by Lee Hollis
“We should definitely go.”
“If we ever make it out of our stateroom,” Bruce said playfully with a wink.
Because their wedding had been so out-of-the-blue and not planned, the newlyweds had never had the opportunity to book a honeymoon. On the night of their wedding, they had split a pizza and watched a movie, not even a good one, a grade-B disaster movie starring the Rock, which got terrible reviews. Neither of them had even put in for any vacation time at the office, so any kind of romantic excursion had to be postponed until they could work out the details. But now, two months later, they were far more prepared. Sal had approved their vacation time request and they had booked a one-week cruise to the Bahamas, and were scheduled to fly out of Bangor to Fort Lauderdale in less than a week.
The luxury suites had already been booked and there were only a few staterooms left, but Hayley had managed to grab one with a small terrace overlooking an expansive ocean view. Neither she nor Bruce cared about having a lot of space to move around in as long as they were together.
“The food is supposed to be incredible so no dieting, or talking about dieting, okay? This is our honeymoon! We need to indulge,” Bruce said, flipping the brochure over to read the back.
“Understood,” Hayley agreed, pinching her belly fat and wondering if it would be possible to lose ten pounds before they left Bar Harbor for the airport.
Hayley’s cell phone buzzed on the kitchen counter where she had left it so she could scramble Bruce’s eggs. She checked the screen.
“She’s calling awfully early,” Hayley said.
It was her mother, Sheila.
Hayley answered the call. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hayley, can you hear me?”
“Yes, I can hear you.”
“Hayley?”
“Hi, Mom . . .”
“Hayley?”
“Mom, I’m here. Can you hear me?”
Sheila hung up.
Hayley sighed, waited the five seconds before her phone started buzzing again. She pressed the screen to answer again.
“Mom?”
“Oh, there you are. Can you hear me?”
“I hear you fine, Mom.”
“Hold on . . .” There was a rustling sound before Hayley heard her mother’s voice again, except she was talking to someone else at the moment. “You put me in the exit row. I can’t sit there. If something goes wrong, it will be up to me to open the door, and that’s just too much pressure. Do you have another seat? Preferably up front, near a window.”
Hayley heard a clicking sound, like someone was typing on a computer.
“Mom, where are you?”
“Philadelphia.”
“What are you doing in Philadelphia?”
“I’m on a layover.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m coming to you.”
Hayley stared at Bruce, who had just bitten off a piece of turkey bacon and mouthed the words, “What is it?”
Hayley shrugged, having no idea. “You’re coming to Bar Harbor?”
“Yes, didn’t you get my email?”
“No, when did you send it?”
“This morning. Right before I left Florida.”
“Mom, it’s eight thirty in the morning. I haven’t read my emails.”
“Oh, well, basically I just wrote that I’m coming to see you. There, now you don’t have to read it.”
“Okay, thanks,” Hayley said numbly.
“My flight to Bangor gets in at . . . hold on, let me check the ticket . . . I can’t read a thing without my glasses. Excuse me, yes, you . . .” More rustling as she seemed to accost a stranger. “Could you tell me what time it says we get in?”
After a brief pause, a young man’s voice answered, “At 1:29 PM, ma’am.”
“Thank you, you’re a peach.” Sheila’s voice was faint but got louder as she spoke into the phone again.
“I get in at 1:29 PM.”
“Do you want me to pick you up?” Hayley asked.
“Of course not. I know you work. I think they have some kind of airport shuttle now between Bangor and the island. I’ll look into it when we land. The last thing I want to do is inconvenience you or Bruce, unless one of you just happens to have to drive up to Bangor today.”
It was an hour’s drive, and Sheila knew the likelihood of either of them taking a trip to Bangor on a workday was remote at best.
Hayley had a worrying suspicion that something was wrong. Her mother always meticulously planned her trips to Maine months in advance. She couldn’t understand why her mother would just show up now without any warning.
“Mom, is everything okay?”
There was a long silence on the other end.
