by Natalie Ann
She nodded her head yes and they left. The silence was getting to him so he finally asked, “Did you have fun?”
“Yes,” she said, but nothing else. He sighed and figured they’d drive home in silence, but then she’d said, “I like Kristen. Can I see her again?”
“I like her too,” he said. “And I think she’d like to see you.”
That was the first time Chloe had asked him for anything. He’d take it even if it wasn’t something personally from him.
More Wisdom
“Why didn’t you tell me you went on a date Saturday night?”
Kristen turned when her mother walked into the store a few minutes before closing on Monday night. She only worked late one night a week. She was never alone; there was another staff member cleaning up right now too.
“I didn’t know I had to tell you when I went on a date,” she said, grinning at her mother, then shaking her head. Good grief, her mother was wearing tomato red capris, a white shirt—Kristen had never known her mother to wear any solid color shirt before—a multicolor neon cardigan that was making her eyes hurt and green shoes. She didn’t even have green in the sweater. How were they related?
“It’s girl talk. I’m supposed to be your best friend now that we are adults. You need to tell me everything,” her mother said.
“Mom. We’ve gone over this before. You’re my mother and I love you to death. But I’ve got friends I tell things to. I don’t need to share everything with you.”
“Yes, you do,” her mother insisted. “I can give you advice that your friends can’t. I’ve got more wisdom than them.”
Kristen rolled her eyes and then started to walk around and make sure the cases were all locked, her mother following close by. “You’ve been single since you and Dad divorced when I was ten. How much advice could you give me?”
“I’ve dated,” her mother said.
Yeah, her mother had, but nothing stuck. Her mother was just too far out there for most men. Some might have thought it was fun at certain points, but they didn’t stick around long.
“So you can tell me what not to look for,” she said.
“Exactly.”
“No, thank you,” she said. “I’m good at figuring that out myself.”
“Wow. Look at that necklace,” her mother said, staring down at one of Olivia’s newest custom pieces. The biggest in the case that her mother—or very few people—could pull off. Probably one of the most expensive in the place too. Figures she’d be drawn to it like an addict to a back alley.
“Look the other way,” she told her mother. “That costs more than a luxury SUV.”
“Holy cow! Olivia sells pieces for that much? What kind of commission do you get on something like that?”
Not only was her mother loud with her clothing but she was brash. “None of your business. Yes, she sells pieces like that and more. She has a long list of clients that are outside of this area and you know that. It’s beside the point.”
“What is the point?” her mother asked, tagging along like a younger sibling you just wanted to ditch at the first chance.
“Melinda,” Kristen said to the other worker. “You can leave and lock the front door. I’ll close up and set the alarms.”
“But you aren’t supposed to close alone,” Melinda argued.
“I’m not alone. My mother is with me and she won’t leave until I do. It’s fine.”
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Kristen waited while Melinda walked to the front door, locked it and left. Kristen walked up and doubled-checked the lock, then set the alarm for the front of the building and hit the lights, her mother still scurrying along.
“The point is, Mom—how did you even find out I went on a date on Saturday?”
“People talk.”
“What people?” she asked.
“I heard what I heard,” her mother said, crossing her arms. Kristen figured it had to have come from Harpers. That was the only place her mother spent any time. Unless it was with her Red Hat Society ladies. It didn’t really matter at this point.
“And what did you hear exactly?” she asked.
“That you were on a date with a big strapping man having dinner on the lake. You had some sexy purple dress on that he probably ripped off of you back at your place.”
She burst out laughing. “You think so little of me that I’d sleep with someone after one date?”
“I didn’t know it was one date,” her mother said. “But now I do. And no, I didn’t think you’d do that. Though I heard he could probably have any number of women dropping their panties and tossing them in the air at him.”
Kristen couldn’t believe she and her mother were having this conversation. This was why her friends all loved her mother, but it was just an embarrassment to her.
“Landon is pretty smoking, but not enough that I felt the need to send him home with a souvenir of the night.”
“Landon who?” her mother asked. They were in the back of the shop now with Kristen testing all the locks and setting the final alarm.
“Landon Barber.”
“And what does he do for a living?”
“He’s a captain with the Saratoga Police Department. He owns his own martial arts studio too.”
“Ooh la la,” her mother said, wiggling her eyebrows. At least her customary cat-eye glasses weren’t hanging around her neck. They were probably in the big gold purse twinkling on her arm.
“You’re a piece of work,” Kristen said. “Come on, we’ll go out the back door. Are you parked in the front or back parking lot?”
“I’m by you in the back.”
“Figures,” she said, knowing that was her mother’s way of following close by.
“Let’s go get a drink,” her mother said when they were outside.
“I’m tired, Mom,” she said. “It’s been a long day.”
“Just one drink with your mother. Or are you embarrassed to be seen with me in public still?”
She laughed. “You know the answer to that.”
