I meet him on the porch and look back inside to make sure Aidan is still watching cartoons with his furry siblings. “Yeah, I guess Natasha must be mad at you. I hope she isn’t giving you too much shit.”
Ron puts up his hand and shakes his head. “Nah, she knows her sister’s a nut. Why do you think she tried to find somewhere else for her to live in the first place? Apparently back home in Russia, Tatiana was known for bad boundaries with other women’s men.”
I process Ron’s convoluted way of saying that she was a known man-stealer. “Well, thanks for pawning her off on us.”
“I know, I know. I didn’t want to do it but you know how bitchy and demanding women can get. Ever since Galina was born, Natasha’s fun level has plummeted.”
I’m about to chime in and agree, but then it feels disloyal to commiserate negatively about Claire with her ex-husband.
“Honestly I was just hoping that you weren’t her type. She seems to go for bigger guys.”
Ron stands up straight and I am feeling about as manly as my son. But hey, I’m the one who has all the women following me around. Ron is jealous. I can’t believe how much I am sounding like a woman lately.
“It’s the past now. Hopefully, Tatiana will see the error of her ways. And she was good with Aidan. With the right family she could be okay. I would give her a reference, but don’t tell Claire.”
Ron walks down the porch steps and turns around on the driveway. “My lips are sealed, buddy.”
“Oh, and speaking of that, I also don’t really want Claire to know why Tatiana was fired. If we could try to keep that quiet, I’d appreciate it.”
Ron jingles his keys and grimaces. “Sure, we can keep quiet. I never talk to Claire anyway. But just a piece of advice. Mama Claire was here and she is not your friend when it comes to her daughter.”
Ron waves a salute and jumps into his truck, driving off with his sister-in-law’s belongings.
I rub my hands together and walk back inside. It’s freezing cold. In Virginia, sometimes January can be pretty warm, but the last few winters have been cold and snowy. I check the weather app on my phone, and the forecast is still clear for Claire’s arrival later today, but we’re supposed to get snow on Sunday.
She sent me a text when she got on and off the first plane, but now she has a layover in Atlanta again. With Justin. At least they can’t be laying down in the airport.
I plop down on the couch with Aidan, snuggling his little body close to mine. I don’t spend enough time with him. I’m here all day, but I can’t remember the last time I just sat on the couch with him. It’s good to have goals and stay busy, but what is it all for?
Instead of jumping on the house cleaning, I take a rare hour and finish watching Aidan’s movie with him. He and the dogs are all out cold now. I put a blanket over the whole group, and send Zoe a text telling her to just walk in when she gets here, so she doesn’t wake them with the bell.
As soon as I hit send my phone starts ringing. Peter, our lawyer. I get a sick feeling regarding Chastity for a split second, but dismiss it as being ridiculous.
“Hey, Peter what’s up?” I walk upstairs to start straightening up the bedroom while we talk.
“Brandon, how are you? I hope Claire and Aidan are well.”
“Yep, everyone’s great.”
“Wonderful. The purpose of my call, although I know it’s probably futile, is to let you know that the adoptive parents that replaced you have backed out. They’re getting a divorce. It would have been nice if they came to that conclusion before they agreed to adopt a baby that’s due in a month.”
“Wow, that’s terrible. That poor girl.”
I sit down on the bed and survey the mess. I may just have to let Claire yell at me. Or maybe all the other stuff going on will make my poor housekeeping skills seem less significant.
“She’s upset, but her parents are very supportive. Unlike Chastity, Holly has a strong family. They just don’t want her raising a child at sixteen.”
My own birth mother’s family said the same thing. My mother was a singer. I wonder what Holly excels at that young motherhood would destroy.
“Anyway, Brandon the purpose of my call is to tell you that Holly and her family would still very much like you and Claire to adopt her baby. Now I know you and Claire came to a decision, and I don’t want to push, but I felt obligated to all involved to inform you of Holly’s wishes.”
