Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Kim
Hunter sets the small microwave on the kitchen counter. I’m not going to look at the petrified food stuck on the door. Mind your business, mama bear.
“I’m taking this in my room.”
“Really? I’ve made space in the pantry.”
“No thanks.”
It takes everything I have not to pass him the sponge.
It would take ten seconds to clean that guck.
I would have last year. But things are different now and I don’t know what day it happened.
Sometime between high school graduation and today, my child quietly became a man.
Some of my privileges have been revoked.
“Bing and I are going to take a road trip next month. We’re going to Memphis. There’s a music festival we want to go to.”
“You just got home! Hunter!”
“I know, Mom. I’m not leaving tomorrow. We’re gonna see each other all summer!”
“How can you afford it? I don’t have…”
“I’m going to be working for Johnson Construction. Layton said he’d have jobs for us. Just for a few weeks. You know moving shit around, grunt work. Whatever. It will give us plenty of money for the trip.”
“When did all this happen? You’ve only been home one day!”
“Layton told Bing to send him a text.” He genuinely is looking at me like ‘how else would we do it?’
I choose to ignore the on target insult, because I am slightly unsure of my place. What sort of authority do I have at this stage? Very little. And there is the fact I was married when I was barely older than he is now. Things could be much worse.
“Let’s sleep on it tonight.”
He chuckles. “I don’t have to sleep on it. Don’t worry so much!”
The front of the house is decorated in returning from college for the summer décor. I step over a phonograph atop a box labeled Vinyls.
“I don’t remember you taking all this.”
“I didn’t, some I bought there. Here’s my laundry. These two,” he casually adds.
“You brought dirty clothes home?”
He’s looking like I have lost touch with reality. Dark eyebrows come together.
“Well I haven’t mastered the job yet,” he says with an innocent tone. “You’re much better at it, Mom. Do you mind?”
“Oh it’s such a difficult concept,” I say, hand, pitch, and blood pressure rising. “Put clothes in machine, add detergent, press button.”
“None of my friends have Moms like you.” He chuckles.
My annoyance turns to charm when he gives me “the smile”.
“Did you really think I’d try to get away with that?” He laughs.
“Yes. But now that I know you weren’t, I’ll do your laundry as a reward.”
“Thanks. For real I hate the job.”
“Go get settled, honey. I’ll make you something to eat.”
“So that guy, Landon.” The sentence drops there.
My smile wants to escape its confines. “What about him?”
“You interested?”
“What? He just did a favor bringing me home.”
I sound like a child with crumbs around her lips denying she ate the cookie. He’s the parent not buying it.
“Who you kidding, Mom? Look at your face.”
He crosses to the couch in front of the picture window and pats the seat next to where he plops.
“Let’s talk.”
It is clever how he is using my tried and true method of getting to the meat of the story. I have used it on him all his life. On this very couch. Tables turned.
“Okay.” I take the seat and curl a leg under. “What do you want to know?”
“Just the truth.”
“I may be interested. We haven’t gotten past the introductions. We just met last night.”
A look of surprise crosses his face.
“And you slept together?”
I hit him on the arm. “No! What? No!” Hopefully, my horrified expression convinces him.
He chuckles. “Well, I thought maybe you did, because one, it’s morning. Two, you’re in night clothes. And three, he had the look.”
“What sort of look?
“The kind guys get when they’re into you. I know what I’m talking about, Mom.”
It is sweet he thinks I would be unaware. My baby.
“And then you rolled up on the Harley. Boom! The prosecution rests, Your Honor.” He’s delighted with his cleverness.
“Honey, I would never leave you out of what’s happening in my life. If I decide to see someone, you’ll be in on it. I will tell you. Promise.”
A half grin shows up.
“So what happened in the bar?”
“A man followed me to the bathroom. I was inebriated. Landon was sober and fearless.”
“Oh.”
“Then, when he drove me home, the thought of being alone freaked me. He was staying at his dad’s, who is one of the clinic’s regulars by the way. They offered me a safe place to stay for the night. I gladly took it.” I pause for effect. “Defense rests.”
The facts of the case get digested. “That was nice of them.”
“It was. But to your point Hunter, I wouldn’t turn down a date if he asked.”
I let the information sit with him for a minute. And with me. I feel a change coming. I cannot see what it is yet. Maybe this conversation is the beginning.
