2. Coraline
2
Coraline
After a long ten hours of working at the clinic, it’s finally time to come home. Since we had to move back to my hometown so abruptly, we’re staying in a rental house near Camp Willowbrooke until we find something more permanent.
I walk onto the porch and open the cabin style door.
As soon as I step into the living room, the smoke detector is alarming and I smell something burning.
Harrison and Michael are both running around the entire house like wild animals. There are toy cars and dinosaurs strung everywhere—it looks like a bomb went off.
We moved into the rental house about a week ago and everything is almost unpacked, but there are still quite a few boxes stacked around the house. When you add toys into the mix, it’s even worse.
“Hey boys! Hey Gemma! What’s on fire?” I shout over the noise of the smoke detector.
“MOMMY!” the boys yell in unison.
I crouch down and they both come running into my arms. I swear there’s absolutely nothing better than this. They have the power to make even the worst days better.
The smoke detector is still blaring through the entire house, so I break apart from their embrace and walk into the kitchen to find my sister.
Gemma is fanning smoke from the oven out the window and away from the alarm with an oven mitt. She looks like she’s ready to have a mental breakdown. I cover my mouth to hide my smile.
Gemma is the best esthetician in town and has the option to create her own work schedule. She offered to watch the boys for me while I worked today. She’s never been married and she doesn’t have any kids, unless you count her fur baby, Goose, so watching mine is always an adventure for her.
Gemma's long blonde hair is braided into two messy french braids. She’s wearing biker shorts with an oversized t-shirt that is now decorated in flour. Her makeup is still on and looks just like it did when I left this morning, despite all of the chaos—I need to find out what setting spray she uses.
“We survived.” Gemma sighs as she wipes sweat from her brow. “As for the smell and alarm, the boys decided they wanted to help me make some cookies from scratch. Michael was very insistent.”
“Something went wrong. I’m not really sure what happened because both of the boys had to go to the bathroom at the same time and we lost track of time and of how long we had been gone. Next thing I know, the smoke detector is blaring and the cookies are smoking in the oven.”
I lean in to give her a hug. “I really appreciate you doing this today, even though you did almost burn the house down.”
“Anything for you. I know you’ve got a lot going on in that big head of yours.” She lowers her voice and whispers, “I still think you should get them a pet.”
I pull away from the hug and look at her with my eyes wide. “The house really would’ve burnt down if there was an animal here that you had to keep up with too.”
My sons have been begging me to let them get a pet. The only reason I haven’t yet is because Nash was always so against it.
When we first got together, Nash told me he loved animals and that he would have a whole house full of them if he could. He obviously lied to me because he actually hates them and they don’t seem to like him either.
My sister’s golden retriever Goose, who wouldn't hurt a fly, would not stop growling at him the first and only time they met each other.
“I have been thinking about it. I can’t do it right now though. I have to wait until we move. I'm not sure the owners of the rental property would be okay with us adding another creature of destruction inside of the house.”
“You might be surprised,” Gemma replies.
The rental house was built with timber logs and even still smells like pine, if you ignore the current burnt cookie smell. The house came fully furnished so all of our furniture from the old house is in storage.
There’s a stone fireplace in the living room with a TV mounted on the mantel. The kids have made this area their own hangout fully equipped with their games and favorite movies. There’s two cabin style couches with one recliner and it fits us perfectly.
“Do you want to stay and eat dinner, Gemma?”
“Oh no, that's okay. I’ve got to go home to my fur baby. He misses me. I can practically hear him whining from here.” Gemma laughs nervously and then gives each of the boys a hug goodbye.
Once Gemma is gone, I go to my room and change. I pick out my favorite pair of shorts and put my hair up into a messy bun.
I get a wash cloth and wipe off all of my makeup. I do a little bit of post-makeup removal skin care and my stomach growls loudly.
Shoot! I still need to make dinner.
I leave the master bedroom to go check on Harrison and Michael before I start cooking. They’re sitting side by side on the living room floor playing a video game on the TV.
Harrison is tall and skinny for his age. His curly, dark hair always looks like a tousled mess no matter what products I use, but he has embraced it.
Michael is my wild child and he’s his dads twin. Unlike Harrison, he has straight blond hair and big brown eyes.
“I’m going to get started on dinner. Is there anything you all want to eat?”
“No. Just surprise us," Harrison replies without looking up from the TV.
“Okay, if you say so.” I head back into the kitchen. I’m absolutely exhausted.
