by H. M. Mann
Marion went to the kitchen and poured herself a full cup of coffee, no sugar or cream. Nah. He’s French and naturally pushy. Gloria would have to tell him to his face that she wasn’t interested. She’d also have to tell him he owed her five years of child support. What would that add up to? Even at, oh, $300 a month, that would be … a lot of nice money … for a down payment on another house … maybe a car …
Marion sighed. I guess I could just give the card to Gloria and see what she does. This place hasn’t been nearly as lively without Johnny and his crazy stories. I couldn’t listen to “Home for the Holidays” without thinking of him. I’ve been liking all this drama.
She took a sip. Gloria saying she doesn’t love Johnny is pure crap. She just doesn’t know what was obvious to Johnny and me. But if she jumps for Paul and all that hair and all those teeth, that will cinch it for everyone, I guess. And then … then maybe I could get my house back, could sleep in, could even go on a date every now and again.
She looked up. Sorry, Nathan. I been lonely, you know?
Marion let the cup warm her hands. I got a lot of responsibility for an old lady. This little card is going to change a few lives. She wrote Paul’s numbers on an old grocery receipt and slipped it into her purse. Might come in handy some day, might not.
She stood. Johnny, I love you, but I have to do this.
Marion carried the card upstairs to Gloria’s room, knocking once and entering. She shook Gloria awake. “A man called for you.”
“Johnny?” Gloria asked. “He came over?” She swung her legs out of bed. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
Marion handed Paul’s card to Gloria. “I think you might know heem.”
Holy … crap, Gloria thought. Paul has been here? Today? And he’s at Tech? Wait. He’s been at Tech for at least a semester, which means he’s been there at least since August and he waits till January to find me? What was he waiting so long for?
Marion sat on the bed. “Paul drives a quiet car, doesn’t smell like pizza, has long hair and too many teeth, and he might even have a checking account.”
“Mama, why didn’t you wake me up when he was here?”
Marion shrugged. “You needed your sleep, and I thought you might want to think about it first.”
“Think about what?” Oh my God! “Did Angel see him?”
“She’s at school. It’s only Thursday.” Marion yawned.
I have lost so much track of time these past few weeks! “Why didn’t you wake me up so I could see her off?” Gloria asked.
“You needed your sleep,” Marion said. “You have more circles under your eyes than the circus.”
Gloria didn’t disagree.
“Oh, it was hard as the dickens to get Angel going this morning, let me tell you. I’ll bet she was up all night reading. Again.” Marion yawned again. Which reminds me. I need to get that child more AA batteries for her flashlight. “Now I need a nap. I have had a very busy morning.” She got off Gloria’s bed and walked out of the room to her own.
Gloria followed. “What do I have to think about, Mama?”
Marion crawled into bed and pulled the covers to her chin. “Man was handsome, Gloria. He had sex appeal. Great smile. Angel’s smile. Well-dressed, too. His clothes matched. Shiny shoes. Dress pants. Tie.”
Gloria sat on the edge of Marion’s bed, the card still in front of her eyes. “What am I going to do?”
Marion yawned again, this time loudly. “Oh, the right thing, I’m sure. Shh. Got to get my rest. Shut the door on your way out.”
“But Mama, what—”
Marion bolted up in bed. “You can’t tell me you haven’t been thinking about this moment for five years.”
“It has crossed my mind, but—”
“Crossed your mind?” Marion interrupted. “Girl, you should have had all this stuff memorized by now.” She tried to pull her hair down to her shoulders, but it kept springing up.
“What are you trying to do, Mama?”
“I’m trying to look like Paul so you can practice.”
“Practice what?”
Marion looked at the ceiling. “Nathan, can you believe this child?” She looked at Gloria. “Imagine I’m Paul only with a lot fewer teeth and hair down to my shoulders. I ain’t doing his accent either. Hello, Gloria. Long time no see. I’ve been out gallivanting around the planet for five years. And you?”
“I don’t know what to say to him, Mama.”
