20. They’re Called Wisteria
They’re Called Wisteria
SAM
As it turned out, Ellie was thrilled to see us.
Or at least Henry. Still, I basked in her joy as she hugged our son against her.
And in the smile she gave me over his head.
I also basked the fuck out of how hot she looked in her work clothes as she squatted down to set Henry on his bottom on the grass.
I wasn’t supposed to notice stuff like how good Ellie looked.
But I’d fully given up on that after last week.
I had to let my brain run wild, because if I didn’t, I did stupid things outside of my head.
Whether this was a good strategy was still up in the air.
We both dropped down onto the grass.
“Henry learned a new word today,” I said.
I told her about this morning.
“What’s this?” Ellie asked, shaking her hair at Sam.
“Hay!” he exclaimed.
“That’s right!” she tucked her hair behind her ear. “So smart, baby!”
She looked at me, beaming, and I had to pretend my heart wasn’t pinching painfully.
“Do you think he understands us?” I asked.
“I mean, to some degree. I think he understands tone, and emotions.”
“So he’s like a house pet.”
Ellie closed her eyes and laughed. “Sort of, I guess. In that way only.”
“He’s also soft and likes to sit on laps,” I pointed out. “He likes walks, and we have to clean up after him. And he loves snuggles.”
“Everyone loves snuggles.”
Of course that made me think of snuggling Ellie, and I kind of internally combusted a little.
“He’s my favorite pet,” I said, holding my finger out so Henry could grab it.
Ellie’s eyes went soft as she watched us. “You’re ridiculous, by the way.”
“Thank you.” I winked at her.
I swear her cheeks went a little pink. I had to look away to keep from studying them.
Luckily there were lots of other things I could look at.
We were in the backyard of the massive house she was working on in the fancy part of town that overlooked the valley.
There was a swimming pool the size of my condo back here, with a fountain in the middle of it.
I was pretty sure her friend Winona lived near here.
Also this guy Jude I went to high school with who used to play pro tennis.
“Would you ever want to live in a place like this?” I asked over our sandwiches—clubs again from Betsey’s, because when you know, you know.
Even if I couldn’t think of us as a family, I still wanted to know what Ellie’s dreams were. Maybe I could help her and Tommy and Henry get there, at least.
“A house like this?” Ellie looked out at the house. There were guys working on the roof, but otherwise, we were alone. “I don’t think so. I couldn’t imagine the upkeep.”
Henry, who was gnawing on a French fry in the grass between my stuck out legs, looked at his mom with a tilted head like he was listening along.
“Like mowing the lawn?” I asked.
“Yeah. And all the housekeeping, and… I don’t know. Cleaning the gutters. Making eleven beds. Stuff like that.”
I looked over at her as she stared at the house.
The sun was lighting her brown hair so it looked almost golden in parts.
The light breeze shifted a strand of it onto her forehead.
A perfect, soft curl framed her beautiful face.
I felt a little panicky, like I couldn’t trust myself not to tell her all the things running around in my head.
Like how stunning she looked and how I loved that she did this cool job.
Every night on the phone I asked her about work.
I didn’t really need to know how voltage worked. I just loved hearing her talk about it.
“What if you had someone else to do all the stuff around the house?” I asked her now.
“What, like a staff?”
“Like a partner.”
Ellie looked over at me.
My stomach knotted.
“You mean Gord the garbage man?” she asked.
I grinned, relieved for her softening the tension I’d accidentally created for myself. “Yeah. Gord.”
She looked back at the house. “I think a house like this would be a lot of work for one person, even if keeping that was all they did.”
Henry threw his fry down on the grass and lifted his arms up.
I picked him up and lay down on my back. I lifted him up in the air and flew him around like an airplane for a moment, noises and all.
He shrieked with happiness.
Then I plopped my son down on my stomach like I was a chair.
“I’d want something smaller,” I said to Ellie, thinking about a house and a life that only existed in my dreams.
“Like what?” Ellie asked.
I held Henry under the ribs and pushed my belly in and out to make him jiggle. He loved this trick. We did it in the park yesterday.
“Like… a cute little rancher,” I said.
Henry made a sound of annoyance. I’d stopped moving.
I lifted him up and set him on the grass.
Ellie passed him a pickle from her sandwich and he stuffed it in his mouth, then made a face that had both of us laughing.
He threw it on the ground and began playing with a paper sandwich wrapper instead.
I sat up on my elbow. “There’s this house over on Cottonwood Street I drive by every day to get to your place. It’s brick, and has this wrap-around porch with these pretty purple flowers hanging off of it. And an actual picket fence. That’s what I want. It looks like a real family home, you know?”
Ellie was looking at me with a strange expression. “Wisteria,” she said.
“What?”
“The flowers—they’re called wisteria. I know the house you’re talking about. That was the house I worked on a few weeks ago. The week you came over.”
Her cheeks went slightly pink. Or maybe that was just a trick of the light.
“Seriously?”
She smiled. “On the corner, right? With that weird-looking green duplex next door?”
I nodded.
It was just a funny coincidence, but it felt meaningful that Ellie didn’t just know the place but had been inside it.
“A sweet older couple lives there,” Ellie said. “They raised their kids in that place. It’s got four bedrooms. A sunken living room. There’s a creek in the back their oldest liked to catch frogs in. That’s what they told me, anyway.”
The hair blew off her forehead. What I wouldn’t give to be the wind.
“Do you like that place, Ellie?” I was suddenly anxious to know.
Because… Oh fuck. Okay, maybe the ‘letting my brain run free’ strategy was a terrible idea after all.
Because right now I was thinking of selling my condo and throwing a down payment on the next house with a white picket fence I saw. One Ellie helped pick out.
Ellie pressed her lips together, then released them. She looked over at the house and ran a hand through her hair, messing it up in this beautiful, loose way. It was then, as she opened her mouth and closed it again, that I remembered what I’d needed to ask her.
“It’s okay,” I said. “You don’t need to answer that.”
She looked relieved. I tried not to let that bother me.
“But I have another question for you,” I continued, “and it’s totally okay for you to say no.”
I really, really hoped she wouldn’t say no.