Chapter 3
Meggie didn’t want to say anything to her daughter, but time was running out, and she hadn’t been able to find anything to rent.
While she loved her daughter very much, she didn’t want to have to go looking for an apartment, too, when she had this lovely house to live in.
True to her word, Doone didn’t eat any of her food card money, and she felt badly about that as well.
She just wanted to cry about the way that things were going, and she was afraid of being just as homeless as her daughter.
She knew that she was being selfish. It hit her sometimes when she was in the living room trying to be quiet so that Doone could sleep in her bed.
The times that she wanted to take a nap on her bed aggravated her to no end, but she’d been a good mom and not said anything about it.
However, she was sure that Doone knew it the way she’d get up and be snippy with her.
What did she expect her to do all day? Just sit around and be happy that her life was turned upside down?
She’d been complaining to the neighbor across the street from her about Doone.
Mrs. Hall said that she had a deadbeat son, too, who would come and stay with her for a while without asking her.
Doone had a job, so she wasn’t a deadbeat and helped with the little bit of bills that she had.
But she wasn’t wrong in wanting her to get her own life together so that she could go back to being on her own.
That’s what she wanted for her, her to be alone in the house that she’d gotten for her. It just didn’t seem fair somehow.
Today, some boxes had come for Doone, and she’d had to bring them into the house.
She knew what they were; they were uniforms for her to work in.
But there was nothing for her in the boxes.
She should be treating her nicer, she thought, since she was having to drag the boxes in the house for her.
Doone said that working so many shifts, she needed extra uniforms, and the online service had the best price for them. What about her?
Shaking her head, she ate her lunch quietly in the living room.
She no longer used the kitchen for anything but cooking her meals, as the place was right next to the bedroom, her bedroom, and she knew that the scraping of the chairs and closing the cabinets was a bit loud.
So she ate her soup on the couch with a tray so that Doone could sleep. It just wasn’t fair.
Meggie wanted her independence again. Without her daughter there to watch her every move.
If she wanted to take a nap, she didn’t have to do it on a lumpy couch.
Didn’t have to be extra quiet around the house.
Not that she listened to music, but she could if her daughter wasn’t there all the time sleeping.
And that’s all she did was sleep all the time.
She knew that she was working extra shifts to get some money gathered up to get an apartment, but it didn’t seem like she was looking all that much.
Because if she wasn’t working, she was sleeping.
Yesterday she’d been gone from seven in the morning until midnight and didn’t say a word to her about how she’d changed the sheets on the bed for her.
It had been for her, too, but Doone was sleeping on them.
She just couldn’t wait for her daughter to find herself a place to stay.
When she came out of the bedroom, she looked like she had not slept well.
Her hair was a mess—all the curls were a riot on her head, and her uniform needed pressing.
She’d not say anything to her; she didn’t want to get into another fight with her, but she did look like she was going out rather than going to work.
“I’m meeting a man about a place to stay soon.” Relief was so profound that she couldn’t speak for a few minutes. “His name is Falkner. Dixon is his last name. I’m not having any luck finding a place to stay in my price range, so he’s offered me one of the rooms in his house.”
“That’s wonderful news.” Doone just stared at her. “Well, isn’t it? You’ll be out in plenty of time, so I don’t have to worry about you getting me kicked out. That’s wonderful for me.”
“You don’t mind that I’m moving in with a strange man so long as it gives you what you want.
” She didn’t understand why she was so upset.
Neither one was going to be homeless this way.
“I guess I thought that you’d at least be concerned about me moving in with a near stranger.
Don’t you want to know anything about him? ”
“Why would I care?” Doone went back into the bedroom with some of the clothing and took a shower.
She didn’t know what was up with her, but she was thrilled beyond words that she was going to be moving out.
And with her being gone, she could go back to the way things were for her.
She just hoped that living with this man didn’t interfere with her being able to take her to the doctors when she had to go. Or shopping too.
When she came out of the bedroom and bathroom, she looked better. Not great, her hair was still very curly, but she did look better in a pair of new jeans and a t-shirt. She told her about the boxes that had come.
It occurred to her that when Doone left, she’d not really spoken to her very much.
Not even an I’ll see you later was there.
Meggie didn’t understand her daughter at times.
She was going to have a place to stay, and that would mean that Meggie was going to be all right with her house.
It was a win-win for them both, she thought.
After her daughter left, she sat in the kitchen thinking about what she was going to do today.
The first thing she was going to do was change the sheets again.
That way, she’d have fresh when she went to take her nap today.
And it would be a glorious nap too. She might not even get up before dinner time, she was going to enjoy it so much.
She realized about halfway through changing her sheets that Doone hadn’t taken anything with her when she left.
That meant that she was returning at some point.
Disappointment raced all over, and she sat down on the edge of the bed and sobbed.
She wanted her life back to the way it was without her daughter around.
Damn it all the hell and back. Why couldn’t things go her way for a change?
Finishing up with the bed, she ran a damp mop over the kitchen.
The bathroom was cleaned up after her daughter’s shower—she couldn’t find fault with her there, she always cleaned up after herself when she used something.
Even if she hadn’t done her dishes from lunch, Doone would get them squared away without any fuss.
She’d been leaving her dishes around just so she’d not have to do them, and Doone would.
It was the least she could do since she was sharing her house with her, that she cleaned up after her.
Depressed now that she knew that Doone was coming back to stay, she finished up the rest of her housework and sat on the couch.
She should have suggested that she take her things with her so that she’d not have to come back.
She could only hope that the man she was going to be living with didn’t change his mind about her living with him.
That would be just like her daughter to get her hopes all up, only to have them dashed again when it didn’t turn out to be true. It was just too cruel.
When lunch time rolled around, she fixed herself something to eat and left all the dirty dishes in the sink.
Doone had better clean up after her, too.
It was the least she could do after getting her hopes all up and then dashing them.
She just wanted her place to herself and not have her daughter around. Was that too much to ask?
It was nearly two when someone pulled into the driveway.
It wasn’t her daughter, so she watched as a man and a woman got out of the big car.
Waiting for them to ring the doorbell, she was surprised at how wealthy they looked.
Letting them in the house when they told her they were there to pick up Doone’s clothing, she started to think about what her daughter might be doing.
It would be just like her to get herself into a situation where it would hurt her.
She should have asked more questions about her moving out.
“We came to get her things for her. She and Falkner are working things out on their end.” She asked how they were related as she gathered up her daughter’s things to be taken away.
“Oh, Falkner is my husband’s brother. He lives in a grand house that used to belong to their parents. They moved into something smaller.”
“He forced his parent out? Well, that’s what it felt like Doone was doing to me.
Having me forced out because she was staying here for too long.
She only has about a week left before we both would have been homeless.
” The woman looked shocked, but she was so happy to have Doone’s things taken out that she didn’t care.
“I know that she helped me get this place and all, but I don’t deserve to be homeless just because she is. I’m glad that she’s moving out.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” She said it was all right now. Doone had finally gotten herself someplace to stay that wasn’t here. “You mentioned that before, how you didn’t want her living here any longer than necessary. I’m sorry to hear that. Doone seems like a very good person.”