I sigh and lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. At least that still looks reasonably clean. I glance around and try to remember if these were the same sheets on the bed last night, but no. Cassie said she would change them. They may be kinky, but they’re not slobs.
“Peter, I don’t know what to say. Claire’s coming home from a business trip tonight. I was going to talk to her about our decision again anyway. I thought maybe we could put our names back out there for the next adoption opportunity. But I’m still torn. We have a lot going on. And I don’t know how she’ll feel.”
“I understand, Brandon. It’s a huge life decision, and we all want what’s best for the child. The bottom line is—a healthy infant will be placed upon birth, but Holly and her family have pored over the bios of the prospective adoptive parents, and they keep saying that you and Claire are perfect.”
He pauses and when I don’t reply right away, he says, “Just think about it. Talk it over with Claire. And remember, Brandon, you will always have a lot going on. Michelle and I have four kids, and even though we didn’t adopt them, none of them came along when we felt ready. That’s life. Perhaps you should both talk with your own parents as well. Or trusted couple friends.”
“Thanks, Peter. I’ll talk to her. Can I let you know by Monday?”
“Yes, of course. And at the risk of sounding way too flowery for a lawyer—follow your hearts. You have jobs and a nice home. In the end, it’s an emotional decision, but I don’t think many people ever regret having a child.”
We hang up and I throw the phone on the carpeted floor. I rub my head and sit up.
“Shit, Zoe, you scared me.”
“Sorry, you said to let myself in. I heard you talking so I didn’t want to interrupt. Everything okay?” She sits next to me on the unmade bed. “You don’t look okay. Have you been sleeping?”
I tell her what’s going on, but put her to work at the same time. She grabs all the dirty clothes in the laundry basket and hauls them off to the washer.
“I’ll work on Aidan’s room after this. Knowing Claire, she’ll be madder if his world isn’t perfect than if your room is messy.”
She’s right. Aidan is her priority. Maybe we should go for it. Two kids close in age…
CHAPTER TWENTY
Justin
I watch the reunion with surprise. I hadn’t expected Brandon to come to the airport to pick Claire up. I could have sworn she said she was taking the taxi service home.
“Oh my God, I didn’t think you were coming. Where’s Aidan?” Claire throws her arms around her husband and drops her carry-on bag to the ground, narrowly missing my foot.
Brandon kisses her and returns her animated hug, smirking at me behind her back. What the hell is that all about? Somebody needs to remind this guy that the competition for Claire is over. He won, and I’m not the one being an asshole about it.
“Of course. I just wanted to surprise you. He’s at home. Zoe’s babysitting. Justin, how was the trip?”
He’s finally forced to shake my hand since Claire is staring at him, presumably willing him to be polite. He grips my hand more tightly than is necessary, and I swear he is trying to stand up straighter to make himself look taller, even though I easily have four or five inches on him.
“It was great. Well, I’ll let you two catch up. I didn’t check a bag so I can get going.”
I make a motion to say goodbye to Claire, and she says, “Oh, don’t go yet. I need to go to the bathroom like crazy. I’ll be right back.”
She dumps her bag in front of us and Bran
don scoots it closer to himself with his foot, as if I intend to cheat with Claire’s luggage now.
She seems happy to see him, but as she walks away, I catch a subtle look that says, ‘you have a lot to answer to, young man.’ Frankly, I am feeling better about going home alone.
We both follow her until she is out of sight. I could just go and send her a text that I’ll see her at the office on Monday, but why should I run off?
We stand there awkwardly. Brandon is bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. He looks like he wants to challenge me to a duel.
“So, the rest of the trip was less…eventful?” Brandon is clearly speaking to me, but looking at the ladies’ room entrance, as if we are conducting a drug deal or a spy mission. Maybe I should go behind the artificial tree and talk into my shoe in response.
“Yep, we had a productive week at the conference.” I am also staring into space like a crazy person. How long does it take this woman to pee?
