Chapter Three #2
Her sister had broken his heart, after all. But reality was… Eve had no one to blame for this mess but herself.
“Mama! Grandma!” Katie shouted, dropping her crayon and holding up a picture for them to see. “Look at my unicorn eating a kitty cat cake pop! Chomp, chomp.”
Eve took a quick look, choosing to disregard the fact that the unicorn seemed to have eaten the cake pop since what looked like a cake pop stick lay in the grass. “Good job, bug.”
“Thanks, Mama.” Katie admired her artwork, smiling sweetly. “I want to show Daddy.” Katie had recovered from the rough patch before her parents’ divorce more easily than Eve had. “Can I call him?”
“No.” The last thing Eve wanted to do this morning was talk to her ex.
“No?” Katie frowned, an indication that Eve had protested too much. “Why not?”
“We won’t have time to call your father before preschool, Katie.” Mom gave her granddaughter a reassuring smile. “Now, go brush your teeth, love. It’s almost time to go.”
“Okay.” Katie scrambled off the kitchen chair and scurried to the bathroom.
My mom. My savior.
“Thank you,” Eve whispered.
Mom gave her a quick hug. “I’ll always be Team Eve.”
Eve liked to believe that blanket statement would still apply if her mother knew Eve had lied to a judge.
The coffeemaker began its productive drip-drip into the coffeepot.
Eve stared at it, clutching her travel mug to her chest. “A watched pot never boils.”
Mom stared at the machine the same way Eve did, cradling her coffee mug with both hands. “Coffee isn’t required to get through the day.”
“That’s never been proven.”
“Because no one wants to test the theory.”
They exchanged smiles.
“Something’s bothering you.” Mom gently tugged Eve’s high, neat ponytail.
“I’m a single mom. Something’s always bothering me.” Eve evaded the question. The coffeepot was half full. Eve pulled it free and filled her travel mug. Then she poured the rest into Mom’s coffee cup.
“I’m a good listener,” Mom reminded her.
“I know.” Eve gave her mother a side hug. “I’m just not ready to talk.”
“Maybe you should get on one of those dating apps.” Mom sipped her coffee. “You might find the perfect man to talk to.”
A man who wants an insta-marriage?
“Now’s not the time.” Eve drew a deep breath, savoring the quiet. This was probably the last calm moment of her busy day. There were never enough staff at Oak Hill, which meant she was constantly running around while there.
Katie skipped out of the bathroom, a splotch of toothpaste on the yoke of her blue dress. “Is it time to go?”
“Yes.” Eve rubbed at Katie’s toothpaste stain with a wet dish towel, noticing she had a white stain of her own on her pink scrub top. She swiped the towel across it a few times before repeating, “It’s going to be one of those days.”
“I should take Katie to preschool for you,” Mom said, although she was still in her bathrobe and fuzzy slippers. “I’ve got to get dressed for the garden club meeting this morning. And then the Spring Festival board meeting after that.” She was very active in community service.
“No need to drive her. Katie’s school is on my way.” Eve grabbed Katie’s lunch from the fridge, slung her tote with her medical textbooks to her shoulder, and hurried toward the front door. “Bye, Mom. Come on, Katie.”
Katie was hot on her heels. “Bye, Grandma!”
Once outside, Eve buckled Katie into her car booster seat with the efficiency of a woman who could start an IV in a moving ambulance in the midst of a thunderstorm. She got behind the wheel, taking a moment to glance at her reflection in the rearview mirror. “Shoot.”
“Are we late, Mama?” Katie asked, crinkling her lunch bag.
“Only a little,” Eve said, starting the car. “Which for us is practically on time.”
Katie giggled. “We’re like turtles. Slow, but wise.”
“Slow? Yes. Wise?” Eve smiled to herself. “This turtle forgot to put on mascara.” She supposed there were worse things to overlook. Eve wasn’t going back inside. It wasn’t as if she’d see a potential husband at work today. Her co-workers were either ancient, married, women, or all three.
Eve pulled out of the driveway, backing past Mom’s garden gnome collection—some of whom were wearing bandages courtesy of Katie’s doctor play kit.
“Mama, is Daddy coming to my performance at the Spring Festival?” Although Katie had been at this preschool less than a month, she was going to be part of the singing performance a week from Saturday.
“He said he’d be there.” Eve stepped on the gas. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned Daddy today.”
“I think he’s lonely,” Katie said solemnly. “I think he wants us back.”
“We’ve talked about this before, bug.” Eve came to a stop at one of the few lights in town. “Your father and I get along better when we don’t live together.”
“But Daddy—”
“Is a grown man, bug.” Eve glanced at her daughter over her shoulder. “Someday, he’ll find someone new to marry.”
“That’s what my friend Meggie said.” Katie pouted. “I don’t want a new mommy.”
Someone honked.
Eve turned around to find a green light. She drove through the intersection, passing the Coffee Corner. “If Daddy remarried, you’d have two mommies.”
“And if you remarried, I’d have two daddies,” Katie said brightly.
“Wouldn’t that be fun,” Eve deadpanned.
“Maybe.” Katie sounded as if she was thinking about a stepfather with prime intensity. “Maybe if he was a cowboy. But he’d have to believe in unicorns.”
Eve sighed as she turned into the preschool parking lot. “I’ll keep that in mind, bug.”