Bruce stood up and carried his empty plate and silverware to the sink, glancing at Hayley for some kind of clue as to what was happening.
“Mom?”
“I’m here . . .” Sheila said, her voice cracking.
Hayley heard sniffling.
“Mom, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing . . .”
“I can tell there’s something wrong . . .”
“It’s Lenny . . .”
Lenny was Sheila’s longtime boyfriend. They had met playing bingo a few years ago. Lenny was a comfortable companion Sheila could dine with, play golf with, and go on trips with, so, in Hayley’s mind, it was a perfectly pleasant match.
Hayley suddenly had a sickening feeling. “Did something happen to him? Is he okay?”
“Oh, he’s fine.” Sheila sighed. “It’s just that . . .” She broke down sobbing. “We split up.”
“I did not see that coming,” Hayley said absentmindedly before quickly recovering. “I mean . . . I am so sorry to hear that, Mom. What happened?”
“It was so silly. His water heater broke and he ordered a new one, but of course he insisted on installing it himself because he is just so darn cheap. Well, it fell on him and he broke his arm. I took him to the hospital and told him it was stupid of him to try and do it by himself and he got angry and told me I nagged him way too much, can you believe that, Hayley? Me, nag? I mean, have you ever heard anything more ridiculous?”
Hayley bit her tongue. She wasn’t going to say a word, but the longer her mother waited for her to respond, she decided to reverse course and just tell a little white lie. “No, I haven’t.”
“Well, that led to a terrible row, and after the doctor put a cast on his arm, and I dropped him off at his house, he turned to me as he got out of the car and said, ‘I’m done.’ Then he marched inside his house, and we haven’t spoken since. That was two days ago.”
“Only two days? Give him some time to cool down.”
“No, it’s over. He’s never talked to me like that before. I was up the whole night and following day crying, and then I said to myself, ‘Sheila, you should not have to go through this alone. You need the support of your family in times of crisis.’ And so I got online and I booked a flight home to Maine.”
“Well, I’m happy to hear you’re taking care of yourself. Are you staying with Jane while you’re here?”
Jane was Hayley’s BFF Mona’s mother, who had remained close to Hayley’s mother ever since they had met in kindergarten back in the 1950s.
“No . . .”
“Celeste?”
Celeste was Liddy’s mother, another longtime pal of Sheila’s.
“Uh . . . no . . .”
“Did you book a hotel or a bed-and-breakfast?”
“I guess I didn’t think that far ahead. I just needed to get out of Florida . . .”
Hayley gripped her cell phone. She knew what she had to do, and steeled herself to finally say it. “Well, you’re welcome to stay with Bruce and me.”
There was an audible sigh on the other end of the line. “Thank you, Hayley. I appreciate that.”
“How long must you stay . . . ?” Hayley couldn’t believe her Freudian slip, and tried to quickly correct herself before her mother noticed. “I mean, h
ow long can you stay?”
“I didn’t book a return ticket yet. I was just going to play it by ear, see how I feel . . .”
“Perfectly understandable,” Hayley said, looking to Bruce apologetically as he slowly figured out they were about to be hosting an unexpected houseguest. “The thing is, Mom, Bruce and I are leaving for our honeymoon in less than a week.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. I still can’t believe you didn’t invite me to the wedding!”
“Well, as I’ve explained a hundred times, we didn’t plan on getting married, it just happened in the moment.”
“Where are you going?”
“A cruise to the Bahamas.”
“How romantic. And where do you leave from?”
“Fort Lauderdale.”
As soon as it came out of her mouth, Hayley prayed there was a bad connection again and her mother had not heard her.
“I beg your pardon?”
Nope. She heard her. Sheila just wanted her to repeat it.
“Fort Lauderdale,” Hayley mumbled.
“You’re coming to Florida and you didn’t tell me? That’s only a two-hour drive from me. Were you going to sneak in and sneak out, hoping I wouldn’t find out?”