“Does that bother you?” I ask.
“You haven’t dated much this century, you may be rusty.”
“I am.”
“There’s some W-D in the garage.”
My boy. I have missed how much he can make me laugh.
The conversations of the last twenty-four hours keep replaying in my mind. The usual things enjoyed walking downtown have been barely noticed. Tennessee’s gorgeous trees. The feel of the sun on my face. Or the smell of Digger’s Donuts. All relegated to the back room of my consciousness.
The only thing that caught my attention were the sexy bras in the window of Marie’s a few shops ago.
Stopping to take a peek I had to fight the urge to go inside.
Good sense prevailed. They looked expensive.
Target has pretty ones. Maybe I can stop after work.
What exactly am I preparing for? Naked and afraid with Landon. That’s what.
Hunter hit it on the nose. I am undeniably out of practice.
Random dates over the last ten years don’t count for much.
After becoming a widow, it took me five trips around the sun just to consider the option.
The next three didn’t produce any serious contenders.
It was a matter of going through the motions.
I sort of let the fantasy die after that.
How does a person recover from themselves?
Is it possible to come out of my half-dreamed dream?
Approaching Holly’s clinic, the aroma of freshly sliced meats permeates the air. The new butcher shop, two doors down, draws our canine customers as much as Smyrna’s citizens. Leashes strain to be diverted from doctor’s visits to The Meat Emporium every single day.
There’s that dog again. I have seen it at least three times in the last month, gazing into the glass door.
Poor old girl. The matted once white hair and old wound on her face, say she’s been a stray for a long while.
We have tried everything to catch her, but she has been living by her wiles and outthinks us every time. No one gets close.
“Hello, pretty girl,” I say with as much gentleness as I can express.
Shit! I spooked her. She’s gone, between the buildings and away from the help we can give. I keep walking.
Swinging the clinic’s door open, I pass under the bright blue and crisp white signage announcing… the clinic’s resident character greets me.
“The infantry has arrived!”
Fingers playing an imaginary horn follow her words.
Carol’s mood can be counted on. Rain or shine, busy or boring, she keeps steady with her joy.
The woman is the Grand Wizard of the office.
Holly and Dominique know how lucky they are to have such a competent office manager.
Here since day one, not a thing passes her notice.
Not strictly business-related tidbits either.
If there is a crumb of gossip to be had she finds it. Then tells the rest of the staff.
“Morning! It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” I say, sounding more like Carol than myself.
She looks me over and the corner of her mouth lifts in a knowing smirk.
“Apparently. So tell me everything. And don’t leave out any of the good parts.”
“What are you talking about?” I say, putting my purse under the counter and taking my seat next to her.
“I never get to grill you! Kim, I am sorry to report your life has been remarkably pure and boring up to now. This new development is giving me all the feels. Spill it.” She dips her chin. “And by it, I’m talking the sexy stylings of Landon Podesta.”
Why am I surprised? She has some sort of direct line to the town’s breaking news. And I have previously been an interested listener, so how can I opt out now?
“There is no news,” I lie. “God.”
She swivels in her chair, like the captain of The Enterprise would, eyes never leaving mine.
This stupid smile inside me is trying to get loose again.
My lips press, ineffectively holding it back.
A too long curling fake fingernail attempts pointing my way.
The actual direction is to my right about thirty degrees.
“Not true, my friend. Multiple witnesses have reported in already. You’re busted.”
The interrogation is gratefully interrupted by the sound of a client’s voice.
“Thank you, Doctor. Thor will be better behaved next time you see him, you can count on that.”
“No more biting the doctor!” the woman coos instead of scolds.
“Bye, Thor. Listen to your mother.”
The door to the back offices swings open and a patient I am not familiar with comes out.
A middle-aged woman holds her prince. Thor looks anything but threatening.
He is a teacup poodle. The small ones are the ones you have to worry about.
Holly keeps her distance, holds the door with one hand and lets the pissy patient and the human pass.
“Carol, make a follow up appointment for three months, please. Morning, Kim. Let’s talk sometime today.” She says it with a weird excited expression. Eyebrows rising.
Before I get a chance to respond, the front doors open and a mother and child enter carrying a dog in a blanket. I can’t detect any movement. The little boy is red-eyed. Crap.