Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
GRAMMERCY
By the time I find a parking spot near Elly’s building and use the code she gave me to shove through the hazy door into the dimly lit lobby, it’s nearly seven.
I’m running an hour later than planned, thanks to Torrance the Rookie with the Burning Need to know All The Things.
Right now. Even though Coach has told him a dozen times that some things are only learned by doing.
And he’s doing just fine. Torrance is a solid D-man; he’s just got a bad case of stage fright about his first NHL game.
I get it. I was nervous before my first game, too, and thanks to getting stalled in the minors, waiting for a position to open, I was four years older when I took the ice for the first time as a Badger.
Torrance is only nineteen.
He’ll hit his stride…he just might drive the rest of the team a little crazy before he gets there.
Ignoring the junk mail littering the stained tile and the smell of dog pee and fried onions lingering in the lobby, I slip into the elevator and punch nine for Elly’s floor.
The ancient car groans as it lurches into motion and shudders upward, as if personally offended to still be in service at its age.
Same, elevator. Offended on your behalf, I think, hoping I’m not the unlucky bastard who gets trapped inside it when it decides to end it all in protest.
From what I’ve seen so far, this entire building has seen better days—probably sometime around the time my mother was born—and I’m relieved moving day is tomorrow. Elly and Mimi deserve better than a urine-scented lobby and infrastructure that likely won’t pass inspection next time around.
The hallway on her floor isn’t much better. Chipped paint, more stained tile, and a suspicious smear of fudge brown have me wrinkling my nose by the time I reach Elly’s place. I mean, I’ve lived in worse buildings, but I guess I’m becoming a snob in my old age.
Or maybe it’s easier to admit how unpleasant this place is because I know neither I nor anyone I love is going to be forced to keep living here.
When you’re in a place like this with no way out…
Well, then you try to make the best of it, to find the silver linings wherever you can. Elly’s door is certainly solid, and that’s something. Nothing scarier than a flimsy door in a sketchy building.
I knock and call out, “Hey, it’s me, sorry I’m late,” a little shocked that it’s so quiet inside.
I was expecting the clattering of pots and pans being shoved into boxes, Elly calling out orders to the movers I ordered to help her finish up the packing, maybe Mimi protesting that all the bustle is interfering with her pizza-eating enjoyment.
Instead, there’s just a faint strain of vintage New Orleans blues—God, I hope Elly loves a blues club as much as I do—and Elly’s sweet voice calling, “Be right there, just a sec!”
A moment later, the door opens to reveal Elly, gorgeous in jeans and a faded Turkey Trot Fun Run T-shirt and no makeup, smiling up at me like she can’t believe it’s me.
But…in a good way.
“Movers?” she asks, motioning me inside. “Two of them? Really? For my tiny, one-bedroom apartment?”
I slip past her in the narrow entry, glancing around at what I can see of the kitchen from this angle. A few neatly labeled boxes sit on the floor by the stove, with a pile of gray moving blankets on top. Glancing back over my shoulder, I ask, “They aren’t finished already, are they?”
“No,” Elly says with a laugh, “but not far from it. They’re all done with the kitchen and living room and are finishing up with Mimi’s toys.”
“But don’t worry, I told my stuffed animals what was happening, so they wouldn’t be scared and think they were being given away to the Salvation Army,” calls a little voice from around the corner.
I step out of the entry to see Mimi sitting cross-legged in the middle of the small kitchen island, a slice of pizza in one hand and a handful of lettuce in the other.
“She insists on eating salad with her fingers,” Elly says, noticing the direction of my glance. “I’ve tried to reason with her, but she says you can’t trust lettuce on a fork not to hurt your mouth.”
“I poked myself really hard one time,” Mimi explains, popping the lettuce between her lips and adding as she chews, “This is way better. ”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full, you little beastie,” Elly says, squeezing Mimi’s knee as she moves past her toward the open pizza box on the counter, making Mimi giggle.
With her dark curls pulled up in a ponytail, she looks more like her mama.
They have matching, heart-shaped faces and a stubborn little chin that’s totally fucking cute.
I’ve never thought much about a person’s chin before, but with Elly…
Well, I find all her parts worthy of admiration. Her lips are especially beautiful—full, plush, and so damned responsive.
Against my will, my thoughts go back to that kiss, our first kiss as husband and wife, our first kiss ever. I’ve been doing my best not to think about it too much. About how incredible it was or how much I want to kiss her again…
“How many slices?” Elly asks, loading up a plate. “I gave you a solid serving of salad already.” She glances back at me with a teasing grin, “Don’t worry. You’ll be allowed to use a fork.”