“Oh, puh-lease!”
Gloria closed her eyes and tried to replay the conversation she thought she’d have one day with Paul. “Where have you been, Paul?”
“Out gallivanting.”
“Mama.”
“That’s what I been doing, Gloria. I have been in South America and Africa digging up the dead.”
“Okay, Paul, that night we, um, we—”
“Did the nasty. Right. What about it?”
Gloria jumped off the bed. “Mama, he wouldn’t say that.”
“Right. He’d probably say, ‘We did ze nah-stee.’”
Gloria stood at the window. “Well, I had your baby, um, Paul, and I’ve been raising her for five years without you. It’s been hard at times, and, well, it’s time you met your daughter.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Marion said. “Is she smart like me?”
Gloria nodded. “She’s a lot like you, Paul. She’s really into history and archaeology, and I haven’t told her a thing about you.”
“Why not? I am ze great Frenchman!”
“I never thought we’d ever see you again,” Gloria said. “I mean, we had one night together. It was just a fling, no strings attached. I didn’t mean to get pregnant, but I did. I don’t expect you to just … jump into our lives and play daddy with Angel. I’ll leave that up to you.” She turned from the window. “But understand, Paul, that if you decide to meet your daughter, you have to be her daddy for the rest of your life. There’s no turning back. You can’t just run out on her again. You have to stick around and get to know her. You owe her that. I don’t care if you and I, um …” She looked at Marion. “Something like that.”
Marion nodded slowly. “Five years is a long time to think about something, huh?”
Gloria nodded.
“So you’re going to talk him to death first, and if he’s agreeable, you’ll let him meet his daughter.”
“Right.”
“And if he isn’t agreeable?”
Gloria sighed. “Did he seem eager to see me?”
“Yes.”
“I doubt he won’t be agreeable then.” Gloria’s hands started to sweat. “Once he meets Angel, he’ll, um, he’ll just have to stick around.”
Marion moaned. “I just don’t understand why you have to make this so difficult. Invite him over to meet his daughter. Tonight. You’re taking another day off, aren’t you?”
Gloria nodded. She had taken several shifts off since … Since I let Johnny go. “Oh, I don’t know about tonight, I mean, Johnny might call …” I hope he calls.
“Johnny isn’t calling,” Marion said. “It’s been a month, Gloria.”
Longest month of my life. “You could order some pizza.”
“Or you could.”
But I’m afraid to. “He might not come.”
“It’s Johnny’s job. He has to.”
“Or Johnny might just drop over, right? What would that look like if Paul were here in the house?”
At least she misses Johnny, Marion thought. That’s a good sign. But thirty days with no visit has to tell her he’s not liable to just drop over. “Johnny is an intelligent man, Gloria. If he should by some miracle drop by, he’ll see it for what it is. Angel’s daddy is back. It’s a fact. Either he’ll get used to the idea or he won’t. And remember, Johnny didn’t walk out of here because Paul was back in the picture.”
“No.” Gloria sat on the bed. “No, he didn’t.”
“You have been reconsidering what you said to Johnny that night, haven’t you?�
��
I hate this small house. “Yes.”
“Sorry you said it?”
Gloria nodded. “I feel something strong for him, but—”
“It’s love,” Marion interrupted. “That’s what you’re feeling, Gloria. You miss him when he’s gone. You miss his hands, his eyes, even his creepy ear hair. You even miss the blue smoke that spews from his car and fogs up our windows. You miss everything about him, and that’s what love is. Why you think I still talk to Nathan? Man’s been gone fifteen years, but I ain’t stopped loving him. When you miss a man and can’t think of anything else, you love him.”
“It’s been a month, though,” Gloria said. “Johnny won’t answer that stupid cell phone or his home phone, and only Hector ever answers the phone at Señor Pizza.”
“You could have already taken the bus to visit him.”
Gloria shook her head. “I didn’t want to go over there and have him reject me.”
