20. Wallace #2
Magnolia laughed, her voice thready, but much stronger today than it had been a couple months ago. She was off the oxygen today, too.
“Come here, sweetheart.” She beckoned Wallace closer, and he took a seat on the small ottoman next to her. “Is my boy taking good care of you?”
Wallace nodded happily. Now that he felt comfortable with Magnolia, he soaked up all of her doting like a flower seeking the sun.
Obviously, she wasn’t his parent, but having anyone remotely parent-like care about his wellbeing was still a revelation.
“Volt always takes good care of me,” he reported.
“Did he get you those tarts yesterday?”
“Tarts?” Wallace looked back at Volt quizzically. He hadn’t heard about any tarts.
“He said you were going to pick him up at the bakery.”
“No, I picked him up at…”
“The bakery was closed,” Volt interrupted with a miniscule shake of his head.
Oh. That was weird. Was the bank thing supposed to be a secret?
Well, Wallace sure wasn’t going to ruin it.
Growing up, cut off sentences and inside jokes were used to bully and exclude, but here, he trusted that Volt had Magnolia’s best interests at heart.
It was possible that he even had power of attorney for her, or maybe it was about medical bills that he didn’t want to worry her with.
“Maybe we can go some other time?” Wallace asked brightly.
“Oh, you have to!” Magnolia clasped her hands together, her limbs only faintly trembling.
“I remember, I used to go there just at the beginning of summer when the blueberries were finally in season and flirt with that beautiful girl behind the counter. What was her name? Oh, and her brother was gorgeous. He used to blush so hard when I came in.” She giggled to herself.
“I could have brought home a dozen of those tarts and kept them in the freezer, but I would just buy two, one for me and one for Jeremy, so I’d have an excuse to go back again. ”
Wallace grinned, happy to let her reminisce.
He knew that this story would turn into another one, and another, and he happily let them flow over him, nodding and laughing in all the right places.
They always followed the same theme—cute stories about her sons, mostly Jeremy but sometimes Angel or Volt, and tales of all the wild people she’d flirted or slept with—and each one was its own little jewel.
Volt stood behind him, petting his hair or rubbing his shoulders.
It was another moment that he wanted to crystalize in time. He wished he could have met Magnolia a dozen years ago, but even this time with her was special. She was the one who’d made Angel and Volt into her family, and she made sure that Wallace knew that he was part of it, too.
At last, her eyes started to droop, and the pauses between her sentences got longer.
“Ah, fuck,” she swore. “Guess I have to sleep again. My advice to you: don’t get old.”
Wallace giggled as she pointed a finger at him.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” It was a funny thing, knowing that he actually would get old, while Volt would remain eternally young. But Volt didn’t seem to mind.
“Volt,” she commanded, “you make sure that you’re taking your sweetie out somewhere fun. He doesn’t want to hang around here with an old fart like me all the time. Go dancing. Have a night on the town.”
Wallace shook his head. “That’s not really my style.” Would Magnolia think he was silly? He hated dancing. And loud music. And crowds. But it made him wonder if he was holding Volt back. “Uh, do you want to go dancing?”
Volt gave him a soppy smile. “I just want to be where you are. I like our dates in the park.”
Wallace’s heart melted all over again. “I like them, too. And I like coming here.”
She gave Volt a stern look. “But you go to Wallace’s place too, sometimes, right? You’re not making this cutie do all the commuting, are you?”
Volt’s face looked strained. “I’m sorry, baby. I hadn’t thought about it that way. I can come to your place sometimes.”
Wallace shook his head rapidly. “No, Daddy. I’m happy to come here.” Did it sound like he was being weird?
Daddy’s brow furrowed. “I can still come to your place. Maybe I can bring you breakfast sometime? I mean, I haven’t even seen your apartment.”
“No, thank you!” Wallace said, too quickly. Then his face got red. Did he have to be so awkward? He had a surprise for his Daddy, but he definitely couldn’t come over until it was finished.
“You don’t want me to come over?” Volt looked pained.
“No! I mean… Yes. But not… I’ll invite you sometime?” Wallace said, meekly.
God, he was so bad at this.