She’d always been honest with her mother in her life and had been very forthcoming over her opinion of her mother’s wardrobe and behavior. It never made a difference back then and sure the hell didn’t now.
“One drink,” her mother said again.
She was wondering if her mother was lonely. “How about a glass of wine at my place? I’d love to get out of these heels and put some comfy clothes on.”
“I don’t know how you can wear all those tight clothes and pointy shoes all the time.”
“Fashion isn’t always comfortable,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows at her mother.
“It can be. Look at me.”
“How can I not?”
“Okay, I suppose I could have one glass of wine at your place. If you insist.”
“I insist,” she said, knowing that it was just what she guessed. Her mother must be a little lonely and Kristen wondered if she should try to spend some more time with her.
It was so hard to balance it all though. She worked a lot and she loved her job. She was hopefully starting a new relationship with Landon and now she had to see what might be going on with her mother.
Sometimes being the mature one in the family was hard to do, but she’d always been more stable than her mother.
She wondered if that was why she went into psychology in college. That maybe she was trying to find part of her childhood she didn’t have. Or answers to questions her mother would never be able to answer.
Sure, her mother was a wonderful lady and supported her unconditionally. Her father had been in the picture more when she was younger too. But it wasn’t the same.
Then again, what was normal anymore? It seemed she’d been searching for it for years and it was eluding her like never before.
Over My Head
“Did you get school shopping all taken care of?”
Landon looked over at Kristen from where they were eating lunch together on Friday before the Labor Da
y weekend. “What?”
“School. You’ve got Chloe all set for school to start, did you take her school shopping?”
The hamburger he was eating started to flip in his stomach. “Seriously? I need to do that? She has clothes.”
Kristen laughed at him. “Do they fit? Do you know how much she has? Does she need new shoes? Don’t you remember school shopping as a kid? Maybe it’s more important to girls than boys.”
“Must be,” he said. “I have no clue. And no clue on if her shoes fit or anything else. Geez. I’m so in over my head with this.”
“You’re doing just fine,” she’d said, reaching her hand over.
He’d felt bad that he hadn’t been able to carve out much time with Kristen since they started to date almost two weeks ago. He wanted to, but between work, his studio, Chloe, the household. He didn’t know if he was coming or going half the time.
Sleepless nights? He had plenty of them now when he never had before. Not unless a case was keeping him up. He’d welcome a case at this point.
“I’ll have to ask her to show me her shoes and what fits. She has sneakers. She wears them all the time.”
“She is at an age where she is growing nonstop. She has summer clothes, but I doubt anything she had from last winter fits her. She will need jackets and boots and snow pants. You name it, she needs it.”
He put his hand to his forehead. “I feel like I’m never going to get ahead. She won’t tell me if she needs anything.”
“You can’t rely on her to do it. You know that by now. You need to ask. You need to check. Come on, Landon, it’s not as bad as you are making it out to be.”
“The mall,” he said, pushing his plate away from him. “Do you know how hard it was to buy her a bathing suit a few weeks ago?”
“And you managed.”
“Can you go with us?” He hoped he wasn’t sounding desperate. Shit, he didn’t care. He was feeling it. “You like to shop. You are always so put together.”
“Why, thank you for the backhanded compliment to help you school shop for your niece.”
“Sorry, that was wrong of me,” he said. Talk about messing everything up.
“No. I get it. I love shopping and I’d love to help. But it’d be nice to know what she needs too.”
“How about dinner tonight at my place?” he asked suddenly. “You can check out what she has. A girl bonding thing. Take notes and let me know what to look for in the future.”
“Is that the only reason you want me over tonight?”
“No. I want you over so I can get my hands on you again when Chloe is in her room. Where you and I can have a minute alone and not be in a restaurant with people looking at us. I need to see if I can find some teenage girl to babysit her at night so we can go on another date too. I can’t keep asking Olivia.”
“No, you can’t. I’m sure we can find someone. Don’t any of your coworkers have teenagers that want to earn some money?”
“I didn’t even think of that. Why didn’t I think of that?” he asked.
“Because you’ve never had a reason to think of it before. And you don’t need to right now. Let’s deal with school shopping first. I need to get back to the shop, but give me your address and time and I’d love to come to dinner tonight. Are you sure Chloe will be okay with that?”
“Definitely okay with it. After I picked her up at Olivia’s a few weeks ago she asked when she could see you again. Said she liked you.”
“Ah, that is so sweet. How come you are just telling me this now?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t think of it. Well, I did, but then I’d forget. We don’t talk much and I feel bad about that. I wish I could give you more time.”
“We’ll work it out. I understand, so no worries.”
“Thanks,” he said sincerely.
“No thanks needed.”
“I really don’t want you to think I’m using you.”
“You’ve said that a few times now. I know you aren’t. Life has complications like we’ve established. This is one of them.”
