo’s small stash of pickle gum drops that he was apparently saving for a rainy day, and convinced him to throw the expired candy away with the promise of replacing it with something better.
Whichever witch-like nanny gave him that was probably trying to put him off candy for good because one sniff of the gum drops and I was dry heaving.
I look up at Evan sheepishly, feeling relieved that there’s still that twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
It’s fogged over and barely there, but I can see it—enough for me.
“I’m sorry if that crossed a line. The animal shelter was stuck, and Leo looked so happy, and Cheese can stay in my cabin, so she doesn’t make a mess.
But if it’s too much, I can call Sheila and tell her that we can’t—”
“Flo, it’s fine. It’s not permanent. I can handle a few nights with a rabbit. Gracie’s a vegetarian, so I’m practically related to one, anyway.”
Arching a brow, I snort. “Did you just make a joke?”
He blinks, looking a little uncomfortable.
“Uh, yeah.” Then we both hear Leo giggle and squeal from the other room, and Evan can’t help but smile a little again.
“Thank you for taking him to the shelter. He’s always loved animals.
” He sighs. “I would love to get him one, but we wouldn’t have enough time for it right now, and I want to make sure we can give it a good home. ”
“I can see him being a cat dad.”
“What is a cat dad?”
My cheeks pinch as I smile. “Have you been living under a rug?”
“I think the saying is living under a rock, not a rug.” But then Evan’s vision is drawn to something on the floor in the middle of the living room, and he clears his throat huskily. “Flo, speaking of rugs…”
“Yeah?” I follow his line of sight.
“What’s that on mine?”
My eyes widen once I spot the small brown pellets dotted all across the floor.
“Please tell me those are raisins.”
“Um, they’re totally raisins.”
“Oh yeah? Prove it.” Folding his arms over his muscular chest, Evan hitches his brows up. “Eat one.”
My gaze bounces between him and the obvious rabbit poop, and I grumble, “I’ll get the dustpan and brush,” before flashing him a coy smile, rushing in the direction of the kitchen.