Marion sighed. “He wouldn’t have done that. He didn’t reject you in the first place, right?” She sighed again. “And I don’t know why you haven’t broken down and gotten your own car by now. You have enough in savings, don’t you?”
“That money is for emergencies, Mama. My health benefits aren’t that great, and if anything happens to you or to Angel—”
“This isn’t an emergency?” Marion interrupted. “Child, do you fully appreciate what’s happening? Angel’s daddy is back and you are in love with Johnny, who was probably going to ask you to marry him, and you played that stupid ‘just move in so I’ll know’ game.”
“How do you know he was going to ask me to marry him?”
Oops. I talk too much sometimes. “I gave him my blessing is how.”
“When?”
“Earlier that night. And now Angel’s daddy is back to meet his daughter. I just know Angel is going to connect with Paul. They speak the same language, you know? And on top of that, you have been one whiny wench for the past month.”
“I have not!”
“You’re whining now.”
“No I’m—” Gloria shut her mouth. “Okay, I’m whining a little. What’s wrong with me?”
Marion smiled. “Girl, you’re going through withdrawal.”
“Huh?”
It is so hard to know everything. “You need your Johnny fix, Gloria. You’re irritable, you’re sleeping all the time and crying into your pillow, and you’re eating Rolaids like candy.” Marion squinted. “Why are you sweating, Gloria?”
I am? Geez. I am. “I’m nervous.” This isn’t happening. Paul just … showing up at this time is a coincidence only a bad romance novel would have. My life is starting to read like Johnny’s ridiculous novella! “I’m … I’m going back to bed, Mama.”
“And that’s how you’re going to solve your problems?”
“You want me to think it through, right?” Gloria asked. “I can’t think because I haven’t been sleeping, so I’m going into my room, shutting the door, and thinking this through after I get some sleep.”
After Gloria left, Marion sat up in bed and looked at the ceiling. Nathan, I know you been watching this little drama. Better than TV, huh? We have a granddaughter who got pregnant by her first lover, who doesn’t know he’s a daddy yet, and he’s suddenly at our door after five years of playing in the dirt. Johnny may be out of the picture, but he is still on Gloria’s mind. My great-granddaughter has never known her father, and she has to meet him, long hair and all, and soon.
Marion sighed.
Nathan, I have to do something about all this. I know, I know, I meddle too much. But … it has to be done.
We’re having pizza and drama tonight, oh yes.
I think I’ll get my hair done today at First Impressions. I want to look nice for the fireworks. And all it will take is two short, sweet phone calls.
Who says life can’t turn on a dime?
Oh yeah. Phone calls cost more than a dime now. Better bring some quarters to First Impressions. Maybe someone will let me borrow her cell phone …
30
“Mama, where’s Grandma?”
Gloria looked at Angel standing beside her nightstand. School’s out already? I’ve been asleep for five hours? What’s happening to me? “Isn’t she downstairs?”
Angel shook her head. “No.”
Probably off to meddle in my affairs. Now there’s a loaded word. Affairs. Gloria slipped out of bed. “Did she leave a note?”
“No.”
“I’m sure she’ll be back in time for dinner. What should we fix?”
“Can’t we go out to eat tonight?” Angel asked.
This is new. “Where would you like to eat?”
Angel looked away. “McDonalds.”
“McDonalds?” Gloria straightened her bed, fluffing her pillow. “Really?”
Angel nodded. “I want to live a little.”
Where’s this coming from? “Okay.”
“And can we go to Toys ‘R Us right now?”
Gloria had to sit. She wants to go to a toy store? “What for?”
“To get another puzzle,” Angel said.
My baby girl misses Johnny, too? I didn’t even think she liked him. Is this Angel’s version of withdrawal? “Sure. We’ll get another puzzle.”
Angel smiled. “I need a bath first. I got all sweaty at recess today.”
And now she wants to take a bath, and after school? “Just … leave me some hot water, okay?”
“I’ll take a shower then.” Angel skipped out of the room.