He paid the bill and stood up to walk her out. When they got to the parking lot he pulled her into his arms and held her tight. He didn’t care if he was in uniform and on his lunch hour. He didn’t care about anything other than feeling her body next to his.
Her heat and warmth. Softness that he hadn’t felt from a woman in too long and was wondering how much longer it would be before he could feel more.
She didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around his neck and lay one on him letting him know she might be wanting this just as much as him.
“Is that a sample of what I can get from you later tonight?” she whispered against his lips.
“You can count on it.”
She laid one more kiss on his lips. “Text me your address and time and if there is anything you want me to bring,” she reminded him.
“I’ll see you tonight.”
***
“Hi, Kristen.”
“Hello, Chloe,” she said to the little girl that opened Landon’s door for her. “How have you been?”
“Good. Uncle Landon said you’re having dinner with us.”
“I am. Did he tell you why else I’m here tonight?”
Chloe put her head down and started to shuffle her feet around. “He said I need clothes. I don’t need anything. I’m okay. He doesn’t need to spend money on me.”
She placed her hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “He doesn’t need to do anything. He is doing it because he is your guardian. He is your family now. He wants to do right by you.”
“But maybe he doesn’t have the money,” Chloe whispered. “What if I cost too much and he sends me away?”
Oh dear, bet no one saw that one coming. “I don’t think that is going to happen. You shouldn’t worry about it. But if you are, maybe you should say that to him so he can assure you.”
Chloe looked down the hall where Kristen could hear noise in the kitchen. “I don’t want to make him mad.”
“Have you seen him mad?” Kristen asked.
“Only when he burns something. Or when one of my red socks turned some things pink.”
Kristen felt her lips twitch. “Did he yell at you?”
“No. But he swore.”
“Men do that. It’s normal. Come on back and let’s go see if your uncle needs any help with dinner. Have you offered to help him with anything?”
Chloe shook her head, looking slightly miserable. “I don’t want to get in the way.”
“I bet you won’t be and maybe it could be something you two do together.”
“Maybe,” Chloe said.
“What smells so good in here?” she asked Landon. He was bent over looking in the fridge and ended up stepping back to look at her.
“Nothing special. I’m grilling chicken. I just turned the grill on. I’ve got potatoes in the water. Chloe likes mashed potatoes. At least I think she does. She eats them.”
“I like mashed potatoes too,” she said and looked at Chloe. “Are those your favorite things to eat?”
“They are. I’ve had them with shredded cheese in them before. They are really good that way,” Chloe said.
“Did your mother used to make them that way?” she asked, glancing over at Landon who was watching the two of them intently.
Chloe nodded her head. “Do you want me to make them that way?” Landon asked. “I can put cheese in them if you like them better that way.”
“You don’t have to,” she said quietly.
“I like cheese though. I might like them a lot. I’ve never had them that way and won’t know until I try.”
Kristen smiled at Landon’s answer. It seemed to be enough for Chloe and it was a step forward already in the short time she’d been here.
“If you’ve got dinner covered, maybe Chloe and I can go through her clothes and see what she has and what she needs.”
“That’d be great.” He pulled a pad out of a drawer with a pen and handed it over. “If you c
an make a list. I do better with lists. If we can’t get everything this weekend, maybe I can get it online or something.”
Kristen picked up the pad and pen and held back the comment on how sweet that was of Landon. That she could see how much he was trying and really wished that Chloe could see that too.
The two girls went to Chloe’s room. She would have liked a tour of Landon’s house, but figured it didn’t even cross his mind, so instead she followed Chloe up the stairs and down the hall.
The door was open. The room was a light pink that she suspected he did just for his niece. Another thing to warm her already toasty heart.
There was a new bed and dresser. A TV mounted on the wall and some books and toys on shelves. It was a pretty bare room for a little girl, but it was homey.
“How do you want to handle this?” she asked Chloe.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I can open up your drawers and go through every article of clothing and ask you to try things on so I can see if they really fit you or not and we could be here all night, or you can be honest with me and we can make piles of what fits. What you like. And what you need more of.”
She could see Chloe was unsure of what to do. “I don’t want Uncle Landon to get mad if I need a lot.”
“He isn’t going to get mad. Look around this room. Look at what he’s done for you. He wants you to be happy. He can only do so much if you don’t tell him or give him a clue. No one says you need to have the biggest wardrobe in your class. But you need clothes and you need things that fit. And you are going to continue to need those things.”
“My mother would get mad and yell when I needed clothes. She’d say it never ended. Sometimes at night I’d hear her crying and talking to herself about how she was going to get me things.”
“Ah, sweetie, I’m sorry that is a memory you have of your mother. Try not to think of those things. Try to think of good things. Of happy times. You did have happy times, right?” She hoped to hell Chloe did.
“Yes. We had fun together.” Chloe’s eyes started to fill a little. “I miss her.”
“And you will for a long time. Do you have any pictures of her? Maybe Landon does and you can ask him to put them in your room?”