“Are you sure?” I tease, casting Mimi a worried look. “I wouldn’t want to go against the customs of your people.”
Mimi giggles. “You’re silly. Mama, Gee talks silly and does sarcasm. Like you.”
“He does,” Elly says, handing me a plate with three slices and a hefty portion of greens before I can assure her that I can fetch my food myself. “It’s one of the things I like about him.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” I murmur, accepting the food. “I appreciate that.”
“No one calls Mama, ma’am,” Mimi informs me as I settle into a bar chair on the other side of the island.
She spins to face me, another piece of lettuce in hand.
“She’s just Elly. Or sometimes, Eloise, if people don’t know her very well.
She thinks Eloise makes her sound like she’s a grandma, but I like it. ”
“Me, too,” I say, meeting Elly’s gaze across the kitchen. “Aren’t you going to eat, Eloise? Who is clearly not even close to a grandma?”
She laughs and drains the last of her iced tea.
“Thanks, but I already had three slices. And I’ll embrace Eloise someday.
I just don’t feel like I have my act together enough to pull off a three-syllable name.
You want a beer? I think I may have one.
I usually don’t on weeknights, but packing up your entire house in a day feels like a beer on Monday kind of occasion. ”
“And root beer for me,” Mimi chimes in before I can answer. “I’m exhausted.”
Elly rolls her eyes with a laugh. “Oh, yeah? That twenty minutes of work after school before Gee’s surprise arrived wore you out, huh?”
Mimi nods seriously. “It did. Deciding which stuffed animals would be good travel buddies was a hard job. You know some of them don’t play well with others.”
I laugh and give a little shake of my head. “Girl, you crack me up. Are you telling me you have misbehaving stuffed animals?”
Mimi nods. “My squirrel, Mr. Crackers, is very cranky, and my stuffed rhinoceros is always causing trouble.”
“He has a history of violent outbursts,” Elly confides with thinly contained amusement as she hands me a beer and slides a root beer over to Mimi. “We’ve tried to get him to go to therapy, but he refuses to admit he has a problem with anger management.”
“Well, admitting you have a problem is a big part of the battle,” I say, loving this silly exchange. Elly and Mimi have a special rapport, and I feel honored to have been included in their circle. “But you finally got them sorted out?” I ask Mimi. “All the animals have a safe travel buddy?”
She nods. “Yes, all the good animals are in a pile to go into one box, and all the bad animals are in a pile to go in another box with Henry, my whale. He’s very sweet, but he’s so big, none of the bad animals will misbehave on his watch.”
“Thank goodness,” I say, popping the top on my beer. “I can’t wait to meet this crew. They sound like a good time.”
“They’re all characters,” Elly agrees with a fond look at Mimi. “Just like their mama.” She lifts her beer into the air. “To our new adventure and being our friend Gee’s new roommates for a while.”
Mimi lifts her root beer to clink her mom’s bottle and then mine before adding, “And to Gee’s pool!” Beneath her breath, she adds, “Can I swim as soon as I get out of school tomorrow? Or do I have to wait until you get home from practice like Mama said?”
“Hey,” Elly cuts in. “I didn’t say that. I said I’d ask him if it was okay, and if not, we would wait until he got home. Don’t start going behind my back to get your way, girl. We’re moving in with Gee, but I’m still the boss, baby girl.”
“Yep, your mama’s the boss,” I say with a nod.
“I can’t be trusted with a job that important.
I’ve never even had a dog, let alone a kid.
I have no idea what I’m doing.” I glance Elly’s way before adding, “But if your mama is okay with you swimming right after school, I certainly am. I wouldn’t want you to have to wait for me. We have another meeting and?—”
Before I can explain about Torrance and his endless questions, a sharp thud echoes from the hallway, followed by the sound of furniture scraping against the floor.
“That’s the movers, they said they were going to move everything away from the wall to check for—” Elly flinches as she’s cut off by a woman’s scream shrill enough to shatter glass.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” A blonde woman in a Moving Pros T-shirt practically sprints out of the bedroom, her ponytail whipping back and forth like she’s being chased by a serial killer.
“The wall—they’re in the wall! Behind the dresser, there’s a—” She makes a vague, frantic gesture with both hands. “A nest! With bodies. And tails!”