“We’re only in Fort Lauderdale one night before the boat leaves, so I didn’t think—”
“That’s fine. You don’t have to come up with excuses.”
“I was going to tell you, it’s just—”
Before Hayley had to grovel for forgiveness, Sheila was already on to another train of thought. “You know, I could housesit for you while you’re gone. Feed the pets, take Leroy out for his walks, this could work out perfectly.”
“That’s so nice of you, Mom, but Mona has already volunteered—”
Sheila wasn’t interested in hearing what Hayley had to say at this point. She was too busy mapping out her extended stay in Bar Harbor. “You know, this could be really good for me, emotionally I mean. I’m happy to be away from Florida for a while.”
“A while? How long do you mean when you say a while?”
Sheila ignored the question. “The memories of Lenny and that whole traumatic affair are just too vivid.”
Traumatic affair? They had had an argument about a water heater. But Hayley refrained from making any comments out loud.
“Thank you for the kind invitation, Hayley.”
“You’re welcome?”
What invitation?
“Oh, I have to go. They’re boarding my flight!” Sheila chirped. “Did you say Bruce will pick me up at the airport in Bangor?”
“No, I don’t think I did—”
“Tell him I can’t wait to see him! It will be the first time as my son-in-law!”
And then she hung up.
Bruce stood by the sink, staring down at the floor, resigned to the imminent arrival of his brand-new mother-in-law. “How long is she coming for?”
“Not long,” Hayley lied.
Chapter 4
When Hayley walked through the back door into the kitchen, she found it odd that Leroy was not racing to greet her, jumping up and down excitedly. In fact, there was no sign of him or Blueberry, who was usually perched under the kitchen table with a perpetual grumpy look on his face. Upstairs she could hear the vacuum running. Hayley sighed. She knew exactly what was happening. Her mother, Sheila, was cleaning the house. Anyone else would find this a kind gesture, but not Hayley. Especially since she had already thoroughly vacuumed the upstairs bedrooms the night before. No, her mother was sending her a very clear message: Her cleaning skills were just not good enough.
A beef stew was bubbling in a pot on top of the stove and the warm scent of some kind of freshly made bread or rolls wafted out from the oven. Hayley knew her mother had done her homework. Beef stew was one of Bruce’s favorite comfort foods and she was out to impress him. The vacuum noise stopped and she could hear her mother cross into the bathroom. Of course she was going to start scrubbing the toilets because Hayley had also done that the night before as well.
Hayley walked down the hall, veering right into the living room to find Bruce in his recliner, eyes closed, snoring softly. A half-empty beer bottle was sitting next to him along with a plate of crumbs, probably the last bits of cheese and crackers Sheila had prepared for him as a pre-dinner snack. Hayley gently nudged Bruce awake, and he sat up with a start.
“What? What’s happening?” he asked groggily.
“Nothing. You never came back to the office after you picked my mother up at the airport in Bangor,” Hayley said.
“We didn’t get back to town until almost four, so I decided to work at home for the rest of the day,” Bruce said.
“Yes, I can see you’ve been working very hard,” Hayley cracked.
“Your mother’s been spoiling me. Man, that beef stew sure smells delicious, doesn’t it?”
“Where is Leroy?” Hayley asked.
“Probably upstairs with Sheila. She’s been giving him a lot of treats, so his loyalties have shifted. We’re not his favorites anymore.”
“He shouldn’t have too many treats. He’ll get sick.”
“Too late. But your mother cleaned it up.”
“And Blueberry?”
“Probably rubbing up against Sheila’s leg as we speak. I thought that cat hated everybody, but he seems to adore your mother.”
They heard the toilet flush.
“She’s done scrubbing the toilet bowl, which means she’ll be down here any second,” Hayley warned.
“She’s a very nice woman,” Bruce remarked. “We had a really good chat on the car ride home.”
“Yes, she’s working hard to win your favor so when she and I have a disagreement, you’ll side with her.”
“Don’t be so cynical,” Bruce said, grinning.