She skipped. “Wow,” Gloria whispered. “Who replaced my child while I was sleeping?”
Gloria threw on a sweatshirt and went downstairs, walking into the kitchen and freezing. There were dishes in the sink. Mama gone, purse gone, dishes in the sink … The world must be ending.
She looked at the blank message board on the fridge. Mama must have been in a hurry. She always leaves a note. She opened the fridge and saw a note taped to the milk. “Drink lots of milk for your stomach,” Gloria said, reading the note. “Be back soon.” She crumpled up the note and poured herself a tall glass of milk. “Only I might not be here when you return,” Gloria whispered. “I’m going shopping with my daughter at her request.”
As water began to run upstairs, Gloria looked at the phone.
I have two men’s phone numbers to call for the first time in my life, and one of them is not going to like what I have to tell him. She dialed Johnny’s cell phone and heard the familiar, “This AT and T customer’s number is not in service at this time …” She dialed his apartment phone and let it ring thirty-four times. And he has no voice mail on either phone, the jerk! Maybe he lost his charger? No. He’s shutting me out. Fine. I can handle it.
No I can’t, because I don’t want to wait another five years for a man to come to my door.
She went upstairs and found Paul’s card on her nightstand, returning to the kitchen and picking up the phone. Cell, apartment, or office? She dialed Paul’s office phone, hoping he wouldn’t answer. She only wanted to hear his voice.
“This is the office of Dr. Paul Leffel, associate professor of geography. I am sorry I am not in right now, but if you leave your name and number, I will return your call.”
Gloria hung up and gulped the rest of her milk. Paul and his sexy voice are back, all right. Why is this happening now? And why to me? I live a quarter century without any kind of romantic drama, and suddenly I’m the center of the romance universe.
Angel appeared in the doorway, dressed and ready to go. “Mama, why aren’t you ready?”
“That was a quick shower.” She sniffed Angel. “Did you use any soap?”
“Yes,” Angel said, pulling on Gloria’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Gloria allowed Angel to pull her all the way up the stairs to the bathroom where a bra and a pair of underwear were folded neatly on top of the robe lying on the sink. “Are you in a hurry, Angel?”
Angel nodded. “I’ll get you clothes ready.
”
After a brief shower, Gloria walked into her room and saw several dressy outfits lying on the bed.
“What are you doing?” Gloria asked.
“Picking out your clothes,” Angel said.
“We’re only going to the mall for a couple hours, Angel. I don’t have to dress up.”
Angel lifted two hangers holding a pair of black dress slacks and a white blouse. “Here.”
“We aren’t going to church.” Gloria put on jeans and a sweatshirt.
“Mama!”
And now she’s raising her voice to me? “Let’s go. The next bus comes by in ten minutes, and I do not wish to miss it.”
Angel returned the hangers to the closet. “I wanted you to wear something different.”
“Not to ride a city bus, little girl,” Gloria said. “I’m wearing sweats.”
“Oh, all right.”
Angel continued to surprise Gloria for the rest of the afternoon. At Toys ‘R’ Us, she walked up and down every aisle, looking at every toy. In the puzzle section, she picked out a 3,000-piece puzzle of an ancient world map. And when Gloria suggested going to Barnes and Noble, Angel said she was too tired.
“No,” Angel said. “Let’s just go home.”
“What about McDonald’s?” Gloria asked.
“I’m not hungry now,” Angel said. “Maybe later.”
“Are you feeling all right, Angel?” Gloria asked.
“Yep. Never felt better.”
Yep? Gloria thought. I am taking this child to the doctor.
31
“Hello?”
“Hello, Paul?” Marion asked.
“Hello?”
“This is Marion Minnick, Gloria Minnick’s mama.”
“I cannot hear you very well.”
Marion ducked out of a hair dryer at First Impressions holding a borrowed cell phone. “Is this better?”
“Very much so.”
Marion smiled at the ancient woman directly across from her under another dryer. “Gloria will be at home this evening.”