Volt gave him a wary look.
“Really. Just maybe in a few weeks?”
Now Magnolia was looking at him funny, too.
“God, you guys.” Wallace covered his face with his hands. “It’s not like I have another boyfriend stashed at home. No friends, remember? I just… Now’s not a good time.” Why was he so bad at this? He could have made up a thousand little white lies, but his brain went completely blank.
Daddy was going to hate him now. It probably sounded like he didn’t want him there, when really the opposite was true.
“Hey, cutie.” Magnolia’s bird-like fingers feathered across the back of his hand, then pulled it away from his face. “We’re your friends, okay?” She pulled Wallace’s hand toward her and cradled it between her own, despite her tremors. “I’m honored to be your friend.”
Wallace could feel himself blushing, this time with warmth. It was another one of those crazy moments that he couldn’t quite believe was real. Magnolia had overlooked his awkwardness, changed the conversation, and now she’d decided that she was his friend, too?
He didn’t know why this felt like such a big deal, but it was.
He’d been astounded, dozens of times, by how much Volt’s family truly liked each other. The way that they could casually tease, but without trying to hurt anyone’s feelings or tear them down. It was like a foreign language.
And now this. He didn’t know what to say.
He’d kind of assumed that Magnolia liked him because he was Volt’s. He was pretty quiet when he was around her, and he figured that she liked having someone around to listen to her stories.
“I’m sorry that it sounded like I was trying to kick you out,” Magnolia continued, squeezing his hand in her trembling grip. “You come here and visit me as often as you want.”
“Okay,” he managed. “I like visiting you.” That was what friends said, right? It wasn’t too weird?
She cupped her other hand around it. “Good boy. Or good girl? Volt told me something about it, but I wasn’t sure which one to use.”
Wallace sucked in a breath, even more surprised by that than the declaration of friendship. He’d kind of thought that was a secret, and he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted anyone else to know.
Although if there was one person he would trust, he supposed it would be Magnolia.
His friend.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Daddy rumbled from behind him. “And Magnolia, I told you that Wallace was thinking about things, not to ask him about it.”
Magnolia looked at Volt, affronted. “Well, that’s just silly.
Baby, you’re a beautiful girl. I want to see you all decked out.
” She cupped Wallace’s cheek, turning his face from side to side with her trembling hands.
“We’ll have a girls’ night at the movies.
Do our nails, eat too much ice cream, and get plastered on fruity drinks with umbrellas. ”
Wallace felt fresh tears spring to his eyes, knowing that he had Magnolia’s approval.
Not just approval, but an invitation.
Girls’ night. At the movies.
He knew that Magnolia couldn’t drink alcohol with all of her medications, and that everyone would be pleased if she got a few bites of ice cream down. He knew that at the movies meant sitting beside her hospital bed in this very room, watching a tablet or a screen somewhere.
Still, he nodded, unable to speak. It was such a huge, crazy thing, having someone see him like this. See him and accept him. He felt all jumbled up inside, a little sick, but full of lightness, like a can of seltzer that had been shaken around too much.
“Good,” she agreed. “Calliope can do our nails.” She tilted her head at the unmoving sexbot in the corner.
“And I have the perfect color for you. But for now…” She yawned again.
“God, I hate being tired.” She turned to Volt.
“And you tell the chefbot to make your baby girl something nice. None of that broth bullshit that it’s always making for me.
He needs to keep some weight on his bones. ”
Wallace was trying, oh was he trying, to just accept these statements as they came. If Magnolia liked his weight, and Volt did too, why should he judge himself more harshly?
“Volt always makes me the best meals,” he assured her. “He takes good care of me.” He looked up and caught Volt’s loving look in reply.
“He better. You’re a treasure.” Magnolia squeezed Wallace’s hand in her paper-thin, trembling grip. “Come back and see me soon, cutie.”
Wallace stood and, daringly, pressed a kiss to her cheek, just like he’d seen Volt and Angel do. Her skin was dry, giving way beneath his lips like there was nothing beneath it but fragile bones and her indomitable spirit.
Now that he’d told Volt that he loved him, maybe he could work up the courage to mention it to Magnolia sometime, too.