“That’s good. Listen, I do appreciate that you called me when she was in trouble.” He turns to face me and continues. “But I am still wondering if you had anything to do with the trouble in the first place.”
I sigh at this foolish show of macho bullshit and reply, “You know what I’m wondering? Why a married woman like Claire needs another guy to help her overcome her fears and have some fun.”
Brandon fumes and takes a deep breath. “Are you kidding me? You helped her with her ‘fears?’ That’s a bunch of crap. So she’s afraid of the water. She doesn’t even like it. And as for that stupid karaoke bullshit…” He stops abruptly. Claire is coming our way.
The smile is back on the rock star wannabe’s face and I make my escape move. I have no intentions of listening to anything more this jerk has to say. He can take his insecurities and shove them up his ass. Even though it’s not my business, a part of me wishes I didn’t have to send Claire home with him. There are way worse guys, but something about him just doesn’t sit right with me. Or maybe I really did overstep my bounds with her, and he’s justified.
One thing is certain – Brandon does not know his wife very well.
“Claire, good night. Thanks for hanging out with me this week. I think we have some really good stuff to share at work on Monday. Pam is going to call us both in for a debriefing meeting on Monday, but don’t work too hard this weekend. Oh, and kiss the little guy for me.” I turn to walk away and smile.
I wanted to add, ‘Oh, you already did that.’ But with today’s airport security I didn’t want Brandon and me to end up arrested by the TSA.
Claire
“Tell me everything. How was Aidan? I can’t wait to see him. Have the dogs calmed down at bedtime?”
Lamaze breathing. Diamond did give birth to a child, so she would make that connection to Dixie’s anxiety noises. Brandon does do a good impression. However, she also tends to subtly make references to maternity, which feels like a dig at me and my infertility.
We walk down to the baggage claim, and Brandon is already aggressively vying for a spot close to the conveyor belt.
“He’s great, but he will be insanely happy to see you. He says ‘Mama’ a lot, but he’s had some distractions to keep him occupied.” He looks at the hole where the luggage will emerge with great concentration. “Your mother was over. That was nice.”
I raise my eyebrow, both at the ‘mother’ and ‘distraction’ comments.
Brandon doesn’t hate my mother, but I know she can be a bit much, especially for someone who was raised by people who barely speak. Brandon’s mother is like a little mouse. Very sweet, but she doesn’t have my mother’s zest for life.
Distractions. Hmm…the shoe in the picture. I shake my head to stay rational. Diamond brings Ruby over to play all the time, and after all, Tatiana was there. It’s perfectly innocent. Of course she would kick her shoes off to sit on the floor and play with the kids.
Brandon is still intently watching for my bag as I say, “Hey, Jane told me that Tatiana left when my mother was there, and she hasn’t seen her since. Did something happen?”
Brandon heaves my suitcase off the conveyer belt and says, “Is it just this one?”
“Obviously. I was only gone for five days.” I roll my eyes as he leads me and my luggage towards the exit.
We get out to the sidewalk and I say, “Well?”
“Oh, yeah. Does Jane keep twenty-four hour surveillance? Or do she and Mike take turns?”
He smiles but I can see it perturbs him that he has no privacy. I didn’t ask to stay in the same neighborhood when we moved in together. I actually thought it was weird to live across the street from my tenants. It kind of negates the whole purpose of renting the house out through a property management firm.
I glare at him now, expecting an answer to my perfectly reasonable question.
“Let’s get in the car, and I’ll explain on the way home.”
Brandon
Claire huffs a little and opens the passenger side door, while I put her bags in the trunk. With all the activity this week, I haven’t carefully rehearsed my story. I could just tell her what really happened, but it seems fruitless. Why get her mad as soon as she gets home by telling her about a problem that has now been solved?
I did nothing wrong with Tatiana, and Ron even agreed that she was trouble. I should be the one getting mad at Claire for roping me into giving her a chance, based on the suggestion of her ex-husband. If the situation were reversed, she would have a fit.