I open up the fridge and look for inspiration for dinner. I’m honestly too tired to make anything from scratch and I really need to go to the store. This is probably one of my least favorite parts about being an adult—picking out what's for dinner every night.
After standing with the refrigerator door open for entirely too long, I decided that a frozen pizza sounds like a wonderful idea. It’s something simple and easy, and both of the boys will eat it. I pull our favorite brand of frozen pizza out of the freezer and put it on the counter for now.
Before I preheat the oven, I pull out the burnt cookies. It’s been at least an hour since Gemma left so they’re completely cooled down. I throw them straight into the trash.
The burnt cookie smell is almost unbearable now that they’re out of the oven. I feel like I can’t concentrate if my house smells bad and I know exactly how to fix it.
I go to the cabinet, pull out my favorite candle and then light it. The candle has a fall scent, but it makes any place smell and feel like home—no matter the time of year.
It's called Spice of Life. It smells like warm pancakes with maple syrup and hints of cinnamon. It’s only sold locally in town and Gemma usually keeps it in stock at her salon.
I hit the preheat button on the stove and decide to clean up the kitchen while I wait. There’s not many things that feel better than a clean house and the smell of a candle.
After I finish a sink full of dishes, I realize that I never heard the oven beep. I must’ve just been in my head too much and unintentionally ignored it.
As I lower the pizza onto the rack, I realize that the oven is still room temperature and never preheated—it’s not even warm.
I try to turn it off and back on again. Nothing happens. Great. My temper is already short from being so overstimulated today and this makes me want to explode.
I take a deep breath, shut my eyes and count to ten as I exhale. This is something I’ve found myself doing more of since becoming a single parent. I can do this. I will do this.
I pull the oven out from the wall and unplug it. I wait a few minutes and then I plug it back in. Nothing happens, again.
I let out another heavy breath.
I’m going to have to get in-touch with the owners, Henry and Mira Jacobs. They own most of the rental houses in Scottsdale and are also old family friends of my grandparents.
I shoot Henry a text and let him know what happened. Maybe he can swing by this evening and fix it.
A reply bounces back almost immediately.
I am so sorry Coraline. Mira and I are out of town for the week on vacation. I will send someone over. He will take care of it.
He? Oh well, I don't really care who fixes it as long as I can make something for dinner tonight.
Thank you, Henry! I appreciate it!
I walk back into the living room and notice that the boys are still playing their favorite racing game. I just started a new fantasy romance series the other day but I haven’t had much time to enjoy it with everything that's going on. I silently pull my book out and make myself comfortable. If I'm too loud and Michael see's the book, it's game over for my plans of reading anything.
I finish reading two pages when a knock at the door interrupts my thoughts—I will never get to read this book. I slam my book shut and get up from the couch to answer the door.
As I’m walking, whoever is at the front door starts a series of harder knocks. If I wasn’t annoyed before, I definitely am now.
Who in the world is it and why are they so impatient?
I open the door and my stomach drops. The guy that Henry sent over to fix my stove is none other than Jesse Cooper. I haven’t seen or heard from him since I broke up with him seven years ago.
My face suddenly feels too hot and my ears start to ring as my adrenaline skyrockets—I think I might pass out.
Jesse is standing in the door frame of my house mirroring my look of surprise. He looks just like I remember him, but somehow more.
He stands at around six foot four or five, which is something I always loved about him. His curly hair is still dark and messy and his eyes are the same icy shade of blue.
His skin is sun-kissed and he looks a little rugged but unfortunately for me, still extremely good looking. I mean seriously, how is he still so attractive? It’s not fair.
My brain has gone completely blank and I feel like I've forgotten how to speak.
“Mom! Who’s at the door?” Harrison shouts. “Is Gemma back?”
Reality comes crashing back into me at full speed. I put my hands behind my back, unsure of what to do with them and suddenly feeling self conscious. I thought this day couldn’t get any worse but apparently I was wrong.
“Cora? Forgive me, I wasn’t expecting to see you. I didn’t even know you were back in town,” Jesse pauses and clears his throat. “Henry called me about an oven that wasn’t working and I told him I would come check it out.”
“Oh right! The oven.” I laugh nervously. “Please come in.”
It turns out that my voice does in fact still work. I step aside and let Jesse inside of the house.
It was at that moment that I remembered the house is still scattered with toys and I look like a bridge troll. He probably thinks I'm a total slob. Great.