Sheila called down from the top of the stairs. “Hayley, is that you?”
“Yes, Mom. I just walked in.”
Sheila pounded down the stairs with Leroy and Blueberry on her heels. Hayley’s jaw dropped at the sight of her two pets together. Usually they kept a safe distance between them.
Sheila threw open her arms and hugged her daughter tightly. “Thank you so much for opening up your home to me. I can’t tell you how much I needed to get away!”
Bruce threw Hayley a look as if to say, “See? She’s lovely!” But Hayley wasn’t falling for it. It was only a matter of time before . . .
“I thought I would help out and clean your house since I know you’re so busy writing your columns that you just don’t have the time,” Sheila said brightly.
“I cleaned the whole house last night, Mother,” Hayley said through gritted teeth.
“Oh, you did?” Sheila asked innocently, looking around, zeroing in on a dust ball near one of the couch legs.
“I hope you don’t mind me making dinner. I just didn’t want you to have to worry about it. I went through your cupboards and figured you didn’t have time to go grocery shopping because all I could find was junk food. But not to worry, Bruce was kind enough to drive me to the store so I could pick up a few things. Wasn’t that sweet of him?”
Bruce beamed like a boy who had just received a gold star sticker on his homework.
Hayley took a deep breath. “Mom, thank you for making us dinner.”
“Well, Bruce works so hard he deserves a proper meal waiting for him when he gets home from work.”
The insinuation was clear.
Hayley wasn’t looking after her husband.
The fact that she worked full time too was willfully ignored.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to make a homemade dessert. I just picked up some ice cream at the store and some fudge brownies at that new bakery on Cottage Street,” Sheila said.
“Bruce and I love the fudge brownies there,” Hayley commented.
Sheila lightly patted Hayley on her stomach. “I bet you do.”
Hayley bristled, but held her tongue.
“By the way, Mom, please don’t gi
ve Leroy too many treats. The vet says he needs to lose some weight.”
“He’s such a little sweetheart. It’s so hard for Grandma to say no to him. And Blueberry, what a treasure.”
This stymied both Hayley and Bruce. Of all the words in the English vocabulary, “treasure” would probably be the last word either would use to describe their ornery, obstinate Persian cat.
“I’m going to go upstairs and change into something more comfortable,” Hayley said.
She caught her mother giving her the once-over.
Hayley sighed. “What?”
“Nothing,” Sheila said with a smile.
“Go on, you know you want to . . .”
“I was just noticing your outfit . . .”
Hayley paused, debating whether she really wanted to know, but she couldn’t help herself. “What about it?”
“It’s very cute,” Sheila said.
“Thank you.”
Hayley turned to go upstairs when she heard her mother chirp, “It must have come from the back of your closet, judging by the amount of laundry I saw piled up next to the washing machine.”
“I was going to do a load tonight,” Hayley said defensively.
“No worries, I already started one,” Sheila said.
“That was so thoughtful of you, Sheila,” Bruce said. “Can you stay forever?”
It was an innocent remark, but when Bruce noticed Hayley staring daggers at him, he quickly retracted it. “Just kidding,” he managed to choke out.
Hayley marched up the stairs. She loved her mother and was happy to see her, but the little digs were sometimes just too much to handle. Hayley confronted her about it the last time she had seen her in Florida after she had begun dating Bruce. Sheila had looked so surprised and stricken, she almost melted into a puddle of tears. Hayley had to quickly apologize, and when her mother had finally been able to collect herself enough, she had given Hayley a hug and told her that all was forgiven. And then she had commented, “You look so tired, Hayley. You should really try to get up a little earlier in the morning to put yourself together. Especially now that you’re seeing someone.”
At least the Caribbean cruise was just five days away.
Chapter 5
Hayley relished in witnessing the long anticipated reunion of her mother with the mothers of her own two best friends, Liddy and Mona, when Mona threw an impromptu barbecue in her backyard the following late summer evening.