Her mother might tell her, but I think even Claire Senior would rather see us happily married than fighting over something that has been resolved. I think even she believed that I wasn’t sleeping with the nanny.
I slam the trunk harder than necessary, and do my own version of Lamaze breathing to calm my nerves. I intend to have a pleasant evening so I at least get to sleep with the woman I’m supposed to be with. I’ve dodged enough unwanted sexual advances this week to deserve some actual sex, but somehow I don’t think my wife would view it that way.
I get in the car and fasten my seatbelt while Claire is occupied with her phone.
“Texting someone?”
“Yes, my mother to tell her that I’ve landed safely. Would you like me to ask her what happened when she visited?”
I back the car out of the short term parking lot and head towards the highway. “Your mother came over to visit, she had words with Tatiana and she left.” There, that’s sort of true.
“What kind of words? Why was she upset with her? Tatiana barely speaks English.”
“You know Tatiana. She’s lazy and not very reliable.” I am amazed at how much my brain knows I should tell the truth, but my mouth keeps spewing out vague lies.
I feel Claire’s eyes on me as I merge on the highway. I’m glad it’s dark under her scrutiny.
“Basically your mother argued with her. I don’t know what happened. I was downstairs working on my manuscript and I heard yelling, and the next thing I knew Natasha pulled up to retrieve Tatiana. She said she quit, but you know with her limited English she wasn’t going to be able to explain what transpired, and your mother was still there being all…well, you know.”
“I know, my mother is so horrible because she has a backbone. So, Tatiana just quit. I guess that’s not the end of the world, but now we need to find someone else or make a decision about daycare. Jane was saying that she knows of a good center nearby. Some of her kids’ friends go there. Maybe that’s the best solution. We’d have more privacy and you would be able to focus on your work.”
“Yeah, Tatiana didn’t really do much housework.” This is going much more smoothly than I imagined, but Claire’s sudden silence has me worried. She sighs and twists her mouth into a perplexed grimace.
“Did you talk to Ron or Natasha? You know, get the scoop since she could explain it to her sister in their language. And you didn’t question my mother?”
“I thought it was best to let your mother play with Aidan so I could get some work done, and I
figured maybe she solved a problem we were avoiding.”
I switch lanes in anticipation of our upcoming exit. I also turn down the heat because I am sweating like the dishonest prick I am. ‘Getting work done’ was drinking with Zoe.
“And Ron or Natasha?”
Shit, I am not keeping up with the questions. I hope she can’t see the beads of perspiration forming on my head. I can’t blame early menopausal hot flashes.
“Yes, I talked to Ron. He came to get Tatiana’s stuff this morning.” Finally, a true statement. “He didn’t really tell me much. He didn’t want to get involved and Natasha handled it.”
“Hmm…maybe I’ll call him tomorrow.”
“No, you don’t wanna do that.”
Claire raises an eyebrow.
“I mean, he’s pretty pissed about the whole way this went down. Now he has grief at home. And he said some things about your mother. Do you really want to open all of that up?”
Ron and Claire clashed considerably over her family, but especially her mother. She spent many years with him, and she reverts back to the adolescent girl she was when she met him, whenever he gets angry with her.
She sighs and settles back into her seat. “No, I guess not.”
We pull into our neighborhood and I say, “So aren’t you excited to be home? Aidan will be so happy, and the dogs will have wiener anxiety attacks.” I smile and hope her thoughts are moving more towards our happy reunion…and away from her husband’s bullshit stories.
Claire
There are so many things I want to ask him about. The topic of his book. Chastity visited and everything was fine, but the adoptive mother character in his book is apparently a shrew when it comes to open adoption. I know that writers use real life situations in their books and change them to fit a fictional plot, but that one hits close to home.
Plus that story about Tatiana makes no sense. My mother would nag him all day about whatever it is Tatiana did to deserve her wrath. And I find it hard to believe she just quit. I do buy Ron being a jerk about all of it.
The Juggling Act Page 18